Thread: when does your stash become hoarding

How can that lady enjoy her fabric? I love looking at mine. If she really has all that fabric, it is just sad.

Last one to the trailers is a slow quilter!!!

That is sad...no one can ever use that much fabric....such a waste

Has anyone cleaned out their stash closet (shelves, etc.), then tried to put everything back. Doesn't work! I had to because of smoke in the house and absolutely could not get everything back in again. Had to store in barrels and boxes for a while! :roll:

I too have a large stash of fabric. My daughter is just learning to sew and I told her she might as well come raid my stash because I'll never be able to use it all. I'm trying real hard to limit the amount of fabric I buy.

What a great thread this has been....Corky, well done and your pics are inspirational and it's been really interesting hearing all your "stash stories".

I guess the most interesting point is that hoarders are just collectors (with a recognised illness), whereas quilters, crafters and recyclers are actually "transformers", we use our stashes to create practical and beautiful products which are nothing like what we started out with. So, if you don't use it or create with it, you pass it on to someone who will. Now off my soapbox and on with the business of "transforming"!

When I first read this I thought what a lot of fabric. But as I read the posts I realized a lot of assumptions are being made about a woman no one here knows. As someone pointed out, maybe she exaggerates, maybe not. Perhaps full to her is shelves along the sides of the trailer (which for me would be a lot of fabric but still accessable and viewable). Did she say it was packed in boxes or crates and crammed into the trailer back to front and top to bottom? Did she say she doesn't quilt and/or sew? Do you know how much storage she has in her house? Just because she has a large stash does not mean she hoards everything. As I write this, we are on the 8th page of posts and I think only 2 or 3 have not been totally negative. I am sorry if I hurt anyone's feeling as that is not my intention; I just feel it is wrong to judge someone we know nothing about.

this post has help me determine if i am a hoarder or a transformer i think sometimes the fabric is so lovely you hate to cut but i have been quilting for 4 years and i bough fabric at 2 different auctions and a friend gave me her mothers stash when i took up quilting i still have a lot of it and have use a lot but i still buy too much when i shop and i do feel greedy when i buy more than i need so i am rethinking my self and am going to use what i have before i shop again and i will give away my scraps to who ever wants them. i also made 4 quilts for the boys in heidi and i cleaned my sewing room so i THANK all of you for this thread i has help me take a good look at my self this bring said please tell Bill to stop putting such beautiful fabric on here to sell LOL!!!! i need to stop

memathomas

When your stash takes over the house or you need storage lockers or trailers to hold it, it's not a hobby anymore ... it's OCD - compulsive hoarding, just like those who hoard pets or food, junk, papers etc ...

We had a dear lady in our guild who never let anyone into her house, it was stacked floor to ceiling with fabrics, books, patterns and junk. Even the kitchen & bathrooms. Her house was unlivable and she really suffered for it. She couldn't find things and she had NO place to even sew and quilt - unless she went somewhere ELSE to do it !!
Friends offered to help her sort it all out but she never agreed to the help. Her sons finally gave most of it to the guild & bees (per her wishes) and the rest to goodwill, when she had to go into assisted living. She never even used or enjoyed what she'd bought. Very sad :(

Originally Posted by Moonpi

Originally Posted by cjomomma

While I was in wolly world yesterday shopping fabrics, a lady was telling me that she has so much fabric that her husband purchased 2 45' trailers (the ones that semi's pull an call vans) for her to put her stash in.

45 feet by 10 wide would be the equivalent to a 21'x22' sewing room. I think that is a nice size, myself. There are ladies here that enjoy areas larger than that. You do not know how long she has been collecting, or whether she has incorporated other stashes into her own. Maybe her mother died and left her lots of fabric.

Those containers are watertight and can be temperature controlled if they want. I would not jump to the conclusion that a person I have never met has a mental illness simply because she has a larger stash than mine. It is no different than the public storage units which fill up as soon as you rent the space. Give the woman a break!

i work for a trucking company, and we have one trailer @ my terminal that is heated (could be cooled) it runs thru 4-8 gal of diesel per 24 hrs diesel is averaging 3.00 a gallon, so that is $12.00 to $24.00 PER DAY for climate control.. and how is she getting up into the trailers...they are 48" high from the ground......

i wish i had $84.00-168.00 a week i didn't know what do do with!!!