Fiber Storage
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This post was last edited/updated in March 2021.
A number of years in, I have a few things to edit and add to this. Storing wool out in the open is fine if you’re using it frequently. Also, I highly suggest, as tempting as it may be, really try not to invest in more wool than you need, and if you do buy whole fleeces, assuming you live in an air conditioned location, tubs are okay - which I’ll get into in a minute. Part of the reason I had so much wool was because, at the time, I was selling kits (I may get into that at some point why I personally chose to stop selling kits). Now that I’m no longer selling kits, I don’t find the need to invest in quite as much. I do still have a dedicated fiber room or studio, especially due to all my fiber tools and all the other fiber arts I engage in, though it’s temporarily out of commission (and I’ve been working from my desk in the office) due to the fact that it’s my husband’s temporary-work-from-home office, and has been since March of 2020. I’m probably going to be redesigning it and rearranging it again - and maybe turning it into a space where I can eventually record more videos once he goes back to working in the office.
I know fiber storage is a topic that has come up from time to time in the Facebook needle felting groups. After all, unless you're just starting out (though I'll get into solutions for that too), chances are you have amassed a bit of fluff. We'll go over all sorts of fun ideas, from solutions for storing your fiber out of the way to showing off your stash!
Keep any wool out of direct sunlight, be it in containers, loose, completed artwork, even your clothing. Here’s a scientific article explaining why. And below is a quote from that article.
“When exposed to UV radiation wool fabrics undergo phototendering. There is loss in tensile strength and abrasion resistance as per the exposure time but the tear strength decreases much faster at the same level of exposure. Also, there can be photo-yellowing of wool fabric. So, the bleached wool fabric when exposed to UV radiation reverts to its original colour and then progressively becomes yellow.”
If you live in a tight space or need it out of the way
I know a lot of people likely store their wool in plastic bags and/or in tubs, and that's fine! It's not optimal, but unless you live in a humid, non temp controlled area without AC, there shouldn’t be much difference between the temperature inside vs outside of the container, and nothing to make the wool sweat. The reason is because wool has moisture, the air has moisture, and you're trapping it in a container that does not allow it to breathe. It can get gross. I made that mistake once when I still had mine in bags and took my work outside to felt in the heat of summer, and a few hours later saw condensation inside the unopened bags. GASP! PS. for those of you who store your wool loosely in larger tubs, it's okay, there should be enough air to breathe.
If you don’t work with your fiber very often, or are taking a break, I do actually suggest separating them into individual ziplock bags (don’t squeeze the air out, as tempting as it may be to get more fiber packed in) with several silica gel packets (affiliate) to help with any moisture control, and keep that in the tub. You can also store them in jars, but make sure you have silica gel packets in them as well. The reason I suggest this, is you'll make it more difficult for any wool moths to get to your fiber, and if there were any in one of the batts, they won't take over your entire stash - you'll see the dust/moths/whatever in whichever bag(s) had eggs. I did write a post on how to deal with wool moths and carpet beetles, which you can read here.
One of the arguments against storing wool in plastic bags is static. This is more of a problem for spinners than needle felters, but if this is a concern for you, anti-static bags are a thing (affiliate). They're designed for the electronics industry for storing electronic components like hard drives, graphics cards, motherboards, etc. (which you do not want to store in a plastic food storage bag). You can buy sealed (like the ones I linked) or unsealed bags. They come in various sizes, but I linked the large ones for more breathing room. And, on that note, you could also technically stick anti-static foam sheets or anti-static bubble wrap on the inside of your tubs if static is a huge concern (affiliate links).
If you do work with your fiber on a frequent, regular basis, I would recommend is using fabric or mesh bags, and then storing that in a container that is not air-tight. If you have batts, roll them up in paper like a jelly roll and stuff it in a fabric, like a muslin bag. This is actually how I get batts when I order them (minus the fabric bag). Or head out to the thrift store and buy up a bunch of old pillow cases. Or get some old tshirts, cut off the sleeves, sew that into a bag, and put it in there. There are lots of easy ways to make fabric bags. You can then store those in banker's boxes or other some other breathable container. In fact, I REALLY love the pop up mesh hampers you can get at a number of different places (in the photo above). They're a great size, you can roll up a bunch of batts, stack the batt roles in the mesh hamper and put it on a shelf. Or stand them up on end and you can see what you need instead of digging through the stack. If you no longer need the hamper, it folds down flat. If you need to stack the hampers one on top of another, you can get hard plastic folding crates. Or, you can even get fancy with it and put them in some cute wooden crates! Organization is one of those ever-evolving things as you find yourself needing to re-prioritize your belongings and what works for you.
If making your own bags is too much work, you can buy cotton or muslin bags in bulk. These 8x10" ones should be enough to pack several ounces of wool, even half a lb, and a single bulk pack would be enough to organize a decent sized stash. If you need extra large bags, you can get 14"x17" sized ones in smaller quantities, but they look like they're made of thicker material. If you're feeling extra-creative, you could even embroider or embellish with needle felting the colors of wool in the bags to make it easier to sort what's what. (affiliate links)
If you don't have a lot of fiber, but want it out on display
My area has since been rearranged, but you can clearly see the jars (without lids) in this photo.
