How to Organize and Store Felted Wool Sweaters
I am on a quest to organize, DE-junk, and clear the clutter from my home and life.
The first thing I did was clean out my closet. I have worked from area to area in my home, letting things go and organizing.
I will post about this later, as it is quite amazing some of the things I have learned.
As you all know, I love felted wool sweaters and have acquired just a FEW over the years. (Ha, Ha)
I must say my SWEATER STASH was getting out of control.
Whenever I started a wool project, I hauled out my bins of sweaters (six and one mega-size bin), lined them up in the hallway, and dug through them all, trying to find just the right piece and color. WHAT A MESS!
Not having my supplies in order caused PROCRASTINATION.
The thoughts of the mess and the bother of hauling all those bins out kept me from moving forward and getting things done.
Do any of you find yourself feeling like this? It was time to MOVE ON.
I bit the bullet, turned on an audiobook, got a chair and a pair of scissors, and got to work.
| This is what some of my bins looked like. Most of them were worse off. So crammed I could hardly get the lids on them. Who knew what was in there??? |
Here are a few tips on organizing and storing felted wool sweaters.
1. WASH AND FELT THE SWEATER. (Instructions are here on how to feel and shrink sweaters.)
2. DISASSEMBLY of the SWEATER.
Right after you acquire a sweater and have washed it, disassemble it.
Cutting the sweater up like this will make it easier to cut out items for your project and will save so much room when storing.
Here is a step-by-step guide on how I disassemble my sweaters.
Cut up the side seam to the arm pit.
Cut the sleeve off.
Cut through the shoulder seam.
This sweater has a turtleneck, so cut off the neck piece if it has one. This could come in handy for many good things.
Cut the other shoulder seam and the other sleeve off. DO NOT CUT THE
OTHER SIDE SEAM.
This will allow you to have more intact yardage if
necessary for larger pieces.
If the sweater has a good cuff. Cut the lower 4-5 inches of the sleeve
off. These cuffs work well for the cuffs of mittens and slippers!
Cut down the sleeve seam.
Open the sleeve piece up and fold.
If the sweater has a good cuff along the bottom of the sweater. Cut the lower 4-5 inches off in a long strip.
Once again, this cuff fabric is terrific.
If the sweaters have any cool accessories, BUTTONS, ZIPPERS, POCKETS, etc., save them.
Here are a few zippers that I have saved from sweaters.
I saved these zippers because of the cool zipper pulls they have.
This can really add charm to a project. Yes, I know it will take some time to unpick the sweater from the zipper, but it’s something you could do while watching TV or riding in the car (as a passenger, of course).
3. Fold and store.
Doesn’t this look so much nicer than a wad of wool?
This is a flatter bin about 6 inches tall that I store all my cut-out cuffs in. It is easy to find and see what colors I have available. |
If you are starting to explore the world of FELTED WOOL SWEATERS and don’t have a big surplus YET, just find a nice bin with a lid to keep your sweaters in.
BUT, if you have been into this for a bit, you most likely have several sweaters of many colors kicking around.
PLASTIC BINS
To make your life easier when it comes to felted wool sweater projects, get yourself several bins, preferably the same size, for easy stacking.
I get mine at Costco. I used to have a big old mongo bin that I would throw some of the sweaters in, but it was way too big and hard to organize.
So, that bin is now being used for sleeping bags.
I reduced my bins from 6 regular-size bins plus the Mongo bin to 6 regular-size bins. Yea! It feels so nice.
SORT IN COLORS
Depending on how many sweaters you have, sit and figure out what colors need to go where.
I use a whole bin for greens, and one bin for blacks and grays.
Label the bins so you can easily see where things are.
I just got a Silhouette Cameo machine a while back and made some fun vinyl labels.
You can make a paper label and tape it to the box, or even just stick some masking tape on and write what colors are inside.
Establish a box for scraps. After you have cut things out, you will have pieces that are too small to fold.
PLEASE DON’T THROW THEM AWAY. So many projects require only a small piece of wool, such as balls, hearts, and so on.
I also keep a smaller box, or you can even use a bag, for the tiny scraps of felted wool.
I save these for laundry dryer balls. This blog post has more information about making these gems.
So, there you have it. I hope this LONG post was helpful to you in some way.
If you have a great idea or questions, please feel free to comment.
Have fun sorting, sewing, and of course, keep SMILING!
