Noob finally sees the light- Practical reasoning for building a stash
 

Putting all mention of my "oh look, a squirrel!" mentality aside (ref: bullet 1 below), I have finally realized the value of building a stash- from a practical point of view:

• What I buy today, I might not like tomorrow as much as what I find tomorrow
• What I buy today will likely be cheaper today than tomorrow
• What I really like today (even if I have no plan for it) may not be available tomorrow (out of print, discontinued, retired, etc). I've found several of these just in the last 2 days as I find a collection that I love, and it's nowhere to be found. Unfortunately, this may mean buying a line at full price when it's released (ack!).
• It's practically unavoidable to NOT have a stash when the "OMG I MUST HAVE THAT!" urge strikes.

So...having said all that, I have decided that it would be "in my best interest" (tongue-in-cheek) to start a stash.

One good rule to adding stash, when you run across a fabric that love, love, love and can't live without, buy as much as you can afford because it'll probably sell out fast and they won't reprint it.

I totally agree I had a stash before I ever started quilting. I hung out with a quilter and we spent a lot of time in quilt shops.I even went on shop hops for a few years before I started quilting. Have some of that why did I buy that . you told a good story and I hope you r sticking to it

One of the saddest things is to have a fabric go out of print, gone forever... Then you will scour Ebay and pay anything for it!

There are lots of good reasons to have a stash! Like, right now, I can't go out shopping because I had foot surgery in January. So I'm shopping my stash.

The only real problem with starting a stash is that it's never big enough!

"Oh look, a squirrel!"

*snort*

Alison

I shop my stash alot! Do not know what I would do without it!

My stash is my own little savings account. I'm planning to shop out of my stash this year as much as possible!

Also, squirrel.

Before I started quilting, I would go to my friends house(she quilted) and gasp at all of the fabric that she had. Once I started quilting I started building my own stash. My dear sister-in-law asked what was in all of those boxes under my quilting machine. Ahhh, fabric. She gasped and said, "You're kidding!" Nope. O.K., that was before I really got into quilting. Now she would say, "OMG, YOU'RE KIDDING!!!! I just might have to use your line...."Oh look there's a squirrel!" Well, I seriously wouldn't let her see my stash now...she might have a heart attack...she's very frugal and also 87 years old.
What can I say, other than I LOVE FABRIC. And yup, I've learned that if you see fabric that you really love, or that is on sale, or would go good in a quilt you're planning to make(some day) OR, OR,OR. You just have to buy it. Although, seriously, I'm trying really hard not to buy anymore fabric until I use a goodly portion of what I have, which will take me up to the time of my demise. I have alot of fabric.;) And I'm glad that I do.

Whoo, that crisis averted.:thumbup:
So glad you've seen the light and the rest of us can cheer a newbie saved for the future, LOL!:D

Jan in VA

I'm glad you wrote about this. I have a big stash and have been de-stashing because of guilt. Well, no more. I look at all my fabric and love it all. Maybe I won't use it all, but I have the option. And I buy fabric lines that I love. And most of them are now gone. I've tried to add to them but couldn't. So, I will continue to buy FQ bundles and yardages of some of the fabric from it that I like and store it for a rainy day.

100% agree and I'm working on building my stash too. I have shopped out of it quite a few times when I unexpectedly need just a little something else or when I change my mind about a color scheme. The worst thing though, in shopping my stash I used one of my very favorite batik's that I was saving for something really special on a different project because it truly was the perfect fabric for that quilt ... and now I can't find anymore of it. And that quilt was a gift for someone else so I'll never see it again. *sigh* oh well - at least she really loves her quilt. :) :)

If you buy fabric today and don't use it so it goes out of style, just wait a while and it will come back into style.

I make about 21 Linus quilts a month. Two thirds of them are just child friendly prints with a flannel backing. When Joanns had a sale before Christmas of bolts of flannel I stocked up. I can get between nine and ten Linus quilts out of a bolt of flannel. The less I have to pay for the fabric the more quilts I can donate. I could probably make enough Linus quilts out of my present stash to last me at least a year. Of course that fabric is not what I have stashed for my personal use. Some of it is for garment or household sewing. I will admit the balk of it is suitable for quilts. My stash room also holds probably at least a dozen or so finished quilts, about three ten yard rolls of 48" batting for the Linus quilts and several quilt batts in various sizes. There are also 4 or 5 finished tops and other projects in progress floating around. My stash room is in the basement and out of site of the general public. My sewing room is upstairs and not nearly as cluttered. It was orginally a bedroom so the closet is stuffed to the gills with my thread collection as well etc. I also have several pieces of antique or at least "old" sewing related furniture that holds more of my thread. Then of course there are various containers that hold seperate projects like the bias binding collection and elastic for the Princess Pillowcase dresses I make. I also have storage bins and drawers for my GO accesories and the various stuff for my two embroidery machines. I could go on and on. Every thing in both those rooms is "definately" necessary.

If you don't like it as well tomorrow, you still have options. First, cut it smaller! My favorite quilts are "scrap" quilts. Quotations b/c it's really not scraps, it's a variety of 1/2 to 1 yard cuts that I cut pieces from so that quilts have lots of variety in them.

Alternatively, you could sell it - there's a "for sale" section here that gets lots of traffic.

If you love something and can't find it, look @ quiltshops.com, or put a note in the "looking for" section here.

We're all here to enable ... errr, help each other ;)

For me it is fabric therapy, I love my stash. I love scrappy quilts, so my stash can never be to large.

OOh, there is a squirrel. That is so funny, LOL

I have a lot of fabric and refuse to feel guilty about it. Much of it was given to me or picked up for little cost at sales. It's sorted and labelled and in bins. I sew constantly and use what I have and give almost everything that I make away. I will continue to use it, play and rearrange it until I am no longer interested or able to sew. Then my DD will know to call my local quilt guild to take it all away and she will arrange a bed for me in her nursing home because she will know something is definitely "wrong" with mother.

Praise be!! Another convert!!! :)

I, too, ADORE scrappy quilts...so I can never have too much fabric. I have never bought a "bundle" of a particular line, although I have drooled endlessly over quite a few of them. I just can't afford to spend that much all at one time. I agree, $60 to $100 may be a GREAT price...but I just can't spend that much in one go. I did spend a little over $120 for 120 fat quarters from an ebay shop. It has been a life saver. I also received a LOT of fabric free on Freecycle, quite a bit of which has been home dec and not really good for making quilts...but have made beautiful zippered pouches and toiletry bags and pin cushions, etc., etc. My son has just moved out and I am taking over his bedroom as an "expansion" of my small sewing room. I am going to use two pieces of his bedroom furniture to store fabric and I will set up 6' folding tables in the remaining space to use for sandwiching and basting quilts. I keep opening his armoir and imagining it filled with gorgeous fabric!!! For years I dreamed of having a library with floor to ceiling books...now I dream of a sewing studio with floor to ceiling fabric!

As long as you enjoy it, you still have room to create without moving piles out of the way, can store it in such a way that it doesn't develop nasty odors or bugs and you can afford it -go for it. Have fun.

One thought, when you buy fabrics for stash, sometimes it's helpful to buy some of the coordinating fabrics also. It's so very annoying to dig a nice piece of fabric out and then can't match the exact shade of color and have to do close enough.

It has always astounded me that non sewers/quilters are shocked at the amount of "stash" we all have. Maybe its because nuts/bolts/tools/stamps/coins/are all MUCH smaller and of course collected phenomenally well by the male species, but I have never heard ANYONE wander up to a guy and say GEE you SURE have lots of nuts/bolts/stamps/coins, WHEN are you going to use them all?? I have never apologized for a being a fabric fondler (even pre quilting days) and collector. I always said I would win the race to have the most fabric and I see no reason to not continue to work to attain that goal :::::snicker::::snicker:::: Although I do admit that I have slowed down some the last couple of years, its very painful for me to spend $12 a yard for fabric, so I am "shopping my stash" more these days!

I have been building my stash up, too. My problem is that I've run out of room to put any more. I have had times when my stash came in handy. Just wish I had a bigger area to store it....I would break my fabrics down more so it would be easier to find exactly what I'm looking for. There's been times where I knew I had a certain fabric but finding it has been the problem. Of course, this won't stop me from buying more. I just need to live another hundred years to do all the quilts I want and to use up my stash. Ya'll have helped me to not feel a little quilty about my stash. I thank you for that!!

