10 storage tips for your sewing space

With many of us still stuck in various forms of coronavirus lockdown and encouraged to spend more time at home, now is a great opportunity to get your sewing space in order (if you haven't done so already!). Here I'm sharing my tips for organising your supplies, to tidy your space and save time hunting through the mounds of fabric, notions and patterns.

1. Organise your patterns by garment type.

This really speeds up the rummaging process in your pattern box or drawer, since patterns generally come in quite similar sleeves, indistinguishable until you pull them out individually. I sort mine into: coats, dresses/jumpsuits, blouses, trousers, skirts, lingerie/swimwear, childrenswear and accessories. I put a good thick piece of mounting board at the front of each group, tall enough to be visible above the patterns with the category written at the top so I can immediately jump to the right section.

2. Save yourself  time untangling threads with a bobbin box.

This was a stocking filler I received last Christmas. Made by Prym, mine holds 32 bobbins and cost about £5 (although I've seen cheaper alternatives online), and has been really helpful. Previously, I kept them all in a tin, and found they regularly unraveled themselves and then became entangled in one another. Having them all sat on their sides like this also makes it much easier to see which colours I have in stock.

3. Use bead boxes to organise your hardware.

I've become somewhat obsessed with these! You can get all manner of compartmentalised boxes for sewing supplies, but I highly recommend these ones that are designed for bead storage. Many boxes have annoying little gaps at the top that allow small bits to hop across into the wrong compartment. The walls on these go right up to the lid, so even the most mischievous of notions stay securely separated if the box gets shaken around.

I find these perfect for hardware, which often comes in a plastic film on a bit of cardboard that once opened can't be resealed. More recently, I have started ripping the hardware details from the cardboard and popping them in the compartment too, so that I don't forget what I'm looking at.

They are also wonderfully satisfying for organising buttons. My stash has built up quite substantially in the last few years after inheriting tonnes from both my grandma and a friend who has moved abroad. I whiled away an afternoon (or three!) matching them up and colour-coordinating. So therapeutic :)

4. Keep half-used sheets of tracing paper under your bed.

Or on any other nice big unused floorspace. This is actually my favourite tip since it has saved me a ridiculous amount of time and also cut down waste. I always copy patterns I've bought onto tracing paper and keep the original intact so that I can cut it in a different size in the future. I buy Burda dressmaking paper, because it is fairly cheap and the sheets are larger than most; big enough for pretty much any pattern piece you might need to cut out (150 x 110cm).

I used to iron each sheet before tracing a pattern, and then meticulously fold the leftovers to slide neatly back into the packet. And then get them back out and iron for my next project, get annoyed that the leftovers weren't big enough, and then have to iron a new sheet. This also attracted glares from my husband trying to watch the TV next to me while I rustled away with my enormous sheets of paper!

But now, I have shunned this needless, tedious leftover-folding ritual and instead store the scraps flat in a pile under the bed that I can just pull out and look through for perfect size pieces for whatever project I'm working on. (I put them on top of a piece of mounting board, so they're easier to slide out and back under afterwards).

5. Similarly, keep your printed PDF patterns flat.

These can be really bulky depending on how luxurious you decide to go with your printing paper! They also don't fold well because of all the overlapping paper joins. Again, you can shove them under your bed, or hang them on a coat hanger hooked on the wall as a proud display of your collection.

6. Keep bigger items out of the way in hanging baskets.

If you have a serger, you may have found that the spools very quickly start to take over your sewing area. Even with my fairly humble collection of mainly white and black, the need for four of each takes up significant space. I've found these hanging baskets super useful, both to free-up shelves and to keep the threads colour-coordinated. You could use them for various other bulkier craft items too - fabric or yarn particularly.

7. Package your cut PDF patterns in sandwich bags.

If you buy a lot of PDF patterns like I do, sandwich bags are absolute heroes. Cut the pieces out in tracing paper and use the printed instruction book as the "front cover" for the pattern so that you can easily identify it in your stash.

8. This one's for the knitters - a tip for keeping your needles in pairs.

I keep some of my needles in nice paired rubber point-protectors, particularly if I'm travelling with them. But they are fairly expensive and the thinner needles constantly fall out. For most of my needles that just sit in a bag in the sewing room, I instead use what I'm going to call rubber hair-braiding bands (the internet doesn't seem quite decided on their name...)

I'm sure a lot of people will already use standard rubber bands to keep their needles paired up, but I like these because of their size. You only need to stretch and wrap them around your needles two or three times and they hold very tight. I've heard that some brands have a habit of snapping easily though, so maybe go slightly upmarket (they are still really cheap - Toni and Guy's are £0.85 for 50...)

9. Sort your fabric (and scraps) into similar types and/or weights.

I have a set of IKEA cupboards for mine, and separate into: lightweight cottons and polyesters (top-left), stretch (top-right), heavyweight and technical (bottom-right) and haberdashery fabrics - interfacing, wadding, ribbing etc (bottom-left).

I like to do the same with scraps too, putting them into separate shoe boxes. In both cases, this really helps to quickly see what options you have for different sorts of projects.

10. Keep a record of fabric details.

Cut a small sample from each fabric you purchase and store it on a pinboard or in a scrapbook along with all the details you have about it. I started doing this so that I could check the washing instructions for the garments I made. But it's also a great way to learn about different types of fabric and can act as a fantastic source of reference when buying fabric online. What is trieste again...? Gaberdine? Tulle?


I must confess, I have not been terribly disciplined with this over the years, but with the sudden necessity to buy fabric online during the pandemic, I wish I'd done a better job of it. With all of my recent purchases I have started a scrapbook, where I note down the website I bought it from, along with the fabric type, washing instructions and weight. Weight is something I've found particularly hard to envisage when shopping online - how heavy is 200g/sqm? It will be so helpful to build up a book of samples that I can rifle through and say "Ok, this one is 210g/sqm, so it'll be kind of similar to that".


I think many of us have been really missing being able to touch fabrics before we buy them. But I'm trying to look at it optimistically as a chance to learn more about textiles.

I hope everyone is hanging in there during this difficult time, and making the most of the slower pace of life to enjoy their sewing and catch up on things they've been putting off for months (or years!).