Jan,
I am glad to see you back to posting. I am sharing your recovery time and it has been a long, long summer.
If I get to clean-up my dinning room then I will go to the sewing room and storage room. How many fabrics- I hesitate to guess. My DIL took care of me after my heart surgery and she is an organizer to the max! She is patient but very encouraging. I need to read about ORGANIZING.
Hoping your recovery is over soon and you can be back to sewing,

I'm afraid to add all mine up...!! I have mine folded onto boards but I did take the time when I did it to measure it and pin a small piece of paper with the yardage on each..saves a ton of time if I'm looking for a certain amount of fabric..that way I don't have to bother with boards that don't have enough..or sometimes boards that have enough to save for a backing, etc...but add it up?? NEVER !!! I'd be ashamed of myself lol

I don't know what I was thinking when I made a date with a friend to go to the fabric store near her house. Abdul sells really decent quality fabric for $2.50 a yard. I looked online to see what some of the stuff he sells goes for, and there are some that I am saving $10 a yard.. I'm looking around my stash, and I can't even imagine what I might NEED.

Actually..it would feel bad to count mine and only get to 211.... I love my fabric. I love the way it feels, the way it smells, and even the way it speaks to me! Welcome to the club!!!!

Probably a dumb question - but since I am just starting to get into doing quilts (very basic beginner) - when you talk about a stash of fabrics - other than fat quarters which I have more than 211 of already - what size do you buy when you purchase. I was thinking a yard - but while working on my first quilt, I see I need bigger pieces in order to get my borders made. I don't want to have to "shop" every time I need border yardage - but obviously fat quarters won't work and I am not sure 1 yard pieces are big enough. Any suggestions? Rene

Start with buying 2-3 yds of basics....blenders, color on color, whites, blacks, neutrals. Then, as you find focus fabrics you want to use, you will have stash to work with. Eventually, you will find anything goes. If you love it, buy what fits your budget and storage space. If you like a fabric collection, I suggest getting some of all of it...if not, regret is sure to follow. When it is no longer being produced- that is when you want it most!

That's true for me too.

I would say you fit right in. I say to myself that I will not and then turn around and do just that. I think because there are so many quilt patterns out there we just want to try them all. Then we become overwhelmed. When I get coupons in the mail or through e-mail, I make a list of what I can get during the available dateline. This week I had a coupon for 40% off one cut of yardage, so I bought 2 yards of a piece I've been wanting since I've seen it. I also got a fat quarter that was less than $2.00. I walked out of that shop with a bill including tax less than $10.00.

I seem to have this problem too but it's a good excuse to go to the fabric store again. ;-)

Some fabric lines are around for what seems like minutes only. So - if you see something you truly love (and can afford it) - get it. It may not be around next time you go into the shop. Nor anywhere else! For passionate attraction - I suggest a 4.0 yard minimum - because then it is (usually) enough to make uncut borders for up to a king-size quilt. If it is a really large print with a long vertical repeat (24-27 inches) - I would up that amount to allow for pattern placement.

Also - shops can carry only so much at a time - so at times it's necessary to go to several places to get enough of a certain color or style. Color shades also come and go. Some colors seem harder to find than others.

So much of this seems to be learned by experience (in my case, usually by making a mistake!). Nothing like running short of a no longer available fabric to force one to learn improvisational skills!

As a cautionary note: Fabric buying CAN become an addiction.

You can always piece your borders. That can be very pretty depending on the style of quilt top.

I have at least that much, probably more. Mine has grown to 2 rooms, 5 cabinets, 6 drawers, a book shelf, and who knows where else. It seems to me that your friend was awfully persistent in finding out how much fabric you have, what could be her reason? If it was me I would think that was not cool. My sewing toys are a running joke in our family. Nobody cares cause they get the fruits of my labor. I just ordered a Janome embroidery machine, can't wait for that to come in. Enjoy what you got and don't worry about what other people think.

I have at least a thousand cuts of fabric more than one yard long. Didn't count, just a guess.

I am not horrified at this. Been collecting for over twenty years.

And I never have just the right shade of any color I need for any particular project I am working on:D
peace

I would be afraid to count how many fabrics I have. I'm not sure I can count that high. I have been trying to use some of it up. I have probably 200 to 300 yards of what I consider to be my ugly fabric. It is all from yard sales or given to me. Other people like this fabric. I also have tons of what I call my pretty fabric. I have been trying to make at least one donation quilt before I can make a quilt from my bucket list. I have been sewing almost exclusively from my stash this year. I just made my GS a twin sized quilt and only had to buy one FQ of white to complete it. I have also been piecing my quilt backs to use up my stash. THings have gotten out of control in my sewing room.

