Folding Fabric
I have struggled for years to figure out a way to keep the fabric on my shelves looking neat. I had big pieces and little pieces and they all looked messy no matter how careful I was. After 30 plus years I discovered something that changed my life. I was so excited that when I got it done I was bringing the neighbors in to see it.
Even better, I couldn’t believe how easy and fast it was to do it. Previously, I had 2 shelving units that had been packed and stuffed with material. Now, after about 2 hours, the material was folded and placed where I could not only see it to use it but where I could get to it easily without mounds of fabric falling on me.
In the first picture (above), the mess on the bottom shelf is what it used to look like every day. The shelf above the “every day” shelf shows what it looked like when I was having a sewing marathon.
You could use this same method for folding anything like linens (that are stored after the holidays).
I use a 24 x 6 inch ruler. For smaller pieces, you could use a smaller ruler. If you don’t have a ruler, just use a piece of cardboard or something similar to the ruler.
Lay your fabric on the table folded as it comes off of the bolt, with the 2 selvage sides together.
Lay your ruler on the fabric as shown.
Fold the end over the ruler.
Then just start flipping and rolling fabric and ruler over and over until you come to the end.
When you get to the end pull the ruler out and fold fabric in half.
This is what my fabric looks like now. I am going to get some plastic dividing shelves to divide the stacks up even more or adjust the shelving so the stacks won’t be quite so tall but this gives you an ideas of the start I have made. Have you ever seen such perfectly folded fabric? I love it!!! Be still my little beating organizing heart.
-Jill
PS. If things are really a mess in your sewing room, don’t panic. This really takes less time than you would think. Pick one section and sort through it, tossing what you can and folding the pieces you want to keep as you come across them. It can actually be fun because we love handling and looking at our fabric.
Oh, I’m jealous! Jealous for 2 reasons…..#1 It looks so neat and organized…#2 You have so much fabric to choose from when you do a project! All of my extra fabric bits and chunks fit into 2 oversized plastic shoe boxes :( So, ok. I have a new goal. I want to accumulate as much extra fabric as you. Heehee! How very unfrugal, yes? Just kidding but hey, it looks great!
~Tris
Love it!!!
Wonderful! I am just starting to learn to sew and quilt and will have to do this. I actually already have one of those rulers for my quilting. Ingenious! I am so glad you started blogging w/ Tawra. You both are just precious. God bless!
Amazing! After all these years of sewing (not so much in the last few but I vow to get back to it)I have not seen this tip. I’m going to try it!
Lisa I felt the same way when I first saw this tip too. I got even more excited when I found out how easy it was to do. I was tickled to get your comment because I knew only another sewer would understand my excitement.
My grown children weren’t near as impressed with it as I was but none of them are sewers.
Tris, I wish you lived near I would have shared some of my fabric with you. I had to practice what I preached and gave away a bunch of material not too long ago. It was soooo hard to do.
Probably 80% of my material was given to me. Someone I know moves or something like that. I have been so blessed in that area. I guess God knew that I wouldn’t allow myself to buy any so He made it so others would supply me.
I do have to break down and buy me a little every once in awhile. I get a 50% off coupon from the fabric store and will go and buy a quarter of a yard of something I love. It usually costs about $.50 -$.75 but I get my fabric “fix” that way. Since I do quilting that is usually more then enough for me to do something fun with.
Anonymous, if you happen to have a smaller ruler too you can use that for your smaller pieces boy I wish I could see some of you guys quilts.
Jill
I love your idea!
Here’s what I do with the smaller pieces. I fold them into mini-bolts, about a sandwich’s width. Then I take several of the same color family and lay them just a little apart from each other rather than right on top of each other. Then I fold my “sandwich” and put them in a sealing sandwich bag (Can I say Ziplock when I don’t use name brands?) That way when I need something small, I can go through my small pieces easily and nothing gets messed up. I can send a pic if anyone is interested.
