How to Store Quilting Supplies

Hi. Did you know that there is a little list of don'ts when it comes to where you store your fabric and your goodies and your books and all that? And I'm just gonna share with you a few of them. Just put them in the back of your head because you don't really necessarily pay attention to this kind of thing until you lose something. And it'd be a lot better to just not lose it.

So I'm just gonna go over a few little points with you. As you may very well know, probably do know, if you have any kind of a cutting mat, now, this is the kind that turns around, it doesn't matter. Even... See, so it has a backing. Okay, you might think that's gonna keep it safe.

It doesn't. If you leave a cutting mat in the sunshine, by heater vent, or in your car, which I have done and learned the hard way, if it's not completely flat... If it's in your car and it's completely flat because you're moving and you've got it between two boxes, it'll probably be okay, although I'm not promising anything. But these warp really quickly with heat. So you wanna make sure you store them.

Keep them where heat can't get to them. And the other big thing, I was moving out of the mountains, and it was a very, very cold day. It was probably 10 or 15 degrees. And my boys were moving my cutting mats, and they just sorta left them in the truck, sort of on one edge while we were moving other things. Well, one of them got dropped and shattered into a gazillion pieces.

So if you have a cutting mat, you know what I'm talking about, the plain old ordinary cutting mat, you wouldn't believe it, but they are cold-sensitive, and they will just fracture. So cutting mats. Another thing about heat, fusible web. Okay, if you have a project, an applique project, and especially if it's something that travels with you, you go to your kids' games or you're sitting in your car outside the piano lesson or whatever, do not store your fusible web in like a project box with the rest of your project. Don't put fusible web in there with your fabric and your pattern.

If you're going to take it with you, put it in a Ziploc bag or something, and just put it... You could even tape it to the box. If you store fusible web with fabric, touching fabric, and you get into heat, as you might in a parked car, for instance, or in direct sunlight on your sewing table right by the window, believe it or not, it's gonna fuse. And it won't fuse where you want it to. It's gonna fuse on the right side or whatever.

Don't store fusible step with your fabric if it's hot. Okay, I love boxes for storing things, and I love these boxes. They're great. And here's a tip. As you can see, right up here in the box...

I hope you can see that. I'll just tilt it a little bit. Right there you have a really bright color. And it's perfectly safe. It's not going anywhere when it's dry like this.

But if it gets wet, now, not all of 'em, but some of these things when they get wet, they start leaking the dye. And of course, I have white fabrics in here, and you can just imagine what would happen if this got wet and dye got loose. So I absolutely use these to store, but, boy, they are just nowhere where moisture can ever be, including I have a shelf right above my ironing board, and I have a lot of steam. And if this was kind of over the edge of the shelf, I'd be worried that steam might get in here, kind of get in there. And just a little moisture sitting there long enough, I would be concerned about that.

So I don't put anything that can't get wet on that shelf above my ironing board. It seems pretty straightforward, but nonetheless. Okay, here's another one that really hurts quilters and quilts. Okay, these boxes, now, this is a different scale in terms of size, but it's the exact same print. They were the same color.

Do you see how peachy and warm this is, and the greens are warm? Okay, this one, I had that sitting on my sewing table and in bright sunshine. Didn't take long. It took less than a week for this to just fade out. And fabrics that are sold today don't fade nearly as quick as they used to, but believe me, they still fade.

And I've had blues, especially blue and red, I seem to have problems with those, maybe 'cause they're so saturated, where I've got them folded and maybe just an edge is in the sun, and you unfold it, and you have a stripe that's a lighter color. You can't fix it, other than putting the whole thing in the sun, and that would probably still bleach and leave a line. The sun really hurts most of your quilting goodies. So the sun and also, of course, a source of heat. So keep that in mind.

All righty, another thing. Now, I use boxes like that to store my things, like my scissors. And I keep this usually in, I have a desk for a cutting table, and I just slip it in the drawer, but I don't have children in my house. If you have children, you don't want things like this where they could ever reach them because they're run themselves through. So you need to keep this out of the hands of your children until they're old enough to know how to handle things like this.

And in a similar vein, now, I actually store this on a bookshelf. I close it, and I put it on the bookshelf between a couple other things just like it. But it's not a high bookshelf. And the reason for that is because if this should fall and fall open, I don't want scissors landing on people. So those things, you have to be aware of where your sharp things are, just like your rotary cutter, okay.

Here's a rotary cutter. I love this rotary cutter because you can use it right-handed. You can use it left-handed. These sides go back and forth individually, independently. Don't ever leave a rotary cutter open, not even, excuse me, when you're using it.

If you cut, close it. And here's why. You're thinking to yourself, "I don't have kids. I don't have a cat that's gonna jump up there. No problem, I can leave it open." Well, if you've ever, you're cutting, and this ends up on a piece of fabric, you pull the fabric out, an opened rotary cutter can fall, I'm not kidding, and slice right into your foot.

I know this because I was on a retreat with a lady that this happened to. It went 1/4 of an inch into her foot. Do not leave them open, and don't ever leave one where a child can get it. All right, if you have a little explorer who's six years old and going from chair to book, da da da da da da, put it in a cupboard with a childproof lock. Put it in some sort of a box that has a lock.

Don't leave this where anybody can get to it that wouldn't be safe with it. I understand it's really hard sometimes. You're busy, and you're just trying to have your own time for a second. But if you have, even if you have a cat. I have cats, and they jump up on my sewing table and my cutting table.

Well, boy, they can dump scissors on your feet. They can dump rotary cutters on your feet and pins and all those good things. And I have a cut who thinks that pincushions are just for her because all those little colored balls, well, she will actually bite a pin and pull it out with her teeth. Well, that's not a good idea, so I have learned to put my pincushions, they're actually in a cupboard so she can't get to my pins because she's not trustworthy. And one more thing.

If you, well, a couple things. If you have... Say you used a Sharpie to mark on a Ziploc bag or something that you have pattern pieces in. Well, this is gonna sound obvious, but make sure that cap's on tight. It doesn't take much for a Sharpie or another pen to mark your fabric, and you're not getting it out.

If it's ballpoint pen, you can use hairspray. But keep things that mark away from your fabrics and your threads. And sort of on a side note there, if you're using a marking pen to mark quilting, and some of them are heat-sensitive. They either set with heat, or they disappear with heat. Well, it doesn't have to be an iron that does it.

It can be the heat in the car. You'd just be amazed. So if you're using a pen that is heat-sensitive, keep it out of your car unless it's winter and you've got it covered by something. And last but not least, I have a lot of quilting books, and you probably do too. If you are anywhere in earthquake country or if you live by the freeway and your feet, your ground is a little rattly or your floor, don't put the heavy things up high.

I know it seems really obvious, but it happens. And as always, if you live in earthquake country, you're gonna wanna strap your cupboards and your bookshelves and everything to the wall because those things, fabric can get really heavy, as I'm sure you know, and you need to be safe. So I hope these little ideas helped you out and maybe reminded you of a couple of things. And I hope you have a long, happy time quilting without any sort of mischance happening to you.