I love how we can justify our stashes...
keep collecting your fabric stash you might be sewing at midnight when the shops are not open :)

If ' JoAnn 's' ain't calling you to place orders to stock their store then your OK And if they do ever call you DO NOT tell any family members. They'll only try to put you on medication for OCB----don't ask :)

I am a fabric collector and I need the 12 step program--NOT to stop buying but to have time to use it. I have so much fabric that I have bought on auction sales and was given and have bought from members on this board and I have literally given away a lot, but then I still have more. I may not ever get it all used, but I never buy real expensive fabric. What I buy is the same quality as the pricey stuff and if I make a mistake with it I don't feel so bad. I also feel that I can give it away and not bother me.

Even though I'll never sew all the fabric I have it makes me happy to open the cupboard doors and see it . I have two cupboards plus at least 4 or 5 large plastic tubs as well as numerous smaller tubs. I have lots of quilts planned but try to finish them and as I do my own quilting it can take a bit of time.

To Jan, nice to see you back. Get well soon.

I told myself when I started quilting that I was only going to buy fabric with a specific project in mind. That, to put it mildly, didn't last.

Don't be horrified - that stash is insurance to keep you sewing when you can't get to the fabric store or like me circumstances change and you can no longer afford to buy. My stash will probably last for more years than I'll live, unless the Good Lord is going to keep me here til I'm 150!

I think this is one reason why my stash grows. I started off buying one yard of fabrics and it was about a year before I realized that that just isn't enough. So I started buying 2 yards and decided that wasn't enough...not when you want a border and binding out of a fabric that is in the center. I now buy 3, but who knows where I will stop.

I think one reason I went ahead and counted my fabric is that I am a counter. I tend to count things. I count the number of crackers I eat, I count the number of steps it is to the mail box, I used to count how many papers I had left to grade (retired teacher), etc. I know it isn't normal, but I am a counter. I think I am mentally counting to compare the amount to what I thought it might be...sort of checking my estimate. If anyone had asked me, I would have said I thought I had about 100 pieces of fabric. The 211 really surprised me.

I have enjoyed hearing about all your stacks! Mine fits right in, and I haven't cancelled my trip to the fabric store. :) I still need a specific purple and I can always use more white on white!!

Dina



Dina

I think of my stash as part of the decor. Not to long ago I put my stash in book cases in both my sewing room and in the computer room. Love to see a quilt pattern on the computer and plan it using the fabric I can see. Planning not to be confused with making.

You are a normal quilter...Join the club & don't be horrified. I went into my supply last week and my son asked where I got what I had pulled out and I told him, his remark and you knew right where you wanted was, I said yes, he called me a hoarder, I said no a hoarder does not use anything and I do at some point in time. No more comment from him.

Don't be horrified. I don't even want to count my stash. But just for kicks I counted just one shelf full and there were over 55 fabrics folded on that one shelf. Now if I multiply that by the number of shelves.........YIKES!!!!! Then to top that off, count all the bins you might have stashed with fat quarters, jelly rolls, etc. You don't even want to go there. But isn't it fun to just feel the fabrics you have once in a while, drool over the luscious colors and designs? I do try to use what I have but once in a while I'll find I need just one or two more to complete what I need for a project and then I take what I have and go to the fabric store to find something that will go with it. Sometimes I have to start over in my search as I find another fabric that just sings to me.....:-) I'm sure some of you have had that happen, right????

Anyway, I love my stash and its fun to just sit back and look at it up there on the shelves.

A few years ago there was a garage sale listed in the paper that said "lots of fabric" - so I wanted to be there first thing - hardly slept a wink as I was so excited. Was there first thing the next morning and was slightly disappointed to see that the entire garage was full of double knit fabric. Huge stacks on tables all over the garage. I heard a youngish woman telling somebody that this was her deceased mother's stash and that her daddy let her mother buy so much fabric because "it made her mother so happy" - which almost made me cry.

