Be Kind To Your Fabrics With These 21 Fun And Clever Fabric Storage Ideas

Many of us, as quilters, love to collect beautiful fabric. 

Yardage and precuts and scraps, oh my!

But how should you store all this fabric you’ve spent your hard-earned money on?

Sure, you could store it in a bin, hidden in a closet, but what fun is that? 

Plus, after time has passed, you’ll forget what fabric you have, which is less than ideal. 

Let’s dive into all kinds of fabric organization ideas that you can use for inspiration to create the fabric organizer of your dreams. 

What to Consider When Organizing Fabrics 

When you realize your fabric collection has gotten so large that you need to do some legit organizing to keep track of everything, there are several things you should consider while planning out your storage system. 

These tips will be helpful no matter what size your fabric collection is or what type of fabric you like to collect. 

• Sun exposure: You never want your fabric stored in direct sunlight. Long periods of sun exposure can fade the color of your fabrics.
• Fold neatly: You want to fold your fabrics neatly, especially if it is quilting cotton or another fabric that wrinkles easily. It also looks much better to fold yardage neatly instead of piling it up on a shelf.
• Fabric weight: One yard of fabric isn’t heavy, but if you plan to stack yards of fabric on a shelf, ensure the shelf can stand the weight. I recommend using wood or metal shelving for extensive fabric collections. Plastic is more likely to bow over time. 
• Color coordination: Decide if you want to organize your fabric by color. 
• Fabric type: Organizing by fabric type can also help keep things in order. 

21 Fun and Clever Fabric Storage Ideas 

Okay, now comes the fun part: looking at a bunch of sewing room fabric storage ideas. Use these ideas for inspiration and a guide for storing your fabric and sewing supplies. 

1. Fabric Scrap Bins

When sewing several projects, you’ll quickly realize you have accumulated a lot of fabric scraps. One of the easiest ways to store scraps is in plastic bins. Separating the fabrics by color is an excellent idea if you have a significant amount, like in the image above.

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2. Fabric Organizer Boards

Yardage can be tricky to store sometimes, especially if you have varying lengths of it. With these fabric organizer boards, you can quickly wrap the yardage around the board and pin it in place like a mini bolt. You can make your own from craft foam boards or purchase them. 

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3. Display Precuts

It’s no secret that precut bundles are beautiful and look like decorations. Why not set up a little display on an empty shelf of your sewing space? I like to do this because they’re beautiful, and the colors and patterns inspire me when I feel uninspired.  

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4. Display Cabinet

Take the precut display a step further if you have space in your sewing area and arrange a beautiful display of precuts, sewing books, and yardage. Keeping fabrics in a cabinet will also protect them from pets and dust. You could even display folded quilts or other handmade items in your cabinet.

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5. DIY Fabric Storage Boards

Here is a fantastic tutorial on how to make DIY fabric organization boards from The Little Green Bean. After wrapping her fabric on her fabric boards, she places them into storage shelves that double as the base of her craft table.

Using shelving as the base for a table is a great way to save space and have your table be multi-functional. 

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6. Baker’s Rack

Okay, this is one of the most unique ideas I’ve ever seen for storing fabrics. The quilter who uses this system has a method to her “madness,” though. Each tray holds the pieces to a different quilt project. Genius, right? 

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7. Cinder Block Shelving

Here is an exciting way to build fabric shelves for your sewing space. All you need is cinder blocks and boards. These will be sturdy shelves; if the cinder blocks fit your style, that’s a win-win! 

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8. Shoe Organizer

Another ingenious idea that helps save space. Here, the maker uses a show organizer that hooks on the back of a door to hold rolled fat quarters. They also coordinated the colors for quick selection, and it looks great.

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9. Fabric Basket

Here are fabric baskets (or bins) that are the perfect size to hold folded fat quarters. These DIY fabric bins are a great idea because they serve a purpose and look beautiful on a shelf or tabletop. The pattern for these fabric bins is available here. 

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10. Large Shelving Wall

If you have a serious fabric addiction…I mean collection, then you need a serious fabric storage area. Here is a beautiful example of how you turn plain white shelving from Ikea into a wall full of fabric.

Shelving like this is great because you can adjust the height of the shelves and rearrange things when needed. 

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11. Clothes Pins

Here is a unique and fun idea where you can use your fabric as wall art. Attach clothes pins to a board and nail the board to the wall to replicate this idea. Next, simply hang your folded fabric with the clothes pins and enjoy your gorgeous fabric wall.

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12. Crib Rails

I love to find ideas that people come up with for repurposing different items. Here we can see the maker has turned a side of a crib up on the end, so the rails are horizontal, and hung their fabric on them. This is great for yardage, especially if you have large pieces of fabric.

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13. Wire Storage System

Wire storage systems like the one pictured above are inexpensive and easy to find. This is an excellent option for those on a budget or if you have a lot of yardage that you neatly folded. You could also purchase a few baskets that fit on the shelf and store your fabric scraps in this system.

