Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Hiding Fabric

While I was going through some old magazines and organizing articles I had marked for future projects, I came across an article on hiding your fabric. This particular article had a progression of hiding fabric which I found quite amusing and thought I'd share.

The article is titled 50 Ways To Hide Your Fabric and is written by Cindy L. Weyers, published in the May/June 2004 issue of Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting. 
  1. Leave fabric in your car. You are probably the only one who cleans it out anyway.
  2. When you no longer have room for passengers, move fabric to trunk.
  3. When trunk no longer closes, bring fabric into the house, but be sure all bags are sealed. Never bring in a bag with a quilt shop logo. It's a dead giveaway.
  4. Get a fabric cupboard with doors that lock. Store fabric inside.
  5. When fabric cupboard is full, pack more in, have a friend lean on the door, then lock. Open cautiously to avoid a fabric explosion.
  6. Hide fabric in closet behind and in shoes. Men never look at women's shoes unless shapely legs are in them.
  7. Hide fabric behind clothes on closet shelves.
  8. Use fabric as shelf liner in closets. He won't notice.
  9. Put false bottoms in clothes hampers. No one digs deeply in them except you!
  10. Lay fabric on dryer as folded clothing.
  11. Store it in rubber tub. Mark as women's clothes.
  12. Store in plain sight, possibly as a dresser scarf. Say it's a new style.
  13. Hang as a shower curtain. He won't know the difference.
  14. Use as a curtain for a window on the shady side of the house.
  15. Place between sheet and comforter on the bed for extra warmth.
  16. Repeat with teenager's beds, but fabric may need to be washed frequently.
  17. Layer under cushion on sofa. Explain it's needed because some remote control-punching, chip-munching, sweating couch potato is squishing the cushions. His mind will turn to processing these comments, and he won't remember the fabric is even there.
  18. Use as a tablecloth.
  19. Use smaller pieces as place mats.
  20. Put in closed box under sink marked "Cleaning Supplies." That should keep him out.
  21. Fill another box and mark as "Feminine Supplies." For men, worse than cleaning supplies.
  22. Fill your cedar chest.
  23. Store in bottom half of the china cupboard.
  24. Use a divider between plates in china cupboard.
  25. Use as a drawer liner.
Do any of these sound familiar? For me, I have a large wardrobe closet that I use for storing fabric. It works great because it can hold A LOT of fabric. Another good place for me is to hang yardages of fabric on a hanger and hang it in the hallway coat closet. My husband never goes in there as he prefers to just toss his coat wherever it lands. 

I'll share more of these in another post. In the meantime, where do you hide your fabric?

10 comments:

Unknown said...

I seen this the other day....love it..lol

Karen L R said...

I have a friend who's trunk is PACKED with fabric, don't know how she finds anything!

I do not hide fabric. My husband has known me for 33 years and so is used to stacks of supplies here and there. And fabric is cheaper than diamonds, designer shoes and cruises...

xo

Anonymous said...

Dana, Thanks for the great ideas!

Anonymous said...

I don't hide fabric either but I do have my ways to make my stash look smaller. I always have an empty spot on the shelf - it is the shelf at eye level that you see when you walk into the closet. As a matter of fact all the shelves you see when you first walk in the closet are not jammed packed. There is room for lots more fabric. He (and other family members) interpets this as how well I practice restraint. The shelves on the side are more bountiful. Another thing is to not to keep all your fabric in one place like Dana does. You must spread it out so it looks like less of a collection. And the most clever thing to do is to NEVER buy fabric with hubby along. This way he thinks you only buy a yard or two here or there.

Anonymous said...

I meant to say to follow as Dana does - don't store your fabric all in one place.

DKB said...

i sometimes have my online orders sent to work. Now i have 2 drawers at work full of fabric. coworkers think i am just a little bit nuts

Ocean Peg said...

How often does hubby go into the linen closet? A good place to store shelves and shelves of fabric.

calli3 said...

When I first looked at this house, I didn't look in the closet of what was to become my craft/sewing room. When I moved in, I thought this closet was perfect to store the ironing board etc. When I opened it imagine my surprise to find floor to ceiling shelves!! I had donated a lot of fabric to the local quilters guild when I moved, so I actually had room... for awhile :)
Hubby makes a big (4 ft high) "fashion doll" house and uses upholstery velvet for floor covering since reg.carpet is too high and frays easily.He also makes all the furniture for the houses ( and individual sale) He prefers the bright lite weight cottons for the couches, beds etc.He is almost worse than me in a fabric store, so I no longer worry about "hiding" it haha

liniecat said...

There has to be some advantage to not having a chap any more....now I know what it is!
But when Im gone....my kids will have a fit................lol

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