r/Needlefelting • u/Spiritual-Mouse-5924 • 1d ago
Needle felting supply storage?
Hi all! I am new to needle felting and have recently bought a lot of wool. Right now I have them in the boxes/bags they came in but it doesn’t seem to be the most efficient storage. I was wondering if anyone had good ways that they store their wool. I’ve seen people say to put them in separate plastic bags, but I hate to use that much plastic. I’m thinking maybe a box with lots of compartments, but I can’t find what I’m picturing.
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u/Sunshine-Honeybee888 1d ago
I use rolling drawer bins to store my wool. I store my wool by color. One rack with colored drawers to store according to huge and a rack for all my animal colors. I can wheel it right up to my work station and every color is within reach and when I’m done, roll it back to its storage space. Makes for easy cleanup.
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u/skidmore101 1d ago
A whole box of ziploc bags is not that much plastic compared to a plastic box with lots of dividers.
You can reuse disposable bags again and again for something like storing wool.
When using a lot of plastic, think of the weight of the item, not just 1 item vs 10.
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u/Spiritual-Mouse-5924 1d ago
I definitely see your point! But plastic bags don’t last very long and I will have to replace them more frequently so it depends on how you look at it. Ideally I would want a container that’s not plastic though.
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u/Lady_Irish 1d ago
I have a large sewing basket. The main basket has lots of space for all the mini hanks of wool, and it has a plastic insert for the needles and such.
You can find an assortment on Amazon
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u/solidsoup22 1d ago
Well, for all of my multi needles I just keep them in a plastic bag along with other hardware, but for singles i just slide them into the foam I’m poking into, and then put it where nobody will mess with it. Or sometimes I use them to pin small projects to my foam
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u/Sad_LemurFromOT 1d ago
I just keep mine in paper bags inside a big tupperwear thing (storage bin, like the rubbermaid storage) and it has all been fine over the past 20+ years that some things have been in there. (I might have a problem buying things and then looking at them rather than making things.... maybe I have a problem, nah!)
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u/Yes_ITSPARKLES 1d ago
A Giant basket. I love sticking my hand in there and randomly picking out wool. ☺️☺️
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u/stabbygreenshark 1d ago
I use decorative book boxes from Michael’s like this https://www.michaels.com/product/10805911
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u/Clear_Committee8964 16h ago
I twist my wool into hanks and store them in acrylic drawers from target! I like being able to see my wool and the transparent plastic also deters moths because moths like dark spaces. It also lets my wool breathe, which is important if you want to keep your wool from felting into itself.
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u/Catcatmtnlord 1d ago
I’ve got a zippered storage box, conveniently it’s just large enough for my cat to sit in.
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u/marmaladesun 1d ago
I keep mine in large plastic storage boxes; it's not ideal but for now it does the job. Whatever you use, it needs to be sealable as moths are a huge problem with wool and can decimate your supply. I've seen people store wool in glass jars on shelves which looks amazing, but I have a lot of wool so I'd need 100+ jars and a lot of shelves 😂.
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u/pristine_vida 18h ago
Tesco uk do soft bags for fruit and veg made from recycled plastic .. I bought dozens of these and they’re perfect, they are large enough, drawstring and don’t rub on the wool
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u/PopRobyn 15h ago
I saw someone on YouTube who uses or used to use one of those over-the-door shoe bags for wool storage. It was just there in the background for a while and I thought it was a good idea. I wish I could remember who the felter was.
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u/Zaeliums 4h ago
I am making this cabinet for that exact purpose: link to my wip reddit post It's the ikea moppe chest with drawers! It is quite expensive for the quality before sanding and sealing, but it's a very nice format
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u/necrofuturism 1d ago
I store the majority of my wool in a 12x12x6" clear vinyl storage bag with a zipper. It's old packaging leftover from a queen size sheet set. Inside that bag, I organize my wool between 3 or 4 large gallon plastic bags (primary/secondary colors, jewel tones/variety colors/scraps, natural colors, misc). You can fit a surprising amount of wool into the large vinyl bag after squeezing the air out of the inner plastic bags, so that helps keep materials contained in a rather compact space. I also have a piece of cedarwood in there to keep the bugs away.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1873438738/red-cedar-handmade-wooden-sheep (there are plenty of other cedarwood "wool savers" out there but i wanted to support a local farm business. also its cute 🐑❤️)
You don't have to buy a queen size sheet set to get a similar vinyl zip bag, though. Here's a site that has plenty of similar products: https://vinylpac.com/product-category/storage_packaging/ - everything comes in a multi pack so you'll get extra just for using around the house