Fabric storage can seem impossible. Do you have your fabric stuffed in plastic bins? Tossed into brown paper grocery sacks? Stacked on a shelf, at first neatly, but then just crammed in wherever it will fit? Goodness, I’ve done it all, but after a LOT of trial and error, a lot of fed-up afternoons searching for that one piece of fabric that I know must be somewhere but that I just can’t find, and a couple of wasted shopping trips in which I later discover, horrified, that I already owned something just like what I had bought, I finally figured out the perfect fabric storage system for me. It involves every piece of fabric neatly folded around a uniformly-sized piece of cardboard, neatly sorted, stored, and visible on shelves measured and built around that uniform size. The fabric doesn’t wrinkle, crumble, or collapse behind other fabric. My children can pull a piece off of the shelves and carry it to our work table without causing an avalanche. And that perfect, uniform cardboard that makes it all possible? I use cardboard record album covers, and it couldn’t be simpler. We’re record collectors, and so I stock up when I can find old records for free, or nearly so. Often, though, old records have been mistreated at some point in their lives, and with those 90% of records that I come across that are nearly unplayable, I make craft projects. You can likely find record albums and their cardboard covers similarly where you live. The beauty of the record album cover, however, is that it’s sturdy and of a uniform size, so if you have access to some other large amount of sturdy cardboard, uniformly-sized, to upcycle into fabric forms, then you’re in luck! Lay out your fabric, and center a cardboard record album cover at one end of the piece. If the fabric is more than three times as wide as the record album cover, then fold it in half lengthwise first. Next » Fold each side of the fabric up and over the cardboard. This will keep the fabric a uniform width, and keep it from sliding off the end of the cardboard. Next » Now, simply roll the fabric over and over around the cardboard cover, keeping it snug but not pulling it. Marvel at how much less wrinkled this fabric will be when you’re ready to use it! Next » For this to work, the fabric must be able to fold completely around the cardboard at least once, with at least a little overlap for pinning. If the fabric has enough room to allow it, I fold the last flap in to make a triangle, and pin the end of that triangle once to the fabric already wrapped around the cardboard to secure it. Otherwise, I may use one or two more safety pins, to make the fabric secure enough to be stored standing up on an open shelf. Next » It’s the perfect storage system for me, but with it come a few caveats: Most cardboard isn’t archival. I have a Master’s in Library Science with an emphasis on Special Collections Preservation, and so I have the background to give you my informed opinion: I don’t give a fig about archival storage. Seriously, friends, it’s all going to end up dust anyway someday, and archaeologists 3,000 years from now don’t need to see my fabric stash OR my wedding scrapbook, thank you very much. If you want an archivally-safe cardboard, however, then know that it does exist; just check out any web site or brick-and-mortar store that caters to libraries. I folded very large pieces and thick pieces of fabric, such as felt and fleece and faux fur, around some larger broken-down shipping boxes that I own. It’s not plastic, but it’s no longer recycling, either to do that, since I hadn’t actually used the shipping boxes yet–search for sources of used boxes to break down yourself, to keep a recycling emphasis on this project. I still throw fabric that’s too small to fold around cardboard into bins, sorted by how I use it–novelty quilting cotton, patterned quilting cotton, novelty and patterned flannel and fleece, felt, and everything else. When a bin gets full, perhaps less than once a year, I sort through it and put together a bag of scraps to take to our Recycling Center’s re-use shop, where it’s donated to local arts programs and non-profits. I have a dedicated space for my folded fabric to live, as well, no cramming allowed, and when that space is full…well, the local arts programs get another donation! Last thing–when I first transitioned my stash to this system, yes, it took HOURS to do. Days, even. Now, however, when fabric comes into my house, I wash it, dry it, and then spend less than five minutes folding it around cardboard and setting it in its correct spot on the shelf. Finally, simple storage!