We would love a picture. I saw a show where they used old round fish bowls but you could use large glass jars or any glass container and they kept all their little tiny pieces just stuffed in those because you could see at a glance what you had.
I still say quilters and sewers(sp) come up with the neatest ideas especially when it comes to storing things. That’s so we can find ways to store more material! :) :)
Jill
WOW!! It’s so awesome!! Now, if only I had some fabric… I’ve been reading thru so many of your posts and I think it’s awesome that you and Tawra take the time to explain in great detail the how-tos of homemaking. We have a clothesline and a neighbor asked me why and how. I sent her a link to your blog because I honestly don’t know a “better” way to hang laundry out. I do know that I have to get a clothes pin apron!! Keep up the awesome sites!!
Like the idea for storing material. If I sewed that would be great for me.
Do you or anyone have a good way to store yarns for knitting and crocheting?
I have 2 large rubbermaid tubs full of yarn and I tried to use a shoe storage bag but that is not working as my cat takes great pleasure in emptying the lower sections. I know he takes pleasure in it because he does it while I am in the room and meows as he gets another ball out.
Help. I just got a grocery bag with about 50 small left over balls of yarn from a friend and they are still sitting on my love seat in the living room. Fun to knit with not so much fun to sit and look at all the time.
Grandma I store my yarn in cardboard boxes which comic book collectors use. My son had some he was getting rid of and I didn’t want him to toss them. I have mostly skeins of yarn and these boxes are long and narrow with lids which are easy to get on and off. I can stand the skeins of yarn on end so when I open the box I can see all of them. The box is the perfect height for that. I also store some of my balls of yarn by color or kind in those plastic bags which sheets, comforters etc. come in and stack on a shelf. I can see at a glance if I need a certain color what bag it is in.
Forgot to mention too. I finished a post on sewing tips yesterday which will be coming up and I had one tip which I haven’t tried yet but sounds like a good idea which is to store your yarn for the project you are doing in those mesh bags like oranges or potatoes come in and pull the yarn through the hole in the bag. This sounded like it would be especially good if you were having to use several colors.
around town here and at the knitting club they use yogurt or ice cream tubs depending on the size of the ball of wool. Put a few holes in the lid and pull the yarn through.
They say it works great because they go to the beach or picnics or even in the back yard and the wool doesn’t get dirty.
They can tuck the pattern into the tub as well and it is ready to go.
I am going to start sewing barbie clothes as soon as Don shows me how to work his sewing machine. Hopefully I can figure the patterns and the machine out.
My little Mia has created a monster.
I am impressed!!! What a great idea!
I can’t believe no one here has mentioned “Space Bags” or anything like them. They are those plastic bags where you vacuum out all the air so it compresses the items inside to a flatter height. I think this would work well for long term (holiday colors) storing of both fabrics and yarns. They are clear so you can still see what’s in the bag and you can store more in a limited amount of space.
We didn’t mention them because when we tried to use them it was a huge failure! Great idea but they punctured easily and then it was a mess trying to get them out from under the bed.
My niece uses space bags in her luggage when traveling. The only problem she has ever had with them is when she over stuffed the bags. I just think shrinking down the storage size of fabric or yarn would make it easier to store on a shelf.
Space Bags only work well for things that are fluffy, if you think about it. Flat fabrics that don’t trap much air anyway aren’t going to get much flatter when the air is sucked out. So for comforters, fine, but for other fabrics, they don’t work so well.
Another great fabric storage idea for people who don’t have much floor space is to go vertical. As an added bonus, it’s recycling!
Check Freecycle or yardsales for an old broken/unsafe crib. Take it apart and remove the hardware from the side rails. Mount them sideways on the wall with a spacer so they stand out about 1″-2″. This creates about 15 storage rods per section… Each rod can hold SEVERAL yards when folded just like it came off the bolt, or several smaller pieces folded long and skinny.
