Sewing Organization Tip #1

As sewers, we tend to accumulate alot of "paper" stuff.  Papers that needs to be organized and stored, and easily accessible for future reference.  Between magazines, patterns, sewing articles, class samples, just where does all of that stuff end up?

If you are like alot of sewers, stuff tends to get put in a "safe place" somewhere that you will never find again.  And you spend hours and hours trying to find just that one article, only to find lots of other things you forgot about in the process.

Well, I have a solution for all of the "paper" stuff that goes along with sewing.

Use Binders.

I use binders for all of my "paper" related sewing items.

For my patterns, I photocopy the front and back of the pattern envelope and put the photocopy in a clear plastic sheet protector and then file it in one of my pattern binders (according to what the garment is - jacket, pant, dress, etc).  The actual pattern itself, gets filed into a pattern box according to manufacturer and number.  Then, when I want to make a dress, I can just grab my binder and flip thru all of the photocopies of the dress patterns that I have and select one.  Then, go to the appropriate pattern box, pull out the pattern and voila!  Alot of time saved!

Some of the photocopied patterns in my binders

I do the same for my Burda Magazine patterns.  I photocopy the "All Styles at a Glance" page and just hole punch these and put them directly into a binder.  Then, I can quickly glance thru all of them, tab the ones I'm thinking about and then go to the correct year binder that the magazine is in and voila again!  Alot of time saved!

Burda patterns in their binder

Other items I keep in binders:
- Class samples with their instructions.  Usually in sheet protectors.
- Knitting instructions
- Embroidery ideas
- Sewing articles I've torn out of magazines.  Again - organized by their category for easy reference.
- Clothing styles I'd like to copy in the future
- Scrapbooking layouts I'd like to use in the future
- Cooking recipes

The possibilities for binders is endless!

I hope this tip will help tame some of your paper madness in the future.  Stay tuned tomorrow for a simple way to organize those fabric scraps.

Happy Sewing!