[with love Heidi]

I’m trying to find a better way to store my fabric. At present it is in a few draws and a large book shelf AND over the floor in front of the bookshelf in green bags! My husband would love me to get it off the floor (as would I). I suppose I’m looking for a way to store them on the book shelf so they don’t fall off and that uses all the space on the shelves. My stash in separated into 3 main parts, the everyday fabric (mainly cottons and plolycottons, form thrift stores and spotlight), Special fabric (silk sari fabric, multiple large pieces from Indonesia etc), and Bulky fabric (wool, fleece, fake fur).

How do you store your fabric? What works for you?

[Kim]

If you google storing fabric on foam core you will see the blog: little green bean. She cut 20 x 30 white foam core down to 10 x 7.5 pieces and wrapped her fabric around it and put it on book shelves.

[Masha Richart]

Similar to what kmac wrote, I’ve read about people buying “comic book boards” that I guess are used to keep comic books in pristine condition (?) and wrapping fabric around them, then storing them upright on a book shelf. Most of my fabric lives on a bookshelf too – I just fold it into rectangles roughly 5×8″ in dimension (I’m not anal about it – they just end up like that) and stack them. I have quilting cotton prints in one stack, solid cottons in another, apparel cottons in a third, lining fabrics, cords, etc. My bulky fleece and knits live in a bin. My fabric stash is not very big so it works ok for me.

[cybele727]

Oh I am looking for a good way too! I got exiled into the basement! My hubby is tired of the dining room looking like a sweatshop factory floor.

I have plenty of storage. But it is how to store it and protect it. I am using large air tight bags, rolling the air out and piling them in a drawer. Of course they are wrinkled but damp free! I like the idea of carding them. And then perhaps bagging them. This way the can be on shelves instead of in drawers.

As they are now, the bags are shapeless and would slide to the floor.

Jenny

[with love Heidi]

I had been wondering about the ‘comic book boards’, dose anyone use this system, and if so how dose it work?

I can relate to the bags sliding onto the floor Jenny, as I have some of my stash in ziploc bags, which slide beautifully on to the floor if it is not flat. But I like them because it makes it easy to shuffle through the fabric to find what I’m looking for.

Thanks for responses

[Tamara]

I guess it would be similar to what they use in quilting shops – hey that is an idea Heidi, do you have a quilt shop near you that would have spare cardboard from their used up bolts of fabric??? If they will relinquish them your problems would be solved!

I had the same situation and splashed out on an Ikea cupboard 2.5m by 2.66m high and currently have some hanging on the $1.95 trouser hangers – the rest don’t fit because I have heaps of stuff! But slowly but surely the old stash is being renewed and hung up with the bulkier fabrics like the stella knit and the winter fabrics – flannel and corduroy folded in the cupboard. It is a thousand times better for the fabric and I can actually see what I have now.

[LisaMM]

There are some great ideas on here. I had the same problem as you Heidi. I purchased small clear tubs with lids from Ikea and sorted the fabric that way. They can be stacked up (I have mine stacked in a hall cupboard). I’m sure they might fit sideways on a bookshelf. Mine is still a WIP trying to find the best way to organise fabrics.

[Jane]

I bought the comic book boards a month or so ago. A pack of 100 was just a few dollars from Amazon. I have not yet started to use them for storage yet. Hubby has vacation scheduled in two weeks and I hope to clean and reorganize my craft space then. So, if anyone has any better suggestions between now and then, I’d love to hear them.

[Lightning McStitch]

I’ve got the Ikea tubs in an Ikea wooden open shelf thingy which was meant to be for kids clothes but I’ve completely taken over it. The lids don’t fit cause the tubs are too full of fabric and I’m thinking I’ll have to move fabric out to the shed in plastic bags and give my kids back some drawer space.

I’d love the wardrobe space to hang it, and leftover cards from a quilting shop would be a lovely way to keep it all looking new.

[meleliza]

I sort mine by weight and use and stack it in piles on bookshelves. I try to keep it by color too. But this way I can browse through it and easily see what I’ve got, like a store. If I want a dress, I can go to the dress weight pile or the bottom weight pile. I have blouse weight, bottom weight, medium weight and seasonal piles. I keep the interfacing and lining fabrics in boxes and some utility type stuff in a basket. Here are some pics: http://queenoftheflies.blogspot.com/2012/09/back-to-school-organizing.html

[Robin]

Hi! I went the comic book board route this summer. I figured 100 would be more than enough. I could use a few more. It was a rude awakening and has forced me to think about my glutenous ways! I only store quilting cotton, voile, and some cotton/linen blends this way. Fold the fabric selvedge to selvedge. Fold it in half again. Wrap around board. Put a pin in it. The nice thing about this system is that if you pull fabric out, you don’t have to refold it to put it back. I’ll take a picture later.

[with love Heidi]

Glad to hear from someone who’s used the system Robin. I’m thinking that the boards are going to be the way, but I must remember to over estimate how many I’ll need! I must remember to take “before” and “after” pictures. Now I just need to go and check out the comic book store in town!