Storage and care...

[sheeplady]

I fold them into squares, and then put them on their sides in an oblong basket- this way I can see all the scarves by their edge. I keep them in a basket under a high piece of furniture, with an old pillow case over the top of the basket to keep the dust off.

Hanging space is at a premium in this house.

ETA: I store my slips and others on a belt/ tie organizer, which has about 20 "hooks" that stick out (hung in the odd place in my closet where there is room, but it needs to be close to the wall). I store by color and then length/ style.

 

[C-dot]

I have little canvas boxes that I section off my drawers with that I store my scarves and lingerie in. Stockings and scarves I roll - This is the only way I can avoid wrinkling and creasing, for either cotton or silk.

As for slips, I worked in a lingerie store for a few years, and the only time slips creased was when they were taken out of tight packaging. To get rid of them, we just steamed them out. I amassed a collection of them (so much for my paycheques) and I store them, folded, in drawers. The only time they wrinkle is after I wear them, and again, I just steam the wrinkles away

 

[evelynn]

Thanks both of you.

Sheeplady, thanks for the idea. I saw a tie hanger in the thrift store yesterday....stared at it for a few minutes, and put it back. I knew I should've picked it up for something. Now are you talking mainly slips and lingerie? I have some long 1950's nightgowns and robes (the silky/lacy kind).....anyone else?

Since both of you fold your scarves away....sounds like mine shouldn't be hanging out in the open air. They've been on one of those over-the-door hook things. I'm a fairly new scarf collector and by the time summer's over I want to have a nice collection of vintage scarves.

 

[C-dot]

The advantage of hanging your scarves over the door is that you can see them all, but I've found they tend to bunch in the middle. If you roll/fold them in a drawer you open often, you will still see them, and you can add a nice sachet to keep them smelling nice!

 

[Louise Anne]

I bought some white plastic drawer devider from a leading UK retail shop like a honney comb which clipped together to store small items like scarves, hosiery and lingery.
The thing was they were not very smooth on the top edge and they caught these items, and did some dammage to the hosiery , might great for men's socks and ties, for ladies wear not great at all
so do check out that any thing is not going to catch and dammage your clothes first.

 

[KittyT]

My vintage dresser has built-in drawer dividers, but in the past I have made them by covering 2 layers of cardboard with pretty fabric. I did at one point post something from a 1949 housewives book about how to make them

 

[sheeplady]

I've had bad luck with things getting dusty (we have forced air heat) or faded if I hang them out. This includes clothing and hats.

On the tie rack, I think you could hang light robes. I need to get another one, because mine is full, I'll hang the top one about two feet above the bottom one, and hang my shorter things there, longer things on the lower one. Mine is metal coated with vinyl (mine is modern, I bought it at a home improvement store), so it is decently strong, and I also use it to hang my shapeware.

For heavy robes, there is a weird outside corner in my closet. I have two jacket hooks (big metal hooks that you'd buy to hang on the wall or put on a jacket tree). Each hook has two "hook ends." I don't know what they are called, but they are the type you used to see in one room school houses for kids to hang their coats on. I want to say that they are called "J hooks", because they look like a J. You sometimes see small ones on the back of stall doors in the ladies' washroom.

Three other things I thought of: If your clothes hang off the floor, and you don't use the space under the rack, they make individual cabinet drawers out of plastic that you can buy and tuck under. They fit qite well, depending upon the hanging height of your clothes, you might be able to stack more than one. The other idea is that if you have more hanging space, they make men's tie racks that are meant to hang in the closet from your closet bar. I find these don't work as well for bulky women's things, but it would hold something. They also make pant racks (that hold four pais of pants) that hang from the closet bar, which would probably hold a lot of scarves. Each individual "pant bar" comes undone on it's own, which makes things easy to get off.

I love to organize things, so sorry this got so long.