Originally Posted by annmarie
Just curious -when yu lovely quilters "start buying fabric because you love what you're holding at the time" how much do you buy when you don't have anything specific in mind for its use?
That's a really good question annmarie. At first, I just started buying fat quarters. Lots and lots of them!! They are like quilter's candy, and they don't raise my blood sugar. LOL If I saw something on sale and I liked it, I would buy a yard or so. (I always look to see if I can love a sale item first!!) But like CQ, I often found that I didn't have enough to use as the main fabric or background on anything, so I started buying a minimum of 2½ yds if I thought it might make a good border fabric, and 3-4 yards if I really loved it for the main body of a future quilt. I figure that if I don't ever use it that way, I can chop forever on it and use it in lots of quilts. I've done that for years, repeated fabrics in many quilts. Some of my fabric is 10-15 years old and it still comes in handy when I just need a little. Oftentimes my friends will love the fabric and wonder where I found it. They've never seen it because it's so old, but they want some. LOL
If you're wanting backing fabric, usually 6 yards will do ya. You'll need double the length (plus a little) of your quilt if it's wider than the width of the fabric you're buying, and I rarely make quilts over 108" long. If you run a little short, you can always piece a little into your backing to make it long (or wide) enough. That can be fun. :)
Your fabric will never go to waste. I promise. You will use it some day, on some quilt. Even if you look at it one day and say "What was I thinking?" LOL You'd be amazed how many times that odd piece that you couldn't resist at the time will be just the thing you need. :)