Storing fabric
 

I looked through the search and maybe gave up to soon before i found my answer but i was wondering what is the best way to store fabric? A plastic container, card board box ? I don't have a lot as of yet but i'm sure my stash will grow.

Thanks!

Before I was able to store my fabrics on shelving, I used clear plastic totes to store mine. Of course, I was in it constantly so the tops of the containers were opened frequently!

I use plastic and never ran into problems until now. Purchased clear plastic tub, topped of with lid. Opened a month later and a weird plastic smell! Had to was everything again! Never had trouble before, back to the store and stuck my head in the same tub.Wow! Did not notice the oder before. I know I looked weird. But lesson learned. Has to pass thebreath it all in test next time!

I store my fabric in a lot of places, too little storage, or too much fabric??? : ). My dh put shelves in my little sewing room closet. there I store large quantity fabric wrapped around the store cardboard things that came from Joann's, (standing like they do in JoAnn's). in front of them, I have the small yardage folded somewhat by color.On the bottom, I have a plastic bin of civil war scraps. I store fabric in clear plastic bins in other closets in the guest room. Then there is more fabric in hope chests in the attic walk in. My advice to you is where ever you store fabric, keep it out of any day light. The day light will fade fabric along the fold - happened to me years ago. My stash is just too large. My goal is now just to buy what I will use for a project. I steer clear of fabric stores, unless I am looking for something specific. Sometimes I can, other times I fall right off the wagon!!

my fabric is folded around my 6x24 ruler [then remove the ruler] and stacked by color on [plastic?] garage storage shelves. you might want to check out the QB's organization forum here http://www.quiltingboard.com/mission-organization-f23/

Since my sewing room is in the basement and Long Island has lots of humidity I store my fabrics in plastic shoe boxes. I am thinking of getting a dehumidifier later but for now plastic it is!

I store my fabric in plastic storage boxes I got at Office Depot. I haven't had a problem with weird smells yet. The lids don't fit real tight - maybe that's why. I like that I can see what's in the box without having to open it.

I fold my fabric with a 6x24 ruler and stacked by color on shelves in my sewing room.

I have a lot of fabric and plastic tubs would take up way too much room so I use the ruler to fold my fabric and then put on shelves in my utility room. I have done this for several years now and have had no problem with moisture. If it is dusty I just throw it in the dryer for a few minutes. Here is a photo of part of my stash.

I wrap my fabric on cardboard magazine boards (comic boards but a little larger). Then put on a bookcase shelves vertically. I do wish I had glass doors on the bookcase though.

This makes it really easy to "shop" my stash. And I can remove one fabric with one hand and without disturbing any others as I would if I stacked them.

I like stackable drawers from walmart. I fold my fabric and then put them in on end, I sort by color, and that way I can thumb thru to see what I can use....Pieces over a yard go on bolts from Joann, that I cut in half like little minnie bolts...when I do that I pin a little postit note on the end telling me how much is there, that is usually for backings...

I use to store my fabrics in big plastic clear boxes with lids. I never noticed any odor or anything. I just got real tired of moving them around. We bought a 48 x 72" cabinet at Lowe's and I folded fabric with a ruler. I had so much a couple of shelves broke and my Husband had to reinforce them. The little plastic things that hold the shelves broke under the weight. I have 6 or 7 large pieces in a stack and three rolls on each shelf. I am finally seeing a shelf getting lighter. I make a quilt about every two weeks and really don't use much of it.

Jingle, I think I have the same cabinet. I got mine at Lowe's' too. I have lined the walls of my sewing room with that cabinet (a wardrobe cabinet) and several smaller cabinets. Works great. I also have 2 open bookshelves. Everyone who stores their fabric on open bookcases, please be careful because the sun will fade most fabrics on the fold line over time. I used to store my fabric on open bookcases, and that is what happened to me. Lots of spoiled fabric. I did enjoy looking at all my fabric, though.
Sue

What's this "fold with a 6x24 inch ruler" thing about?

