tlpa

Agree with both of these....my tastes have sure changed, so I will only buy for a certain project if I don't already have it.

SusanErler

I started quilting back in the early 80s. I bought fabric for the quilts I was making. Everything left over became "stash." Life happened, and now I'm back into quilting with a passion. I find that I like the precut jelly rolls and fat quarter packs for convenience and material quality. If I like a fabric line, I'll get a fat quarter pack or fat eighth. I have built up quite a few of these packages -- enough to make about 20 quilts, minus fabric for backing. So now I'm in a position of just being able to sew and quilt for a while with these. Leftovers will be added to the previous ones for scrap quilts. I'm set for a while. AND, I don't buy anything unless it's on sale, so I wait until the precuts go on sale so I don't feel as bad.

Judi in Ohio

I am one of the large stash ladies. I really hate quilts done in just a few fabrics - always reminds me of store bought. When I discovered I loved scrappy I went for it. Fabric Shack had to find a storage property for odds and ends. Someone smart thinking brought those odds and ends in the store and sold it by the yard. What a fabulous way to get your scrappys. I bought hundreds of yards and I have a fabulous stash that I use most every day. I love string blocks and make lots of them. I love my scrappies and they are scrappy. If I have a few minutes I make 2" hst & 2 1/2" hst. Bonnie Hunter had split nine patch as her leader ender last year and I love them so I collect squares and hst. I almost always buy on sale and never at Joanns and Hancocks. I'm picky about my scraps - lol.

Judi in Ohio

The first pic is my ocean waves with 4,000+ 2" hst and the second is a unique setting for the 2 1/2" split 9 patches (wish I knew who to give credit for this setting).

toverly

I made the mistake of buying for a stash. Not a lot but it was mostly prints on sale and not what my taste developed into. I wish I had just purchased for projects I was working on. Now I'm into batik scrappies so I now purchase a yard at a time of what in my head I consider to be "glorious color". A stash builds fast on it's own. Take your time, soon it will be more than you ever wanted to hang onto.

Gannyrosie

Great advise. I was buying fabric to build my stash cause I fell in love with it, but never thought about blenders until it came time to make a quilt with that particular fabric. Now I shop blenders too.

wildyard

I think once you have a better feel for what you like to make, your style of quilting, and the patterns you gravitate to, you will have a much better idea of how to build your stash.
For example, I now know that I loveeeee making scrappy quilts, I Spy quilts and D9Ps. Sure I make lots of other things too, but those are my go-to's.
So for stash building, I know I can reliably depend on the remnant bin for scrappy and novelty bits. I have a good idea how much fabric I need for a D9P in different sizes.
That said, I also know that with the wealth of free patterns available and the wonderful resource of this board, whatever amount of a fabric I have, I can find a way to make a quilt I will love from it. So if I just have to have it, I get it. Maybe I'll just pet it for a while, but I know it's time will come.
Happy, happy stash building hugs and smiles!

leatheflea

I wish I had never built my stash. Styles change and so does my taste in fabric. If I had it all to do over again I'd not have a stash only a scrap bin if necessary. Now I think about all the money wasted on fabric I really don't care for anymore.

tropit

Buy fabric when it's on sale, buy in color groupings, buy quality. There are a few, online stores that always have something on sale and that's straight where I head to. I rarely pay over $4/yard and a lot of my fabrics are even high, quality, organic fabrics. I also would advise that you buy in style groupings s/a civil war, French toile, depression era, etc., so that you'll have those styles when the need comes.

chickadee_42us

Don't worry about 'building a stash' because over time it will happen.
Another example of how a stash is created: You're working on a project and when it gets down to cutting and aligning all the fabric together in one spot, you may not like a certain fabric choice you made so what do you do, keep it and work with it or go buy another piece of fabric. Or, you reach the end of your cutting and gosh darn it, you simply did not have enough of a color so what do you do, go back to the store and try to match it up to color.
It's still your personal choice; but eventually you'll find that you like the look of in certain fabrics, say civil war or Aunt Betty's or Batiks, those you will always look at regardless of what project you're working on and purchase it if it makes you happy to have a piece of it because you know you will use it.