Carrie in PA

I've always purchased the fabric for projects as needed and I had a small collection of fabric in my stash until recently. I acquired a black garbage bag full of fabric from my mother on top of fabric i collected on a couple of shopping sprees. I've also been collecting thrift store finds for some scrappy looking projects in the future. I have everything organized really pretty and i love looking at it.

The problem is, i don't know what to do next. It seems like i just can't make any of it go together or visualize anything with it all. It's mostly the stuff from my mother that's bothering me, we don't have the same taste in color or design.

My boyfriend says not to worry because i will eventually find more fabric to make it all come together. That means my stash would get larger and possibly more overwhelming. I could easily become and unruly hoarder and He has always been an enabler

What would you do? Wait until the stash grows even bigger and there are more options? Do you pick fabrics and take them to to store to find more to go with it?

Shelbie

You need to have some neutrals and blenders to make your collection work. When I first started quilting, I bought lots of interesting bright focus type prints. Of course nothing went together. Once I had some tone on tone neutrals (off white, tan, cream, gray, black) and some small prints that "read as solid", I was good to go. I could then pick my focus print from my stash, choose a neutral for the background and use a couple of the small print solids to complement my focus. It worked for me really well. I had always considered neutral and small boring prints unexciting to buy and didn't realize how valuable and necessary they really were. If your chosen fabric has some of those little coloured dots on the selvedge, that will help you choose your solid looking prints.

Dina

I usually look over my stash and if a quilt "comes to me," fine, I make it. If I don't have a quilt "come to me," I pick a fabric I like and head to a fabric store to find what goes with it better than what I have. Sometimes I even just start with new fabric. Each method works. I find that fabric I bought when I first started quilting, 4 years ago, isn't always fabric I am interested in now.

Basically I remind myself that fabric doesn't spoil, and fabric isn't getting any cheaper, so if I want to buy more, fine. I used to select my fabric before I selected a pattern. Any more, I start with a pattern. Not sure which way works better.

I'd say just do what you feel like doing. That is what makes it fun anyway.

Dina

laurafet

THANK YOU Shelbie! I have had the same problem to a degree, after finding a couple of really great deals on Craigs List, and major LQS online sales. I was going to just say to pick one you love as your focus fabric and work around it, but you hit the mark with your advice. I tend to find those complimentary fabrics boring to shop for also, but now I know I need to have them!

DebraK

sound advice.

nanna-up-north

Your story sounds a lot like mine. I started out just buying fabric for projects and then I bought a few things that I fell in love with..... not much. That's not my style. Then I started finding fabrics at estate sales I'd go to..... $2 for a piece of fabric that would measure 1-2 yards. I would pick the ones I liked but the stash started growing. Last summer I bought several small boxes of fabric at an auction..... the woman had been a quilter and had lots of fabric..... good fabric. I think once I washed and folded all that I counted about 140 yards. So, now my stash is getting pretty big..... not as huge as many I see but I kinda feel like you.... what to do next?

I just finished a baby quilt that I finished up using all that stash. I bought 1 yard of an animal print but the majority of the fabric came from stash..... Yeah!. I'm thinking of cutting 2 1/2" squares with some of the pieces that I'm not in love with to use for leaders and enders.

When I want to make a quilt I'll first shop my stash..... It really bothers me when I have the perfect thing in the stash but there's not enough.... Then, I have to start adapting things and that can be a problem.

Tartan

Separate your Mom's stash into lights and darks. Head on over to http://www.quiltville.blogspot.ca and look under Bonnie's free pattern tab for a scrap quilt that would suit her scraps.

DebraK

another great idea. The older fabrics look great with Bonnie's patterns.

athomenow

Keep in mind that even if you make things with fabric you're not crazy about it can always be a charity quilt. Someone would love to wrap up in it. Older people make good candidates for small lap quilts and their taste could run to the fabric your mother chose. Someone else said fabric isn't getting cheaper so hang on to it and look for things to go with. Lucky you to have such a dilemma.

feline fanatic

Additionally, if you aren't crazy about the fabrics your got from your mom, you can always use them for pieced quilt backs. Many of us make our backs by just piecing together large hunks of fabric from our stash with orphan blocks and leftovers from the top.