Hello my name is Michael and I'm a Fabric Hoarder
04-16-2011, 06:40 AM
#131
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 434
Hi Michael, I am Cheryl and I am also a fabric hoarder. My problem is that I don't have a sewing room. My guest room (which only gets used once a year) has fabric stacked everywhere on the beds in no order--I just dump the new fabric on the old. I am addicted to finding fabric at thrift shops and can never turn GOOD fabric down if I find it there. I just bought a huge bag of fabric for $1.95 and it had over 10 yards of great quilting fabric in it--and it proudly sits on top of my other fabric treasures in the guest room. Is fabric like coal in that it eventually becomes diamonds if it is under enough pressure from the layers above??????
04-16-2011, 06:44 AM
#132
Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Osoyoos, BC
Posts: 263
I forgot about a lady I met when first quilting...her house was completely full of fabric - every nook, shelf, closet, under tables, her big frame - and then she said, "Oh honey, this is nothing." Then she took me to a window and said, "See that truck trailer (20'x 9'?), it too is full!" The door to the trailer was rolled up and I saw the mother-of-all-hoarders! This was California so asked her about bugs and moths and mice...and she laughed and said, "Honey, ain't nothin' going to get in there and if something does, I'll just dig a little further in." That is an honest and truthful story.
04-16-2011, 06:56 AM
#133
Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Sunrise, Florida
Posts: 19
Welcome to my club - I am a fabric hoarder/shopper as well. And isn't funny that when you do want to make something out of your stash, you never seem to have the right fabric, or else, I don't want to use it in case I can't buy it again - so I have to go back online to buy more fabric. It's a vicious, never-ending cycle, but hey, it's not fattening and definitely not illegal. LOL
04-16-2011, 06:56 AM
#134
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: leavenworth, ks
Posts: 3,093
Hi, Michael. My name is Chris and I, too, hoard fabric. I am ashamed to admit that I have several 2 yards lengths of the same fabric in my stash. The good news is that I don't buy much fabric anymore. The bad news is that I now buy vintage sewing machines. Trying to do a lifestyle change to stop both habits for several years!!!! Good intentions but probably won't last long. The fabric whispers my name when I drive by stores. :-)
04-16-2011, 07:01 AM
#135
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Windsor On. Canada
Posts: 143
I too was a hoarder of fabric but a car accident about 6 years ago changed me. I didn't want someone else using my fabric so since then I do not buy fabric unless I don't have anything in my stash. I wrote down every UFO in a book and I'm working on finishing them.I check them off as I go.Really works. I also put everything in cupboards with glass then I can see exactly what I have.Then you have a visual of what you have. In bins it's out of sight out of mind. It's an addiction to fabric like any other addiction worth thousands of $$$$$ and in Canada it cost twice as much.
04-16-2011, 07:03 AM
#136
Super Member
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Central PA
Posts: 3,736
My stash has gone from bags to boxes, sorted by color, to plastic containers, to shelves and now, horrors, some in bags, hanging on a nail hammered into the wall so I know where the groups are for certain quilts. And I have no idea where anything is - I swear I'll finish the next 4 quilts and then clean it up. Yeah, sure. I'm in line for that hoarder's show, too.
04-16-2011, 07:21 AM
#137
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 781
Welcome Michael,
I started out just buying enough to do a quilt, next I noticed that I would stop at the quilt shops to just see what they had new; I always brought a yard or more not even knowing what I was going to use this material for. So over time my buying has filled a chester drawers and several large(see through plastic and small plastic boxes stacked up in my 2 walk in closets. Until recently I use to keep scraps and left over pieces of material from finished quilts, then forced myself to part with these fabric treasures. Gave all this to a charity that makes quilts from scraps for the needy. Good luck in your quilting.
Your are not alone,
IdahoSandy
I started out just buying enough to do a quilt, next I noticed that I would stop at the quilt shops to just see what they had new; I always brought a yard or more not even knowing what I was going to use this material for. So over time my buying has filled a chester drawers and several large(see through plastic and small plastic boxes stacked up in my 2 walk in closets. Until recently I use to keep scraps and left over pieces of material from finished quilts, then forced myself to part with these fabric treasures. Gave all this to a charity that makes quilts from scraps for the needy. Good luck in your quilting.
Your are not alone,
IdahoSandy
04-16-2011, 07:23 AM
#138
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Oregon
Posts: 1,904
Originally Posted by miholmes
What is it about fabric?
