Sorting tights..?

Karin L H

With all the collected wisdom here I'm sure many of you have a solution to an issue I'm thinking of at the moment - how to keep my tights (pantyhose) sorted, clearly displaying which is which..?

For now I just tie them into a knot and put them in a box in one of my drawers... but, most of them are all black and therefore a bit tricky to keep apart, so when I need a pair I sometimes need to spend some time going through most of them to find the specific pair I'm after..!

I'd like a system where I clearly can see things like which are tights, which are leggings, which are knee-highs, which are thicker and which are thinner... do any of you have any systems for that? If you can follow what I'm after; being Swedish and partly sleep-deprived at the moment with a 6 month baby might make it a bit hard for me to communicate clearly in English

Thanks a lot in advance!

4 years ago

General

11 replies

Latest reply was from DonnaF

The Cat

Veteran

I, too, tie them in a knot, but I sort them by style and thickness and store them in separate open boxes in a drawer.

4 years ago

Staysfit

Veteran

I took some quick photos of a pair of tights from my box to show the steps of how I fold and store them. My storage box is tightly packed because I have so many. Most are dark colors and do not show well in the photo, but they are easy for me to see in person. I can tell exactly how many, what knit patterns and colors I have as soon as I open my container. They wrinkle while stored but do not look wrinkled when I wear them. Shoeboxes work well for storage containers. I store my gym leggings in a similar way and took a picture of them folded so you can see also...for my gym leggings, I follow the same folding steps as the tights, but once they are folded into thirds, instead of rolling, I fold them in half and then store them up in shoeboxes in my bureau drawer.

I am not very neat when folding....but it’s organized and I can see what I have. My gym leggings are sorted by length and weight. Some are bike shorts, some capri length, some are full length fleece lined, etc. We have 4 seasons, and I use them daily.

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4 years ago

April

Veteran

Two things will save you.

1. Do the Marie Kondo-style folding that Staysfit is advocating.

2. Label like a crazy person.

You will feel like you're wasting your life but there is nothing more satisfying than being able to reach into a drawer in the dark and know which pair of black tights you've laid your hands on.

If you can get plastic bags (no need to waste fresh ones, they can be re-used), put a scrap of white paper inside that describes your tights. "Black windowpane texture" "Super warm fleece-lined" "the ones that are tight since the baby" Don't write directly on the bag with a Sharpie (permanent marker) because the black tights will make it impossible to read. Put one pair into each labeled bag, stand them up in a drawer, et voila.

When a baby makes it hard to find a moment to brush your teeth, this level of organization will make you feel like you're doing a great job at something.

4 years ago

Ginger

Veteran

I fold mine, and store them in drawers with lots of dividers. Mine are sorted by color; this is the not-nude-or-black drawer. I have partitions to indicate weight. On the left they are all regular opaque tights. On the right, the ones in front are sheer and in back are opaque.

I also try to cut a divider from the packaging. That goes in front of their tights. It’s not as important for the colored ones, but it’s helpful for the black. But honestly, once sorted by color and weight I don’t usually have much need for additional labels.

Leggings go elsewhere for me. They don’t fold to the same scale.

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4 years ago

Sara L.

Veteran

I roll mine up and put them in plastic sandwich bags and then store them in a basket in my closet. I label the bags - sheer black, opaque black, navy, brown, etc. I don't bother labeling colored tights or others that are obvious, but dark colors are hard to see in my closet first thing in the morning.

4 years ago

Janet

(website)

Veteran

I barely own any tights or hose anymore, but my method is a hybrid of Staysfit’s and ginger’s. Fold/semi roll and store in ziplock bag with a label. I also “file” my socks.

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4 years ago

Karin L H

Veteran

Wow, you are awesome!! Thanks so much, this is exactly what I was after. LOVE the idea of putting each pair in small plastic bags and labelling papers and/or using scraps from the boxes. And I love structure so this is perfect for me thanks so much!!

4 years ago

Joy

Veteran

I have a high shelf in my closet above the hanging clothes. On it I have lots of clear plastic shoe boxes. One section is for nylon stockings and tights, a box for black, one for navy, one for olive and brown, and one for grey. I fold them Kondo style with the sheerest in front to tights in the back. The very back is for leggings which I seldom wear. If there is room, I also put socks in these boxes by color and thickness. The clear boxes let you see what you have and I label them by color.
It especially helps to separate black from navy.

4 years ago

abby

Active Member

I do like April and Ginger. For my tights, I fold them down to where they will fit flat inside a smaller size clear ziplock bag. I prefer a quart size freezer bag for its durability. I label the bag with a marker...color, weight, etc. Freezer bags usually have a white space for me to use a Sharpie marker and still read it when tights and marker are the same color. After sliding my tights into the ziplock bag, I force the air out of the bag by pressing it between my thighs and zipping it closed. It makes a thin solid block that I can organize and file in my drawer.

One would think labeling the color would be needless but telling the difference between black and ink blue is not easy for my eyes any more, particularly early in the morning. Sealing my tights with little air defeats or slows the oxidation process that makes the elastic fail. The bags are smooth and easily inserted or removed without disturbing their neighbors in the drawer. The bags are reusable, delightfully so, when one pair wears out, I replace it with a pair of the same color and weight.

4 years ago

Anonymous

Mine are just stored in a box by weight in winter- with thicker ones in back, sheers in front- but they're all very simple and unpatterned except my burgundy ones.
But right now they're happily packed away in my cedar chest til November or so

4 years ago

DonnaF

Veteran

I mostly use scarf hangers similar to those sold on Amazon for my fishnet typed patterned stockings which can be hard to tell apart. I just eye the size doughnut and finger the thickness of my black tights stored in a drawer with other colored and patterned tights.

4 years ago

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