Old stash you no longer like
 

What do you do with fabric in your stash you decide you just despise? I've started using mine for paint wipe cloths and cut some of it to fit my mop instead of buying the disposable mop pads. Wiping paint on it makes me feel good and I'm probably saving money by not buying the disposable mop pads. Thank goodness 100% cotton will just soak everything right up! And very slowly my stash is looking neater.

You could donate to charity's. I m sure there is lots in your area.

You could always swap a little with someone (me), then you get some new AND you get rid of what you are tired of!
Just a suggestion:D

I am my own charity. If I didn't use this ugly fabric, I would have to buy cheesecloth and those disposable mop heads. And, I find something is a little wrong with saying, "I wouldn't use this at all, but it's ok for you." That's just a little too elitest for me.

I have 'gifted' or 'paid forward' fabric to other quilters and have reaped wonderful surprises in return. I did ask the individuals in advance on what they wanted or they stated what they were looking for and we both was very happy. I cannot imagine using fabric I paid $11.00 a yard to use as a $5.00 mop. But to each his own, is what the old maid said that kissed a cow., or so my grandmother told me. Charities always need fabric, as local ports of charities do also....hospitals need children's quilts, hospice needs quilts to give to family members in time of a death in the family. You might make some new friends and feel good by helping others who are not blessed with as much as you are with fabrics. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and we all are unique and different.

I used to give it our church rummage sale but someone seemed to always pull it out and save it for me to make something for our fall bazaar. So it came home again because I didn't want to hurt their feelings. Now I give it to the Salvation Army or Rescue Mission thrift stores.

Thank you for your opinion on what I should be doing with my "mistakes". As you say, we are different. I was curious as to other's solutions. I do give a lot to charity - just not my ugly fabric.

Chenille has several layers that virtually dont show the pattern or motif... hee hee

Tanya and I must think the same.....LOL

We don't want to be known as the women who only give away ugly fabrics. haha

I usually avoid buying ugly fabric. Although I have a couple of them lurking about the closet somewhere.

Since the question was "What do you do with fabric in your stash that you despise?" Then your answer is you make chenille out of it? Clever woman!

I really like the saying...use what you have. My daughter just shakes her head at my collection of fabric. I am sure she is thinking she and her brothers will inherit it one day. I can imagine them taking it all to the dump.

I make quilts for my fur babys! They do not mind!

The really strange thing about ugly fabric is no one agrees on the definition. I have seen fabric so ugly I thought it was a joke, yet other quilters loved it.

I don't suppose I'd give away ugly fabric either unless someone happened to see it and said they liked it.

There was at one time an ugly fabric contest here on the board. That was pretty funny. You had to wonder who designed some of that stuff.

My sewing guild has a sale every year, I rent a space, and sell all my stash that I no longer like and am scratching my head wondering why did I buy THAT!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]396999[/ATTACH]Not a great picture but this has some really ugly fabric in it. Pattern free from Bonnie hunter's website

I have no idea(??) where some of this fabric came from that I have..NO WAY, I purchased it! Anyway, what I use it for is to practice some blocks I never did before. Funny thing..last block I practiced, I ended up loving!! and made my Aunt a lap quilt.

Yep, I cut it up and use in a scrap quilt. Sometimes I will also donate to goodwill or I give to a friend who can gets creative with it. Never goes to waste.

Ditto - cut into small enough pieces and you won't enough notice it!

Your definition of ugly will not be tha same as someone else's. that has been proven on this quilting board many times. M. The group that I am in inherited some pretty ugly fabrics- we have cut them into strips and made string type quilts- they turn out beautiful. Not to tell you what to do with your stuff, but if you posted pictures of your stash that you despise, I'd be willing to bet that someone here would like it! You could always cut up old clothes for your paint rags of mops.

I plan to cut strips ans make rag rugs.

If you belong to a quilt guild take the stuff you don't like and give it to others. It really helps those who are on fixed incomes to build a decent stash and what you don't like may be just what someone else is looking for. Or if you know someone who does charity sewing you might inquire as to whether your fabrics would be useful to them. Seems like a waste to use it in a mop.

Some of the fabric I no longer like I donated to Ronald McDonald house the rest I make into donation quilts. I donate them to all kinds of places. Who ever I find that sounds like a good place to donate one gets it when I have one finished. Homeless shelters, pregnancy centers etc are always thrilled to get them I donated one to a pregnancy center they liked it and put it in their auction. It brought quite a bit of money. Salvation Army here has teamed up with Toys for Tots and passes out dolls at Christmas. Each little girl gets a doll with a doll quilt. I made 25 and am using them to practice FMQ for the online class I am going to take.

How about a stash swap. Make it a social event with all your quilting/sewing friends. Everyone has fabrics they aren't crazy about but it's very interesting to see how many people love a fabric that you don't and you might end up with something you love.