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14. Plastic Baggy Storage

When organizing your fabric scraps, you might come up with some very small pieces you don’t want to lose. You can use plastic zip bags to conceal these tiny fabric pieces in this case. You can also use this system to divide colors if you have a small fabric scrap collection.

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15. Filing Cabinet

What a great idea to use a filing cabinet to organize fabric! If you’re on a budget, try finding a filing cabinet at thrift stores or garage sales, then you can paint it any color you want. You can fit quite a bit of fabric in each drawer, so this is an excellent choice, regardless of your fabric collection size.

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16. Spare Closet

Do you have a spare closet that isn’t being used for anything? In the image above, you can see how much fabric you could store in a small closet. Plus, if you keep fabric behind a closed door, you don’t have to worry about sun exposure or pets messing up the fabric.

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17. Fabric Bench

How cute is this little open bench full of beautiful bolts of fabric? This is a great idea, especially if you like to order fabric by the bolt. Sometimes storing bolts can be a pain since they’re so large. 

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18. DVD Storage Rack

A DVD storage rack is another inexpensive option that can hold quite a bit of fabric. The short, shallow shelves are the perfect size for fat quarters. You can store individual fat quarters on the shelves or fat quarter bundles. 

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19. Fabric Scrap Jars

Here is a super cute idea for how to store fabric scraps. For a fun, upcycled look, you can use store-bought jars or jars leftover from sauces or jellies. You can easily roll up the scraps like in the image above and pack the jar full of pretty scraps.

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20. Plastic Storage Drawers

These plastic storage drawers can be found at any Walmart or Target and can be a great storage option. Over time the plastic can bow, but as long as you don’t overload the drawers, they should work fine.

It’s a great idea to add labels to the front of each drawer, so you know what’s inside without having to open the drawers.

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21. Rolled in Drawer

This is a cute and functional way to display and store your fabric simultaneously. The maker has used an old briefcase as a holder for their rolled fabrics. Each fabric roll is labeled with how long the fabric is and the fabric designer.

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11 Excellent Fabric Storage Racks and Containers

Let’s look at 11 great options for fabric organizers you can order for your sewing space. I tried to find options for everyone, regardless of your budget. 

1. Winsome 5-Drawer Organizer

This storage organizer has five drawers that you can fill up with fabric and other sewing notions. It is on wheels and is 16” x 19 ¼” x 26 ¼”. 

2. Iris Plastic Rolling Storage

Here is an excellent option for fabric scraps. The storage unit measures 14 ¼” x 12” x 24 ½”. You can order it with clear drawers or frosted ones. This rolling unit is a great budget-friendly option for beginners.

3. Horstors Storage Cabinet

This storage cabinet features doors on the lower part of the cabinet, two shelves, and then a beautiful frosted glass enclosure on the top. This is a great option if you want to display some precut fabrics. 

4. Iris 12-Quart Storage Bins

These bins are perfect for storing scraps or folded fabrics. The bundle comes with six clear bins. You can easily add labels on the top or front of the bins to quickly see what is inside.

5. StorageWorks Fabric Bins

You can order these fabric storage bins in six fabric options and three size options. They are surprisingly sturdy since they have a metal frame. You can fold, roll, stack fabric, and store it in these bins. 

6. Timebal 8-Tier Organizer

This is technically an over-the-door pantry organizer. Still, it would make a cute and functional fabric storage unit, especially for precuts like jellyrolls and charm packs. You could also keep a thread in one of the tiers.

7. Furinno Luder Bookcase

This storage unit features five cubbies you can fill with fabric. You could also purchase several of these, stack them, and create a beautiful fabric wall. 

8. Amazon Wire Grid Storage Shelves

These wire storage shelves are like the ones in #13. The shelves come in six cube sections, but you can purchase more and build a larger storage unit. Each cube measures 14” x 14”.

9. Breezestival 5-Tier Bookshelf

Here is a unique corner bookshelf with 14 shelf areas that you can fill up with fabrics and notions. The entire unit measures 62” W x 65” H, and each shelf can hold up to 70 lbs. 

10. Yaheetech Wooden Cabinet

I have this same cabinet, which is excellent. Four drawers can hold patterns, fabric scraps, or other sewing tools. Then the other side features three adjustable shelves. It comes in five colors and measures 12” x 22” x 32”.

11. Greenvelly Metal Storage Cabinet

Here is a beautiful metal storage cabinet that features tempered glass doors and comes in four color options. This cabinet measures 12” x 26” x 72” and has four adjustable shelves. Each shelf can support up to 75 lbs.  

Final Thoughts

This was a fun topic to research, and we hope you enjoyed checking out these unique fabric storage ideas. Try thinking outside the box (pun intended!) to create your own gorgeous sewing space. It will make you love your beautiful fabrics even more.