Have you ever seen a photo of someone's fabric stash and wondered how in the world they got it to stand up on a shelf like that? If your stash is anything like mine used to be, it can be a little bit scary. Monstrous piles that are half-folded, toppled and smooshed, and then picked through by the kiddos. Sound familiar? Well guess what. It's actually really easy to organize fabric like the photo above and you can do it too. Here's the secret:
Comic Book Boards! Apparently comic book boards are used by comic collectors to store their comic book collections. They are basically pieces of cardboard that just happen to be the perfect size for rolling up a folded length of fabric, much like we see on bolts at the fabric store. Neat huh! I bought this 100-pack of comic book boards on Amazon and they are even acid free. I've heard that the magazine boards work great too and both are pretty inexpensive. Let's take a look at how to use the boards.
First we will take our fabric and lay it out on a flat surface, folded in half just as it comes off the bolt at the store. I like to put my selvages at the top, as shown above.
Then we will fold the fabric in half lengthwise, as shown above. The fabric is now the perfect size to wrap around the comic book board! We will take one board and place it on the fabric several inches from the right edge.
Fold the right end of the fabric onto the board as shown above. Be sure that the fabric is straight and laying flat as you fold.
Fold the board and the fabric to the left again.
Then fold again and again until you have used up all the fabric!
There is no need to secure the ends - they will be sandwiched between the other fabrics on the shelf. Some people use pins to hold the flaps in place but I don't recommend it because they can rust over time. When I am done folding, I simply turn my folded fabric over so the flap is on the bottom.
Notice that my selvages are showing on the upper outside edge in the photo above. I do that on purpose so I can easily see the name of each fabric without unfolding.
I like to stack my fabric as I fold each one, and then put them all on the shelf at once.
Ta-Da! That's really all there is to it. I use comic boards for woven fabric that is half a yard or longer. Storing it this way saves space, makes it easier to find what I'm looking for, and more than anything I love it because it's just so pretty!
Now if only I had a fun way to keep my kids' sock drawers this organized...
Let's Create! ~ Kristen
