Back in Business

We have been in our new home for about a month and a half and my sewing area is unpacked and organized.... for now.  The basement in our house was finished but the main area was one very large room.  Our basement is about 1900 sq. ft, and I would say that about 3/4 of it was just one large room.  The previous owners left a MASSIVE 100+ year old, 6' x 12' snooker table for us, and I am currently trying to sell that as it takes up too much space - see below.

This is the view standing on the basement stairs.  I used a some of my old sewing furniture, some new to me old furniture and some random furniture pieces to define a space.  We will build a proper wall and built in storage and add proper lighting eventually.  My wonderful husband put up three temporary shop lights so that I could function as it was very dim down there.

The longarm is up and working and ready for client quilts again.

We removed this bar which then made room for my sewing machine and more.

And here is my wall of storage pieces that divides my space from the TV area.  The brown dresser has all my thread and pantographs for longarm quilting.   The shelf with the blue bins has my serger, cover lock, client quilts and my fabric stash and projects.

As I was unpacking I took the time to reorganize my fabric stash by color for the most part.  These are fabrics that aren't set aside for a current project (those are boxed and bagged with the associated pattern).   

I used my standard 6" x 24" ruler to fold everything to the same dimensions. (You could use any size ruler that will produce a finished size to fit your storage areas.)  It took a bit of time but it really made it easier to organize and use space efficiently.  I wrapped everything from from fat 1/8s to yardage to wide backs this way.

1. Lay your fabric down on a flat surface.  I put my selvage edge(s) on the right and fold (for full width fabric) or cut edge for a FQ on the left.  Lay your ruler down and wrap edge of fabric around it.
2. Roll your fabric around your ruler until you come to the end.  
3. Leave the end of the fabric as is,  or fold it under a bit if it ended at an awkward spot close to the edge.
4. Remove your ruler.
5. Fold in half once.
6. Fold in half a second time.