What's In My Sewing Binder

Do you keep a sewing binder? I do! A sewing binder can hold all kinds of pattern pieces, tutorial instructions, sewing planner pages, and sewing machine setting notes. I’ve had mine for many years, but I don’t keep in it what you might think! There are some amazingly organized people out there who keep meticulous notes about patterns, future sewing plans, and stitch settings, but I am not those people, ha!

No, my sewing binder doesn’t have any pages of fabric swatches with washing instructions, but it IS a very important part of my sewing room, so I’m going to tell you about it today.

I decided to create this post and then started out by taking photos of my sewing binder, but didn’t get very far before I realized this would make a much better video, where I can sort of talk you through my sewing binder. So here’s that video. Keep reading for a quick rundown of what I keep in my sewing binder, though, if video isn’t your thing!

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What’s in my sewing binder?

Basically, my sewing binder is a catch all for paper patterns, random instructions, notes I jotted down about how I made something, and a collection of pocket pattern pieces in various styles. It’s just a basic large three ring binder that I filled it up with page protectors so it’s easy to slide papers and small pieces into it, where they’re be contained and not likely to get lost.

The binder contains many of my own patterns from my shop that I’ve printed and used, plus PDF patterns I’ve printed from others. I’ve bought a few paper piecing patterns from Etsy over the last few years, so those go into the binder. I’ve also purchased some ornament patterns from Etsy, so those go in there too, along with several free patterns I’ve gathered and like to make more than once. I have some pattern templates I’ve traced out of books or taken out of sewing magazines that I keep in the binder so that they’re easy to find and reuse.

I love keeping all my small patterns in a safe place where they’re easy to go through and find. The alternative would be in envelopes or just held with clips and tossed into my pattern drawer, and I think if I did things that way, I’d constantly be losing things and forgetting about them. Or, knowing me, I’d get fed up with the cluttered look and toss loose papers I didn’t mean to toss!

I also keep a note on the back of the binder with my serger settings for a rolled hem. I got sick of looking that up in my manual, so I wrote them down and put them where I can’t lose them.

What my binder does not hold …

It does NOT hold my PDF clothing patterns; those I keep somewhere else, which I’ll be sure and show you soon.

It is not a place (for me) to keep a record of past projects of journal future sewing plans. I’m just not really that kind of person and while I’d love to be a journaler in theory, it’s something that I just don’t take the time to do and then it makes me feel behind and none of us need a hobby that makes us feel behind on something, right? But that’s just me!

I do continually keep my binder cleaned out. Once or twice a year I go through it and get rid of anything I know I won’t make again.

More ideas for your sewing binder …

Planner pages. Just because I don’t keep planner-type pages in my sewing binder doesn’t mean you shouldn’t! Here is a great collection of sewing planner pages you can download and print, created by someone less fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants than me.

Sewing machine manuals. If you can never locate your manuals when you need them, a sewing binder would be a great place to keep them!

Small specialty fabrics or interfacings. If you have small amounts of certain interfacings, trims, or specialty fabrics that you’re afraid you might lose track of, you could stick them in the binder for safe keeping. I sometimes pin those kinds of things to my cork board, but the binder would be a good place too.

Ideas. Are we still magazine people? I am. I love to buy magazines occasionally, but I’m not much of a keeper because we move so much, so I try not to buy very many. If I need to get rid of some magazines, I first tear out what I’d like to make. My sewing binder is where I would keep them, plus pages of things I find inspirational. Did your mom keep files full of magazine pages she’d ripped out for inspiration? Mine did and I loved going through them when I was young.

What are your ideas for a sewing binder? I’d love to hear them. I’m pretty attached to my binder at this point, I love looking through it and remembering the things I made for my kids and as gifts over the years. Are you a planner person, or more like me?

Cheers!

Nikki