organizing and keeping track of supplies

One of my best purchases has been two rolling drawer sets. One is a mechanics tool chest and the other is a custom made set of wooden drawers on wheels (kind of like a rolling dresser). I keep all my thread, sewing machine needles, scissors, pins and accessories in the tool chest. I keep my teddy bear making supplies in the rolling dresser. I keep the fabrics sorted by color and I use space bags to keep them clean and neatly stacked. I keep scraps in 32 gallon trash cans (I have tons of them from the stuff that I make the teddy bears from.). I have three four drawer file cabinets that I keep patterns, gift wrap, photos and gift cards in. The file cabinets are wonderful, especially for the amount of teddy bear and clothing patterns I have. I think the greatest thing that I have found is the space bags! I can keep all my mohair and bear fabrics in one spot where without them I would have them scattered throughout the house! I have been working like crazy to get my life organized, and am half way through. I am waiting to finish until I get the kitchen, master bath and patio remodeled.

Wow. I tip my hat to you. I just have mine organized by type of craft it is and sometimes that can be a pain to look through. But as soon as I can I would like to get several plastic totes and label them with what is inside. For example if I have a tote of cross stitch I will put Cross Stitch 1 on the front then I am going to put a plastic sleeve like you put paper in a notebook and make a list of what is in that tote. This way it will be easy to look through without having to pull everything out.

Well like many others Im not very organized although I know I should be. I always find myself running around the house looking for my stuff and end up making a bigger mess. Its weird I have been just thinking about spring cleaning so this is the perfect time to start organizing evreything. No time like the present.

Oh my goodness .What you are doing requires some type of gift let me tell you . I have my stash in clear rubber maid containers - mostly the 10 Qt size. But I ran out of those and shelf space and so have things in baskets and other huge containers. And after I have gone through to buy pieces for a quilt , then it gets in further disarray. I would like to have it arranged according to colours , or even fabric lengths. My brain doesn't really function that way . Also I have a zillion boxes of stuff that is just all scraps . I used to think a certain size scrap was not worth keeping until I starting making a crazy quilt . As for my threads, needles and etc I try to keep them in my sewing baskets and other organizers. But they too get spread around and i have to gather them all up again . The worse thing seems to be my stitch ripper. I have 3 but right now I only know the location of one .

Wife, I take the smart way out. I let others do it for me who have that gift and can do it quite easily and sooner than it would take me to accomplish.

well i am not too awefully careful to organize my supplies but i am not exactly a slob when it comes to organizing either i keep all of my crafting supplies in a large tackle box and it works really good even though it is a big tackle box i still have too many supplies to fit into one tackle box i need to buy another one but i just do not have the room to store another tackle box organizing your stuff by using a word document is a good idea i never would have thought of that

My sewing area is not organize. I spend a lot of time trying to find things. I brought a piece of peg board a couple of days ago, and I am going to place some of my supply there. I donot write down the items. It is good idea though. I would think it saves you from buying duplicate stuff.

i certainly try my best to stay organised, although it doesn't always happen... what i have found useful though are the A4 (or letter if in the US) sized stackable drawers. they're clear and you can get different sized draws - the small draws are just high enough to store rubber stamps in, while the bigger ones are perfect for storing inks and bigger, oddly shaped stamps. and they're also great for paper too! i also have a labeller so i can neatly label draws and containers with whatever i have in there. i love fishing tackle boxes for storing bits & pieces in. i have similar supplies together (eyelets, charms etc) and i also use them to store my paper punchers in, by theme of course :) there are some craft branded ones, but i find the ones marketed for fishing to be better quality and cheaper :)

I too am not very organized at all. I will think about trying some of your methods. Not being organized makes it so hard to do anything because my supplies are all over the place. I sew, and also sell finished crafts, and everything is all over the place. It is so frustrating. One of my New years resolutions was to try to get organized. I did a little, but I have very far to go. Good luck to you.