sign post with the words order pointing one way and chaos pointing the opposite direction

Quilt Storage and Organization

October 3, 2022

If you didn’t read the saga of the ridiculously lost quilt, you really should. It’ll make you laugh. Or cry. Either way, click back one post. before you read this one.

These days I’ve got my quilts mostly rolled up by type. Portraits, abstracts, class samples, nature, etc. One brilliant idea (came from Laura Wasilowski) is to pin tags to the back of each quilt with it’s name. They all hang out so I can see which quilt is there without unrolling it.

This has sort of worked, but it doesn’t solve my missing quilt problem. The hang tag strings also get horrifically tangled as I unroll the bundle.

tags on rolled and stored quilts twisted together

I could tuck them all in. I think what I’m going to do is use one index card tucked into the end of the roll. It will have all the quilts listed, but I can make a note if it is out traveling somewhere.

Systems take time to set up. And sometimes they make a mess. But you learn as you go and pretty soon they are saving you lots of time and heartache..

How do you store your quilts and more importantly –

how do you keep track of where they are?

by Lyric Kinard

2 Comments

Jeannie
October 3, 2022 at 1:53 pm
Confession … I haven’t tried this but I think I will. Print a small picture of each quilt individually on index card halves. Bundle them with their roll o’ quilts. I’m wondering if a “u” pin through a hole punched in the pics would secure them into the end of the noodle. When a quilt is removed so is the card and is tucked in a box on my desk till the quilt is returned. Like a library book!
Robin
October 3, 2022 at 11:52 am
Spreadsheet! Round office tags with numbers, the tag is pinned to the corner of the quilt facing outward.
On the spreadsheet, columns for the important information:
# designated, description, size, materials/technique (if important), the location where stored/or lent, etc. Be sure to update when a quilt is forwarded to a shoppe/guild/show, etc.
Tag the quilts with the circle tags (metal around the edges) with safety pins attached to the corner so the dreaded tangling of string/thread won’t be a pita. Use numbers to label the quilts and refer to the spreadsheet when searching for a particular quilt. Tweak the categories to what works for you and how you search for quilts. Small quilts I store on skirt hangers in a spare bedroom closet.