Mrs. SewNSew

I've been tying to start a new project and am suddenly eyeballing all my fabrics in microscopic detail! This one's too thin and that one's too thick. One feels lovely and soft but another feels coarse to the touch. Unfortunately the bulk of my stash is fabric I received from estate sales or locker sales.

When I first began quilting I had no fabric at all and it was my good fortune to get so much fabric cheap or free! With my first foray into quilting I was most concerned with content. I knew we were supposed to use cotton and avoid polyester and it took some learning to be able to tell the two apart.

My next lesson was color. I made the Grand Illusion Mystery quilt but had a late start so I hurried to get some fabrics together. I new nothing of shade or tint. I just grabbed a bunch of pinks and a bunch of blues and went for it!. I love my quilt, but after seeing others, I could have made better choices. So I learned about choosing color.

Now I am noticing the actual fabrics and finding I love working with the really nice ones. My last couple of quilts I bought fabrics for, not having what I needed on hand so the fabrics were nicer quality. Then recently I decided I had plenty of blue on hand and would make a nice quilt with fabrics from my stash. As I began cutting fabrics and adding them in, I started really noticing the weaves and textures. I'd sew something together and 2 days later decide I couldn't live with it and rip it out. Some of the fabrics I've bagged up to re-home, but now I am wondering just how much of my lovely stash is needing re-homing!

I decided last night that I'll need to go shopping and I will be looking for lovely soft and touchable fabric for the next project. I feel so much more peaceful and excited about it now!

Is this normal?

Doggramma

Normal for me! I ended up getting rid of a lot of old fabric that didn't feel right to me anymore. It's my opinion that I want only the nicest fabric if I'm putting all that work into a quilt.

ManiacQuilter2

If you are NOT going to use a fabric because what ever reason, pass it onto a charity store or a senior citizen quilting group. We make dog beds for dog rescue out of the unsuitable quilt fabrics. As the song from FROZEN says, LET IT GO!

Onebyone

I gave away of all the fabric I seemed to have piled up that wasn't what I thought was nice fabric, some were even name brand. Never felt guilty about it at all. That fabric was out of my life. I have now started to rebuild my stash with only fabric that I want to work with. I figure I have a limited amount of time left to make quilts and I'm not going to 'make do' or 'use up' or 'justify' any quilt from now on.

tessagin

I agree. Dh has been going through a basket full I let him work with. He's getting very good. But he's been using a machine since he was 7 out of need. Other day he finished a quilt for the size of a whelping bed for an abandoned great dane. Used the backing to wrap/bind.

Mrs. SewNSew

Phew! I guess I am normal then! Yes, now that I see how much work goes into a nice quilt I dislike using poor quality materials, and I have seen and felt the difference. It's hard to make that decision to let it go and not have a "stash", it's like emptying my savings account! But, I am sure someone else would love to have it, maybe another beginning quilter like I was.

Mrs. SewNSew

LOL! I just saw my signature line. I guess I really am "starting out the year fresh"!

k_jupiter

I have a friend. Well, maybe more than 1 but I am talking about one friend who use to use the cheapest fabric she could find. And yes, she could quilt like crazy. But then we made a quilt together with fabric from my stash. She then understood the cost of a quilt is much more than the price of the fabric.
So she slowed down, selected fabrics from the local quilt store that carries amazing quality fabrics, a machine she feels totally comfortable with sewing on and now makes amazing quilts.
So yes, my time is worth more than saving money on fabric. And just as I will not go out into the woodshop and make furniture I can buy down at K-Mart out of pine, I will not sew with crap fabric.
tim in san jose

tropit

So...Christy...my fellow neighbor...where are you finding great fabric in Mendo County? I find it far and few between. I buy almost all of my fabric online.

~ Cindy

Mrs. SewNSew

You make a very good point!

I agree with you Cindy. Few and far between. My local store is Beverly fabrics and they have some good and some bad so you have to pick through it. There is a store called Bolt in Cloverdale, one called Fabrications in Healdsburg, and Village Fabrics in Santa Rosa. Village just opened shop here but it's small and they don't have as good a selection. I have also heard Fat Quail in Laytonville is good quality but I have never been there.

I don't know what you have on the Coast.