This is actually how I stored my fiber for a long time, before I outgrew this solution. I still keep my fancy exotics, curly locks and merinos this way (I don’t use a lot of merino in my work - I get much better results needle felting with other breeds’ fibers). You can get giant Anchor Hocking jars, like gallon or even larger, for fairly cheap. I suggest screw top or the kind that has a seal versus the plain glass lidded ones - out of the various ones I have, the glass-lid ones are the most annoying. The large jars can keep quite a bit, as I've been able to put 1lb of roving in one of the 5 gallon jars. I've found them at Target and Big Lots, but don't forget to check places like thrift stores or yard sales too. I wanted all of mine to look the same, hence buying them from the same manufacturer. Then, I grouped them by color, so blacks/greys, browns/tans, reds/pinks/purples, oranges/yellows, greens, and blues. For the most part, mixing the colors in the jars is not an issue. I will add that I wish I had put the whites in a separate jar (and will do so at some point) because it can be annoying to have to pick out the occasional black or grey fiber as I'm working. So, those are going to be separated. Then, you can display the jars on a shelf or shelves in a beautiful wooly rainbow! The great thing about this is when I'm working on a project, I only grab the jars with the colors I need. You have likely seen them in my youtube videos. If you're concerned about moisture, don't screw the lids on all the way, or just leave them off. I leave mine off unless I'm not using them for a while, then the lids help to keep the dust out. Another solution would be to create little fabric tops and attach them with a rubber band. It keeps the dust out, but lets the wool breathe.
(Not sure whose image this is, but I found it floating around on Pinterest.)
Another solution I've seen is using over the door shoe organizers, such as this one, or even something like this for more wool (affiliate). You will still potentially run into the issue of static with any vinyl/plastic storage, but the clear pockets would be a fun way to display a colorful stash of wool, especially if you don't have a ton of it, but many colors.
Other fun ways I like to store my wool is in baskets and antiques. Most of my core I keep out of the way in a big laundry mesh bag, but instead of dragging that bag around when I'm working on a project, I keep about a lb of core in an old wooden dynamite box that I picked up at a flea market. Just make sure it's clean or line it in some way, or you might get some residual dust on your wool, not to mention fibers getting snagged on any splinters. I have on mine, but since I use it for core, I'm not worried about it. Thrift stores seem to always have a steady supply of baskets in various sizes for ridiculously cheap prices. If the natural look of the basket isn't your thing, you can always spray paint them (and make sure it's dry, like wait a few days) before displaying your wool in them. If you have a cute bookcase, find some fun, unique baskets in different shapes and colors and store your wool on the bookshelf. I keep my yarn in an old picnic basket that fits my cube shelf perfectly, which brings me to my next storage method.
If you have a lot of wool and want it out on display
How I stored my wool prior to moving to the dining room.
SHELVING! Lots and lots of shelving. One of the things I did, prior to converting our dining room into an art studio was to convert my bookshelf next to my desk into a fiber storage. I hammered nails in on the sides (it’s a cheap ikea bookshelf - don’t do this to an heirloom), then used yarn to wrap criss-cross up and down to create a sort of net. Bookshelves are fairly shallow, so if you have quite a few balls of wool, you'll want to keep them from randomly rolling off and onto the floor. The net was loose/elastic enough for me to move it out of the way to pull some wool out, despite wrapping it tightly. This solution is wonderful if the only space you have is
Still not photo-op ready, as I'm still trying to work out how to get ALL my art supplies to fit in here, but it's getting there!
Nowadays, with my art room, I have a big cube shelf that we purchased from Ikea a while back. There is more than enough space on there to store all my wool, and then some. I'm still working on rearranging it to accommodate more wool and figure out what I want on hand. The nice thing about this is if you ever do decide that you don't like the cluttered look that an open shelf like that might give off, you can always find a nice fabric and attach a curtain of sorts. Honestly though, who doesn't want to look at all those gorgeous colors? One thing I've been looking for is some sort of clear cube-shelf baskets, maybe some wire baskets, that would fit the wool perfectly. That way I can optimize space, using the entire shelf instead of worrying about things rolling off. Update: I did end up getting white cloth ikea bins that fit the cube shelf for the wool to clean it up a bit.
My DREAM would be to find one of those antique apothecary or haberdashery display cabinets, the ones with the glass fronts. Or a vintage pattern display cabinet. Or a few. I’m not lucky in that way, or rich.
Another idea, if you're handy with a sewing machine, is these adorable quilted pods. You could hang a few bars across a wall with coat hooks, (or look up other cute ways for doing coat hooks) and hang these pods off of them. This is great if you don't want to invest in a huge shelf, but have far more fiber than you can store in jars. Update 2021: I almost forgot about these! I really should get that pattern, maybe use up some of my extra fabric I don’t want.
Are there any storage ideas I haven't listed in here? Feel free to share in the comments or share a photo on my Facebook page! I'm always up for some new ideas!
