shelves of fabric

Do you ever get one of those ideas in your head that just keeps hitting you until you do it?

Well, I have had one of those; now I am in the middle of it. I am starting to see the light at the end of a tunnel -- I sure hope it isn't that train.

I have been wanting to straighten my fabric now for months but could not quite figure out the best way because I have little pieces and big pieces and everything in between. I decided on cutting card board and coraplast into 7 1/2 inch by 12 inch pieces for big yardage and 4 inch by 7 inch and 2 inch by 5 inch for small pieces.

I had fabric in about 6 places in my house; trying to organize this has been a nightmare, but I see it will be well worth it in the end. I think I have 2 more boxes to go through for normal fabric (ie. cotton, rayon, silk, linen and things like that). All the wool in the house will stay in its totes until it is made into rugs (20 totes of big heavy wool; I think that is the best bet for it).

Here are the results thus far.
There actually is some logic here, just not much. The bolts with a card board center that are large are fabric I purchased or received from my grandmother or my great aunt.

The ones on coraplast are from my husband's grandmother, so if I make something for a relative for sentimental purposes I know which stash to grab from.

I have some fabric from friends, as well, that I am working on currently. They will be stored in another spot to keep them organized; about 2/3 of this stash are from 1970 - 1920. I wasn't even alive during those years. I love inheriting fabric. None of this stash is polyester. I can't stand the stuff.

I am not done with this project yet; at the moment I am just getting everything on bolts. When I am done with that, then color coordination will kick in, so don't be surprised if you see a picture of this again all nice and sorted by color families.