I have wood bookcases lining the walls of my double garage. Plastic can sweat so have never used the plastic boxes for storage. I do use the plastic tubs when going to a sale as they help keep the fabric clean and are easy to transport.

One thing to keep in mind is where do you live? If its humid or you get lots of rain (like Oregon, where I live), then I would store on open shelving for lots of air circulation. The added bonus is I smile everytime I walk into my quilt room, with all the colors and fabrics on display. I used Billy shelves from Ikea, and have a wall of those -- folded my fabrics so they fit on the shelves (11" deep) and its perfect. Separated by colors, Christmas, Australian, baby/children, misc and "All Creatures Great & Small" - a quilt I hope to do in the not too distant future. In between are baskets of various things (old hankies, patterns, threads, etc) on shelves & pics. I think you need to do it so you can see what you have easily.

Cardboard boxes, and actually any wood products that are not treated (including tissue paper), are hard on fabric. Wood contains an acid that gradually eats fabric. This is one reason why many antique quilts that were stored for long periods of time in cedar chests have brown stains and holes in them.

To make cardboard boxes safe, you would have to either line them with muslin or spray them with a polyester film to prevent leaching of the acid.

I have stacking plastic tubs for my fabric. If you go that route, my advice is to skip the really big tubs because they get too heavy. I like the smaller tubs that are all see-through plastic. I tape a label to the inside of the tub (label facing outside), which keeps the labels from getting dirty and also allows me to replace the label easily. My very favorite tubs have latches on the box which make taking the lid on and off very easy, plus they stack really well. Unfortunately, Walmart isn't selling them any more. If you can afford it, it's really nice to buy all the tubs at the same time, as similar sized tubs from the store vary over time and often don't "play well" with existing tubs.

This also happened to me but I have to store in plastic bins. What I did is I bought some of those little votive
candles from Yankee Candles.They have room freshner ones and that cured that plastic smell for good and now
the fabric smells very nice when you use it and is gone by the time you are finished with your project.

LOL!! I to laugh about your 1st sentence, "I store my fabric in a lot of places, too little storage, or too much fabric???"

I use plastic gallon ice cream & butter buckets (run through the dishwasher 1st of course...), as well as plastic shoe boxes, pirouette cans, plastic filing boxes; OH, my fave so far is those large Enfamil GentlEase baby formula plastic storage containers!!!

Pretty much anything that comes to me free, or was originally used to store something else & is reusable!!

I store mine in plastic tubs with lids but I do make sure that the tubs are covered in heavy scrap fabric to stop "fade" happening through the plastic.

I fold my fabric the same way and then store it on shelves that my husband built for me in the sewing room closet.

i store mine in stacking plastic drawers. i bought a few stacks at a time over the course of several months so i could move my fabs off the shelves where i had been keeping them.

i prefer the drawers because they keep the fabs clean, they don't fade along the folds, but i can still see what's in each drawer when i'm shopping my stash or reorganizing it. (because fabs come out and don't always go back in where they started. LOL)

I put pieces that are a yard or more on clothes hangers in a closet. The smaller pieces are in a cardboard box on the closet floor.

Never store fabric in plastic bins, formaldhyde gasses will form. Fabric needs to breath, so which ever way you decide to store your fabric keep this in mind. I store my fabric in metal wire bins attached to the wall in my sewing room closet.
These were purchased from Lowes, easy to install. They work great and gives me great storage and easy access.

To solve the problem of dust on fab stored on open shelves...I purchased clear plastic on roll from JoAnn's and just like in the grocery stores in front of open freezer, I stapled on 2/4, nailed to edge of top self and then cut into about 15" strips from floor to wood strip, can get my hand on the shelves and see fab but keeps most of dust out......

