Kitsie, I haven't used the Elmer's brand of glue stick. I bought a pack of cheapie sticks at Big Lots and they worked fine for a year, then dried out. I'm using some I got at Dollar Tree now, four for $1. I don't keep them in anything special. They work just fine. Maybe I'll put the ones I'm not using in a ziplock bag. I don't heat-set the glue stick when I use it, I may wait a 15 - 30 seconds, but that's about it. I love using glue sticks.

Tate

Thx Tate! Do they allow you to "undo" (pull apart) the seam you just glued?

I used glue sticks on my latest quilt project. I used glue sticks to hold some of my pieces together until I sewed them. Some times I used a wider bit of glue than needed. I just tend to get happy with my glue sticks sometimes. LOL! Anyway, even after ironing the seam, I was still able to gently pull apart any fabric that had been glued and heat set. From what I have read here, Elmer's glue is just a very thick starch and not really a glue. The glue sticks did leave a bit of purple on my fabric sometimes but when I washed my quilt after it was done, all the color and glue completely washed out. I seldom uses pins anymore.

Does the amount of time they've been sitting on the shelf before purchase have an impact on this? I think they may only have around 12 months of storage life maybe??

I put mine in the small snack size zip lock bags. I had the same issues you did , with them drying out. I also tried using a small piece of plastic wrap over the end before I put the cap on. That was somewhat better . Now if its going to be a really long time before I use again I do both plastic wrap and zip lock.

Have not tried the sticks yet. By the way my DH makes corn starch here in Indianapolis and 95 % of all glue is corn starch based. They have over 300 recipes for making the different staches.

You an always do what my students do...they can use up a whole glue stick on one project! They never have a chance to dry out...lol

Do you think using the glue stick here and there between my three layers of fabric for a twin size quilt would hold it together long enough for me to do the machine quilting on it without basting or using pins, just the glue stick?

I have found by storing them in a baggie helps to keep them softer.

I use mine up pretty quick so they don't dry out once they're opened. I buy them on sale and put the extras in a plastic baggie and store in the fridge.