Sunday 1 July 2012

Organising patterns

Just a quick post, and with some pretty awful photos today...

How do you organise your patterns and keep them tidy? I'm OK with patterns bought from the store in an envelope, they fit quite nicely in a shoe box (well boot box if I'm being a pedant!) Although the box is quite full already...


Mm, not sure there's room for many more in here!

Conveniently the Prima patterns I've amassed over the years are A4 size and fit in one of those poly-pocket type things. They now all fit quite nicely in a leaver arch file (although that's now full too!)


Anymore space?

The problem I've got is with those patterns I've downloaded from the Interweb thing. Those which have been printed on umpteen sheets of paper and painstakingly taped together with that pressure sensitive tape so they don't go brown and yukky. At the moment I've put them in cardboard files, but I can see over the years, I'll end up with quite a few of these and getting very untidy shelves.




Has anyone got any ideas? Useful suggestions will be gratefully received. How do you organise your patterns, are they in a mess, or have you managed to keep them tidy? What about those of you self-drafting, how do you keep your patterns tidy?

5 comments:

  1. I use those clear pockets for most patterns too but after they are cut they seem to grow in size so then I switch to those cardboard envelope things just like you and for my downloaded patterns, then I keep them all in a filing cabinet I got from a recycling centre. It cost me $40 for 4 drawers and was a bit scody but I spray painted it blue and now it's perfect for all my paper patterns. In the hanging files you can get 2 envelope patterns side by side and several deep. I should really do a post too on how I organise my patterns, I love nerdy stuff like that and seeing how others manage their stash too ;)

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    Replies
    1. Mm, not sure I'll get away with a whole filing cabinet, but I could always try! Able Traders here I come!

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  2. I have a very large collection of patterns,a nd it is growing all the time! I did a post on this one myself once upon a time too :) The one's I draft myself I keep in old large envelopes I've saved from the post, and keep them standing up facing the same way, like books in a bookshelf. The big 4's fit nicely in a fruit box, also stored facing all the same way forward. I divided them into Skirts, Tops and Jackets, Trousers and Co-ordinates, Dresses, and Miscellaneous, and have dividers separating these categories.

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    1. Very organised. Perhaps I don't have that many patterns really to worry about! Not that Mr N would agree!

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  3. Hello .. Hopping over to your blog first time ! Well I started sewing off late so not many patterns yet out there in my shelf. But I maintain them in envelopes. I shared a similar idea to get organized with fabrics on my blog . Hope you will visit! Have a nice day.
    http://thehobbyharbor.blogspot.com

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