What else can a person do when a fabric begs to be bought and brought home? I have to listen and bring it home, pattern or not. It will fall into place eventually.

When I see a pattern I want to make I check my stash first and then shop for fabric if I dont have what I want. Sometimes I buy some fabrics for a project and find that I need another one so check my stash. Fat quarters are very useful for fill in colors for a project.
Having a stash is a big help.

I work in a fabric store. 'nuff said, lol!

I keep telling myself to either finish what I already have going before buying more fabric, or find a pattern, browse my stash FIRST, and then hit the stores for whatever is missing, but I tend to see a certain fabric and tell myself I love it so much that when I actually find a project that I could use that fabric for (or finish a current one so I have an excuse to start another) there's no way I will be able to find it... so I buy it, lol!


OR, I buy fabrics that go in a set, and I don't want to use just one of the fabrics from that collection in a project, because they were bought to go together, and the pieces that I bought to go together don't necessarily all 'fit' for the project at hand.

I am constantly looking for bargin fabrics for the Linus Project. If I happen to find something I like just for me, oh well!. I rarely use a commercial pattern for a quilt. Occasionlly I will see something in a magazine and decide to make it. I collected striped fabrics for a while and another time large floral prints. I also love the Lorieli prints. So much fabric so little time or storage space.

For me it's almost always the fabric. I can generally pull enough fabrics that work together out of my stash for almost any quilt.

Recently I pulled almost enough fat quarters plus borders and bindings for a queen size Orion Star Thangles quilt. I ended up buying three orange fat quarters because they fit into the color range better than what I had on had but that's all I bought and I really didn't have to buy it. I did buy the backing but I found one that goes with the top for 50% off.

I buy the fabric, then find a pattern to use it with!

I don't have a large fabric stash for this reason. I pick my pattern and then my fabric. Most of my stash is from my years of sewing clothes, curtains, etc.

I almost always buy the fabric because I love it and then figure out what to do with it. I can only think of once in the last year off the top of my head that I bought yardage specifically for a particular pattern.

I saw a fabric just today that I love and I was shopping the fabric as I was designing it in my mind. I kept changing the yardage of different fabrics if I changed the design in my mind. I finally thought... I'm going to stop and not order the fabric until I can get home and do some work in EQ6 to at least get a few design ideas where I can see them first! Then I'll get that fabric. But still, the fabric came first and then the ideas to use it.

Saw BEAUTIFUL fabric today at LQS that called mt name and begged me to buy it but I said no. Not that I wouldn't love it BUT I just bought my husband's present for me for Valentine's day and my birhday which are 5 days apart. It was purple and had a lovely coordinating green side by side but I still left without it. Hubby doesn't know about the present for me , yet. :mrgreen:

I do both equally. I will see a fabric and not only will I buy it right then and there but usually get a couple more that will look nice with it in a quilt. Other times I will pick a pattern out of my ever increaseing "Someday I want to make that list" and head off to the LQS with yardage requirements in hand (usually do that on the big sale days). Then there is always the fat quarter or something I see at a quilt show that I simply can't live without. Oh and there is always room in the stash for blenders or neutral background colors, better get 3 or 4 yards just to be on the safe side. :lol: