Home Again and Getting Organized!

It's always fun to go on an adventure and what better place than the Costa Rican rainforest?



Back home and feeling refreshed, I want to get better organized before taking on another sewing project.  First to be tackled: my pattern stash.

I'd say I own roughly 500 patterns and I don't anticipate owning too many more at one time as I just don't have the space.  I've generally stuffed most of my patterns into shelves in my living room credenza: men's patterns in the left cabinet and women's on the right.  Unfortunately, there's also a center cabinet, and here's where things get messy and confusing.  I've been tossing anything that couldn't fit in the other two cabinets there.  In addition, I own two fabric boxes with zippered tops that hold even more of the overflow (though one is primarily men's patterns that are sizes other than my own). 



There is a method to my madness: I archive my patterns in two Picasa files: my men's patterns here and my women's patterns here.  They're basically organized in chronological order, with a pic of the finished project if I used the pattern.  I try to keep this up to date, though sometimes I fall behind.







Today, I emptied everything out and sorted through it.  I organized my men's patterns by garment type: shirts, pants, jackets, underwear/bathing suits, etc.  I sorted my women's patterns by period: 20's, 30's, 40's, and so on.  I'm not sewing many women's patterns these days so quick access isn't so important.  But I do want a general idea of where to find, say, a 1950's cocktail dress pattern.







Since my Vogue Paris and other designer originals are larger than my other patterns, I put them in a fabric box of their own, which they share with doll clothes patterns and costume patterns.

I know some of you have come up with amazingly sophisticated systems to organize your patterns, but I need something simple; most of the time I'm using the same 10-15 patterns anyway and I don't mind taking out a stack to find the one I need.

Speaking of patterns, I purchased a men's 1960's pants pattern on Etsy the other day: Simplicity 4971.  I really like the idea of making a pair of slim trousers with a slightly higher-than-usual rise, like the gray pair on the left.



Today I also dropped a large bag off at the Salvation Army filled with everything from picture frames to hats to CD's (and yes, there are some patterns in there as well).   It feels so good to de-clutter and there's always more where that came from.



And that's it! I hope you've had a productive week and look forward to sharing my February projects with you.

Have a great day, everybody!