Ikea Shark

I've been trying to post this to Instagram, and it's not working. I'm also working on several things that are presents and am reluctant to blog about them.

I will have a post about simple bag making, which makes a quick scrap happy present (have made several) in the next few days. But first I need to finish another one.

So, for your entertainment: the Renton Ikea Shark Displays

As we walked in, the first tableau tells you it's not just another day at IKEA

Employee Shark of the Week

I did not get photos of the shark chef in the kitchen, as it was being played with/photographed by a kid and a parent, and I just don't take pictures of other people's children, even if they say I can and what's my blog address.

They are so huggable!

Too Many Curtains: Folding Videos in October

https://www.threadsmagazine.com/2019/10/10/wrangle-your-fabric-stash-video

Seamwork's folding technique on YouTube  https://youtu.be/VF19yPgIUcQ

These both arrived in my (and your) inbox this week. Coincidence? 
 The Threads is solid gold. Using the storage box lid as a folding guide, or making a folding template (those flexible kitchen cutting boards to the rescue again) is super smart. Helps stack and sort (and retrieve) the stuff on the shelves. I use foam board, and old plastic corrugated campaign signs are FREE and plentiful.

The Seamwork one is ADORBS, but who sews with one yard? 

This stash sorting/refolding is pretty much what I did this morning, in anticipation of a trip to Ikea and the curtain department (where we get the linen Aina curtains to make pants for my sister and I).

My sister's stash lives at my house and she's got a lot of linen. A LOT.

This isn't all of it. It's what I measured and refolded this morning in two hours. Each is about three yards, or a couple of Aina curtains (57" by 98" each).

I cannot believe I haven't written about this before (and if I did, I didn't tag it with Ikea). 
I mean, curtains are a costumer's best friend.
Yardage for days.

Bob Mackie's genius costume for Carol Burnett GWTW parody.

Yes, it lives at the Smithsonian

And if you want a little more on the original dress by Walter Plunkett, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129177801

I am all about those Ikea curtains.

The tab material is very easy to remove. These used to have same fabric tabs, but this is less lumpy.

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/aina-curtains-1-pair-blue-00328875/

The weight per yard of the curtains has gone up. The price has gone up as well, but 

each curtain is 2.72 yds,  or 5.44 yds for the pair. That's $11 a yard, but it's heavier linen now. 

Curtains come out to be 10.92oz per yard going by their package weight (divided by yardage).  Fabric is shown as 12oz because that's a meter (and I think that's the number they have from the manufacturer, vs the actual ship weight of a unit which will be more accurate). All this to say it's close enough and pretty hefty. They make great pants and jackets.

What they had on the by-the-yard fabric table was the lighter stuff (it comes out at 8oz per yard on my scale) from the previous season. Certainly just fine at $8.99. The 12oz would be a steal at that price.

But after all that folding and math, we didn't buy any more. Because my sister has all those colors already. Certainly enough to make all the pants she will need for the next five years, if not more.

BUT, Ms Smartypants, how do I fold my three and an half yard pieces?

It doesn't matter how you fold it, as long as you get 18" folds.
Another high quality illustration from ErnieKLabs

After I prewash and dry them, I fold them on the grain line (like they come off the bolt) and then fold them lengthwise into 18" folds. You can fold and refold any way it works for you as long as the end result is 18" wide. Fold that in half to fit 18" by (.25 of the width of 60" is 15"). They fit into that box, or on the shelf, and I can count how much yardage each has by counting the 18" folds and doubling that. 6 folds: 3 yards.
We are all about that math today.

Fold by 18s

And fold over, matching folds to selvage.

6 folds = 3 yards

Store in dry location with like-folded stash. Age to taste.

My shelves are 18" deep in this cabinet.

Okay, so not all the stash is as nicely folded, but I wanted to show how I break it up on boards and box lids to manage pulling stuff out without avalanches. The association groups change, but mostly by weight and use. And wool.

I do have to pull them out to check, but I like to handle the stash. This time I made a chart of the sister stash with those little swatches. Three different reds. Oy.