Question: Storing fabric in plastic
08-06-2011, 11:55 AM
#61
Member
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 3
I have spent the last 5 years packing fabric back to Canada.It is so much cheaper in the US.Now that I have a park model in yuma I now have to start packing it back. It is the only time I get to sew. I just started quilting the last 5 years. 5 years ago I started hand stitching a grandmas flower garden quilt top. I pick up fabric all the way down to Yuma. I am from Kamloops BC. I have the top done now so time to put it together. I bought a Grace quilt frame and it is sitting on it right now. I am hoping that I will get most of it done this winter when I am south.That is if I can leave my embroidery machine alone. I think everyone has a stash now I have to get the fabric out of the bags when I get south in November.I thought putting it in plastic bags would keep out the summer dust. :-P
08-06-2011, 12:09 PM
#62
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Lehigh Valley, PA
Posts: 677
Originally Posted by Ditter43
Originally Posted by bearisgray
I have, too. I do give fabric a "yank" test to see if it seems more fragile in any one spot.
I do try to rotate the contents now and then.
(Translation - I root about looking for something and dump the fabric back in the container)
I do try to rotate the contents now and then.
(Translation - I root about looking for something and dump the fabric back in the container)
You too?
Ditter
08-06-2011, 12:14 PM
#63
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Jacksonville, North Carolina
Posts: 5,941
Originally Posted by MsEithne
I can't remember not knowing how to sew (or embroider or knit). As I graduated from doll clothes to making clothes for myself, my mother taught me to always get a half yard to full yard more fabric than the pattern called for (if I used a pattern--she taught me how to draft patterns, too). Just in case I made a mistake. Of course, fabric was way less than a dollar a yard back then!
I never intended to build a stash and I never bought a fabric without a purpose in mind but when the project was done, there was usually just too much scrap left for me to feel comfortable throwing away. So now I have a stash and some of the fabrics are over 40 years old.
It has been stored various ways over the years, from a cardboard box, wrapped in a plastic garbage bag inside the cardboard box, in a wooden slatted crate and in plastic bins.
I've been going through all these old scraps with my husband, who wrote a database to catalog them. None of them are damaged, all of them look as new as the day I rolled each set up neatly and tied it with a scrap of the same fabric.
The only precaution I ever took with my scraps was to keep it in the main part of whatever house I was living in, away from basements (too humid in the summer) or attics (too hot and too humid).
I never intended to build a stash and I never bought a fabric without a purpose in mind but when the project was done, there was usually just too much scrap left for me to feel comfortable throwing away. So now I have a stash and some of the fabrics are over 40 years old.
It has been stored various ways over the years, from a cardboard box, wrapped in a plastic garbage bag inside the cardboard box, in a wooden slatted crate and in plastic bins.
I've been going through all these old scraps with my husband, who wrote a database to catalog them. None of them are damaged, all of them look as new as the day I rolled each set up neatly and tied it with a scrap of the same fabric.
The only precaution I ever took with my scraps was to keep it in the main part of whatever house I was living in, away from basements (too humid in the summer) or attics (too hot and too humid).
When I win the lottery (do I have to buy a ticket to win?) I would like to add room the length of my house and 16 ft. wide to have all my sewing machines in, set up, my cutting table, etc. For now, I move one pile to another pile to finish the things I work on. God alone knows that I don't really mind moving anything as long as I can sew.... 8-)
08-06-2011, 12:26 PM
#64
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Central Washington State
Posts: 5,997
Well-said, MimiSharon, well-said!
The south is warmer than my childhood home, but the humidity was still a problem because of the temperate temperature.
It sure helps to have someone from different climates helping us understand all the different environments we quilters struggle to save our fabric from <wave>
and, like you - - I do not mind moving my piles <g> I have gotten used to what happens with my scraps when I let them get fresh air <sigh>
LOL at least I know what I have to do the next time I wonder what to do next, eh? LOL
The south is warmer than my childhood home, but the humidity was still a problem because of the temperate temperature.
It sure helps to have someone from different climates helping us understand all the different environments we quilters struggle to save our fabric from <wave>
and, like you - - I do not mind moving my piles <g> I have gotten used to what happens with my scraps when I let them get fresh air <sigh>
LOL at least I know what I have to do the next time I wonder what to do next, eh? LOL
08-06-2011, 12:45 PM
#65
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: DFW Texas
Posts: 641
Originally Posted by bearisgray
How about ordinary cardboard boxes?
08-06-2011, 04:59 PM
#66
Super Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Tucker, GA
Posts: 2,042
Originally Posted by bearisgray
Why/how are plastic bags and plastic totes "whole different thing"?
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