Organizing Magazine Patterns: A Librarian’s Guide

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1. 

   Sue Horowitz December 29, 2022

   Where are the larger sheet protectors for magazines available? Some magazines fit the sheet protectors that hold 81/2″ x 11″ but the Interweave magazines are slightly wider. Thank you.

2. 

   Cindy Stern November 10, 2022

   Instead of organizing issues of Interweave Knits strictly chronologically, I group them by season, then by year within each season. That makes it easier to look for patterns appropriate to a particular season. (This method is also librarian approved, since I have a masters degree in library science.)

3. 

   Emily Scholz November 9, 2022

   I love the idea of putting the magazines in binders. Great tip! Something that I would add to the organization tips is to create a cross reference using a spreadsheet. When browsing through a magazine and when you see a pattern you like, add it to your spreadsheet recording the pattern name, the magazine and the issue date. Then you can easily find the pattern in the appropriate binder. I have also kept the names of patterns I have made, what kind of yarn I used, needle or hook size, who I made it for, any comments, the magazine name and issue date.

4. 

   Victoria Riseborough November 9, 2022

   I haven’t noticed that thinner issues are easily damaged in magazine holders, actually. I got several magazine holders/organizers when my collection grew large enough. If you fill the box well there’s no need to worry about damage as the issues won’t bend, or to make a custom holder to fit.* If there’s extra room I just place some filler paper and reinforce the edges of my mags with book tape to avoid wear. Binder magazine holders in my experience run the risk of tearing at the edges of the spine, which on certain types of magazines are creased and prone to splitting. Some of my magazines have glued spines and can’t be put into them, as well.

   I sorted my magazines by title, each title to a different box, or for larger collections between a couple of boxes. Then I ordered by issue within the box. UK magazines often come with gifts such as tools, yarn, supplement magazines or pattern leaflets. Supplement magazines went into a holder of their own, and leaflets went into a binder and plastic protector.

   For every magazine, supplement and leaflet, I took a photo of it before filing it, so I can see which ones I have without going through the boxes, and manage database entries using calibre (a digital library management tool) with the photos as covers. I have each digital entry tagged with the types of patterns the issue contains for easy searching. Instead of removing favorite patterns from magazines, I just scan the patterns, and attach them to the digital entries. Back in the day, my mom xeroxed her favorites so she didn’t have to damage her issues and have a copy she can have around rowdy children and scratchy cats. This way if you lose your working copy, or say, a cat with a chewing obsession** eats it, you can just find it and print it out again so you don’t get interrupted in your project.

   *(You can easily make the box kind of magazine holders out of a cereal box and wrapping paper, at a bare minimum, if the box is big enough to hold the magazine, or make your own custom holders that are cushioned and study. For a video look up “How to Make a DIY Magazine Holder” on how to make custom magazine holders)
   ** That’s totally not what prompted me to start keeping extra copies around. Nope. Definitely don’t have a cat that shreds literally every magazine or bit of paper he can get his paws on, not at all.