Lots of things have prompted this decluttering. The main thing is that since we don’t have a garage anymore, we have lots of things that don’t have a proper home. And we can’t do that thing that we used to where we would just chuck stuff in the garage and shut the door quickly (a bit like Monica’s cupboard on Friends!). Either we need it and we keep it and find somewhere to put it, or it goes. This is how ruthless this decluttering will be! Another thing that has prompted it is that we have wanted to build some shelves in our living room for a long time now, and we decided that the two things could go hand in hand. I also had to move my computer downstairs (because the internet signal is really bad upstairs) and we’re going to build a desk into the shelves too. You might be thinking that we could get one of those booster thingies and that would solve that problem, but it’s nicer being down here anyway (except for the temporary home on our old dining table…but it’s not for long!) and it’s helpful too, especially as I do all my making in the kitchen now.

I had a little look online for some decluttering tips – there is quite a lot out there about what is the best way to do things. One post I read said that you shouldn’t have a ‘keep’ pile, and that you should just find a home for the thing straight away instead. I like this idea in principle, but that’s clearly not going to work for us because we haven’t built the home for the things yet! So we’re sticking with the ‘keep’, ‘throw’ and ‘give to charity’ piles for now. I also like this list from Apartment Therapy, which is what not to do when decluttering. Tip number 2 is useful to me – I always try to do more in a short space of time than I can actually achieve! So I need to remember that this isn’t going to be a quick process…we’re not going to be building the shelves until we can take a couple of weeks off at the end of August/beginning of September, so there will be mess and there will be time to plan. Speaking of shelves, if anyone has any tips or can point us in the direction of some, that would be FAB! I’m like ‘yeah, we can build some shelves!’ but Tom is not a DIY fan and we’ve never done anything like this…my Dad has kindly said he will come and help us to construct them, but we need to work out what that actually means…

I have been trying to reorganise my craft supplies a little better so that I’m not forever going up and downstairs for something else that I’ve forgotten. Know that feeling too? I seriously spend so much time doing this – it’s really frustrating! So I decided that something needed to be done about it asap. This included buying one of those super cool raskog trolleys from Ikea (yes, I got the teal one – whoop!) and it has been brilliant. I’m planning on doing a separate post about that soon, so stay tuned. I have already begun to sort out my fabric stash (read more about doing an inventory here), so I feel like progress has been made already. Yay! Wish me luck for the rest…

Do you have any tips for decluttering?

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It was actually really good to take stock of everything and sort things out – even though I did make a huge mess before I could get everything organised! I had various thoughts beforehand about how to carry out the inventory. This included having a notebook with everything written down in it, so the name of the fabric and the amount that I have, along with the type of fabric too. However, I don’t know about you, but whilst I can remember what some things are called or which collection they are from, I certainly can’t remember them all. Many bits of fabric I have are from years ago (before I was a dedicated crafter), so there was no real chance of me remembering. But then I had a cunning plan: what would be most helpful would be to have a photo inventory! That way, I can have it with me on my phone and then I can browse through it when I’m trying to match things and make decisions for projects. Bingo!

So I found all my boxes and bags of fabric and laid them out on the spare bed. I sorted into three piles: plains, patterns, and a pile of fabric that is already earmarked for a project. Most of this pile is things that I’ve got to make into clothes – I decided not to take individual photos of these so that I don’t end up accidentally using them for another project by mistake! I laid out a huge piece of white card as a background for the photos. White is best for anything like this, especially as I’ll be using the photos to match up fabric for projects. Starting with my fat quarter selection (which I keep in my vintage suitcase) I took photos of my fabric. Most of these photos have a maximum of 4 fabrics in them, and I tried to group some that went well together, for example the Christmassy ones. There are a few exceptions – like the photo below which shows the selection of fabrics that I used to make the quilted record mats (which you can see here). In my suitcase I also have a few metre pieces that can be used for baby quilt backings or other small projects, so I grouped these together too.[/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” interval=”3″ images=”7033,7035,7036,7053″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default” img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1425053180382{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]Next, I moved on to the other piles of large pieces of fabric. For the plains I stacked a few together to be able to get more in the photo. I’ll see how this works out when I actually use my inventory – I might have to take individual ones to get a better sense of the colours. Some of these fabrics are categorised by collection, just because they go together really well and it makes sense to know that they are by the same designer.[/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” interval=”3″ images=”7048,7049,7050,7051″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default” img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1425051340672{padding-top: 30px !important;}”]

Once I had taken all of my photos, I decided to organise them in my photo stream. By having them on here, they will be easily accessible and I can also add comments to each of the photos – this includes the length, or any details about the colour or fabric, which will come in handy! I just gave a rough measurement for most of the pieces, but you could be more precise and measure everything if you wish. Our internet decided to play up at this point, so I had a right old faff trying to get them from my computer and into the stream, but eventually they made it! I edited them a little just to get the colours right and brighten them lighting a bit, and I also square cropped them so that they fit nicely on the album overview screen. You can see how I’m using the comments section to add details in this next photo:[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1425051357108{padding-top: 30px !important;}”]

In addition to creating my inventory, I also made sure that my fabric stash was a bit more sorted. Not having a dedicated craft space means that this is really important – especially now that we have had to find a new home for lots of things that used to live in the old garage. So I organised my boxes a little better, keeping those fabrics for projects in mind in one box, with prints and plains in another and everything else that didn’t really have a home in my final box. I’m hoping that by being a little more organised, I can stop the spread of the stash…at least for a little while anyway! :-)[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1425051368764{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]

How do you organise your fabric?[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Before you get started and gather your materials, measure how big your drawers are (!!) and think about what sort of size you want the inserts to be. This will help you to work out how much fabric you’ll need for your own template. To work out the size, draw out a square or rectangle the size that you want the bottom of the insert to be (mine was 26cm x 26cm). Then think about how deep you want it to be (mine was 8cm) and add that on to each of the 4 sides, with an extra centimetre for a seam allowance on each side too. So, I cut out a 44cm x 44cm square, and then cut an 8cm square out of each corner to create the template, like this:

So once you have worked out how much fabric you need, you can gather your other materials. You will need:

Two pieces of contrasting fabric, plus extra to make binding (or buy pre-made binding if you prefer)

A piece of thin wadding/batting, the same size as your piece of fabric

Matching cotton

Your sewing machine

Needle and pins

Sharp scissors

Step 1

Cut out an inner piece and an outer piece of fabric from your selection using the template you made, and do the same with the wadding. Place the wadding on the wrong side of the outer piece and then pin the sides of the 8cm square you cut out together. Stitch along each of the 4 edges with a 1cm allowance.

Once stitched, turn it the right way out.

Step 2

Place the lining fabric (right side up) inside the insert, and pin each corner to fit. You might need to make a few little adjustments here, so increase the seam allowance if you need to. Once you have stitched the corners, pin the lining to the insert and then stitch along the top to secure it.

Step 3

Measure the circumference of your insert and then make the binding to the right length (or cut the binding you bought to length). Position it over the top, pinning as you go, and then stitch along the bottom edge.

Step 4

To help the insert stand up a little more, I hand stitched a few small stitches on the top of each corner. It’s really effective, actually – yay!

Ta-dah! Ready to place in a drawer to get things organised. I’m keeping my socks in these (I do have more than one pair – I wanted to show you what they look like in my drawer, although it isn’t the best photo I’ve ever taken…)

What have you been doing to get organised for 2015?

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