Tidy up sewing room – how to organize your craft room Marie Kondo or konmari style!
As I said in the tour of my studio earlier this week, I’ve been decluttering my house fully inspired by the Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up (affiliate link) as well as the show Tidying Up with Marie Kondo. So today I’m going to take you through how I did it, using her principles. I’ve also got a video of me explaining my thoughts, and going through my notions and my fabric that you can check out below or watch on YouTube here.Â
Because I was tidying from least to most sentimental value, I started with notions and ended with fabric, which is the category in my sewing room I feel the most attached to. I was surprised how many duplicate notions I found, and also how much trash (like empty elastic wrappers) I found when I took all my notions out.
I was also pleasantly surprised that when I did things like combine boxes of thread, I ended up with an empty box which was perfect for storing buttons that were in a bag in my closet. So as you declutter, look for items you can repurpose to help you organize and store things.
Going through all my notions allowed me to put them back in a way that made them easier to see within their drawers and bins. Yes, the button box is below things here, but it’s partially visible and once I get those two tiny empty boxes out of the drawer, everything in here will be visible.
I took my elastic out of the drawer where I had to dig through it and made use of one of my card catalogue tables to store it in a way that I can see all my elastic when I open the drawer. This table is currently out on our landing outside my sewing room, so I’m going to have to figure out how to put it in my new sewing space because it’s perfect for notion storage. I also moved my ribbons, lace and bias tape out here.
After going through my books and patterns and putting the ones I decided to keep back on their shelves (more on pattern storage next week) I tackled my fabric. This bin is an example of how I store scrap fabric – pieces that are big enough to make a pocket but no bigger than a sleeve. Pieces bigger than a sleeve I store wrapped on boards on my shelf. You may have different criteria for the size scraps you keep, but any fabric that is big enough is great to roll and stand, so you can see all of it upon pulling the bin or drawer out.
As for my actual fabric, you can see below the pile I pulled out that no longer gave me joy. I donated half the pile to Austin Creative ReUse and bundled the other half into destash boxes that I sold. Now my shelves are full of fabric for which I actually have projects in mind.
Marcia
This post is so helpful. Thank you for describing your process! Your space looks great. I’m inspired anew…. #goals
Terry
I’m starting this process in my closet and moving on to the rest of the house closets and THEN my studio. It’s a DISASTER and was really interested in your video. 🙂
Katy
I did this not long ago, donated a lot of patterns and bits and pieces that I wouldn’t use
Renea Anderson
Very much needed!
Rebecca
Brilliant and soo easy. I have tried decluttering and now have even moved around all my storage and stuff. However, I still need to declutter my drawers. Funny, I started with my fabric. I could tell what I don’t like easily; I have several bags of fabric that I have given away. Now, onto the closet (yikes) and all my storage. Oh, and that pile i CAN’T let go…..
Robin
Just in time for my organizing my craft closet! I love Marie Kondo, watched her Netflix show, and we’re using the methods to continue with decluttering our small home. Thank you!
Rebecca Burnett
I made a medium pillow case , hung up and put all small scraps of material. Once full will stitch closed and donate to the Animal Shelter in town. Heard of this. Was told “ no thread, just material scraps. So as I cut and go, I just drop it in my hanging pillow case.
Mea Cadwell
I’ve found it easier for me to just spend 10 – 15 minutes each time I sew on cleaning up something in my sewing room. That way it doesn’t get messy to begin with. To each their own. But YAY for a decluttered space regardless of how you decide to do it!
Calluna
Hi, I was lucky – I moved to Spain five years ago and a big move like that needs decluttering in a big way.
Well … I actually managed to keep it all (the whole house!) decluttered.
I have never been so tidy in my whole life, but sticking to it – I tidy everything away after each sewing day (or any other creativity day).
It works for me and makes me quite proud, everything is always tidy – clearing up every evening – it’s easy.
Best wishes from 🇪🇸
Calluna
P.O.
I found this post only now, but lately I was thinking about organizing my sewing atelier with the konmari method, because I used it in my home already. So it was a very interesting post to read, thank you!