Spring Cleaning Fever

Ok, so Friday Night's Sew-In didn't go the way as planned because

I came down with a fever. In some places it is called

 "Spring Cleaning Fever"  and it can be contagious.

As I sat in my sewing room on Friday all set to begin

my project,  I looked around and became depressed.

Things had really gotten out of hand.

I've been wanting to clean my sewing room for quite some time.

By clean, I mean not only clean it, but really do some organizing.

 I've read about different ideas on how to manage scraps,

but have never found a system that works for me.

So, armed with good intentions I dug into my boxes of

miscellaneous  fabric scraps  and tried to come up with a plan.

 (By the way, the above photo is by no means an indication

of the size of my scrap piles. LOL!)

My previous "system" was to throw all the leftover fabrics into

a container  at the end of a project, so the coordinating fabrics

would  be grouped together. The problem with this system was

that I had containers everywhere.

A little fabric here and a little over there.

When I actually did sit down to make another project,

 it was difficult to see  how much fabric I had to work with.

So here is what I did....

For scraps about the size of a fat quarter, I used my

5" x 24" ruler as a folding guide.

First, fold the fabric along the edge of the ruler.

Once the fabric is folded together, simply slide the ruler out from

 under the layers of fabric.

                                                                                           

Then place the ruler on top of the folded fabric

and fold over the remaining fabric. 

The  fabrics can then be placed into a container for storage.

Although the folding job isn't  perfect...

an inventory can quickly be taken.

(I used the same basic concept for folding larger

 pieces of fabric as well.)

For smaller scrap pieces, I decided to cut the largest square

possible. The squares can be used in many different patterns

of scrap quilts, and certainly take up less space for storage.

So, for the past week I've been cleaning my sewing room

and finally feel like things are getting under control.

Do you have a system for managing scraps?

 If so, I'd love to hear about the system what works for you.