Sunday, October 21, 2007

Chapter 5 - Storage for Works in Progress (aka WIPs)

I'm back with a new question for my 'book'. Bet you've missed these! LOL!!!

How do you keep all your stuff together for your current Works in Progress (aka WIPs)? I'm asking about anything and everything that you are currently working on - not future projects or those you've stored away for awhile. Yes, this is very similar to a question Kim asked awhile back on her blog, but I need more information. :-) teehee!


What do you use to keep your current hand applique project ready to work on when you can sit for awhile to stitch. I keep all the blocks together on skirt or pants hangers (you know the ones with clips) so I just add the finished block to the hanger with the 'project du jour'.
Current stitchery and my English Paperpiecing projects are kept in baskets with everything I need for that particular project. I've decided I need to add a pair of scissors to every project basket.



Of course, if I'm not interested in a particular project for the moment then I use all types of plastic storage boxes and add them to the stack in my closet. :-)
I also use these types of boxes to store future projects and such!


So, what do you do? I'd love to hear about it.
Once again, thank you for indulging me with your answers to my questions and for stopping by!
In Friendship!!!

20 comments:

Not Lucy said...

If a quilt top is finished it gets folded (if possible, with its backing) and put on one of the shelves in my sewing cabinet. If it is a work in progress it is either on the sewing table or in a plastic bin or in a basket beside my chair in the living room or in a box somewhere! It doesn't sound very organized but it actually is - at least I know where everything is! I do try to keep everything for one project together so I don't accidentally use up some fabric that I need for a specific project!

Paula, the quilter said...

I use the Iris Scrapbooking Case. They measure 14x14x3 and blocks (with extra fabric fit inside beautifully. The actual (handwork) WIP usually hangs out with me on the sofa and the machine-work WIP get put on the design wall. Sometimes my design wall is several layers deep *grin*.

Elaine Adair said...

My closet looks like yours -- lots of plastic boxes (wish I had stock in THAT company!), but I also put a BIG hand written label inside the box, so I can see at a glance what's inside - it's easy to forget.

Finished tops are on a hangar in the closet - figured since it's pressed, I want to keep it that way, as much as possible.

And still, there are various bags, PIGS, etc, that SHOULD be put ... somewhere.

Vicky said...

I use those Steralite 15 qt. plastic boxes, and put a label on one end telling me what's in it. I especially like these for my ongoing applique projects.

I used to use those zippered plastic bags that you buy at quilt shops with their names on them. But those have gotten expensive, and they don't stack very well. I'm rotating those out of use.

Baskets are good, too. My Dutch Treats and White Christmas projects are in special ones that are usually sitting in the living room.

Pat said...

I use plastic tubs also. I have a fabric roll that I place my finished blocks in and then roll them up to keep them safe. I also wanted to ask if you found the name of the pattern or the company that makes the pattern for the emboridered pumpkin pillow that you received from your dear friend.
I believe it was posted at the end of Sept.

Pat

Ming said...

My way is quite similar to yours. I put my current working on handwork in a tray and I use plastic boxes for those I don't want to see for the moment, too.

SuBee said...

You're supposed to keep them together?.....gee.....

We had a speaker at our guild Saturday who really did buy stock in that company, and she brought the quarterly report as part of her presentation!

Sweet P said...

My stitcheries are kept in a tote bag so I can grab it and go. If I'm in the middle of making a quilt top I leave it out on the cutting or sewing table. Quilt tops that I'm in the process of making are in plastic bags, plastic boxes or in plastic binders. If a quilt top is done it is hanging on the 5 rung towel hanger that hangs on the back side of my studio door.

Nan said...

I had to think about this one! I have storage in 2 different antique dressers, and plastic stacking drawers. I put unfinished projects in a zip-lock bag with the pattern and fabric, and then in a stacking drawer. Stitchery projects I also put in a zip-lock bag and then in one of the antique dressers. It sounds like a mess, but I know where each of my WIP's are stashed away. Now if I could just get some of them finished - LOL!

Mar said...

I'm so ashamed, my Happy Hauntings is piled on the sewing table, the pincushions are in a basket, lets just say I my WHOLE condo gets put to use!

Anonymous said...

No sewing room, so my main objective is to find some place, somewhere ! LOL
I've got a wooden shelves library in my bedroom, that has become my "sewing library", and have to cope with that restricted area. So I seem to spend a lot of time always re-arranging things on there, according to my priorities.
(my stash is lying in flat, rolling, plastic containers, under my bed (!) and figuring what I have "in stock" is often a challenge...BUT, I recently started a fabric inventory notebook with a 2 inches square of each fabric I have + approximate quantity. I'm planning to start another similar "projects - WIP's - ideas" notebook.
I've bought several office plastic trays and put my current WIP's in there. My finished tops are folded and quietly sleeping on a shelve. My "project du jour" is lying in a big tray, on our dining room table. As to my sewing notions, I have a big basket that is following me like a puppy, everywhere I go sewing...
And that's it !

Big hugs & smiles to you, my friend !
NADINE

Cheryl said...

I keep handwork in baskets at the ready. Some to take in the car, one by where I sit and watch TV. I have larger plastic containers for quilts in various stages, so at least I can see through what I'm not getting done :-)! I do have a small (well OK medium) pile of WIP'S on my sewing table.

~Bren~ said...

I keep my current embroidery project in the bucket tote Linda made me...I can grab it as I walk out the door, or it is ready if I want to sit.
My applique project is in a small rubbermaid container with all the threads (there are 27) needed in the box. I keep this on the school room table and work on it while the kids do their school work. I keep finished blocks in a clean pizza box. (The pizza place will usually just give you one free.)
Another hand applique project is in my van in a little tote bag (this one only needs 2 thread colors).
My current machine project is in a rubbermaid slid under the sewing table ready to pull out. All UFO's are stored in my Grandma's hutch.
Of course my hand quilting project is in a hoop and gets tucked behind my side table every evening when I finish that day's work on it.

Perry said...

I use plastic boxes to store the fabric for each quilt, the pattern I intend to use, and the backing if I have it. When a quilt is finished I put it on a clothes hangar until I take it to be quilted. I have a plastic container full of "hand tools" that I use for hand projects. Don't do too many of those. I store blocks I am working on on top of the fabric in the plastic box until I transer it to the design wall. I also have two portable design walls that are behind the door that I keep blocks on.

QuiltNut Creations said...

great idea to hang the blocks like that. i have different bins that i stuff WIPs into

Knot Garden said...

Fabrics I am currently making a quilt from are stacked in a pile until no longer needed. I don't have many projects on the go simultaneously, but for those smaller projects I am working on, all the bits necessary for that project are kept together in a basket.

Libby said...

I have baskets and such to hold my current (and not so current *s*) projects. At least they look cute while they languish . . .

atet said...

You mean draped over any avaiable surface and hope they don't get messed up isn't a system for storage? Umm...guess this is the reason my house is a wreck!

Nicole said...

My finished quilt tops are folded carefully and hung on a hanger in my sewing room closet, with the binding strips and backing if I have them ready. My current projects are all held in Rubbermaid storage boxes that measure around 14" x 10" and are 4" deep. I must have dozens of them!

swooze said...

Hi there. Well...my UFOs are all in a big tub that holds them and their backings. My other WIPs have been small so they stay stacked on my cutting table or are rotated to my sewing table. I will admit I have a PIG and I put that in one of those XL ziplog bags. I have all the fabric in there and I sure hope the pattern is in there too!

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