A Really Cool Thing

So I have been trying to find a great way to store all my fabric, and I got to thinking. How do quilt shops store it? On bolts! But I don't have enough room for real bolts, so I went searching on the internet and found these. Totally cool, and I ordered 100 of them. I am positive they will make a huge difference!

But, they are a little teeny tiny bit expensive. So I started looking around the house, wondering if I had anything on hand that I could use (Because let's face it, 100 is not going to be anywhere NEAR enough!). And then I saw it- the pile of boxes to go out in the recycle! I took out all the nice pieces and cut them to 7 1/2" by 12". Fold the fabric in half again lengthwise, so it's folded in fourths (about 11" wide) and voila! Mini-bolts of fabric!!

But then I got to thinking that the chances of those boxes being acid-free is pretty low. So, I pulled out all the cheap cardstock I bought from Joann's before I became a follower of the One True Cardstock (Stampin'Up cardstock. Blows all other cardstock out of the water).

The Joann's stuff is acid-free, and I have a lot of it, and it was really cheap on sale, so I don't mind using it for this. I covered the pieces with the cardstock, and now I have somewhat acid-free mini bolts, completely made from stuff I already had on hand! I don't think the fabric will be on them long enough that it will make a huge difference. Even cereal box cardboard is useable, once you get the 2 extra layers of the cardstock on it! I love getting something useful and recycling at the same time! How cool (and neat, and organized) does this look!

So now I can go from this massive pile of fabric that's currently in my living room (and this isn't all of it...):

To this: a neat, organized row of fabric on my sewing room shelves!

That's my helpful hint of the day! Oh, and also, if you are working with water-soluble stabilizer while embroidering towels with your embroidery machine, don't put the stabilizer in your mouth to carry it from one place to another. Because it's water-soluble. And mouths have water in them. Believe me when I say that while it does "melt in your mouth, not in your hand", it is far from being M&M's!