6 Simple Ways to Organize your Raw Material Inventory as a Crafter
By following these simple steps, we show you how to become a more organized, and more efficient crafter.
Last updated: April 2026
If you’re an Etsy seller, you already know that organization is key. A cluttered studio means wasted time hunting for that one spool of thread, or discovering you’ve run out of a core material right in the middle of a production run. It’s frustrating, and it costs you sales.
The good news: organizing your raw material inventory doesn’t have to be a weekend-long project. A few smart systems, applied consistently, will change the way your studio runs. You’ll spend less time managing stuff — and more time actually making things.
Here are six practical ways to get started.
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1. Purge your old stock
Even the most dedicated Etsy seller can accumulate a stockpile of materials they no longer need. Old yarn colorways, discontinued fabric prints, fragrance oils from a product line you retired two years ago — it adds up fast.
If you find yourself buried under unused crafting supplies, it’s time to do a clear-out. This creates breathing room for the materials you actually use, and it makes the rest of these steps much easier to execute.
The quickest way to destash is to list your materials on Etsy. There’s a ready customer base of crafters looking for supplies, and what’s clutter to you might be exactly what someone else needs. Local craft swap groups on Facebook are another option — you can often hand things off without any shipping hassle.
Tip: Summer is often a slower sales season, which makes it a practical time for this kind of housekeeping. Clear the shelves, bank a little cash, and start the busy season fresh.
2. Label your raw materials
Creating a labeling system is one of the highest-value things you can do for your studio. It lets you find what you have, understand what needs restocking, and hand off picking tasks to a helper without any confusion.
There are a few different approaches:
Adhesive labels are the simplest starting point. You can buy pre-printed labels with your shop name, or print your own using a label maker or a template. Dymo and Brother both make label makers that are popular with crafters — the ability to print on demand is worth it once your material list grows past a few dozen items.
Chalkboard labels are a smart choice for materials where you reuse the same containers. Write the contents in chalk, wipe it off when you switch materials, and start again. Great for loose materials stored in jars or tins.
Color coding adds another layer on top of text labels. Some makers assign a color per material category — all yarn labels are orange, all fabric labels are green — so they can spot the right shelf section at a glance without reading every label.
If your products have compliance requirements or expiry dates, you’ll also need a way to mark materials by lot number. This lets you note, for each production batch, which lots were consumed — which becomes important if you ever need to trace a quality issue back to a specific supply order.
See also: How to properly label your materials →
3. Invest in quality storage containers
Storage containers are one of those purchases that pay for themselves quickly. The right container keeps materials protected, visible, and easy to find. The wrong one — a shoebox, a grocery bag, a random drawer — costs you time every single day.
When choosing storage, think about a few practical things:
Clear containers are usually worth the extra cost. Being able to see contents at a glance without opening anything saves a surprising amount of time over the course of a week.
Uniform sizing makes shelving and stacking far easier. Mixing random containers creates dead space and makes it difficult to find a consistent home for everything.
Open-front bins work particularly well for materials you pull from frequently. You can reach in without unstacking anything above — simple, but the difference is real when you’re mid-production.
For small items — beads, findings, buttons, small hardware — compartment trays or tackle-style boxes let you see everything at once and keep similar items from getting mixed together.
Stackable drawer units are worth a look if your studio has limited shelving. They let you keep materials in vertical columns while still being able to access everything easily.
One practical note on spending: you don’t need to overhaul everything at once. Start with your most-used materials. Once you have a system that works for those, extend it gradually. Buying containers in batches from the same brand keeps everything consistent and stackable.
4. Be clever with your storage space
Whether you’re working out of a spare bedroom, a garage, or a dedicated studio, space is almost always the constraint. The goal isn’t to find more space — it’s to use what you have better.
Vertical storage is the most reliable way to increase capacity without increasing footprint. Shelving units, pegboards, and wall-mounted rail systems all move storage off the floor and up the walls. Modular cube shelving (the kind sold at most flat-pack furniture stores) is popular with crafters because it’s adjustable, affordable, and works well with standard-sized bins.
Under-table storage is another often-overlooked area. Rolling carts or flat bins that slide underneath your worktable keep materials close without cluttering your work surface.
Dead corners in L-shaped rooms or between large pieces of furniture are often wasted. Rotating corner units or angled shelving can recover that space.
One habit worth building: label the location, not just the container. If shelf B-3 always holds your metallic threads, label the shelf space — not only the bin. That way, if the bin is out for use, you still know exactly where it belongs when you’re putting things away.
Read more: Handmade inventory storage and the home office deduction
5. Group your materials — and add a bin number system
Grouping related materials is intuitive, but pairing it with a bin numbering system is what turns physical organization into a proper inventory system.
Here’s the idea: you assign each storage location a code — like A-01, A-02, B-01, B-02 — and then attach that code to each material in your inventory records. When you need to find something, you look up the bin number rather than scanning every shelf. When someone else is picking for you, they don’t need to know your whole studio layout — they just read the code.
Bin codes typically have two parts: a zone or shelf identifier and a position within that zone. For example:
- A = top shelf, left wall
- A-01 = first bin on that shelf
- A-02 = second bin on that shelf
Or if your studio is more complex:
- Z1-R3-B2 = Zone 1, Row 3, Bin position 2
The specific system you choose doesn’t matter as much as applying it consistently. Once it’s in place, it scales well — you can add shelves or rearrange your studio and just update the codes, rather than re-explaining the layout to anyone helping you.
For jewelry makers specifically, our guide to how to organize jewelry inventory covers labeling materials by SKU, setting reorder points, and building product recipes that connect your materials to your finished pieces.
6. Keep your stock in a tracking system — with location data
The most effective way to get and stay organized is to keep your inventory in a dedicated tracking system. Not just a mental note of “I think I have some of that” — an actual record of what you have, where it lives, and how much is left.
A spreadsheet is a valid starting point. You can log each material, the bin it lives in, your current stock quantity, the reorder point, and the supplier. It’s not glamorous, but a well-maintained spreadsheet beats no system at all.
The limitation shows up when your product range grows. Updating quantities manually after every production run is tedious, and it’s easy to fall behind. Once you’re making more than a handful of products or running multiple orders at once, the manual work compounds quickly.
That’s where dedicated craft inventory software like Craftybase changes things. Every material you add to Craftybase can include a bin or location field, so your physical storage system and your digital records stay in sync. You can search for any material and see exactly where it lives — no more walking every shelf to find something.
Beyond location tracking, Craftybase handles the things that are genuinely hard to do in a spreadsheet:
- Automatic stock deductions — when you record a manufacture, Craftybase deducts the materials used in that batch, based on your recipe
- Low stock alerts — set a reorder point per material, and Craftybase flags it when you’re running low before you actually run out
- Supplier tracking — attach a supplier to each material so you always know where to reorder and at what price
- COGS calculation — your material costs, tracked through to finished products, give you accurate data when it’s time to review your pricing
If you’re at the point where a spreadsheet is feeling unwieldy, our inventory management for makers guide walks through what a proper system adds — and what point it makes sense to make the switch.
For a broader picture of how tracking flows from raw materials through to finished goods, the manufacturing inventory management guide covers the full system.
And if you’re wondering how to connect your material tracking with your Etsy or Shopify store, Craftybase’s raw material inventory management software syncs orders automatically so your stock levels stay current without manual entry after every sale.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best way to organize raw material inventory for crafters?
The most practical approach combines physical organization (clear containers, consistent labeling, bin numbers) with digital tracking (a spreadsheet or dedicated software). Physical systems help you find things quickly in the studio. Digital records tell you what you have, what's running low, and what each material costs you — information you can't get from looking at a shelf.
How do I set up a bin number system for craft supplies?
Start simple: assign a letter to each shelf or zone (A, B, C), then a number to each position within it (01, 02, 03). Label both the bin and the shelf space it lives on. Record the bin code alongside each material in your inventory — in a spreadsheet or in Craftybase's location field. With this in place, you or anyone helping you can find any material by code rather than by memory.
What storage containers work best for raw material inventory?
Clear, stackable containers with consistent sizing are the most practical choice for most craft studios. Open-front bins work well for materials you pull frequently — no unstacking needed. Compartment trays or tackle boxes are ideal for small items like beads, findings, or buttons. Buy in batches from the same brand so everything stacks uniformly on your shelves.
How does Craftybase help with raw material organization?
Craftybase lets you assign a bin or location code to each material, so your physical storage and your digital records stay in sync. It also deducts materials automatically when you record a manufacture, alerts you when stock hits its reorder point, and calculates your COGS from actual material costs. Together, these mean you always know what you have, where it is, and what it's costing you.
How often should I count my raw material inventory?
For most craft businesses, a full stock count once per quarter is a sensible starting point. Busier operations may prefer monthly counts, or a rolling cycle count — checking one section of storage each week rather than everything at once. If you use software that deducts materials automatically as you manufacture, your records stay accurate between counts, which makes each count faster and less stressful.
By following these tips, you’ll be well on your way to a studio that actually works for you. Organization isn’t a one-time project — it’s a system you build and then maintain. But once those systems are in place, keeping them going takes far less effort than starting from scratch every time you need to find something.
