How many years?
 

So... I made this table runner, and I was showing a picture of it to a relative of mine... I was a little astonished at my own back story about the fabric as I heard myself saying... "25 years ago we stopped at a tag sale and they had all this fabric, which I bought...but I didn't learn about quilting till recently...."
So my question for you all is "How many years max between buying a piece if fabric and having it finally in a project? I can't possibly hold the record here... 😀

I'll post a picture of it later...

That's a pretty hard record to break!

Sorry, I can't compete against that! Ha ha

Not me, you beat me.

I actually found a piece today that I bought in the 90's to make skirts for my Mom and me. Who knows what happened to that dream? lol
Believe it or not it's still really pretty. I may use some in my Shakespeare in the Park that I'm cutting out.
But that's about the only "oldie" I have.

I started working upstairs over a Quilt store and went down to have lunch with the ladies running the store so I started taking classes and also buying fabrics for other projects that didn't get started...that was in the early 90's. I have found that I don't like some of the fabrics I purchased, some I am donating and using a lot of them as backings

I probably have some that are as old. Maybe older
...... because I would pick up a special piece and then "save" it, thinking there may be somewhere better to use the fabric another time.

I have finally gotten over that ... and now use fabrics as I want to, instead of waiting for those allegedly better uses!

Glad you finally used it!

In the early 80's I worked in the fabric department in a department store. I still have several pieces of flannel, corduroy and some polycotton blend blouse weight that I bought on sale. While I have used most of the stash, I've learned my lesson. Now I buy for the project.

In 1983 I bought fabric to make my son a twin quilt for his big boy bed. It was going to be squares. Then I decided I wanted HST's. Got about half done when he decided he wanted He-Man instead. Still have those HST's somewhere.

My mom died in 2009 - before she died she she told me about some fabric she saved from a dress she made for my sister (she was born in 1950). It was the Disney version of the 3 Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf - white fabric and the pigs and wolf were a pink/purple, so I believe she bought it about 1951 or 1952. She said she didn't have very much fabric left but she couldn't force herself to let it go. When I was cleaning out the house I found the fabric. My sister had passed away the year before my mother, her daughter (my niece) had twins a month after my mom passed away, so I used the fabric in a quilt for the twins. The fabric is still holding up in the quilt 7 years later.

I sold most of everything I had when I left Hawaii in 1985....couldn't move it in an airplane! So my own current fabric collection started in 1986. I still have some pieces I bought back then... or should I say 'large scraps'? I do frequent estate sales and buy nice vintage fabric when I can find it, so I do have some pieces older than my own. Much older!

How many years?
 

When I moved to Guam 47 years ago I brought a supply of fabric because I didn't know what I would find here. I didn't get involved with quilting until the late 90's. I still have a couple of three yard pieces that came with me but they haven't been made into anything. A couple of years ago a friend opened a quilt shop so we can now buy locally without having to shop online.

I think you win.
I used to date my fabric by where I bought it or before or after the birth of my children. Then we had a fire and now I date it by "before or after the fire."(21 years in Oct)

I have some pretty old fabric in my stash. Its so old, I don't really remember where I bought it! Since I have no dates, you still hold the record ::laugh

I have some Alice in Wonderland fabric that my mom bought in the 70's to make a baby blanket for me, and she never made it so she just gave the fabric to me when I was a teenager. I'm still holding onto it for something special, though I did use some of it for my first nephew's first baby quilt. :) It's not quilting cotton though, more of a lightweight denim/canvas type fabric.

As for fabric I've purchased myself, probably nothing older than the late 90's, but I'm not certain.

My Sister worked in a quilt shop in the mid 70's, and bought a lot of fabric. A few years ago I bought it all from her (about 300 yards). So I have not owned it that long, but it's been in the family . . . I've used maybe 40 yards of it so far.

Personally, I have some fabric I bought back in the mid 80's that I have not used yet. I made most of the clothing for my two kids until I went back to school (about the same time they went to school). Didn't sew much for about 20 years and am back into it now. I had 2-3 boxes of fabrics that have moved around with me during this time. I finally have all my fabric unboxed and on shelves (if suitable for quilting) or totes so I know what I have.

