Building a Stash
11-05-2010, 06:36 PM
#33
Super Member
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Florida
Posts: 1,162
A while ago I bought a half yard of a fabric I really liked. After I got it home I realized I was in love with it. It took me a while to figure out what kind of project to use it in, but then I went back to my LQS to get more. Guess what? It was all gone! So then I started looking for it on-line. By the time I found it I could only get another yard which cost more, plus S&H. etc, etc. Turns out that I had to change my plans for it because I never could find enough to do what I wanted to do with it. Anyhow, the moral of this story is, if you like it a lot, buy a lot. At least 3 yards. That would have given me sufficient fabric to complete the whole project and have a fat quarter tucked away for more fun with it. Don't take a chance that you won't ever find that fabric again. And, if you're not crazy about a fabric, just don't buy any of it. 8-)
11-05-2010, 10:01 PM
#36
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 1,150
Also want to think about what you want to use for the quilt back and for trimming. I bought a beautiful tulip pattern for a One Block Wonder and would like to use the original fabric to trim the top but I don't believe have enough & the store no longer carries it! AUGH!@#$$%%^^
11-06-2010, 07:57 AM
#37
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: NASHVILLE, TN
Posts: 303
I didn't start to build a stash, it just happened. If I'm buying for a specific project, I buy the recommended yardage plus an extra yard to yard and half. I've learned the hard way that some cutting measurements are wrong and have run out of fabric just to discover that the seller has no more in stock. If you have some left over, you can use for other things. To buy a fabric because I love it, it depends on price and how much I love it. If it is a large print and I love it, I will buy two or three yards. Large prints are great for fussy cutting or stack n whacks and require more yardage. I usually buy half yards and fat quarters for everything else. I impulse shop unfortunately and while I might have a vague idea for the purchase, by the time I get around to it, I've forgotten what I planned for it. This isn't necessary a bad thing as I love scrappy quilts. I don't buy border fabric until the quilt is together. I've bought border fabric I thought would be perfect and didn't use it. It's still in the stash. Good luck and enjoy!
11-06-2010, 03:54 PM
#38
Junior Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: western NC
Posts: 175
I never heard of deliberately building a stash. I thought it just happened. In my garment making days I just bought the yardage indicated on the pattern. I learned not too long after starting to quilt to take three yards if I like it. I still have some I bought ten or twelve years ago. I love going through it and dreaming how to use it. Sometimes it's too pretty to cut up. I have drawers full of ufos that I'm going to devote 2011 to. Then I will get to dive into the big pieces in the stash. Then there is the trunk full of scraps. I'm afraid that collecting fabric is a vice shared by many quilters.
11-06-2010, 05:44 PM
#40
Junior Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: ontario, canada
Posts: 261
it depends on what it is. sometimes i'll find a fabric i really love but it's expensive so i'll buy a meter of it(i'm in canada, they use meters instead of yards) then i'll go around looking for cheaper fabrics to go with it and buy a bunch of them. or i'll see a 'set' that i like and buy 3/4 of a meter of each of them so it comes out to several meters. then there's some i just must have and have no plans for them but i get lots of it just to have. i know what whoever said some are just too pretty to cut up is talking about. i have a few like that. i've taken them out a few times to use and then ended putting them back. it's just not their time yet. i like to put a lot of assorted fabrics into my quilts though, so i don't usually go over 3 meters.
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