A while back I wrote about FabMo, the wonderful non-profit organization where I source almost all of the textiles I use in my work. I wrote about how it came about, about where it collects its exquisite fabrics, and about the teams of volunteers who sort these fabrics and prepare them for selection. Today I’d like to talk about the next stage, which is preparing for a Selection Event.
Hannah collects fabrics every Monday. Once a week volunteers sort these new fabric batches by size. But FabMo holds Selection Events, that is–allows the public to come to pick fabrics–only once a month. Therefore, for about four weeks the fabrics need to be stored. After volunteers sort the fabrics and place them in big plastic containers, therefore, these containers are piled and stored on shelves in FabMo’s warehouse. There are many shelves and many boxes, a true fabricoholic heaven!
A day or two before a Selection Event, the Setup Supervisor, who is the volunteer in charge of the setup, clears the big tables in FabMo’s main room. The tables need to be cleared since they are often used for other tasks, such as sorting or measuring. Once cleared, the supervisor covers the tables with white table cloths:
There are currently five “stations” throughout the main room, each made of a cluster of tables:
After the stations are ready, the supervisor rolls boxes in from the adjacent storage room. She piles boxes high on top of wheeled dollies. Fabric is heavy, you see, and big tubs of it are hard on people’s backs!
The setup volunteers then arrange the piles of fabric on the tables according to a set formula. They first put plastic tubs full of “sheers” (=thin, transparent and sleek fabrics that are impossible to put in piles) in the middle of each station. Then they place bigger pieces, usually 18″ square and the larger rectangles called “Place-mats” in FabMo jargon (because they look like … you guessed it: place-mats!) in the corners. Piles of bigger pieces are more stable, and won’t slip off easily…
Volunteers then put the biggest upholstery swatches, nicknamed “Longs,” in the middle of each station.
After the bigger pieces anchor the arrangement, the volunteers place piles of the smaller pieces in-between. Some of the standard sizes are 12″ square, 10″ square and 8″ square. There are also different sizes of rectangles, as well as irregular-sized pieces:
The piles have to be high enough so that volunteers won’t need to refill non-stop during the Selection Event, but not too high to collapse. So the volunteers try to make them about as tall as their hand. This is an art, not a science, but after some wiggling things usually work out nicely.
The result is a beautiful mosaic of textile piles, that make textile lovers like myself drool:
Every Setup has a Setup Supervisor and up to six volunteers. Depending on the number of people, setting up for an event takes between two to five hours or so.
When done, the room is ready to receive the crowds:
Can you guess what my next FabMo post will be about?
If you’d like to learn more about FabMo or get involved, check out their website.