I am loving OneNote

I have been spending time playing with OneNote today and guess what - it has an app!

I have downloaded the app on my iPhone, signed up for a free MSMLive account and have synced my OneNote to my iPhone so now I have all of my patterns and fabric on my phone.

I have taken some screen shots of my phone so that I can show you what the app looks like:

This shows the OneNote books I have on the screen of my phone (One of the personal books should read patterns - still working it out):

I chose the "patterns book and this shows the categories of my patterns on the screen of my phone:

I chose "Wardrobe" and below shows the patterns I have in this category:

I chose S1945

I can then scroll down and look at fabric requirements / notions needed etc:

Using finger zoom I zoom in on info needed:

Then I zip over to my fabric book

I chose knits and here are the knits I have

I picked the Puckered Knit

And used finger zoom to check out how much of this fabric I have:

All from my phone!!!

LOVE IT. Have a look on your computer. You might already have it. If not, you may be able to download a trial version to check it out. 

Recording of patterns and fabric

I have been reading many blogs on organisation. Organising fabric, accessories, patterns etc and I came across a blog "SewphisticatedLady" and she has a MAGNIFICENT system for recording patterns and fabric in a database. It is using One Note which I already had installed with Microsoft Office 10.

Now - for a living I teach adults how to use Microsoft Word, Excel. PowerPoint, Publisher and Access (in addition to other business subjects) and I had never ventured into One Note. I had a 5 min play when I first got it but wasn't inspired to learn more.

Now I have been playing for a couple of hours now AND LOVE IT! Thank you Dorothy AKA Sewphisticated Lady!! Here are some shots of what I have done:



 You can see my categories up the top and the 2 files I have on the left (Patterns and fabric). Down the Right are all the pages I have added under wardrobe category.

It is so easy. You go the website - in the above case Butterick, click on your pattern and then when it opens right mouse click and choose - send to One Note

It will the open a new page and name the page. I renamed the pages to what I wanted and you need to "clean up" by deleting the stuff that comes over with it (the rest of the website page) and then that is it! Very fast - very easy.

You can see in the next page I have even added the fabric from my stash that I want to use for the pattern.

And in my fabric file I have the information of when I purchased it and for how much etc. And I add a pattern if I have one in mind:

I am loving this system - isn't it great we can learn from each other and get hints and tips to help us?

Wow - and I thought I had storage licked!

I have just spent some time looking at the blog of Hungry Zombie Couture and I must say I am impressed!! Talk about organised! All I can say is WOW.. I am envious of the wonderful sewing room, cutting / storage table and of course - fabric room..

Now I thought I was amassing a stash! I have nothing to worry about for some time yet!

If you haven't stopped by this the HZC site before - do yourself a favour and have a look!
Hungry Zombie Couture

Storage solutions

First thing I do in the morning is read the blogs I follow and then I check in with PatternReview to see what has been sewn and check in with the message board and read the posts that interest me.

One discussion I follow is Sewing Down Under and here I found a discussion about storage so thought I would share my system.

I store patterns in white boxes purchased from Officeworks. They are philosophy brand and fit the patterns lying down - not ideal as you need to pull the patterns out to flick through but I like the look of the boxes. If anyone knows a box that looks good and can store the patterns standing up so they can be flicked through. I tend to put summer / spring patterns together and autumn / winter ones together.

For larger patterns - think Jalie, StyleArc etc - I use lever-arch files with plastic envelopes (again from officeworks - love that store). These envelopes are also great for using once a pattern is cut. They also fit some of those pattern books.

For my feet - I use a box purchased from Spotlight. This is great because it keeps the feet safe and you can also remove partitions to fit larger feet. I couldn't say if it would fit all feet - come can get quite big - but fits what I have. I also take a picture of the foot and glue it to the cardboard description that came with it so I know how to use it and what foot is what. I keep these cardboard instructions in a purse I made during my second sewing lesson. This also holds marking pens, seam rippers, small scissors etc.

What do you use?