After a couple of years making garments you start getting lots of fabrics. Leftovers, future cosplay materials, … you don’t know what to do with them. Specially after you found where to buy fabric for cosplay your collection just got bigger. You need to organize your fabric and you need to organize it now.
You should definitely start using those meters and meters of fabric. And you want to use the fabric before it gets spoiled. Actually, I can help you with that, check my patterns! But of course, it is going to take time, and meanwhile, those piles of fabric are just getting creased and lost in a sea of frayed ends by the moment.
How to fold your fabric
There are many ways to fold fabric. For best results you can use a board to figure out the size you want for your stack. Fold the fabric so it will fill your board horizontally and then start folding it around it. It is up to you to fold the raw edge of the fabric at the end. It does look prettier but it is also bulkier.
How to organize your fabric
Once you have folded your fabric as neat as possible you want to make sure you can see all your material at a glance. Actually, you can tidy your fabric depending on its colour or its type for example, it is up to you. Furthermore, I like keeping my small pieces in a different stash. I have a wardrobe where I keep all my fabrics. Also, you can keep any extra fabric in boxes or baskets.
I’m sure you have already planned what to do with some of those fabrics. Obviously you don’t want to use them by mistake, therefore, it is always a good idea to keep those separated from your stash. For instance, you can put them together in a separate box with a picture of the project you want to make. Therefore, it will be easy to start it whenever you feel like it. I also keep my started projects in a different basket. That way I will not mix them and lose them in my stash.
Another problem you will have is all those little pieces of scrap fabric. They aren’t big enough for a full garment, but they are so pretty you don’t want to bin them. At the beginning, I used to keep them in a box. Now I use a laundry basket to store them. It is very handy as you can store them straight away. Actually, mine is under my sewing machine, any leftovers go straight to the bin. I do keep the small pieces and make little projects with them later. Also, I will sort them every so often when I feel like my basket is getting full.
Keep track of your fabric
Once you tidy all your fabric you will realise that you have meters and meters of almost the same thing and you didn’t even know it! A tidy stash will totally help, however, it is even better to keep a list of all the materials that you have bought in the past. Cut a small piece of each of your fabrics and write down some details. You can note the price per meter, size, shop, type of fabric, planned project or any other relevant information.
If you want half of the work done for you, start a Cosplay Planner and print the fabric page. You can fill all the details of your materials and keep everything pretty and tidy. You can also plan all your future cosplays, photoshoots and conventions so it is very handy.
And what about you, how do you organize your fabric? Do you have a special place where you keep it? Do you have a box with leftovers? Let me know in the comments and if you really liked my post consider supporting me on Ko-fi. There are no subscriptions and you will help me make more tutorials and posts for you!
