Today was a busy day. I worked at the Food Pantry a big portion the day, and as soon as I left there, I had to meet a guy at the church who had bought a new suit for graduation and he needed the pants hemmed. I marked them and then brought them home to do. I did them right away so my hubby could take them back tomorrow. The guy was a little nervous that I wouldn’t be able to get them done by Saturday in time for his graduation. Piece of cake… easy peasy… they’re done!
Then my day actually started around 5:00… I made some potato soup and not too much later we got hit with a storm… not a bad one, but just enough to knock out my satellite for a while.
While I was at the Food Pantry, I saw some fig bars that came in these sectioned boxes. This is what I mean… by sectioned. They are a nice heavy cardboard and I knew I wanted them.
I have a thing for organizational pieces and I saw these as something I might be able to organize things in in my sewing room. Well, not to be disappointed, we went through 3 big boxes of the fig bars at the Food Pantry, so I was able to bring 3 boxes home. I looked around and tried to figure out what might be the best use for them and finally decided I would organize my fabrics that are inside this cabinet my hubby built for me.
It’s kind of hard to see, but it’s a HUGE 7′ x 4′ wood cabinet and it holds a LOT of fabric. I didn’t take a picture when I first started because I didn’t know I was going to do my post about it. But you’ll see part of what it looked like. You’ll just have to imagine all the knits, the solids and the small prints are stuffed in there too. It was crammed full…let me tell you.
I had all these different kinds of fabrics in there… just stacked in loose piles… my solid colored cottons, small prints that are less than 1/2 yard, my knits, the fabrics I use for doll tights and thigh highs, my linen fabrics, any kind of fabric that is unusual, my denims, plus many other oddball pieces. Whenever I need to find something, I’m never really sure I have looked at all my choices, so I decided I would use these cardboard cubicles to at least organize them for now…
The first box was filled with all my knits…
The second box got the small prints and a few odd things in it…
The third box was used to put all my solid pieces of cotton in it. I still have some space that I can use for something else.
I think I’ll put some labels on the boxes so I can tell what’s in each box, but it was a nice start… so here’s my big reveal…
I’m pleased with the top two shelves of my cabinet. I’ll have to tackle that bottom part soon. It’s a nice feeling to know that I can find things super easily now… Pretty neat for a couple of cardboard boxes they were going to throw in the trash, huh?
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
NICE! it’s always a ‘struggle’ for me … how to organize things so I can *find* them. good job!
Thanks Mary,
It’s only temporary until I get the cabinet I’m dreaming of with a whole bunch of drawers. I keep searching but finding nothing… this will keep me organized in the mean time…
Hey, if cardboard works, I’m gonna use it…
Blessings, Jeanne
Excellent use of those boxes. The boxes look pretty sturdy. I’m like you in that I want things organized whether it’s closets or drawers.
You may remember me saying I was going to organize my doll room. I have a lot done but am stuck in 3 areas and that’s because I don’t know to utilize those areas the best. I also have long awaited picture groups I want to do on the walls, but that has to wait on what I do with furniture in there. So, in the meantime, I’ve started organizing several kitchen drawers and a few other cabinets. I’m filling a donation box and feeling good about that.
Have a great day!
HI Paula,
It sounds like you are making lots of headway in your doll room… do share pictures when you get all finished… (if you ever do…) I think I tweak my sewing room about every 3 months…
I was still in an organizing mood this morning and almost tackled my cosmetics and that kind of stuff, but resisted… I will eventually.
I’ve got my kitchen drawers and cabinets on a list to do..soon…
Thanks so much,
Blessings, Jeanne
I’m back online after a HUGE downpour this morning complete with lightning, and lights flickering! And then yesterday afternoon, HAIL, I mean hail! What the rabbits haven’t eaten of my new flowers, the hail has taken down. Boy, is it is mess here with leaves and branches all over the place! I think Carbondale is getting a bunch of that too! Sorry to sidejack your blog with weather problems, Jeanne!
Well, those boxes, how big are the squares? They must be a good size, but I thought when I first saw them that they were about 2 inches square, which isn’t really a lot! You said fig bars came in them? Most fig bars aren’t very big, at least the ones I see. Anyway, it looks just great now! Kudos to Paula for organizing her things! I really love to do that and it makes me feel so good afterwards!
By the way, with all the material you have, why do you buy more? Well, what I mean, is when you buy some material, is it for a dress you have in mind, and then you make it pronto? Or do you buy it just because it’s on sale and you like it? How do you know if you are ever going to use it? I guess, it’s because I only would buy material if I am going to sew something, and then I would make it, and it is gone. How do you have so much still stored? I’m sure you are dying laughing at me, but it is kind of puzzling to me!
HI Linda,
We got the majority of our bad weather last night with the storm going just north of us…I guess you got it way bad. I heard on the news that some parts of St. Louis got GRAPEFRUIT size hail. I’ve never heard of hail that big before. Hopefully it wasn’t near you!
