I planned this project of a collapsible fleece-drying rack over a year ago. Setting is always difficult as it requires a lot of space and works best if air can circulate to as much of the fibre as possible. I toyed with the idea of folding herb drying racks, but the ones I found were small, flimsy and expensive. I’ve seen others use those plastic crates with open mesh sides, but couldn’t find any of those locally, plus they take up space when not in use. 

So I decided to design and make my own. My brief was:

freestanding

reasonably lightweight and portable

widely spaced shelves

a large surface area so that the fleece could be opened up to speed drying

collapsible so could be folded down and packed into a bag when not in use

Designing the rack and working out the specs took some thought. I ended up with a plan for a three shelf rack, each shelf being approximately 80cm square. I intended to use plastic pipe and elbow joints for the frame and mesh fabric for the shelves. Mesh fabric would allow air to circulate, and if made from synthetic fibre, would dry fast itself and hopefully reduce the likelihood of mould whilst packed away.  Each of the mesh shelves would have sleeves sewn along all four sides through which the pipes of the frame would be inserted. Then the pipes would be connected via the 3 and 4-way joints, putting the shelf under tension. In this way the shelves would stabilise the whole structure.

I already had some plastic piping left over from making a collapsible niddy-noddy, but bought the rest from Wickes, then cut it all into the correct lengths. I borrowed a plastic pipe cutter to do this, which gave nice neat and smooth cuts which would facilitate threading the pipe into the shelf pockets. The 3 and 4-way joints came from ebay, as I couldn’t find them locally. However, if you decided to make one of the racks, do try a local plumbing store if you have one first, before going online.

So I had the frame and it fitted together, but then winter came so fleece washing ceased and access to my sewing machine was limited by building work. But I went ahead and ordered 3m of fine mesh fabric for the shelves in anticipation of getting started when I could.

Sadly, when I finally got to sewing the shelves, the mesh proved to be too fine, overstretchy and delicate, so it was back to the drawing board. This time around I sourced a much sturdier, low-stretch mesh fabric on eBay. It was pricier, but fitted the bill really well. Luckily I found some seconds of the danger fabric, which helped keep the cost down. I also decided to use Calico I already had to sew smooth, non- stretchy sleeves for the pipes so that it would make it much easier to slide the shelves on and off the pipes. The sleeves would also make a stable attachment to the between shelf and pipe, and hopefully reduce stretching and drooping of the central, mesh shelf. As usual, cutting out and sewing took some time because I was doing it around other things.

Finally it all came together. Probably too late to test on a fleece this year, but it might work in the greenhouse if necessary. I hope the shelves will not droop under a layer of damp fleece. I spin it after washing, so hopefully it will support the weight.

I guess it would also work for herb drying.

If you would like the instructions for making this fleece drying rack I will add them in a few weeks time.  Please pop back to this page to download the instructions.