Why I like my mini bolts...

Why do I like my mini bolts?

I guess I am obsessing on my mini bolts. I just find this so easy to use.

This method keeps my fabric from getting to messy and mashed. When I fold my fabric an put it in plastic boxes and I start pulling for a project I start hurrying and stuffing stuff back in.

And it does allow me to play deal a fabric. Like this:

 Or this

 Or this.....

Then it allows me to put things back into the boxes like this. 

I also can pull my boxes and see at a glance what I have. The piles don't topple. Are not falling off the shelves and the pets can not knock them over. 

This works awesomely for me when I am making small art quilts or any other project I do. Larger pieces than a yard go in my cutting cabinet. I have material ear marked for projects here and then bigger pieces I have to use up when I need to like neutrals and fabric to great to pass up. 

I had a suggestion from a comment to the way I do my fabric bolts from the Quilter Club of America site. They use hair clips/ binding clips to hold their bolts together to prevent wrinkles. I will have to see how the pony tail holders wrinkle my fabric. 

Off to the sewing den... Play day!!!! 

How I store my fabric.... Part one

Storing your fabric.

Risky topic to bare to the world.

Why? If you hubby happens to see your blog he might realize how much you have. Or you might feel embarrassed that your stash is smaller than others. What if someone doesn't like your choices? Or what if????

Does it matter how you store your stash? Not really. But for me I have found that out of sight is out of mind. I just don't remember any more what I have. My kids call one space in my basement the wall o'fabric. A storage area in my laundry room of photocopy boxes with fabrics of different kinds. Fleece, knit, scraps, poly cotton.....

Slowly I am gifting to organizations my stash of unrelated to quilting items. I am teaching my niece to sew. She picks from the stash... Donations needed for orphanage in Africa. My girlfriend picks from the stash.

I thought of trying to sell it online to raise some money for more fabric - quilting fabric. But I am too lazy or somehow it doesn't appeal to have someone reject it. It is my goal to find local places that could use it.

Now my quilting cottons are finding a good home in my "studio" (I have a hard time saying this because it sounds snooty)

Here is a simple tutorial of how I now fold things and store things under a meter.

First I buy some comic book acid free inserts at a comic store.
I cut the inserts in half.

Then I take a piece of fabric.

 (Now I am in the "wash all my fabric before I use it" category. One to make sure of colour fastness. Two for shrinkage. And three to get rid of chemicals. I will add starch back into a piece before cutting)

I then smooth the fabric and start to fold it according to the size of comic board cover. 

I then put the cardboard on the piece and roll it.

Next I put one of these around the bundle. 

When I first used this idea of folding which I grabbed from some blog somewhere, I used a pin to hold it in place. This was unsatisfactory because if I used a pin it could result in a hole over long time storage.

 (Who would have fabric in their stash that they wouldn't use for a long time?) 

So I stole these from my making coffee cup wrap venture. And ...

And I have a neatly wrapped piece of fabric.

Stay tuned for why I like this method so much and how fun it is! (OK I lead a simple life if playing with fabric is my fun hobby...lol)

Have a great day and if you are in the "storm watch zone" from Texas on up to Canada stay safe and stay off the roads.

If you are a person who believes in prayer, Please pray for a family  - friends of my daughter who were involved in a car accident on the weekend and at last I knew their little boy was in critical condition.

Jo