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Wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunt, great-aunt and friend....and fur-kid mum I love Quilting, stitching, photography, cooking, baking, gardening, blogging and making new friends...stop by and say hi!

Monday 14 January 2013

Fabric Stash Rethink

Some of you may recall that last year I got stuck into my fabric stash and made an effort to organise it a bit better than stuffing it in wire baskets. Have a look here if you missed it. I had great fun doing it but couldn't find anything that would make a stiff enough "bolt" base and all my fabrics started to look a little droopy.  This makes it very difficult when I want to remove some "bolts" for auditions or to use in projects.


The brainstorming began but no matter what idea I came up with, I just couldn't find anything that was cheap enough and stiff enough to do the job. Then, one day at work, I was filling up the big photocopier with paper (it loads a whole box) and was going to flatten the box and throw it out when it occurred to me that it was just the right thickness to do another job.   Just shows that ideas come at the most unexpected time.  Ok the cardboard was  the right thickness and they are white boxes which means consistency but the boxes have come from a warehouse and were marked here and there and some were dusty.  Ahhhh, I will wrap them in sticky contact to protect my fabric.

flattened boxes
contact wrap
finished bolt holder

 Takes a little prep time but not excessive and I actually find it fun... and they hold the bolts up nice and straight.  I cut each cardboard box into 6.5" strips (the width of my long ruler) and 12" high (which is a good height for my bookcase) to keep it all uniform and wrapped them in a piece of contact, sealing all sides.  The best thing is that the boxes are free and the supply unlimited and the contact cost me A$1.29 per roll.

See those first three bolts on the right, they are my new bolts.....standing straight and tall. LOVE IT! Only another 300 to make now! Oh dear, thats a lot.

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13 comments:

  1. Not cheaper, probably, but I've found 3 sheets of card stock from W-Mart work very well. Of course, they can be cut into sizes smaller than the 8.5 X 11 inches in which they come.--Still takes a long time, however.

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  2. what an awesome idea Cath,well done.xx

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  3. This was a great idea !
    Keeps your fabric neat and smooth.
    Rose

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  4. Great idea and I like the constant supply of free cardboard but if you have 300 more to make, that's A LOT of contact paper!!! Too bad you couldn't think of something else to do that would be more cost effective. They sure look good though....just like in a shop! :0)

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  5. I just need to re-organize mine. Just got my Moms added to it. Food Idea.

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  6. Wow! clever idea - that is a lotof preparation - but a lot of fabric too! My pieces are not all big enough to do that. Are you colour coordinating your contact & fabric???? LOL....

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  7. Great idea Cath, looks good!

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  8. Brilliant idea Cath. I'm forever taking photocopy boxes & envelope boxes home from work to hide stuff in. It's finding it again that is proving the chore. They are handy & strong though. Tracee xx

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  9. Great idea. It's hard to know how to put the fabrics together in your stash so the one you want is easy to find. Hugs....

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  10. What a good idea it looks very workable . :-)))))))))

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  11. WOW. This is a great idea. AND you are DOING it. Congrats. And good luck.

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