Good description Tartan. This is the way I do mine and I then stand it on edge in dresser drawers. I used to lay it in the drawers until I learned this method here on QB. Found out I could store twice as much in the same space! Oh, drat! Had to go shopping to get enough fabric to keep a partial drawer standing up. LOL Anyway, it works great. I keep FQs, strips, squares, and UFO blocks in the stackable plastic drawers from WalMart. I still keep anything that is not quilt cotton in plastic tubs, but I don't have much of that anymore. I don't like cardboard; it has to many spaces for critters, especially cockroaches which love to eat the glue.

Anyway, as someone else said, the main thing is to keep your fabric out of direct sunlight and reasonably protected from dust.

Hi,

I have about 50 clear plastic shoe boxes that houses a whole lot of fabric. Some of that fabric has been there 20 years, and is still very useable. I keep fat quarters in boxes cut down so I can see the fabric, and baskets for jelly rolls and other precuts.

I store my fabric two different ways. The smaller pieces, those I can fold into a square, go into a small bookshelf, stacked in as close to color coordination I can get them. The larger pieces of fabric are placed onto cardboard strips - I took boxes and cut out wide enough pieces so I could fold my fabric over each piece. Then I put those upright, into a large book case. I can see the colors, fabric choices are quicker, and I feel organized!

I store my fabric in plastic containers, fabric containers, sitting on shelving, in doctor bags, in dresser drawers and in a storage unit (like a bookcase with doors on it). I like the fabric containers, but I can't see what's inside. There is a place on the outside to slide a piece of paper with the name of what is inside into, but I've never done that. I think I should do that today. I have 12 of them. They are quite big and I have them stacked and have to go through each of them to find the one I need. I must be the laziest person alive! It would take 5 minutes to fix this problem. But I feel the most comfortable with my fabric stored in the fabric containers. They are hard and stand about 6" tall. I bought them from Fons and Porter. Excellent quality.

I use the large plastic storage shelves in my sewing room. My fabric is ruler folded and stacked by color. Scraps are in large plastic laundry hampers with holes in the sides. Fat quarters are boxed in plastic shoe boxes, by color, and stacked under my quilting table.

I believe it's only the soft plastic bags that outgas formaldehyde; the hard plastic bins are okay. Some people drill holes in the plastic bins to allow for air flow. I don't do that and have not encountered any problems so far (years). The one thing you do *not* want to do is store fabric in a closed container with moisture; that will cause mold.

My dream way of fabric storage is a large walk in closet with adjustable shelving from floor to ceiling on all walls. Then have my fabric folded so I can see everything on the shelf. Still a work in progress....

I, too, live on Long Island and my quilt room is in the full, finished basement. I keep a dehumidifier going constantly...all my fabrics are stored on Ikea Billy Bookcases and Expedit shelving system with no problems. BTW, Tashana, where on the island do you live? Lynnie and I are trying to get a group of L.I. board members together for maybe a bit of a luncheon. Lynnie is in Islip, I'm in Mastic Beach.

I love all your ideas and suggestions and I keep meaning to sort/tidy my fabrics before I go mad in yet another lqs or at a quilt show!!!!!

Youve inspired me, thank you,

What is folding on 6 X 24 ruler. Never heard of it

Here's a Youtube video on folding fabric over a ruler:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkTlaMqRlwo

I have two cabinets with doors. Inside one cabinet are shelves that I put my plastic shoeboxes (without) lids sometimes I need to stack the shoe boxes. One cabinet has the louvered (spelling?) doors and two large drawers at the bottom. My fabric is hidden from sunlight and dust and can breathe because no lid on shoe boxes and my doors never close completely (too much stuff in it). I got my cabinets from JC Penney's catalog in the bathroom section (this was 4 years ago). My scraps go into a big plastic tub under my cutting table, then sorted in large ziploc bags according to seasons, color, designer etc. Hope we given you lots of ideas!

Never store fabric in cardboard boxes as it will stain your fabric and the stain is then hard to wash out. When I moved, that's what I did. Lesson learned.