feeling sad that it is all gone
 

I used the very last scrappy bit of my all time favorite fabric this morning. I have no more. I have used it in landscape quilts, classic quilts, as binding for heavy, woven Roman blinds (used yards of it for that project - every window in the house and two of its sliding doors have homemade Roman blinds!) and now as part of some scrappy blocks that will be assembled shortly. I have had it in my collection for over ten years...

I love this fabric because it is a sturdy batik with a vaguely landscape feel (a suggestion of trees and leaves) containing many of my most-used colors - russet, chocolate, purple, burgundy, moss green, cream, even a bit of navy. Sigh.

Do you have a favorite fabric? Did you hoard the last bits of a particular fabric when you discovered that you cannot get any more? Do you mourn any fabrics that you had, but are now all gone and commercially unavailable?

Alison

PS I will get over this...

I do have a favorite fabric and am afraid to use it iin fear I won't find anymore. It is a pansey print. Just love it.

I have a small piece of Asian print with gorgeous colors that I keep saving. Just can't get myself to cut it.

I feel your pain......:(

I think the only thing that will make you feel better is to go shopping for more fabric .....:p

My piece of fabric that I just can not seem to find the perfect pattern for belonged to my Great Grandmother and was passed down to my Grandmother, to my mother and now to me. My mother gave me specific orders before giving it to me that I must use it, but I just keep holding onto it. When I pick it up and begin thinking of using it, I just start thinking of all of the history that it has per say been through. But, maybe this coming year I will find the courage and desire to make it into a treasured quilt.

i have several favorite pieces - every time i think they would go well with something, i can't bear to use it up :)

For sure! That's sure to help ease the pain!

I found a fabulous purple piece a couple years before I turned 60 which I fell in love with and was planning to use to make my "When I am Old I Shall Wear Purple" quilt. Never made the quilt, I'm now 67, and i really don't like the fabric any more!:rolleyes:

Did that cure me of finding, falling for, and hoarding 'spectacular' fabric?:shock: What do YOU think?!:hunf::D

Jan in VA

For those favorite fabrics of ours that we may not get to see... How about putting them in a photo album. Or use as a background for photos? Sorry for poor grammer. Sending this from iPhone

At least you cut into yours. . . . . . . . I have some that I can't bear to cut apart.

Must be odd man out. I have two "favorites" - AND I CAN'T WAIT TO CUT THEM!! I'm waiting for just the "right" pattern or idea to come along.

They are both the same fabric - a solid jacquard, one is gold and one is red. The two colors together just siiiiingggg!!!

oh I do!!! i have a fabric that i can not even describe- yellow- sunsetty- orangey---paisley---doesn't sound like anything special- but i have used it in dozens & dozens of projects- sometimes just a little square- sometimes fairly good sized pieces- been carefully folding-cherishing each little scrap of it for about 8 years- i only have a couple little pieces left- like 2" bits- i wish/hope that someday i will unexpectedly find another piece of it- if i do...i will buy it again- i just love it! sometimes i could use those last couple pieces- but oh how i hate the thought of it being all gone...funny the hold some things can have on us! :D

I have several favorites. Time to get out there and find another favorite and go through the cycle all over again.

I don't ever feel sad when I use up the last of a favorite fabric. Once in a while I'll wish I had more of it. I have had fabrics though that I thought I'd never see the end of and I'm glad when I get it used down low enough I don't feel bad for tossing the rest.

Since I've been quilting for several years now when I run across a fabric that I know I'll use yards and yards of it eventually I buy yards and yards of it!

I have some favorites I haven't used yet. I'm trying to use up all my fabrics, just impossible as I bought too many yards of too many pieces.

I too mourn the use of that last bit of a spectacular fabric. Unless I remind myself that there is more maybe even better fabrics out there just waiting to come home... I couldn't bring myself to use them.

My favorite is called "Maisy" - it's red and blue and pink and green and turquoise and orange and yellow and it has large alphabet letters on it. I have used it in so many baby quilts you'd think I'd get tired of it. I've made borders out of it. I've cut out individual letters and appliqued them onto blocks. I've backed entire quilts with it and I live in fear that I'll use up the last 4 yards I have in my stash and won't be able to get any more. I should go order some more right now.

This made me laugh out loud! Too right!!

Wow...I think with a history like that I would have to frame it and keep it for posterity! If you do decide what to do with it, post a picture...

I like this idea. For my next treasured-but-nearly-finished fabric I may very well do this.

A kindred spirit!! Some of mine will remain in my house (in the drapes); I hope you have kept some of the pieces in which you used yours.

Buy it!! Buy it NOW!!

Alison

One of my first quilts was in batiks for my sister. I loved the quilt so much that I hated to give it away. But once I start something for someone I don't retract. I used a turquoise with purple dots batik as one of the main fabrics. I think I started out with 3 maybe 4 yards and I've used it in 4 or 5 quilts. I can't say it's my favorite but it has worked in many quilts.

The beginning of my stash was years ago. I was at a quilt show, met Mickey Lawler of SkyDyes and bought a precious yard of her hand painted sky fabric. A few years later I met her there again and mentioned how much I loved it. She asked what I'd made from it, but being a newbie I hadn't found the "right" project. Her reply- "What are you waiting for! Use it for something. It's meant to be enjoyed, not sitting on a shelf." Well- I still have it somewhere, waiting for me to make a decision. Hope I still like it!

What better way to remember your grandmothers than to use the material in a quilt. That way when you pass it on to your children, it will be a more tangible memory for them rather than "just a piece of fabric" which they might not appreciate.

I don't have any yardage that I feel that way about, but I have way too many FQ's and 1/2 yds that are just way too special to cut into, so I haul then out occasionally and look on them fondly and put them back, not to be used.

