Fabric Folding

I confess, this is not my idea. I totally stole it from here. But it's just too awesome not to share. In the end, your fabric will be all nice and neat like this. See, it's amazing! It's looks like bolts. And if you are wondering about this green box (and some that you can see in the previous post): Ikea. You know, I just can't say that anymore without thinking of Jonathan Coulton and his song of the same name. Ikea...

BACK TO FABRIC!

And see! I told you she couldn't stay out of pictures. She's totally blocking my "this is what you will need" picture.

Okay, THIS is what you will need. Comic book boards (I used silver age because they are bigger). And some form of pins. I had tons of safety pins, so that's what I used even though it got kind of painful to push them through all the way. Oh and FABRIC! It's in the picture I promise! It's in the tub at the top next to the christmas crocodile that Ichi got for Christmas.

Step one: Fold your fabric like it was originally on the bolt. Or at least in a rectangle that's at most twice as tall as the board. Oh and isn't my new fabric pretty! Got it on sale at Hancocks!

Step 2: Lay the board on the edge of the fabric. Doesn't really matter which side. If your fabric is about a yard or less, I would put it slightly OFF the edge so that when you finish, the fabric isn't right at the edge which would make it hard to pin. This was a yard.

Step 3: fold the fabric around the board. This will make the whole length of fabric the same height as the board. 

Step 4: Roll it like a bolt. All the way down the length of the fabric. 

Step 5: Once it's completely rolled, pin the leftovers in place. 

Look at the pretty! They look so good all splayed out. These are all from The Fabric Quarter, which I had a lovely experience with and would totally recommend. This was the last batch I folded/rolled. Bonus, I think I could put them on the scanner to like this to get good pictures for quilting software. 

A few tips: I had a few pieces that had big chunks cut out of them and some small chunks folded in. So I tried to line up the small chunks where they started on the big piece but filled in some of the missing chunk. It rolled more evenly that way. Also, if it was more than 3 yards, I didn't lay it all the way out (my living room wouldn't have taken it on some of them). 

The originator of this method also folds the edges into a point at the edges. That might have made them pin better, but I was lazy.