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You’ve purchased your first set of color chips. You love them. You cherish them. You’ve used them to design your most recent quilty make. Maybe you’ve used them to design 3 or 4 or 10 awesome new ideas. Until now, you left them on your worktable but now you need to put them away, so you can get to quilting up all those amazing designs! How do you organize your new color chips? Where do you store them?
Today, we are sharing our 7 favorite ways to organize, store and display your fabric swatches. We share our favorite method and other ingenious ideas which have come straight from the Woven and Woolly Community. We’ve got ideas that fit right in with your current sewing space decor. We’ve got ideas for displaying your chips as decor in your sewing room or storage solutions for those who want to minimize clutter. We’ve got ideas for utilizing existing nooks and crannies. We’ve got ideas for those of you on a budget or those looking to splurge on the perfect organizational solution. In other words, we’ve got just the right solution for you.
Looking for the best magnet boards for displaying your magnetic color chips? Check out our future round-up of all the best magnet boards.
7 Perfect Storage Methods
- Best budget friendly method for storing your chips in a small sewing space – our personal favorite
- Best for displaying your chips in your rustic, farmhouse sewing space
- Best for displaying your chips in your mod, mid-century sewing space
- Best for storing your chips in your modern, minimalist sewing space
- Best for storing your chips in your vintage, eclectic sewing space
- Best way to leverage your existing drawer space
- Best way to use your existing shelf space
Best budget friendly method for storing your chips in a small sewing space – our personal favorite:
Here at Woven and Woolly, we haven’t always had a dedicated sewing room or a sizable monthly quilting budget. We know a lot of you are in this camp too. We started using clear plastic divided boxes years ago to organize our color chips and we’ve never stopped. Clear plastic divided boxes are just that “clear.” You can easily see inside and you can label them with a label maker or a simple Sharpie. Divided boxes provide a lot of organization in a very small volume, so they are perfect for sewing spaces tight on storage. Harbor Freight’s 24 Divider Storage Container is our personal favorite. The bottoms of the cubbies are curved which helps you slide the chips right out. Curved bottoms are a must for those with limited dexterity in their hands. At $5.99 per container, it’s hard to beat Harbor Freight’s bang for the buck. (While you’re at Harbor Freight, you can pick up my favorite magnetic pin bowl or you could pick up my favorite magic pin finding wand.) It fits an entire set of Kona and an entire set of Art Gallery Fabrics PURE Solids in just one container. That’s over 500 chips!
If you don’t have a Harbor Freight near you, check out this one on Amazon. It’s one of the few that also has curved bottoms of the cubbies.
Instead of a plastic divider box, Sarah @goodenoughquilts used a bead storage container to store her color chips. Even a jumbo vitamin kit could work.
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Best for displaying your chips in your rustic, farmhouse sewing space:
Harkening back to the resourcefulness of many generations of women before you, you too can repurpose, reuse, and reinvent without compromising the beauty of your space. Display your chips in glass jars and use them as a decorative element of your sewing space. You might have handed-down mason jars or maybe a collection of pickle jars or empty jars from your favorite candles. Whatever you chose, you can proudly display your chips while keeping them organized and at your fingertips when quilting inspiration strikes.
Best for displaying your chips in your mod, mid-century sewing space
Your sewing room is sleek, fabulous and glam. Complete your look with an eye-catching Lucite organizer to display and organize your chips. Your chips will be ready and waiting for you the next time a new quilt pattern stops you mid-scroll and you just have to pick the best colors to make your version.
It doesn’t have to be all clear to be too cute. Check out Laura’s set up with Kona, AGF PURE Solids, Peppered Cotton and room to grow!
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Best for storing your chips in your modern, minimalist sewing space:
Enter your sewing space carefully curated with clean lines and warm, neutral wood tones and a multitude of greenery. Organize your chips and other sewing tools in an exquisitely crafted set of wooden artist’s drawers. The drawer dividers allow you to categorize your color chips in whichever way makes most sense to you. Three drawers should be enough for a set of 365 Kona Colors, but if you want to store other tools and notions you might want more.
Best for storing your chips in your vintage, eclectic sewing space:
Your sewing space is an eclectic mix of vintage sewing paraphernalia. Take a trip to your local thrift store. Check out the wooden boxes: jewelry boxes, old cigar boxes, pencil cases or antique chests for silver utensils. You might be able to find old hardware drawers, a library card catalog, or an old printers’ drawer. The possibilities for personalization are endless.
I found this vintage typographer’s set at a local thrift store for $25. It fits my whole set of Kona color chips perfectly.
If you’re looking for the vintage vibe but you can’t find anything second hand. Try this library card catalogue. It’ll fit your color chips and even more sewing supplies and notions.
Best way to leverage your existing drawer space:
Have extra drawer space? Would you rather have your color chips tucked away to keep your sewing space clean and refreshing?
Try using drawer organizers to store your color chips. You could use your existing drawer organizers or repurpose small boxes without lids or tins. If you don’t have anything already, we recommend these drawer organizers because they come separate, so you can bring just the containers you need to your work surface when you’re ready to start creating your next color palette.
Best way to use your existing shelf space:
Have shelf space? Make a binder of color chips like Maya @gingerandjamdesigns.
These pocket sheets for 3 ring binders are a favorite among quilters who have swatch binders.
You can fit any Woven and Woolly color chips or Kona color card swatches, but if your swatches are larger, make sure you’re purchasing sheets with pockets big enough to fit your swatches. Also make sure to purchase enough sheets to hold the number of swatches you want. If you buy two sets of 10 sheets, you’ll have enough for a full set of Kona AND a full set of Art Gallery Fabrics PURE Solids.
Disclaimer for displaying your color chips: Don’t display your color chips in an area that gets direct sunlight. Repeated and sustained exposure to sunlight will cause your color chips to fade. The same goes for your precious fabric. Don’t learn the hard way like I have.
How do you organize your color chips? Do you have a favorite method? Maybe you have one we didn’t cover here. Share your favorite method by tagging @wovenandwoolly or #wwcolorchips on Instagram.
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