Using all of ones fabric - well - this would make me cry! When I see my stash is getting a little low, I try to replace it asap even if I have to find material at a yard sale or Salvation Army! I have several favorite, but I'd say the one I like the most has butterflies, small fluttering butterflies on a pale yellow background. If something I wanted were no longer available, I'd search online until I found something 'close' to the original pattern/type/texture.

I have many favorites! I really don't know why I'm saving them. Once in a while, I'll cut off a small piece for an applique, or just one small part of a quilt. One day, the inspiration will hit me and I'll know it's time! I just bought a gorgeous piece of oriental looking fabric with teals, purples, yellows and browns with flowers, fans and branches and it just screams "kaleidoscope." I can't wait to cut into that, cut I know I have to wait until I finish at least one quilt that I'm working on. It's funny how some fabric says cut me and others say save me.

A friend gave me some scraps of a poppy border print. I think it was a home dec fabric but I loved it. I got two twin size quilts, a purse, two Kindle covers, and two mug rugs out of it with the addition of some of my stash and other scraps. I would buy a bolt of that stuff if I could get it. Everything turned out so beautiful!

I do have a favorite fabric, and I have some of it in a bag with coordinating fabrics, waiting to be made into a quilt for me, someday.

I did make one previous quilt out of it for a teacher who's been good to my child and who lost her husband suddenly. It makes me feel good that my favorite fabric went to one of my favorite people at an important time.

Reading through these posts, I think I will take some scraps of this fabric and make some little thing for myself with it. I have seen earring frames that could hold fabric...maybe that would be a good way to "honor" the fabric...

OH my goodness .. you better go shopping says Dr. Quilt as the remedy for this pain !LOL
I think the tiny flower print are my down fall, not sure -my pysche thinks its to do with my grandmother and her always making me flowered prints. LOL

Sorry to hear about your fabric. You can see your fabric when you look at your windows, that is if the Roman shades are still their. I was wondering may be if you have the name of the fabric you could contact them and ask may be even beg them to remake the designe. You know if they could take it out of retirement. I know some fabric designers have done that in the past. Just a thought happy quilting yippie

I have some beautiful fabric that I purchased long before I started quilting. I made a basket liner from it for my MIL. Every time I visit her, I eyeball that basket and vow to myself that when she passes, that will be the first thing I grab, lol! I still have a small piece of that fabric, but it is too small to do anything with and there is no selvedge, so no chance (however remote) that I could hunt some down. Maybe I'll stumble across some at a yard sale.

Most of my favorite fabrics are in my late mother's stash. I use them, but it is hard. No matter how many fabrics I put in a scrappy quilt I see hers when I look at them. Some were used to make maternity tops for me 29 years ago!

Purchased some fabric which I knew I would hate cutting up.eventuall used some as a backing for a quilt for me. I loved the fabric as it contained a forest scene on similar to a rainforest with birds etc.

Absolutely. Several years ago I bought a small pumpkin print while on vacation. Every time I look at it, it reminds me of our trip to Maine. So not only do I love the fabric, it represents good times. I finally used it up with the exception of a 3" x 6" piece. I refuse to part with it! Think of it this way though, it's better to enjoy it made into something than just sitting in your stash. Somewhere is a piece of fabric just waiting for us to adopt and bring home!

I hope you saved a few of the scraps to put in a pretty vase or glass jar.

I have about 25 yards of my all time favorite yarn in a ball. Just sits there---------but I still love it.

In the quilt book =Bargello with a Twist --I saw the only fabric I went gaga over. Contacted Nancy Zieman & the book author and much searching on the internet before I found 4 yds. Took months to do because out of print.
I would even wear a scrap of the fabric pinned to my clothes when shopping in case people recognized it.
This fabric had 14 colors swirled thru it. A lady in California even traded me 1/2 yd. of the second color.
Naturally, I haven't cut it yet -looking for special pattern but I sure know how you feel. So if you like the
fabric buy lots now.

I've thought about putting a square piece of material, that I love (maybe 8x8), in a frame and hang it on the wall. I would smile every time I'd look at it:) It's hard for me to cut material I love. I'm working on that tho.

I have had a few. A stripe that was black purple and turquoise, another with the same colors that had a water color feel and a vintage fabric with the same colors and white big swirls of fabric. hmm I am seeing a pattern here. lol

Yes, it is a batik with my favorite colors and I wanted to make a convergence quilt, but am afraid I can't find any more if I make a mistake.

I'm so glad there are others out there who can't cut into a favorite fabric. My none sewing friends laugh at me.

Years ago I was at a "Beverly's" and they had this weird orange fabric, with black and brown flicks on it in the clearance area - the flicks were small and it really complimented all the Halloween fabrics that year. So I got brave and bought 3 yards of it. Now I am sorry I didn't get all they had. At first people I sewed with laughed at it - but it was one of those fabrics that would bring everything together. And I shared it all the time - thinking it would come back again - have not seen it since. And I have this one small piece left of it.

My mother had saved a piece of fabric she used to make one of my sister's a dress (I think it was the oldest since she went to school first). It was a Disney fabric of the 3 little pigs. She told me she had it somewhere, no sure where, but just couldn't let it go. So after she died and I found the fabric - my middle sister din't recognize it at all, so I used it in a quilt for a grand niece. (The grand daughter of my eldest sister who passed away in 2008.)

Yes, I do. It is a Wildflower fabric with all kinds and colors of flowers. Bluebonnets (TX's state flower), Indian Paint Brushes and others. It is just beautiful! Quilt shops sell out of it and order more, but it does not last long on the shelves. It is several years that it has been a really popular fabric. I'm going to use it for a wide border, and I won't have to cut it very much. There is a pattern for a quilt called, "Just can't cut it!" It has large blocks of your special fabric. I plan to make one. It's on my list!