YES, some batiks bleed horribly. Out of my 200+ pieces, I am guessing that at least 1/4 of them bled - dark blues were the worst. I even had to throw away two pieces because I kept rinsing and rinsing and nothing stopped them from bleeding - did not want to take the chance of putting them in a quilt. Just go to the "SEARCH" box on here and type in "pre-washing batiks" or something similar and see all of the posts on this topic. I don't have many reds but don't think that they would not bleed also. HTH

I'm not counting! It's just amazing how much fabric can just find it's way into my sewing room!! I find that some of the prints make beautiful blouses & there's still leftover for quilts. That's exactly what I'm doing now ... making blouses for my vacation from my stash. So don't be horrified ... your a quilter!

Jan,
YEA! Glad that you are back (at least to the typing and reading stages so far). You always offer such good advice. You have been missed.

I was wondering why a non-quilter would be so insistent on knowing how much fabric you have. I would have told her that it doesn't matter how much I have but how much enjoyment I get from it. People that don't quilt, just don't understand about our desire to have beautiful fabric. Don't feel guilty about it, just enjoy it and continue creating from it and adding to your stash when you want.

I'm sure they are all beautiful! Isn't it a nice feeling to know you can go fabric shopping at home, especially when there is bad weather :)

Yep. I agree 100%.

For sure. It is my pantry and just as you (probably, assuming you eat at home) have food in your pantry/kitchen, I have fabric in my fabric pantry. And why does it matter to anyone else?

Ah, the great debate ... to wash or not to wash ... when I buy cheap fabric I may wash but otherwise, no, and I've never had a problem with running colors - the only ones I even worry about or test are reds and purples ... and never have had a problem. I know that some use Retayne or color catchers when they wash the first time, I haven't felt the need.
Haven't ever thought to wash batiks, since they are washed in between each color - and I have a LOT of batiks, well over 100 (probably closer to 2 or even 300), I'm afraid to count but am cutting strips to make my own 'jelly roll 1600 quilt' and will have more than enough to make at least two quilts if I only cut one strip from each batik in the bin.
I really love the look and feel of the quilts when I wash them for the first time and they suddenly look and feel like old friends instead of something that is perfectly smooth and 'too good to sit on' - I'm old and comfy and I want those things surrounding me to be old and comfy too:D

so for the mensa-mathics, lol, what is horrified times 50? :D :D :D I gave up horrified long ago and am now numb, lol. Turns out I can't be creative if I can see it, so to help my artistic side and to protect my fabrics, all my shelves have curtains :p

FYI - I would certainly take the time to wash the batiks - this is how I did mine. I have a pure white dishpan and I put a drop of liquid soap in a couple of inches of lukewarm water and then put a piece of batik in it - still folded and swished it around. If it did not bleed, I gently squeezed out the water, still folded and set it aside. Put in another piece of batik and repeated. If it did bleed, I changed the water and put in cool rinse water and kept changing the water until it quit bleeding - sometimes I would rinse a piece about 5 times before it quit bleeding. At least twice I had to throw away the piece as it never did quit bleeding. One bright blue piece looked like an octopus squirting out his ink every time I touched it. I then rinsed all of the "washed" batiks in cold water - still folded - and then laid them out onto thirsty big towels on my kitchen counter. I then draped them over clotheslines in my utility room and portable lines in my living room that I had my DH put up - it was winter and we had the fireplace going and the pieces dried very fast. Then folded them and put them away - did not see any need to iron. However, before using, I will probably iron them. Very little wrinkles.

HTH - Hope this helps.

I wouldn't be horrified, you are just saving up for when money gets tight and you can continue to create. I, myself, can't resist the word "SALE", I am quilting about 3 years now and probably have 500 different fabrics, always have to go out any buy fabric to match the quilt I am making, usually the borders or backing fabric is needed. We spend a small fortune on our "hobby", probably have enough to last the next decade, but I keep buying, don't want to run out.

I confess, I am a fabricoholic; my stash exceeds a closet with shelves across the closet and fabric in rows like fabric shops, (by color) bins for small pieces and overflow in an old dresser. You're not alone, I am not sure there is a cure, except maybe more fabric. (p.s. fabric shops will give away those cardboard fabric holders, and they can be divided into thinner pieces to hold more fabric)

I have "some" Fabric, I'll admit that much. BUT, my kids see it differently. They are all grown and have families. The running joke with all of them is "if you head downstairs to Moms sewing room - grab the rope so you can find your way out" and the one they like best is "telling people they think they have more siblings but they got lost in Moms sewing room and Mom aint talking.

Dingle

Exactly! If you see two or three that go together, put them together in a basket and before long, you will see another, and another, etc. If you ever have a chance to get an out-of-print book by Jinny Beyer called Color Confidence, that would help you.