Fabric Folding & Organizing Tips for Storage or Travel
Tara RexDescription
Fabric folding is a key element in keeping your sewing studio neat and organized. Tara Rex shares great fabric folding tips for both stacking and storing fabric as well as packing it in a tote for travel to a sewing retreat.
Storage
When it comes to storing fabric in a sewing studio, most of us not only want our fabric to stay neat and organized, but we want to be able to see it too. This typically means that the fabric gets stacked on a shelf, but that can be difficult with different sizes and types of fabric. Tara shares several fabric folding tips that can help you on your way to learning how to organize your sewing supplies. She shows how to fold the fabric whether it is brand new or pieces have already been cut from it. While each piece of fabric may not fold to the exact same size, keeping them fairly even and equal will help make them easier to stack and less likely to fall over.
Travel
Sewing and quilting retreats and becoming more and more popular, meaning people are traveling with their sewing supplies and fabric more often. Tara shares several tips for folding fabric to fit into totes or bags for traveling. She also shares her favorite methods of storing and transporting her fabric, which includes plastic bags for smaller projects and old sheet bags for larger projects. She also explains how they are both great ways to store projects that you are currently working on. Keeping fabric and pattern pieces from a project together can make starting it again much easier if you’ve had to take some time away from it to work on something else. These little sewing room organization tips are a great way to help keep both your fabric and sewing studio nice and tidy.
I get asked this question a lot about how I store my fabrics, and how I stack them so nicely in my studio on my shelf, and I wanted to share that with you. Oftentimes when you're at the fabric store, they're quick to put everything together and get it into the bag. And so as soon as I get home, oftentimes I will unfold the fabric, and I'll refold it, so that it can stack nicely. So as you see, I have used this fabric already, but I will just bring it out like this and I'll half it. And then I will either third, fold it into thirds. Or sometimes if it's a bigger piece of fabric I'll fold it in half, and then I'll quarter it. Like this, and then everything will stack up nicely. I also wanted to share a little storage or transport idea with you. These sheet bags, I often will save them to put in fabrics. Like my flannel fabric I will... I don't have a place for them on my shelf, so I'll fold them nicely and I'll put them in a larger sheet bag, and then I'll zip it up and put it in the closet. And so that way it stays nice and dust-free and it's contained and whatnot. So, what I have here is fabrics that I've been using for this one quilt. And sometimes I will go out and to a quilt club or what have you. And I have everything together. I know where it is. So I'm not reaching and wondering what fabrics I use for that certain quilt. So I just put everything in one bag and I can keep it together, and see I have some strips already that I've sewn. And I will put that in this bag as well. And of course the sheet bags come in different sizes. So, this one just happens to fit like perfectly. So then you can just zip it up, and everything's together. Put it on the book that I'm working with. And I, then I can put it on my shelf. And, then when I'm ready to go again or if I want to take it out and work on it, I can just... everything's together. I also use, I utilize Ziploc bags too, as well. If I need, if I have a project a certain project that I'm doing, I can put everything in to this bag. Something that doesn't require something that's big but everything's together. I hope you enjoyed this tip.
This is one storage technique I have used for years. It's a great way to keep project pieces together! I re-use the larger bags that pillows are sold with for finished quilts to keep them clean and dust free. Great video, thanks!
Great thoughts for something worthwhile to do with all those zipped plastic/vinyl sheet/blanket etc bags I've accumulated and couldn't quite part with! As a commenter noted, the larger (2 & 3 gallon ) zip-loc bags are good for sorting/storing all sorts of craftythings, too. Thank you all!
I have purchased the clear plastic shoe boxes from the Dollar Store to store fabric by projects, cut sizes or on an as required basis. They stack nicely and I can see what is in them. They also make great sorting bins when working on a paper pieced project.
Great ideas! I use the 2 gallon zip lock bags for my projects. They are especially useful for fashion sewing projects to store the pattern, that I can never get back into the original paper sleeve!
Really like the idea of reusing the clear sheet bags. Sometimes there are smaller ones that sheers come in which are handy for small items. I like to re purpose things. Thank you for the tip.