Organize Sewing Patterns

Like a lot of people once I take a sewing pattern out of it's envelope I have a hard time putting it back in.  I've gotten a little better following the creases to fold them but they're never quite as flat.  And what about when you cut out all the pieces?  It's even harder.  This is my solution I came up with.  I don't know if others will like it or if there's a better solution, but this works for me.

The first thing you need are some large envelopes, the kind you can put letter size paper in.  I have white because we had a huge box of them that we weren't using.  The manila ones with the tabs would be better for keeping them closed.  So I started with a large envelope.  Then I taped on the empty sewing pattern envelope on the front, but only the top left corner.  The reason I say only the corner is this way you can flip it over to read the back.   There's a lot of important information you need back there.  And I tape it onto the front so I know what pattern is in the large envelope.  After that you can just put the sewing pattern into the large envelope.  You can do it this way or put everything into the large envelope and just label it on front.

So that is what I started doing for my sewing patterns.  I found a good size box to stand them up in.  After looking at a pattern for a crib set for the third time, I decided I was sick of having to go through all the pieces to find the ones I was looking for.  So I decided to add something else to my envelopes.

I used some 12 x 12 scrapping paper I had.  I folded it in half and then taped across the bottom.

Then I placed all the pieces for one item of the pattern inside.  For the crib set pattern I had pieces for rocking chair cushions, the bumper for the crib, curtains, diaper organizer, crib skirt, and a blanket.  I did a misc. one for items that were only one piece like the fitted sheet.  So I had like 7 of these folded and taped pieces of paper.  I labeled each one with what item it had pieces for.

Then I put the slips in the envelope, alternating sides and folds.

And this is the envelope after I placed everything inside.  It wasn't much more bulky than before.  So now when I just need the pieces for say the rocking chair cushions, I just have to pull out the paper labeled with it.