Building a stash
07-29-2009, 09:16 AM
#11
Power Poster
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Western Wisconsin
Posts: 12,930
My advice is to make sure you have excellent storage facilities for a fabric stash before you start collecting. I have stacks of clear plastic boxes and, frankly speaking, if I were starting over again I would *not* buy so much fabric without specific projects in mind. My tastes in fabric have changed radically over time, so I have given away a lot of yardage just to make space for the types of fabrics I like to work with now. I still have so much fabric that it is difficult to pull everything that might work for a specific project; I dread having to move all those stacked boxes, rummage through them, and then replace everything in the closet. Even having given away a lot of yardage, I still have way too much of some fabrics.
With fabric getting more expensive every year, it is harder that it used to be for me to give away fabric. It is also getting harder for me to buy more fabric because I have less wealth (!) and the fabric I like now costs a lot more than the fabric I used to like.
I agree that if you just buy extra for every project you make, soon enough you will have a stash that reflects your tastes in fabric. Be patient!!! If you still have the collecting bug, I would advise purchasing only fabrics that you really *love*, not fabrics that you think might come in useful some day. I found that "some day" sometimes never comes!
Edit: I decided I should add one caveat, that my advice should be ignored if you are truly an artist. Ruth McDowell comes to mind. She has accummulated fabrics for many years and draws on them for every quilt she makes.
With fabric getting more expensive every year, it is harder that it used to be for me to give away fabric. It is also getting harder for me to buy more fabric because I have less wealth (!) and the fabric I like now costs a lot more than the fabric I used to like.
I agree that if you just buy extra for every project you make, soon enough you will have a stash that reflects your tastes in fabric. Be patient!!! If you still have the collecting bug, I would advise purchasing only fabrics that you really *love*, not fabrics that you think might come in useful some day. I found that "some day" sometimes never comes!
Edit: I decided I should add one caveat, that my advice should be ignored if you are truly an artist. Ruth McDowell comes to mind. She has accummulated fabrics for many years and draws on them for every quilt she makes.
07-29-2009, 09:27 AM
#12
Power Poster
Join Date: May 2008
Location: MN
Posts: 24,386
Originally Posted by Prism99
My advice is to make sure you have excellent storage facilities for a fabric stash before you start collecting. I have stacks of clear plastic boxes and, frankly speaking, if I were starting over again I would *not* buy so much fabric without specific projects in mind. My tastes in fabric have changed radically over time, so I have given away a lot of yardage just to make space for the types of fabrics I like to work with now. I still have so much fabric that it is difficult to pull everything that might work for a specific project; I dread having to move all those stacked boxes, rummage through them, and then replace everything in the closet. Even having given away a lot of yardage, I still have way too much of some fabrics.
With fabric getting more expensive every year, it is harder that it used to be for me to give away fabric. It is also getting harder for me to buy more fabric because I have less wealth (!) and the fabric I like now costs a lot more than the fabric I used to like.
I agree that if you just buy extra for every project you make, soon enough you will have a stash that reflects your tastes in fabric. Be patient!!! If you still have the collecting bug, I would advise purchasing only fabrics that you really *love*, not fabrics that you think might come in useful some day. I found that "some day" sometimes never comes!
Edit: I decided I should add one caveat, that my advice should be ignored if you are truly an artist. Ruth McDowell comes to mind. She has accummulated fabrics for many years and draws on them for every quilt she makes.
With fabric getting more expensive every year, it is harder that it used to be for me to give away fabric. It is also getting harder for me to buy more fabric because I have less wealth (!) and the fabric I like now costs a lot more than the fabric I used to like.
I agree that if you just buy extra for every project you make, soon enough you will have a stash that reflects your tastes in fabric. Be patient!!! If you still have the collecting bug, I would advise purchasing only fabrics that you really *love*, not fabrics that you think might come in useful some day. I found that "some day" sometimes never comes!
Edit: I decided I should add one caveat, that my advice should be ignored if you are truly an artist. Ruth McDowell comes to mind. She has accummulated fabrics for many years and draws on them for every quilt she makes.
07-29-2009, 11:26 AM
#13
Power Poster
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Out searching for some sunshine :-)
Posts: 58,856
I buy 2-3 yards of fabrics that I love, that are my favorite colors and ones that I just know that I will use a lot....
Then I will buy 1-2 yards of fabrics that are my family and friends favorites...these will end up in quilts one day....
Novelty fabrics that catch my eye I buy 1/2 yards, future I spy quilts for my grands and maybe even greatgrands someday....
I also have a spot with a strange looking assortment of fabrics...these are some that do not go with anything else, but some future quilts that are "out of the box ideas" and as I find fabrics for them I buy 1-2 yards as I come across them...
It all depends on you, your situation....as for me :oops: :lol: :lol: I may never reach the point of having too much fabric.... 8) 8) 8)
Then I will buy 1-2 yards of fabrics that are my family and friends favorites...these will end up in quilts one day....
Novelty fabrics that catch my eye I buy 1/2 yards, future I spy quilts for my grands and maybe even greatgrands someday....
I also have a spot with a strange looking assortment of fabrics...these are some that do not go with anything else, but some future quilts that are "out of the box ideas" and as I find fabrics for them I buy 1-2 yards as I come across them...
It all depends on you, your situation....as for me :oops: :lol: :lol: I may never reach the point of having too much fabric.... 8) 8) 8)
07-29-2009, 07:41 PM
#14
Power Poster
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: SW Iowa
Posts: 32,855
I almost never buy just one yard of fabric. If I like it I buy two yards and if it yells to me across the fabric store I'll buy three or four yards. I started buying fat quarters about six months ago and am making a Grandmother's Garden quilt this summer ( OK, it's going to take me longer than this summer to get this one done.) so now I'm glad I have all those fat quarters. When I buy fabric to make a specific quilt I always buy more than I need so I have some left when I finish it. My stash is growing.
07-29-2009, 08:36 PM
#15
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: NW Panhandle Texas
Posts: 584
I have only been "stashing" for hmmm a few months....I was only going to buy what I needed and maybe some fat quarters :lol: :lol: :lol:
Now I have 3 huge tubs FULL to overflowing with fabric. No its not as big as some BUT I do have about 10 projects with fabric and patterns all together plus LOTS more fabric with no pattern or project in mind LOL now to find the time.
I use to worry about building my stash ...but trust me it will grow all on its own :lol:
Get what you LOVE and most patterns call for about 2-3 yards of one color.
Dont forget batting.....I only have 2 packages of crib size batting and wish I had a couple queen size. Oh well after I get back to work I will get some LOL
Now I have 3 huge tubs FULL to overflowing with fabric. No its not as big as some BUT I do have about 10 projects with fabric and patterns all together plus LOTS more fabric with no pattern or project in mind LOL now to find the time.
I use to worry about building my stash ...but trust me it will grow all on its own :lol:
Get what you LOVE and most patterns call for about 2-3 yards of one color.
Dont forget batting.....I only have 2 packages of crib size batting and wish I had a couple queen size. Oh well after I get back to work I will get some LOL
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