I am a scrappy girl so how I collected my stash will be a lot different than someone who isn't scrappy. I love sites like thousands of bolts, hancock paducah, fabric shack, places with great sales and I could buy 1 yd pieces and start my collection. Then fabric shack found out they had a whole stash of pieces that they sold for $2.95 a yard and I went nuts. I think I bought over a hundred yds, but I have a great stash now. Now I buy 2 yds because I love to make unique monogrammed pillowcases and I have leftovers from them. And I buy wides when on sale - actually I have bought neutrals in wides because it is a good deal. This works for me.