The boxes are big… 25″ x 18″ and each square is 6″ x 6″, so they are pretty substantial and they are a heavy cardboard. I can think of several more uses for them… and may get the rest of them from the Food Pantry as they get used up… The fig bars are about 5 x 3 so they fit in the compartments pretty well… The boxes actually had this big sturdy cardboard stand that these cubicle boxes fit on and were used as a display.
I have been thinking about this next part of your question all morning trying to figure out how I’m going to answer you… and I might just have to do a post on it… but your first question… “with all the material you have, why do you buy more?” really made me stop and think, maybe I have too much… but I’ll explain more later… good questions though…
Blessings, Jeanne
Great storage idea. Love the free aspect. So appealing to see everything so neatly stored.
HI Joy,
My fabric cabinet has been in such disarray for so long, it was nice to open up the doors today and see that it still makes me smile. I would ideally like to be able to see everything at a glance, but the things I put in the boxes are things I don’t use that often…and when I do, I’m looking for a specific thing, so having them tucked away in their own special place is kind of nice.
Thanks Joy,
blessings, Jeanne
What a wonderful way to organize your fabrics, etc. I like how you utilized the “trash”.
Take care.
HI Becky,
Yes, I’ve always been a “trashy” kind of girl… you know… dumpster diving, yard saling, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure… those kinds of things… I LOVE a bargain and when it’s FREE, my heart sings!
Blessings, Jeanne
I pictured those squares as much smaller too. These boxes are great, and the instant re-use idea was wonderful. You’ll have to be on the lookout next week for more. Isn’t organization wonderful?
I’m organizing books to give away to a second hand book store. I get credit for them or a friend uses the credit for large print books for a sight impaired relative or the credit can go to a local school.
Everyone I know who sews has a fabric stash — yours is more impressive than many but they are pretty common. I just looked up “yarn stash” on Amazon — 230 books on how to use up the small amounts of yarn that we pick up because we can’t resist them or they are left over from other projects. I’ll bet anyone who likes to cook has a food stash too — odd ingredients that we think we’ll make something out of. How did I end up with so many kinds of pasta?
If Linda doesn’t have some sort of stash, she has to be one of the best organized and thoughtful women on the planet and deserves several awards. On the other hand, if Jeanne didn’t have such a wonderful fabric and trim stash, Rebecca wouldn’t have had all those wonderful trims to use in her Mother’s Day scrapbook.
Now I think I’ll go throw out all my outdated garden seeds so I know what I need to buy this weekend. Why do squash seeds come in packets of dozens when my garden and kitchen can use only 3 or 4 squash plants?
Marilyn, you made me laugh! Of course I have a stash—–of scrapbook materials! I have been making scrapbooks for each of my 6 grandchildren, and gosh, how the papers and trims add up! But, when getting a lot of the embellishments, there are always “extra” left over ones, that you don’t use, so they get stashed. But I do organize them and try to keep them where I can easily find what I want. Not always successful though! So yes, I’m actually human, not to worry!! 🙂
HI Linda,
Ah-Ha… we found out your stash is scrapbooking supplies. Now see, I could fit all my scrapbooking stuff in a 12″x 12″ x 12″ box…
I sew… you scrap!
Blessings, Jeanne
Oh, super, Linda. And your stash goes into more scrapbooks. That’s perfect.
As my parents grew older, we made several scrapbooks — a war one, a young married one, a family one. It organized the best of the pictures and gave everyone a chance to review that part of our family history. The best is a notebook of my dad’s flights as a B-17 pilot. He once got separated from his group and had to come down below the clouds to see where he was. He was over Amsterdam with every gun in the city pointed at him. But he flew every mission and brought his crew back every time. He was very proud of that, and I now own the record. I don’t suppose he’d call it a scrapbook.
How very neat Marilyn,
What a wonderful way to preserve your history!
HI Marilyn,
I told Linda the dimensions on the boxes are 25″ x 18″ and the cubes are 6″ x 6″ so there is lots of room to do things with. If I trimmed off about 2″ on the long side, I could fit them inside one of my chests in my sewing room… I thought about doing that too… maybe another time…
Most of the fabrics up on the top shelf of that cabinet are prints that are too big to use for my dolls. They were the fabrics that I used when I made little girls dresses. I gave away several big black trash bags full to a nursing home, but decided to keep these. Who knows when I might need to make a little girls dress for a gift or a wedding… :o)
I probably have more trims and embellishments than I do fabrics. It’s just that they take up way less room than the fabrics. I do weed out every once in a while and I think if I ever find my dream cabinet with all the drawers, I’ll weed out then too. I’d like to get my sewing room streamlined and pretty instead of all the rubbermaid tubs.
Thanks Marilyn,
Blessings, Jeanne
The boxes are a great find…makes you wonder how just cookies could be shipped in such pricey boxes? No matter…they are awesome storage!
Loved the royal blue dress for your new Patsy. My email was hacked so haven’t been on it much lately but have kept reading ?
Great Mothers Day post too
Take care
Kathie
HI Kathie,
Yes, the boxes are pretty nice and the fig bars in them ARE pretty pricey too…
Oh, how terrible about your email being hacked… that must be a nightmare!
I hope things are all okay now…
Thanks for the compliments on Patsy’s dress.
Blessings, Jeanne