Pardon my surprise, quilting friends, but I am astonished at how many of you are unhappy with my personal choices of what to do with fabric I don't like. Regas and Iclang, I live far in the country and do not belong to any quilting organization, nor is there one that I know of within driving distance. For instance I drive 25 miles to a grocery store.
None of my friends quilt. I got this particular few yards of mixed prints in a good buy when I bought a loveseat in New Orleans. The fabric, about 30 yards of mixed types was thrown in for $20. It included some cotton, some chiffon, some upholestry. Swifter mop pads cost about $5 a yard when you work out the square inch cost, so I am saving money using this ugly fabric. I am myself on a fixed income. The painting the I am doing are commission paintings and the cotton rags are much, much better than paper towels. Therefore the ugly fabric used for painting rags is contributing to earning money. Sewmom, I do not cut up old clothes because I prefer cotton for these mop cloths and painting rags and I do not wear cotton; I wear blends since I try to not iron very much. Blends will not soak up water and are useless to mop with and make terrible rags for oil paints. Until I decided to use my ugly fabric I was buying cheese cloth for painting and the Swifter Mop Pads. All in all, I think using the ugly, ugly cotton prints is a big savings for me and an excellent way to use that fabric. Please remember ugly fabric is not sacred for the use of quilts only.

Nice post Tanya

I understood what you meant on the first post.

Hmmm... well find a quilter who also does dolls for the sick .. I am sure she would love some new material to her to help her make the dolls. Just a suggestion ....(her name is wordpaintervs I believe is the spelling).

This thread was "What do You do with YOUR ugly fabric" not "What is your opinion of what should I do!" Come on, ladies, give me a break here!

How about using them for quilt backs for charity quilts? That's what I do with the fabric I no longer love. I like scrappy backs and can usually pieces bigger stripes or squares which look pretty good together. I get lots of enjoyment from whittling down the pile of "what was I thinking" when I bought that!

I just used two pieces of ugly fabric yestrday. I had made two pillow covers, so needed two pillow forms. Ugly fabric was made into pillow form and stuffed with fiberfil. Once it is inside the pillow cover, no one knows that there was an ugly fabric around.

They don't read that this saves you money by "recycling" ugly fabric into something useful. They read that you would rather destroy some fabric rather than giving it away or making something with it.
I am sure those mop pads are expensive, and paint rags are usually cut up cotton fabric anyways. And those paper paint rags are $10 a box but if you go through a lot of them it tends to add up.

essentially, that's what I do as well.

Our quilt guild holds what we call boutique every so ofter, we take any fabric that we no longer want with a small price attached . We nearly always sell all of it and every one goes home happy with fabric they did not come with. A good way to de-stash.

Thank you for understanding!

We take our unwanted fabrics to quilt class and give it away to each other. Ugly fabric to me just may be beautiful to someone else. We all have different tastes, and all the fabric gets taken home by someone.

There is always an option to make an ugly fabric quilt and donate it for charity, or use it in backing

I chose the option to not use the fabric in any quilting project. After all, it is my fabric. What do you do with your fabric?

its your fabric do what you think is best. mop pads are a great idea.... the water and cleaning soap doesnt care what it attaches it self too..

I think there's a misunderstanding here. From your first post, I thought you couldn't think of anything else to do with fabric you no longer like but trash it, and so people suggested donating it to others who might like it. I have to say, I've passed along a lot of fabric I either never or no longer really liked, and I'm sure there were others who were grateful to receive it.

That said, I don't see that you are trashing your ugly fabric – you are putting it to good use, just in another format than a quilt. I salute you for that! The closest I've come to that is using some scraps to fill a pet bed. I have also, in a fit of cleaning frenzy and frustration, thrown leftovers out, knowing there are people who would love to have them (but knowing I wasn't willing to take the time to offer them up).

I've received lots of donations, some of which was entirely unsuitable even though the donator swore it was all good quilting fabric (beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right?). I've passed along what I could, and I've tossed stuff that I thought was suspect (smelled bad, etc.). If I could put fabric to good use for painting or mopping, I'd do it. If I thought I could make someone happy with it without putting myself out, I'd do that.

It's all good!

tanyal, I don't think anyone means to seem as if they are attacking or criticizing you. Just that as quilters, we all cringe at the thought of good, if ugly, cotton going into other uses than quilting. Especially those of us on limited budgets, as you are.
Myself, I agree that one must do what is best for themselves.
However, lol, when it comes to cotton suitable for quilting, I'd like to make an offer to yourself, and anyone else who needs/uses it for other uses.
I have lots of 100% cotton tshirt scraps, many good sized pieces left from making tshirt quilts. These would make awesome paint rags as well as mop cloths. I will be happy to trade tshirt cotton for quilting cotton, however ugly, with anyone who wants. LOL