Icky - Unsuitable - Ugly
 

When someone says "quilting fabric" - the first thing that comes to my mind is a woven cotton.

Then, within the "woven cotton quilting fabric " - i have a narrower definition - but I don't know how to put that definition on paper.

Anyway - I do have some fabrics that I consider "quilting fabric" - but I do not like them for any number of reasons.

Some of reasons:

harsh finish
loosely woven - flimsy feeling
yucky color (what was I thinking when I acquired those pieces? - I remember - I was acquiring pieces for a charm quilt - that is still in pieces. I busily cut a four inch triangle from many many pieces.)
too tightly woven
just don't like it anymore

I have purged the too loosely woven pieces - a couple of which I purchased at LQS - for the color -

Do any of you have pieces that are in the "if i would have known then what I know now" - category?

I have bought some and later on wondered why. I don't get attached to fabric. I toss it as soon as I notice I don't like it anymore. I don't like Kona brand and when I buy a Moda design I love, I know to expect a lot of raveling.

There must be a run on ugly fabric. I have my own thread going. For me, I was looking for a very specific fabric color with a specific design and each of the packs I bought had one of what I needed with the operative word being "packs." Now I'm stuck with a bunch of uglies.

I was purging fabric this morning. I have a bin full of don't want it anymore fabric. I'll take it to guild and put it on our free table. I don't see any reason to feel like I should keep it.

I've gotten really good at letting things go in the last couple of years. It's freeing! I used to think, "But I paid for it!" Then I realized that whether or not I paid for it, I wasn't going to use it, so it really wasn't costing me any more to give away.


What I don't like goes on the "free to take" table at guild meetings. If it doesn't get taken there, I give it to a charity thrift or a Mennonite group that makes comforts from all sorts of things. Out of my way and on to somebody who wants it!

The best line I have ever heard someone say about fabric was in my Community Quilts group at Guild. When someone's donation was of fabric that we just couldn't quilt with, like drapery fabrics, upholstery fabrics or just ugly polyesters, She would say, "We will put it where it needs to go." We tossed alot of fabrics. Later on, someone started collecting it and using it for dog beds for the pound.

I have a couple that I use for FMQ warmup and practice with leftover batting pieces.

I have been going thru my fabrics and it is "why did I buy this"!!! Now I am packing it in a bag and taking it to our local thrift shop. Makes me feel good to give away and maybe someone can put it to good use. I can't say that it is all ugly but some of it is real thin and I don't want to put that into a quilt.

I had a really ugly piece of fabric that I got through a fabric swap so I made a rope bowl out of it. It made a beautiful bowl & didn't look anything like the fabric I started with. So that year for Christmas I made rope bowls for friends out of fabric that I didn't like anymore.....amazing results!

Yes, I agree girls. I have been gifted some of this type fabric before for a charity I sew for. It sits and sits in a charity fabric bin awaiting some inspiration to use it. There was one very loose weight pink floral my sister gave me that I made into a baby summer dress. I bought a little slip to match and the neighbor mommy had a wonderful reaction. She realized that baby would be much more comfortable wearing light-weight in the heat.

I took all of my “ugly” fabric, cut it into 1.5” strips and sewed them into 9-patch squares. Coupled with hourglass squares of the same size in muslin fabric, it turned out to be one of my favorite quilts ever. All you see is color with 1” squares, and it was beautiful. Still kicking myself for gifting it to someone!
[ATTACH=CONFIG]613040[/ATTACH]

It is a lovely quilt - love the appliqued border.

Cindi that is indeed a beautiful quilt.

I have no money tree growing on our 1 acre of property so I refuse to throw anything useful away. Anything that can be used gets donated. Someone would be thrilled to get cast offs.

That's one of the best examples of "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade":)

What amazes me about ugly fabric: just when I heave a sigh of relief "There! That's the last of it!" another scrap of it appears from nowhere!

There are a couple of members in my quilt group that will go around and collect the scraps in our wastebaskets. They use them in applique and for English paper piecing. If the scrap is too small or "ugly" they use it to stuff pet beds for the animal shelters.

Cindi, your quilt is gorgeous!
I don't have the patience to work with fabric I don't like. I just donated 6 garbage bags full. I knew I'd never use it and it was just taking up space in my sewing room. Now I have just what I love.

>hen I realized that whether or not I paid for it, I wasn't going to use it, so it really wasn't costing me any more to give away.<

Exactly! Why give storage space to something you don't like and will never use? Fabric is one thing I rarely feel sentimental about and can get rid of it....unfortunately, there are way too many other things in my house that I attach to and can't let go of, lol!

