Have you spotted this beautiful pattern but don't know what fabric or yarn to use to make it? Maybe you already have one that would do the trick, somewhere in the back of your stash... But to find out you'd have to open that cupboard, then that box, then... And even, anyway, you bought it so long ago that it is impossible for you to remember its exact composition and weight.Do your sewing projects often look like this? Isn't it at times like these that you dream of having a slightly better organized sewing corner?

What if we offer you a solution that will take up little space and allow you to:

• Better manage your stock of fabrics and patterns,
• Find inspiration more easily,
• Make better use of the fabrics and threads already present in your closets,
• Planning your sewing projects,
• Follow your seams step by step,
• And to keep a valuable record of them once they are over.

You will have understood that we are meeting again this month for a fairly specialized subject, but which will be able to adapt to all forms of creative leisure, from sewing to ceramics, including embroidery or painting.Since all these activities have in common that they require a certain stock of equipment, and to be able to plan their projects and keep track of them.

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Materials needed to organize your creative projects (here, sewing example):

• A box Archivio or Tesoro,
• A few foglietti,
• index cards,
• A stapler,
• paperclips, brads or glue,
• A pair of scissors,
• A pen,
• And of course: your fabric samples and patterns.

We advise you to use white foglietti so that the color rendering of your samples is not biased.

Estimated time: depending on the quantity of fabrics and patterns you have in stock, between 1 hour and a whole afternoon.

Create your fabric guide or fabric library

We'll start by taking stock of all the fabrics you own.For this, we will produce a technical sheet for each of them.

Start by cutting a small square of about 5 x 5 centimeters in the corner of your coupon.Fix this sample on a foglietti according to the method you prefer (glue, staples, paperclips, Parisian fasteners…).

Then write down for each sample the information that you think will be most useful: composition, weight, stock footage, date of purchase, brand, maintenance... Repeat this for each of your fabrics.

You will then have to classify these samples.To do this, define what is your main criterion of choice when the moment comes to select a fabric: is it its composition, its weight or its color? Then use the dividers to create its categories in your box.

If you have a lot of samples, you can also set up a double or triple reading system.If your main criterion of choice is the weight, you can write on all the dividers on the left three or four major weight categories.If your second criterion is the composition, you can write on the central dividers the different materials (to be repeated for all the "weight" dividers), and so on...

Keeping track of the patterns and models we like

While it would be complicated to make fabric sheets without fabrics (unless you order samples specifically for this purpose), it is on the other hand very simple to build up a library of patterns including patterns that you do not have Not yet.

You can proceed exactly the same way as for your fabric sheets, by replacing the sample with a drawing or a photo of the pattern that you will have printed then cut out and glued on your pattern sheet, also including all the information important.

In order to distinguish the patterns that you already have in stock from those that are on your wish-list or potential purchase list, you can add a symbol to your sheet indicating whether this pattern is already part of your collection or not .You can thus make a pattern library out of it, in the same way as you made your fabric library in the previous step.

Finally, as for your fabric sheets, here you can also classify your pattern sheets according to different categories.The most obvious that comes to mind is the type of clothing, but you can also imagine classifying them by designer or level of difficulty!

It's up to you, depending on your desires and the quantity of fabric and pattern sheets you now have, if you want to dedicate a box to your samples and a box to your patterns, or if you want to group everything together in the same .

Don't forget that you can also print the visual of your patterns, or a fashion silhouette, directly on your cards.You will find all the explanations on how to print on your Foglietto cards in our dedicated article.

Mix & match: how to plan your sewing projects for the year

Our little plugs have already shown some of their benefits in these first two steps, but here comes the most creative and fun part…

You will now be able to take out your pattern and fabric sheets and assemble them together.Foglietto allows you here to have an overview of your stock of fabrics and patterns at a glance and therefore to easily test pattern/fabric combinations.As you will have all the necessary information in front of you, you can easily check if the yardage needed for a particular model corresponds to the length of the coupon you have in stock, and if the weight of your fabric corresponds to the weight recommended by the pattern.

Feel free to create a moodboard of your sewing projects by hanging up your fabric and pattern sheets with visuals of your inspirations and your ideal color palette that you have printed beforehand.This is the perfect method if you are in the process of building a 100% me-made wardrobe or if you are embarking on the Make Nine Challenge.

If you don't want or don't have the space to make a moodboard, you can keep your fabric-pattern associations using a paper clip, then in your box, by creating a special section " sewing projects" using a spacer.

Complete your sewing projects with Foglietto: the shopping list, memo of changes made to the pattern, your opinion, etc.

Then it's up to you to imagine what other information could be added to this fabric/pattern combo: the list of necessary purchases (our to-do list sheets will be perfect for that!), a small memo sheet summarizing all the changes you have made to the pattern, a history of the versions made in each fabric or pattern, your general opinion on the pattern, etc.

We have also come up with other useful information for you that you might want to keep in your archive boxes, alongside your fabric and pattern sheets.For example: measurement sheets, color palette or clothing preferences for each person for whom you make seamstresses.Or memo sheets for certain specific techniques, button or ribbon sheets, pattern sheets for your knitting (our checkered sheets will be particularly useful for this)...

There are no limits here! And you can easily adapt this concept to each of your creative activities.You can thus have a box dedicated to your fabric samples, another to your wool samples, another to your ceramic projects, another for your paints, and so on.

Archive all your sewing projects

What to do once your seam is finished? Here you have two options.

You can decide to immediately put your fabric sheet back in its place, and do the same for your pattern sheet.To this, perhaps you will attach a "modifications" sheet.You can hold them together using a paper clip, for example.In this case, you can optionally add an annotation on your fabric sheet, indicating that you used it on such a date to make such a pattern.

Second option (our favorite!): you can create an archive of your completed projects.To do this, you just need to create a duplicate of your fabric and pattern sheets.You will store the first ones as described in the first option, while the duplicates will come to constitute a new archiving box dedicated to all your sewing projects already carried out.

You can thus imagine classifying these sets of project sheets by type of garment or by recipient of the garment, if you sew a lot for others.So you can remember exactly which garment you sewed for whom.Here too, attach your modification sheets, button, etc.

In conclusion, to better organize your sewing projects

Having a well-organized stock of fabrics and patterns is now at your fingertips! Planning your sewing projects and making the most of your fabrics already in stock is possible with an archive box, a few foglietti and a little time in front of you.In any case, we are convinced that this is the first step towards more responsible and more thoughtful quilts and wardrobes!

In summary, step by step:

How to organize your sewing projects?

• Build your fabric library: using Foglietto cards, make a fabric card for each coupon you have in stock,
• Build your pattern library: proceed in the same way for all the patterns you already have in stock and for those you would like to sew,
• Mix and match: associate your fabric sheets with your pattern sheets, experiment with them and create a moodboard of your sewing projects.
• Document your sewing projects: complete your fabric and pattern sheets with a list of necessary purchases, a memo sheet on the changes made, but also keep measurement sheets and color palettes for all the people for whom you sew regularly, plugs buttons or ribbons, etc.
• Archive your sewing projects: keep a precious trace of all your sewing projects in order to remember your fabric and pattern associations and all the seams made for others.