Hey there Creative Friends, this blog post is all about how to organize your creative space and easily fold your fabrics neatly. I know you’ll pick up a thing or two from it. So, let’s get to it.
I haven’t posted here in a while because I’ve been SUPER busy. First, I had my solo exhibition Drawn with Threads. Then, I created the community art project for the Milford Library. And now I’m in the process of writing a book about all those experiences, so I can share them with you.
It’s been a roller coaster ride but I’m not complaining. I couldn’t have planned it so well even if I’d tried to.
As a result of all the creative work going on in my life, you should have seen my studio. It was a wreck! Getting to the end of the production stages for “Drawn with Threads”, I was no longer being very diligent about cleaning up my space while I was working. So, what I ended up with is what you typically end up with after the creative process – creative chaos.
Nothing wrong with that. It just has to be cleaned up.
There are two types of people when it comes to dealing with creative chaos. One type will say, what’s the point in cleaning up, I’ll just keep going because so long as I’m creating, I’ll make more messes. A valind point, by the way.
The other type of person will say, I need to have a clean space to be able to work efficiently. So, I’ll clean up as I go.
I’m the second type of person.
I’m of the view that creative chaos is a by-product of creativity. It is not the thing that stimulates creativity. And because of this, I clean up my studio as I’m working and especially at the end of a major project. Here’s why:
Why Organize Your Creative Space
Cleaning up your studio and organizing your stuff helps you find what you need when you need them.
That’s allowing you to use your time to do the things you love rather than searching endlessly for stuff you need to do what you love.
And finally, you don’t have to dedicate a special time to spend hours or days to do it if you take care of it on a regular basis.
How to Organize Your Creative Space
There are two parts to organizing your creative space – storage and retrieval. You can’t do one and ignore the other and still have an organized space. It won’t work.
When you keep your stuff orderly yet you don’t return stuff to the right place after you’ve taken them out, then your creative space will not remain organized for long.
To help with that, I live by this quote by the founding father, Benjamin Franklin:
A place for everything and everything in it’s place.
Benjamin Franklin
It’s a very simple rule but a powerful one at that. If you stick by it, you will find organization not so much as a chore but a way of living. So I try to live by this rule.
How to Organize Your Fabric Stash
Let’s talk about fabrics for example.
I sort and arrange my fabrics by color. Using the color wheel, I have a shelf for every color on the basic color wheel (ROYGBIV). Also, I have bins where I store fabric scraps which are too small to fold. One bin for each color.
For those pieces of fabric which are big enough to fold, I use two clear rulers to help me fold them neatly.
When I’m done folding them, I sort them by colors and values and put them in order on their corresponding shelves.
This way when I’m looking for some fabric, it’s so easy to find it because of how they are organized. And I also know when I’m running out of a particular fabric or value of fabric just by looking at my shelves. It makes decision making about fabric purchases really easy.
To make it simple for me, I try not to go crazy about exactly matching the ends of fabrics or lining them up in straight lines with others on higher or lower shelves. So long as they’re not in a mess, that’s fine. They don’t have to be perfect to make the organization work.
How to Neatly Fold Your Fabrics: Simple Method
I’ve recorded a video to show you how to use two rulers to fold your fabrics. I need two because my shelves are shallow. You’ll see when you watch the video.
I’m curious. How do you organize your studio space? Any tips to share? Do you prefer to work in the chaos or to keep it organized?
Never belittle your ideas.
Always keep creating.
Love you.