I've been quilting for a little over a year now. And after my last quilt I started to organize my fabric.....YIKES!!
How many times can you say...OHHH I remember that KIT I forgot I had that!
Or...That's RIGHT I got this cute baby flannel for the next time I needed to make a baby quilt. (I've done 4 since getting that fabric)
I have jelly rolls galore and then 1/4 yard of fabric just cause I thought they were fun.
So after going through EVERY tub I'm embarrased to say there really wasn't alot of scraps.....most were KITS.....fabric, plus the backing I bought after getting the kit and the patterns....KITS....many are queen sized....those aren't cheap.
I realize it will be hard to quilt cold turkey but unless there is a project I'm doing for someone that I HAVE to get done and they pick a specific fabric, I really need to use what I have.
I mean I know we kid about it alot, but there's hundreds if not a thousand or more dollars in my sewing room. Granted they are all now organized with a digital picture of the kit taped to the front of the projects bag. But it's an entire kitchen island full, several plastic tubs, and a shelf stacked with jelly rolls (did I mention I've only ever done 1 quilt with a jelly roll)
WHY are we so obsessed with this stuff?!?!?! I was actually slighty horrified that I couldn't even REMEMBER buying some of these kits.
So we'll see how long I can stay on the non-fabric purchasing wagon....cause it's OUT OF CONTROL! I think Discover needs to have a new show.....Quilting - INTERVENTION! Cause I think I would be a candidate.
P.S. I forgot to mention I found 3 kits in the little secret cubby in the trunk of my RAV4......THREE.....I was too ashamed to bring them in the house. :P
I've been quilting for a little over a year now. And after my last quilt I started to organize my fabric.....YIKES!!
How many times can you say...OHHH I remember that KIT I forgot I had that!
Or...That's RIGHT I got this cute baby flannel for the next time I needed to make a baby quilt. (I've done 4 since getting that fabric)
I have jelly rolls galore and then 1/4 yard of fabric just cause I thought they were fun.
So after going through EVERY tub I'm embarrased to say there really wasn't alot of scraps.....most were KITS.....fabric, plus the backing I bought after getting the kit and the patterns....KITS....many are queen sized....those aren't cheap.
I realize it will be hard to quilt cold turkey but unless there is a project I'm doing for someone that I HAVE to get done and they pick a specific fabric, I really need to use what I have.
I mean I know we kid about it alot, but there's hundreds if not a thousand or more dollars in my sewing room. Granted they are all now organized with a digital picture of the kit taped to the front of the projects bag. But it's an entire kitchen island full, several plastic tubs, and a shelf stacked with jelly rolls (did I mention I've only ever done 1 quilt with a jelly roll)
WHY are we so obsessed with this stuff?!?!?! I was actually slighty horrified that I couldn't even REMEMBER buying some of these kits.
So we'll see how long I can stay on the non-fabric purchasing wagon....cause it's OUT OF CONTROL! I think Discover needs to have a new show.....Quilting - INTERVENTION! Cause I think I would be a candidate.
P.S. I forgot to mention I found 3 kits in the little secret cubby in the trunk of my RAV4......THREE.....I was too ashamed to bring them in the house. :P
04-16-2011, 07:24 AM
#139
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: College Station, Texas
Posts: 822
Michael just look at all these hoarders who because of you have been able to confess their addiction and feel better(not so guilty). Look how many of us have come to this thread. No Michael, you are not alone. Personally, I have to say this......My stash is a security blanket. I must maintain a certain level or I am all out of sorts. I have even gone so far as to call other quilters for a retreat and furnished all the fabric. I have also given my mother boxes of fabric just to ease my guilt. I have given my mother shoe boxes with items I feel so bad about (you know those that I really seriously planned to do) and just never got there. IF THERE WAS A FIRE, THE FIREMEN WOULD KNOW WHERE MY SEWING ROOM WAS FOR SURE BECAUSE IT WOULD JUST SMOLDER FOR DAYS. I don't know how, but it mulitiplies in the night.
04-16-2011, 07:27 AM
#140
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Iowa City, IA.
Posts: 1,076
Wow! Mike how I too can relate. Just recently attached the walkin in the guest bedroom to organize & take inventory of the fabric that I have bought since I moved here. Shocking!!! Then after 8 years dug my way into the walkin in the sewing room. Just as shocking, however I knew that sight. Back then there were plans to make garments for dancers. OK --- to add insult to injury --- I work in a fabric shop in the Cedar Rapids area (Marion), one just has to have the new stuff as well. Sometimes...
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