Judy L's UFO Challenge

Thursday, February 09, 2012

State of My Stash

I need some input. I had a house fire in January and all my sewing stuff is boxed up in my garage. I am trying to see the silver lining in this as I have been working to downsize some things and this appears to be the BIG shove to get me to accelerate the process.

I have yarn, cross stitch supplies and of course my quilting stash that the recovery company will not clean so it is left to me. Here is where I need your input. My plan is to clean all those things that I want to keep and move them into my sewing room or other storage. I was thinking I should only put things in the sewing room that I plan to make in the immediate future and then store the rest elsewhere. I live in Texas and have toyed with the idea of storing things in totes in my garage which is not air conditioned.

What experience do others have with storing fabric and yarn in a garage? Is there a compelling reason NOT to do this? What things should I take into consideration considering this stuff could be in my garage potentially for several years. Just think, I get to weigh (I am using the 4 yards per pound rule of thumb) all my stash and will have a really good idea how much I actually have. Is that a good thing or bad thing? I'll let you judge that one for yourselves.

Thanks for your ideas.
























7 comments:

Deborah Hamilton said...

If you store it in plastic boxes, it could get mildew on it because of the changes in the humidity.

sally said...

I suggest you make sure that everything is as clean as you can get it before you store it in the hot. Hot sets (and brings out) stains (in my experience with storing children's clothes.) So anything you are keeping needs to be washed and dried well. If you are using the pictured cardboard boxes to store long-term, consider lining them with tissue paper so as to keep the acidic cardboard off the fabric -- that contact can cause stains too.

Laurie @ ... And In My Spare Time I Quilt said...

I would probably be most worried about mold or mildew. If you're storing in plastic, you might want to include some sort of moisture prevention product. Or the vacuum sealed space bags? (I have a few that never stay sealed.)

Barb said...

Sorry for your house fire but...living in Samoa where they kept their fabric outside with just a roof and three sides....I know it is humid there but I think your fabrics need the air conditioner to keep them from rotting and smelling bad. That is just my opinion....

ShinyNewThing said...

I have included you in my awards for Kreativ Blogger. It's entirely optional but if you want to take part, see my blog for what to do. I would think the fabric would be alright in cardboard boxes as it can breathe and it's fairly dry there, right? As long as there are no creepy crawlies that could take up home. best wishes,Sharon

Nanette said...

Im in Florida, I used to store Christmas stuff in the garage and the stuff that was material came out eaten by silverfish?? some nasty white/silvery bug, just made a mess!! I also had a small electrical fire this month and am cleaning up the mess with the help of a friend. I would store the things you are going to use in the room, things that you are not likely to use in the bottom of a spare closet, under beds, places you can get to it if you need it, but it is not in the way. And then what I would do is put a date on the box of when you last got into it, and if you have not needed it in 6 months, donate or garage sale it. I have taken the time to do some purging in my place as it needs it. I have more fabric than some fabric stores, lol. I have purged alot of old crafts, plastic canvas, fabric paints that I don't do anymore.

Dayquilt said...

No helpful advice for storage, but on the bright side, all your fabrics will now be prewashed! (Or were they before?)