Can you put in more shelves, so you have "1 tablecloth to a shelf" cubbies? If you're only putting one tablecloth on each shelf, they can be 1/2 inch or even thinner (depending how wide the shelf is).

When I want to pull stuff out of the middle, I find that rolled things work better. Great w/towels, but would it wrinkle tableclothes too much?

You need some crafty sort of person to cut up some Bainbridge mat board, and make you custom-size boxes.

What are the sizes of the table linens? If you can fold them short enough (and narrow enough), I'd go vertical rather than flat. I'm thinking like a hanging rack of some sort. Here's a webpage showing what I'm thinking.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sliding pants rack, but maybe you could adapt..

I hang tablecloths on hangers in a hall closet; they don't get nearly as wrinkled as in a drawer.

You havenÂt seen my hall closet, LOL! Our only downstairs closet for 4 peoples coats is about 2 feet wide. It is so stuffed if you take out a hanger the coat it was on doesnÂt fall down. And thatÂs with putting out of season things upstairs.
I donÂt think the dowel rod thing would work for me either: large tablecloths are too bulky to hang well.

I priced shallow baskets today thinking I could stack them 2 or 3 up. But unless I can find some deals on baskets, pricewise thatÂs not going to work any better than plastic boxes.

If you like the shirt box idea (sounds very neat to me)maybe you could buy some cheap contact paper
at Big Lots or a dollar store and cover the outside of the boxes to give them more strength.

I too have two antique china cab/buffet pieces. I use the center area that is about 2 feet tall, deep and wide, to store table linens. To get away from the 'pull one out, they all come out' problem, I use my placemats that are from England (Pimental??). They are hard, cork with a laminated top, and I slip one in between the cloths. I can lift up the board above and remove a cloth without disturbing any of the others. Easy to replace a cloth also. Since your cabinets are a different size, how about getting a sheet of very thin plywood or something even thinner, and cutting it to fit? Cut one to go under each cloth.

Barbara

Barbara,
That is clever.

Or instead of wood, maybe you could get acrylic plexiglass (comes in sheets usually).
Maybe your hardware store or Home Depot/Lowe's would even cut it to size for you.

The medium-gray ones from this selection is very sturdy. Acid-free, so good for long-term storage of fabric.

http://www.gaylordmart.com/adblock.asp?abid=2235&sid=93A0C3D505324CBDAE7B2661B7C56F

No cheap, necesssarily, but strong. And if you dig around on their site, you'll find boxes in several sizes.

I don't think the buff-brown ones are very strong, however; we have also had some that look like that, and they are really wimpy.

We have a portable hanging rack in the basement for tablecloths and out of season coats. I keep napkins, Pimpernel and cloth placemats and other odd table items in our built in buffet. I've tried folding tablecloths and I end up having to iron them before using....and I HATE ironing something twice!

kec01 - I have been known to have a tablecloth in the basket of ironing between uses - months sometimes. I'm trying to get over that. :)

LOL, Kathleen, right now ALL my nice tablecloths are in the basket of ironing after using them during the holiday season (that includes my DD¢s birthday)!

Maria, GR.

You guys are funny! If I don't iron a tablecloth immediately after washing, I find that I'm ironing the next time guests are about 10 minutes away. And I drive myself nuts with that stress. So my rule is wash, slightly dry and iron right away.
Other things now have room to stress me out!

Not the prettiest answer, but what about the larger ziplock bags? stacked in the cupboard? Or is that more of the same?

I ended up using the plastic bins. Since I didnÂt want to spend new money on these, I went around the house and ferreted out the ones I had, and consolidated the contents to free up some bins. I didnÂt have enough for everything, but for the rest IÂll wait until something turns up. I donated about a third of the tablecloths too.

Being frugal is work!

I checked a few stores before going that route though, and found that not only have plastic storage bins gone way up in price, but most seem to have things like fancy or locking lids, bulky handles, etc. Beats me why a plastic box needs to be redesigned like the latest car model. The basic ones I repurposed are much more functional.