I agree with organic growth, although I never pass up a great deal on fabric at estate sales, garage sales, or other people's stash reductions. If you do enough sewing/quilting, you'll have enough left over to start building a stash. Just make sure you store it in a way that makes it easy to inventory and use.

DebraK is right on with her answer. The only thing I would collect are tonal colors those are prints that have a solid look.

I have come to the conclusion that for some of us that make only a few things - that buying "as needed" - even if paying full LQS prices for the materials - one would still spend less - in the long run - than acquiring stacks and stacks of fabrics - even when they were on sale - that are piled up unused.

If I think it's gorgeous, I get some. Years ago, when I first started quilting, I would get a quarter of a yard. This gave me a lot of variety, but not much of any one thing. Four years ago, I decided that it would be two yards or not at all. As to the size of the print, I go for the small, because many of my quilts have small pieces.

I love scrappy quilts and when I started out I bought a lot of fat quarters. Now I hate fat quarters because they never are "enough"! I moved up to half-yards, then to 1-yard; now I waver between 1 and 2 yards when buying fabrics for the stash. If it's a print I think I'll like for borders I'll buy 3 yards, because that way I have enough fabric to do borders with no piecing.

Solids I buy in larger pieces; usually 3 yards minimum. Some colors that I use a lot I will buy by the bolt if I can find a good deal. (White, Black, Red, and Grey, for me)

Wide backing fabric is another thing I'll buy in large quantities if it's a good deal. I recently bought a bolt of 108" wide navy blue fabric at Joann's for 60% off; came to $4-something a yard...score!

You probably want to hold off on buying whole bolts at this point, though, unless it's a killer deal and it's a good color you'll want to use a lot of!! Personally I like 1-yard cuts to start off; I kind of regret all my fat quarter and half-yard purchases. It's just not enough fabric for me, I love scrappy quilts but that's not all I make and having only a fat quarter doesn't give me enough options.

HOW TRUE......Now that I have all this fabric, a lot of it I wonder why I bought it. Some of it I still don't want to cut into. My quilting years will never come near my fabric years. My sister is just starting to quilt and she is doing it like I would if I started again. One project at a time. If she see fabric she must have then the project goes into a bag and when she is finished the one she is working on....she has the next project ready to go. Too much fabric so little time comes really fast. Anyone can have a stash, not everyone can have quilts.

This sounds crazy but I use my phone camera a lot. I have a memo app and can attach a photo. I make a note like. This pattern>Joe or Jim. Then I may check my previous memos for size and yardage. I usually buy at least 1 1/2 yards. When I want denim, I check out the thrift stores or estate sales. Denim is usually quality and fairly cheap. I just bought a size 3x cotton dress for $3.00 and another long 2xL denim dress for $4.00 at the Goodwill and Salvation Army. Saturdays at Salvation ARmy here is 50% off everything in the store.

Don't buy just to build stash--big mistake. In time you will really know what you like and will use. Recently I was at a sale where the quilter was so busy buying patterns and all fabric to go with it she never really had time to enjoy the piecing and quilting.
she has so much she had to sell most of it for the room in house. I bought a $175.00 kit for $50.00. The girl took a great loss selling her good quility fabrics for $4.00 yd. She just got caught up in buying stash.
I don't think having a stash is very important because there are many places to shop when needed.

I am of the small stash camp. I sometimes buy remnants from the bin at Hancock's or JoAnn Fabrics. I used to buy fat quarters and have a very little bit of yardage, but, whenever I go to make a quilt, I really want to start fresh. I have made some scrap quilts. I call them "controlled scrappy" or "scrappy-ish". I can see even some of the things I bought a few years ago that I loved, I don't love so much anymore.

Having a big stash sometimes sounds like having a badge of honor..... but it isn't unless you have a plan for all that fabric. I agree with so many here that say, don't buy just to have fabric. I've been quilting going on 30 years now and believe me when I say, 'stash happens'. If you buy for the projects you plan to make, you'll still start adding to your stash and before you know it you'll have STASH!! I try to use up fabrics from my stash as much as possible but there are still some pieces that I think I'll never use. .... until styles change and then I might be very glad I still have it.

If I find a fabric I just 'have to have'.... I buy 3 yards. That's usually enough for borders plus some in blocks. Backings usually require 5 yards if you use 40-42 wide fabric. And, I bought 2 10-yard bolts of fabric this summer for a couple of quilts so I'll have enough for the background blocks of applique. So, I always have a plan.

Patience is often so hard to come by..... it's works when buying fabric, too.