A Fabric Organization Idea for You
I recently had someone leave a comment on this blog asking about my fabric storage – particularly the pieces of fabric that are wrapped around something stiff and stored upright. Well, Kay from the UK, this is for you!
I think it would be boring to stack all of my fabric the same way, so some is just piled up, some is hung on a garment rack, and some is wrapped around pieces of vinyl siding like this. Yup, it’s plain vinyl house siding that you can pick up at your hardware store or maybe find remnants in the classifieds.
My pieces are 9 1/2” tall and cut 13” wide. My cubbies are about 13 1/2” tall, so the vinyl pieces stand up nicely.
I have found that this is a good way to store pieces that are between 1 and 3 yards. Less than 1 yard can be tricky to secure, and over 3 yards gets bulky. Fold the fabric into a long strip and wrap it around the siding…
Then secure with bobby pins or fabric clips to hold it on. I wouldn’t use safety pins. Left there for a while, they could damage the fabric.
You can also fold pieces from the same collection into narrow strips and store them all together. Thanks for asking, Kay! Let us know if you have this type of siding or something similar in the U.K..
What about everybody else? Do you have a fabric storage tip? Leave it in the comments. We all love organization tips!
xoxo,
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Lol, never thought of siding–going to visit my neighbor who is redoing the outside of his house and see what treasures I can find!
Ah, alas, we don’t have siding in the UK, our houses are built of bricks. Cool solution though!
I wrap my fabric around the cardboard sheets designed for comic book storage. They are available in packages of 100 for around $8. They are 6 3/4" X 10 1/2" and fit in the Closetmaid cubicles nicely. I store mine in the drawers of an armoire and can see at a glance what I have.
I tried the comic book sheets but they were a bit flimsy for me. Plus they were wider and the height didn’t work for all my fabric shelves. I bought several sheets of foam core from the dollar store and cut them down into rectangles to fit my shelves. I wrap my fabric around them and they stand up very well on the shelves. I use painter’s tape to hold the fabric on the boards but I love the idea of using bobby pins instead. They can be bought very cheaply at most any store. Great idea!
Great idea: Sturdy cardboard (like the good shipping boxes Amazon prime usually sends) does the trick, too! You can duct tape two larger pieces on top of each other for more stability.
I use the comic book cards as well: https://www.amazon.com/Current-Comic-Book-Backing-Boards/dp/B003ZUK2J6/ref=sr11?ie=UTF8&qid=1428584407&sr=8-1&keywords=comic+book+cards. They are sturdy, cheap, easily available, and no prep is needed. I just fold my fabric along width of fabric until it is 1/4 yard by WOF and then wrap around the card. Easy peasy and delightful to look at.
Well, we don’t find this vinil and the comic book easily here in my country, so i wrap my fabrics around a piece of paperboard, gives a bit of work, but all gets pretty. I usualy cut a box in pieces of same size. It’s cheap and easy to do.
clever storage idea! I have my fabric stash all stored in filing cabinets, draped over the cardboard filed, keeps it nice and clean, the cat can’t curl up on it and takes up much less space in my sewing room than before
I go to the hardware store and buy a big sheet of corrigated plastic. I cut my own sizes. it is very cheap.
I actually asked at my local Joann store, and they will usually give you the empty cardboards from the bolts. I will grab 15-20 at a time if they have that many, and then I take it home and cut each piece into about 4 pieces with a utility knife, cutting off any creases so they’re just cardboard. Best part is they’re free, and although it’s a little work to cut them, you can make them any size to fit whatever storage shelf or space you’ve got. 🙂