Yes I have some of those. I’ve been trying to weed them out, but a few times I really needed a certain shade of something and had to use one of the icky ones for a small bit. I don’t use them for big amounts like a border. Also I use them for backing on wallhangings.

You might consider some of those "ugly" fabrics will work well for a OBW (one block wonder). Some of the prettiest I've seen have started out as "ugly".

I think it was Bonnie Hunter who said that "if it's still ugly you just haven't cut it small enough". Cindi proved that in her lovely quilt 9 patch.

Still, like the others have said, if you aren't going to use it, pass it on to some who will.

I also have friends who say the thing about "if it's still ugly you haven't cut it small enough" but I've seen some pretty awful fabrics over the years!

I buy a lot of my fabric at thrift stores, often in big bags. I sort through and toss the non-quilting and otherwise hard to use small pieces. Larger pieces that aren't quilting suitable accumulate in a bag until I have enough to donate back to the thrift store.

I've been trying to reduce my stash and make it easier to deal with -- but always remember that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Recently I sent some large pieces of yardage that I decided I was never ever going to use but I thought might make a nice rug like people are doing nowadays, the recipient thought it was great just the way it was.

I've been lucky enough to make some friends here on Quilting Board, one of who makes crumb quilts. I keep a flat-rate postage box by my cutting table and all the scraps from my fussy cutting and those less than the minimum size I want go into the box and off to her. I've decided that I don't really want to store anything smaller than 6.5" wide, and nothing shorter than a 6.5" square. Recently I filled an entire box with nothing but 2.5" strips and squares -- seems that size is always used but I just don't want to deal with them any more. I can always cut a 2.5" piece off of my 6.5" strips and they are easier to store and sort. I've tried different ways of organizing them, usually semi-color based but sometimes I'm just looking for florals, or non-florals, or civil war, or whatever it is it isn't the way they are organized.

String quilts or making fabric out of fabric is another way to use ugly fabrics. Again, cut it small and dilute the ugly with less ugly. A friend of mine was doing an ugly fabric challenge with her small group and was at a loss of what to do with it. We chatted a bit and she string pieced the ugly fabric into pieces big enough to make a tote bag and won the contest.

I made a couple of quilts from "ugly" fabric, but cut the pieces small. One is quarter square triangles, and one is a strip quilt, one is a Jacobs Ladder, and I used muslin for the solid, and they came out great. I love them. I don't normally buy fabric unless I need it for a project (yes, I know I am a strange one!) so don't have a stash. But I do have some pieces of fabric I win at the shop, or someone gives me, and three giant bins of scraps. I love my scraps.

I don't think of any fabric as ugly, only good or bad quality. I do not keep bad quality fabric no matter how pretty it is.

I make rag rugs and I have found that ugly gaudy prints make great rugs because you really only see color in the rug not the pattern or design. And sometimes these ugly fabrics find me for little or no cost which is a win win.

You are right - I've seen some adorable prints on fabric that I would not use - for anything -
and have seen some prints I consider yucky on fabric that feels wonderful and that would work up well in a quilt.

There is a Facebook group that makes quilt blocks out of "ugly" fabrics. Members make one or however many blocks they want, mail them to the leader for that month. The leader makes up the quilts for a charity. Its fun to see "the Uglies" and know that they are being used for a good thing. Check out The Ugly Block Challenge on Facebook. Members can choose to make a particular block or not.

Life is too short to work with ugly fabric.

The quilt I am actually keeping for myself is made from the oddball fat quarters that I didn't know what else to do with. Love, love love my quilt. I'll post a pic after our local quilt show in late Sept.

I usually have trouble parting with most fabric, ugly or not, but the thin flimsy stuff I can pack up and send to the thrift shop in one second flat!

I knew a lady that used the drapery fabric, upholstery fabrics, etc. and made purses out of that Ugly stuff and she made a good living doing that!

I use the too thin and flimsy fabric for the bases of biscuit quilts. it works just fine, and adds very little weight to a usually pretty weighty quilt. The flimsy fabric also makes cute broomstick skirts since it likes to be wrinkled.

A). Flimsy & thin fabric makes great foundations for the Chinese Coin quilts I make for charity.
B). Velveteen, satin and brocade was used for costumes at a newly formed church’s Christmas pagent.
C). A food pantry could hand out potholders made from “not so pretty” fabric.
D). Simple tote bags for a halfway house so they have a decent bag to leave with.

I try to avoid polyester, nylon, etc. it potholders. I prefer cotton and/or wool.

These are some good ideas!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]613227[/ATTACH]The rug I finished tonight using a wide range of colors and fabrics as I was using up strips leftover from other rugs so yes includes some "ugly" fabrics.