Some of my quilting fabric was purchased between 1990 and 1993 when I worked at JoAnn's, so it's 24-27 years old. I have apparel fabric much older than that which I'd use in a heartbeat if I needed it.

I have some fabric I bought at Woolworth's or Kresgee's back in the mid 60's or early 70's. It is a bandana type print, with a price tag of .49 cents a yard. I remember buying a bunch at 4yds for 1.00 on sale. It still has the paper tag with the metal staple that was put through the fabric then bent back to hold the tag on. Back then they measured the yardage on the "machine", where they would pull the fabric through and it would measure the yardage. Then RIP it! Almost sounds medieval, doesn't it!?

I still have some fabric from dresses and blouses I made in the late '40s. And there lots of it in the quilt that has been on my bed for the last 20 years. I can recognize some of my dresses that I wore to high school.

You've got me beat. I think 7 years is my max.

I have a selvage dated 1993. I put the fabric in a scrappy quilt I'm still working on. Bought the fabric when I worked for JoAnn's in the 1990's

I don't have yardage, but my "smaller than a FQ" box has some scraps from my grandmother (born 1888) that my mother (born 1918) gave me. My mom remembered some of the clothing that was made from some of the pieces when she was a kid. Some of it is pretty bad, but when I do an applique quilt for a family member, I try to find a place for a few of the better pieces. I just put iron on interfacing on it to give it a little "extra". So far it's holding up!

I have some I bought in the early 70's. My mother and I used to visit fabric stores all the time so I had an extensive stash. Mostly poly knits and some juvenile denim I bought when my daughter was small. My daughter is now 50 so you can imagine how long I've had the fabric. I should use it for my GGC.

I have fabrics from making my daughters school dresses....they are now 57 and 58.

In 1962 my father was transferred to Nigeria and my mother, sister, and I went to Sears to buy fabric to ship over so we could make clothes. Momma had us buy some with our own money and said we would be really careful and pay attention if we were sewing on fabric we had bought (she was so wise!). We never did make it to Africa - my father was transferred back to Houston but all of our furnishings, including the fabric had already left on the ship and we had to wait about 6 months for it to come back. I was cleaning out some boxes from Mom's stuff a couple of weeks ago and found a box labeled "Janie's Fabric". Sure enough, there was the fabric.

So 55 years between buying it and finding it again. I am not sure what I will make with it but know it will be something special.

I have linen from my maternal grandmother. She passed away in 1960. I don't think there's a rule. I go by what I like and what plays well together, not necessarily that it is the current trend.

I have fabric from my DM's stash that date back to the 30's and 40's. I have not used any of it.

I still have fabric that I got at JC penny" when they stopped selling fabric, I think I paid 10 cents a yard for it as it was 90% off. It's still good.
\

51 years ago when I was pregnant with my first child I made most of my maternity clothes to save money. I had never quilted but decided to start making a quilt with the leftover fabric and started cutting 4" squares. I didn't think of seam allowances so the squares are really 3.5". Eventually I started sewing the squares into a four square piece. I added to the stack with my second child and sewed clothes for the children so that also added to the supply. I never made the quilt(didn't start really making quilts until 2005) but still have the stack of pieces and often think I will incorporate them into the middle of a quilt someday.

I have several pieces which are 50+ years old from different family members. I am the last on in the family, so it has come to me.

Is it ok to count stuff from my Mom's stash?

Great story and great memories for all involved. My mom's ufo's go to her newly born great grand children. Their parents seem pleased...again, memories and a connection to the grandmother they loved.

Great stories all! If fabric could talk.... 😀

Oh gosh, I hope you do. i know i have some fabric that has been around a long time and some quilt tops too.

I recently made a project with fabric I purchased when my son was 5. He turned 45 in July.

I have fabric from '84!!

I kinda think 'you win'!!!!.....ok...ok... ok.... I stand corrected!

I still have fabric from making my 2 girls clothes, when they were little...they are now 51 and 49..that's the oldest I have...lots of old quilts from my mom and mother-in law, has old, old fabric in them...