Fiber Storage

Have you given in to the new rage in scrapping supplies? Fibers, yarns, and twines of all sorts are the new scrapping accent. In the last year or two they have hit the market full swing and are now in most stores. As a 25 year veteran crafter, I had my share of specialty yarns from my crochet and knitting days. I must admit my craft room even had some raffia, leather strips, twine, and that cute skinny jute too. Oh, and those chiffon ribbons meant for doll clothing sure come in handy on an elegant page! I was in a few fiber swaps this year too. (Ok-- THREE swaps so far!) I love fibers! Maybe it goes back to my lifelong love of fabrics and quilting? I use them on pages quite often.

But how to STORE these embellishments? If you are like me, you may end up with all kinds of balls, bundles, cards, and caboodles of fiber! I often get swap fibers back in any number of card shapes and sizes. I am lucky to know several crochet friends and they have even started just giving me little bundles of fabulous eyelash and chenille yarns. I wanted to create a system on which to store my fibers. What I had was a mess and I needed a solution--FAST!


I wanted a fiber storage system that was fast to create, easy to view my inventory, and preferably CHEAP to make. Good news for all you readers: I did it! And I am going to share it with you here. :) You probably have all this stuff around the house already!!

Materials - Fiber Storage Card System
1 sheet of white poster board (This cost less than $1.00 at the discount store.) Scissors 1/4 inch hand held hole punch ruler all your fibers a tub to sit the cards in or a snap close style key ring to hold the finished cards
Step One: Posterboard
	Cut your poster board down with your scissors or a heavy duty paper cutter into roughly 5.5 x 7 inch rectangles. You should get more than 20 cards from one large piece of poster board. I used this size because it fit into my Iris Cart drawer well and it also gave me a maximum amount of cards per poster board sheet. Do you want your fiber cards to eventually store in a specific Iris cart drawer or tub? The cards you cut will need to be one inch shorter both in the height and the width of your drawer for clearance when the drawer is closing and opening. Any size rectangle poster board can be punched and used to store your fibers. Just make sure all your cards fit into the drawer or box at the beginning BEFORE you wrap them all. Do one sample up to test it. Then cut the rest the same size and proceed as below. Remember they have to be one inch shorter in both the length and width than the depth of your drawer and the width of the drawer. You want to be able to lay the cards on their side and view all the colors at once when the drawer is open. (See Figure 18 below)
Step Two: Punch the Keyring Hole
Now punch a 1/4 hole in the upper left corner with your hand held punch. This hole should be about 1 inch in from the top and the left side of the poster board. This will be the key ring hole. See above on right image.
Step Three: Side Indentations Punched
	In order for the fibers to stay securely on the card, we need to punch "C" shaped holes with our 1/4 inch punch all along the left and right sides of the card. This allows the yarn to have a place to sit in and not 'hop' out or slide off the poster board when you jostle or move the card. I place the holes about 1 inch apart along the left and the right side. Be sure to make the holes "C" shaped and not "O" shaped. You want to be able to wind yarn into the indentations.
Step Four: Snip the Left Side
	Now snip each of the left holes about 1/2 inch into the poster board. This snip is where you tuck the end of the fiber before you start winding that strand. This will secure the end and also help you determine the loose unwinding end from the secured final end. Just snip each hole on the left ONLY the 1/2 inch and no more. You do not need any snips on the right side of the card.
Step Five: Cut off 2 or 3 yards of Fiber
	Many pre-measured fibers come in 1, 2, or 3 yard lengths. Any of those will fit on your new cards. Even lengths as short as 12 inches will fit. If you are cutting off a sampling of yarn from a large skein, just pull off 2 or 3 yards. (This is about two arm lengths.) Those will fit perfectly on the card. Two to three yards is plenty for any scrapbook page need.
Step Six: Tuck and Wrap
	Decide which 5 or 6 fibers you want on this particular card. Some people just wind at random but others might like all their fall colored fibers together or all their greens together. It is all up to you. But if you want the cards to be color coordinated in a specific way, now is the time to wrap them up that way! :) Tick the end of the fiber into the slit on the left top hole and start winding across to the first hole on the right. Be sure to keep the fiber inside the little "C" shaped holes if possible. It will fit snugly but work well to keep the fiber in place. Continue winding until the length is all on the card. Tuck the loose final end of the yarn around the front of the bundle you just created. The tail can hang down so you can spot it easily.
Step Seven: Continue Winding Fibers
	Repeat Step Six with each color of fiber you want to store on the cards. With each new color you move down a set of hole punches so that each color fiber is stored in it's own slot and is easily visible.
Step Eight: Ribbon
	You can even store the Chiffon Ribbons on the cards. Just punch 2 more "C" shaped holes so that the wide ribbon can lay inside the opening and not get crushed. A small 1/2 inch or 3/4 inch Square punch might come in handy here if you punched only half of the square.
Step Nine: A Finished Card
	Now you have one finished card and you can make as many more as you need. Wind all your fibers onto the cards so you have a uniform sized storage system that is visible yet easy to wind yarn onto it and off of it.
Step Ten: Store Your New Fiber Cards Together
	If you have just a few fiber cards, you can store them on a key ring, a string, or a twisty tie. Thread the string or snap style key ring through the hole on the upper left top on each of the cards. This keeps them together, yet handy. I store up to 6 cards on each ring when traveling with them. A few of my favorite fiber cards on a key ring only take up about 6x7 inch space in my tote. I can switch out the cards I tote along because the snap style key ring just opens and closes more easily than the spiral style key rings. I find that if I take the fibers with me, I use them more often! They fit right in my tote side pocket.
	Another option if you have a LOT of fibers is to store them in an Iris cart drawer or a plastic tub like I have shown here. I store mine this way at home but I use a key ring system for going to cropping parties. If you want them to fit into a specific Iris Cart drawer or desk drawer, keep the drawer measurements in mind in Step One above.

I love the look of fibers on my pages. Now that I have transferred my ribbons, yarns, twines, and fibers onto this card system, I am using them more often! They don't get tangled or gather dust! Instead of wondering WHERE that great fiber is in the drawer, tote, or cupboard, you will KNOW where your fibers are stored! We all want to use those supplies. You will see all the lovely choices at a glance AND be able to wind and unwind them with ease. The best part is, this is a system that is inexpensive and you can keep adding to it! Sounds like a hit to me!