Let me know if you want pictures of mine… they are in my hallway since I don’t have a proper sewing room.
such a simple tip but what a difference it is going to make to my fabric storage, my fabric is packed into plastic boxes which are really heavy now, I cant wait to try this tip And I would love to see Jessica’s pictures of her vertical storage and BethyB “sandwiches” if they are able to post a picture to you.
you really have a wonderful site! thank you for taking the time to post all of these wonderful tips!
(i found you from the FAR site!)
God Bless You!
I could open my own fabric store I have so much fabric and it is always a mess, no matter how hard I try to organize it! So I will give this a try right away!! Thanks!!! Dianne
Dianne I think you will like this. I love my fabric but always hated the fact it look such a mess so to say this was a life changing thing for me (those of you who love their fabric know what I mean) is an understatement. I was a little concerned I wouldn’t keep it that way once it was done but I have. I guess it is so easy to do that it is just as easy if not easier to just fold it like this and put it up so I was pleasantly surprised that I can keep it looking so orderly.
I helped my mom organize her fabric sometime ago. We folded it all up to be the same size and then put it in small under the bed boxes or decorative rectangle boxes on the shelf. This way the fabric isn’t stacked on top of each other but in rows so she can easily pull out what she wants. The boxes are sorted by like colors and marked so she can easily find what she needs.
She is a quilter too and has found a lot of her fabric at estate sales or garage sales for super cheap (.25 to .75 a yard). And then I give her my scraps as I wont be able to use them but when I need fabric her stash is the first place I go.
I love the fabric folding idea, however I have a larger problem. I have literally thousands of yards of fabric in bolt amounts. I have gotten cardboard bolts from the local Wal Mart fabric department, but they have since condensed ours to more of a craft store area and no longer have fabric. Any Ideas on where or what to use as fabric bolt storage?….I recently had to move from a home where I had an entire basement as a sewing/craft room to a house where I only have an 8 x 10 room. I have built ceiling to floor shelving on 3 walls but need to find a way to neatly organize everything……Help!
Dee you can use this same folding technique to do your bolts with too and then lay them flat on the shelves you have. Also if you have a closet you can fold and hang alot on a sturdy hanger then hang on a rod in the closet.
You could make your own cardboard centers. Get some scrap heavy cardboard (grocery stores and different places have a ton. I am forever going in and seeing someone stocking and asking if I can have some of their boxes. They are always tickled to get rid of them) then cut them with a knife to the size you need. If it helps the ones bolts come on are about the same size as a 24×6 plastic ruler.
Now you don’t need to use that size if you don’t want to or if another size would maybe fit better or you could use the shelf space better.
Here is an interesting board they sell. I wouldn’t buy them myself but it gives the measurements on the video so I will probably make some out of cardboard. Another thing to keep your eyes peeled. After seeing this video it reminded me of a stack of plastic shoe box lids I once saw at a garage sale for almost nothing and they or something similar would be perfect for this type of thing.
One thing about this board you see on the video it can be used and then the fabric can be place either on a shelf or in totes and stored in such a way you can see everything.
Here’s the video fabric boards and you might google fabric storage on you tube and get even more ideas.
I would think folding this way would save sewing time because it looks like you wouldn’t need to iron your fabric before starting a project.
Jill,
I love this idea. Right now most of my stash is in plastic bins but I have to move everything to find the box I want and then search there. I have tried sorting by color, by company name, by style (repro, brights) and I am still searching everywhere for what I want. I think I can use my bins but just fold everything first and set them in there on their ends. Thanks so much for the information. This time next year (or maybe sooner), my sewing room will be a vision. :) I work for a company that sells paper so maybe I can cover those boxes and set them on their ends to make mini shelves. I used to do that for the kids books by taping 3 together, covering with wood grain shelf paper and standing them on their ends to make a bookshelf for small books. The weight of the books kept them upright and this could work for my stash. HMMMMM!
love this idea i will do this have a lot of fabric