Thread: Not buying any new fabric !!

Originally Posted by Wanabee Quiltin

I have a friend who is a hoarder. I have not understood why she buys and buys and her house is full as well as about 20 storage units. Now I do ! A shelf in my sewing room broke so DH needs to fix it. I have fabric stored in bins on the shelves and they are too heavy. I knew that I had FQ's, yardage and scrapes all mixed together so I figured I would clean the bins out. So far, I have gone through the red, green, brown, yellow and orange and the purple and turquoise fabric bins. I must have 500 FQ, about 50 Fat 8ths and three grocery sacks of scrapes to be cut up. Now that still leaves me the black and white, the patriotic, 2 bins of Christmas, 2 bins of children, 1 bin of mixed, one bin of floral and 2 very large bins of blue. None of these have solids in them, that is another area of the room. I think there is another bin, but I am afraid now to go into that room and check it out. I also have FQ's in the chest in the guest bedroom with all my charm squares. There has to be about 50-75 FQ of my Kaffe Fassett fabric as well as my Liberty of London Fat Sixteenth's. And believe it or not, all this except the chest are in my sewing room which is a small ex-bedroom. So now I am more than a little ashamed of all I have, I will never ever use up all my fabric. I have made a rule now that I will not buy any more fabric -other than the background or borders for my quilts. It comes at a good time as I have made all my family members quilts in their desired designs/fabrics and now I am free to use what I have. I am wondering if there is a 12 step group I can go to ?

I'll volunteer to take the Kaffe Fasset fat quarters - anything I can do to help out a fellow quilter. LOL
Seriously, I redid my sewing room this past summer and put my fabric on comic book boards and organized fat quarters, paired fabric up with patterns, etc. I was astonished and somewhat embarrassed at how much fabric I had. My one consolation: both my niece and her 11 year old daughter are getting into quilting so I have a feeling that my stash will see significant reductions in the future!

I laughed when I read your post and wanted to say, "So, what is your problem? What you have is normal for a quilter." Well not really. I bought many collections while I was working. I told myself once I retired I would not have the money. Almost 3 years since I retired and am still buying but I do tell myself that I will only by to finish quilts and for backing. But, I love it. I love planning and love dreaming. I live 35 miles from my LQS so buy a lot on line. My UPS man comes right to my door and we are on first name basis. Enjoy the fabric but keep it organized. Who knows? We could have a 3 day blizzard and I am happy in my sewing room.

I believe that I can have too much fabric - because once in a while it makes me feel overwhelmed, and wasteful to some degree. Everyone has their own tolerance level. I don't want to spend hundreds and even thousands of dollars on fabric that I'm not going to use. I do love having lots of things to choose from as scrappy is the most fun for me - but sometimes it bugs me to have so much invested just sitting there. So call me conflicted! I just reorganized for the umpteenth time yesterday and have a whole bin of scraps to give away, so I'm feeling better about the whole thing.

12 Step Program....step right this way, I'll take some of what you don't really want. And, if you're like me, the amount you don't want would probably fit in a regular mailing envelop that requires only one stamp.

I am almost finished cleaning out my fabric bins. I found many fabrics that I know I will not ever use and don't like them. I am too busy to go back through all my bins again right now, but I have plans on pulling out these fabrics and giving them away. I bought almost every single one of them from thrift stores as I travel, and most of them were bought when I was a new quilter 8 or 9 years ago, I thought I needed everything for my stash. Now I realize that I have definite thoughts about my kind of quilting and that horrible yellow with red and purple flowers isn't going to work, all 3 yards of it. I am very glad I went through my fabrics as I found some lovely pieces I forgot all about. And I found out that I only had duplicates of fabrics by one designer only: Mary Engelbreit. I decided there are many things I want to do in the world besides buying fabrics so I am limiting myself to blenders and solids for my quilts. My motto for 2015 is "Less is More" so I guess it starts with fabric buying.

For the past year or so I've limited myself to buying only if needed for a specific project.

Seems like no matter how much fabric you have, there's always one or two pieces needed to do the next project.

But, that's not the same as having to get everything for that project at the same time. Nor is it the same as buying every gorgeous fabric that catches your eye (my former mode of shopping - and why I went shopping infrequently).

What my stash is lacking in is blenders and other fabrics that read as solids.

This is not the post to read on the same day that I get a coupon from Joann's for 30% off my entire purchase. Fortunately, I have made no promise to stop buying fabric. I mostly buy for planned projects and most of that is backings. But, I reserve the right to buy whatever catches my eye, whether I need it or not.

I am with the rest of you. I ended up buying 4 yards of fabric today for the back and binding of a quilt. I was quite aggravated bit had absolutely nothing that would work. At least it was 50 percent off and it will finish a quilt. And it is not going into my stash.

Originally Posted by Wanabee Quiltin

I have a friend who is a hoarder. I have not understood why she buys and buys and her house is full as well as about 20 storage units. Now I do ! A shelf in my sewing room broke so DH needs to fix it. I have fabric stored in bins on the shelves and they are too heavy. I knew that I had FQ's, yardage and scrapes all mixed together so I figured I would clean the bins out. So far, I have gone through the red, green, brown, yellow and orange and the purple and turquoise fabric bins. I must have 500 FQ, about 50 Fat 8ths and three grocery sacks of scrapes to be cut up. Now that still leaves me the black and white, the patriotic, 2 bins of Christmas, 2 bins of children, 1 bin of mixed, one bin of floral and 2 very large bins of blue. None of these have solids in them, that is another area of the room. I think there is another bin, but I am afraid now to go into that room and check it out. I also have FQ's in the chest in the guest bedroom with all my charm squares. There has to be about 50-75 FQ of my Kaffe Fassett fabric as well as my Liberty of London Fat Sixteenth's. And believe it or not, all this except the chest are in my sewing room which is a small ex-bedroom. So now I am more than a little ashamed of all I have, I will never ever use up all my fabric. I have made a rule now that I will not buy any more fabric -other than the background or borders for my quilts. It comes at a good time as I have made all my family members quilts in their desired designs/fabrics and now I am free to use what I have. I am wondering if there is a 12 step group I can go to ?

Oh my...Makes one stop and think....