Stash Sorting , Storage and 'Shibori'

 Once upon a time, I took swatches of all the fabric in my stash  and stuck them on pieces of  card  roughly by colour. In theory it was so I could identify gaps   or find what I wanted rather than rifling through lots of boxes and bags. In practice it was just for gloating. I've  got rid of  loads (honest) and acquired others ( this was before I got into African fabrics and Indigo) so time for the folder itself to be chucked as part of my studio sort out.

Most of my fabric, evicted from the  very large wardrobe, is now sorted by colour, projects and types into boxes on the plastic B&Q shelving. Not a thing of beauty  but actually more functional than the Ikea Ivar shelving I'd originally ordered but which fell apart.

 My original Ivar   stores mainly art materials and threads  and I couldn't resist the metal trolley ( not having my sewing things to hand in the drawers of  desk). The print browser  actually hold prints from my classes but also hopefully shows  potential house  buyers that this room is a studio  ( I debated whether to set up an easel but thought that might be a step too far).  I bought a second  wooden  step-stool - as  both Gillian and   Tiggy have also pointed out, they're indispensible studio equipment.

Erica- the- exercise- bike has been evicted from the kitchen  - it's actually rather nice to cycle looking at artwork rather than kitchen cabinets . As it's a bit early in the morning to switch the radio on , I've taken to listening to music on my phone with  earphone : 'losing my religion' works particularly well.

 Progress in the rest of the house - the electrician has just replaced some of the lights and   I've installed some blinds. The patterns of light through the venetian blinds in the bedroom on the newly painted walls are just magic - instant shibori.

Photoshoot next Wednesday!

October TIF - 12 Treasures

This month the challenge is to think about your textile work space. How do you feel about this space? What role does it play in your life? I wrote a post about this here but the real challenge was how to interpret this in textiles. I've had very little creativity this month but I have been doing a lot of sorting out - not only in my work room but also some of the miscellaneous boxes still lurking in the cellar ( so that's where my 'Paintstik' oilbars were!) Among the items I found was an old (Victorian?) silk velvet patchwork item , pieced quite coarsely over silk net , purchased at a Region 1 Area day. The dark blue/black fitted in with the colour palette for this month -I decided to use part of it to frame photos printed on fabric of some of the things I like about my studio space , some of my treasures. This was then mounted on a piece of silk ikat. Treasures 1-6 : quilt and textile reference books; Bernina Virtuosa 160 sewing machine(only 1 new circuit board and major de-fluff in 10+ years devoted service ) ; hand sewing threads ( mixture of old silks and ethically sourced hand dyed cotton perle ); Valdini and Oliver Twists variegated machine threads; Malaysian woven basket acquired at breakdown of World Orchid Show 1993 (used for storing rolls of paper etc); acrylic inks.

Treasures 7-12: Liquitex acrylic paints; a small glimpse of my extensive fabric stash; 'humbug' triangular pincushion stuffed with sheeps wool circa 1980 - made by my mum, great design as it doesn't roll around and the natural oil in the wool prevents rusting; needlepoint sewing case , also made by my mum, the closest I got to a Turkish carpet until I went travelling several years later; watercolour sketchbooks from my travels; my computer!!!

Sorting the Stash, Part 1

Yesterday, the guys from Nolte came to assemble the wonderfully large 3 door wardrobe kindly donated by Sue and Peter as it was too big for their new house. As a Northern Girl in Exile, it was refreshing be teased by the Yorkshire men ('' You''ll need a stepladder for that Love'') even if I do come from the other side of the Pennines.

In my loft space in the previous property('the love nest') my most accessible fabric selection was stored on its edge in wooden boxes on Ikea's 'Ivar' wooden shelving, filed by colour. Needless to say I had numerous other bags and boxes of fabric and associated paraphernalia. For the move, this was all stored in various size plastic stacking boxes which was quite convenient as could see the contents but inevitably what was needed was at at the bottom of the pile.

I've just been sorting out some of these boxes into the 10 large wire baskets, separating for the first time the silk from the cotton and am editing out the more obviously floral for charity shop/ sale. I've always been keen on recycling fabrics - my clothes and offcuts from dressmaking, finds from jumble sales and charity shops. The problem is that on the whole these have been filed separately from my main stash and use of them has been varied and less than I'd like. As part of the restocking/re-stacking process I'm now trying to incorporate some of these treasures and also get rid of a lot.

Next problem is how to dispose of the sleeves, trouser legs, collars etc. Recycling green bin, rubbish? And then how do I edit and store all my art equipment and art folders and what about all the stuff that's coming out of store. Aghhh......