Well....hmmm can't give you any reason not to buy a stash. Who would I be kidding if I did since I just added 4 yards each of these very colorful fabrics to my stash.....

http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/...psf7f16740.jpg

Rosie

Oh yes, one more thing. Have a supply of reasons handy why you bought it, if DH ask why you bought it. Usually I sneak it into the house and put it with my stash. Then if he should ask, then say "Oh, that's been there for awhile", he just does not need to know for how long.

Yep....you are now truly bitten by that quilting bug...see you in the "Fabric Moratorium" posts a couple more years down the track:)

Isn't that the truth? Wouldn't it be great if we could hit the moderation "easy" button?

My stash came from freecycle, yardsales, friends de-stashing, local quilters who needed more space and great sales at Walmart and JoAnns-back when you could pick up decent fabric on clearance for $1-2 a yard. You had to be careful and search for the better stuff.

Now that the economy has taken a nose dive and Walmart no longer has fabric, the cheapest I've found it on clearance is $3 for not so exciting fabric. The "What were they thinking when they came up with this idea?" fabrics

Rosie, I love your new fabrics!

My stash is huge though I have friends whose stashes dwarf mine. I've not bought fabric in 3 years except for a wedding gift quilt and some backings. I have solely shopped from my stash. And, last year alone, I used at least 55 yards in donation quilts. I'm not sure how many yards for other quilts were used. And the sad thing? No one but me can tell my stash is somewhat reduced.

My stash makes me feel warm and cozy...it's like a good friend...keeps me grounded and ready for the next "idea" I agree with the price of fabric these days, it's great just to shop in the stash. Making 6 valentine tablerunners for family and friends..all came from my stash. Using my stash makes me feel frugal...ha ha

I have a stash since I live in the country. If I want to start or finish a project at 10:30 p.m. I can. Because I have a stash. I cant run to the LQS at the cost of gas, so that is my reason to build a stash. Not to mention that I can.
I buy when I get great prices for the most part. Even outdated fabric looks good in a scrappy, darn it, now I want to go buy more fabric!

Yes, a stash is very important. For example, if you suddenly find that you are going to a baby shower or a birthday party the day after tomorrow, you need the fabric to make something, not spend the day shopping for something. Of course, BEFORE I was a quilter, I had 125 boxes of fabric for costumes and lost it all in a flood, so I may not be the best source of information. Now I only have 16 large dressers worth.

Wyldwych, I would have bought the left hand fabric in a heartbeat for my foster kid quilts.

Proud of ya, girl. You've finally seen the light.

My husband is flabbergasted at how much fabric I have- and it's barely anything! I just started building a stash! Little does he know how much really goes into it......

somebody hacked into my account and now the bank has closed my debit card and is issuing me a new one. while i wait for it, i am without funds on line. i have cash for stores, but i'm at home. it is the first time i have been successful with the fabric moratorium. not sure this is healthy! lol.

I am still a noobie too. yesterday I was at Joanne's and wanted to get some fabric to make a 7 year old boys quilt. I walked that store 3 times and couldn't find a fabric I like and couldn't think of a pattern to start with.....so I bought more black/white fabric quarters. I just can't stay away from the whole black/white color scheme. Then we went to Wal-Mart and I bought several yards of particular crackle pink I had previously purchased from them and couldn't find (THAT taught me that when I buy something bty in the future to purchase LOTS of it!) and more black/white fabric quarters. I have enough black/white fabric quarters to make many quilts from. I just finished my second quilt last night (black/white themed) am almost finished with my son's quilt top (black/white themed with red). I quilt slowly, but I purchase rapidly!!!LOL

Look into my eyes: you will build a large stash and have a couple of tubs filled with scraps. <Do ya think it worked?>LOL
welcome to the world of stashing: Yes you may find it next week on sale or NOT; YES you may not like it; but someone else will and want something made out of it, lets see what else ? Ohhhhhhhhh the colors: yes yes; you may never find that coloring again !LOL

You figured it out, Noob! (How cute is that word?!)

I have been building a stash since about 2001. When I started I
was only buying 1/4 yard cuts and if I liked it A LOT then I bought
1/2 to 1 yard.

That was BEFORE I started quilting. Now I have so much fabric that
I have a dedicated room for fabric (youngest daughters old bedroom)
separate from my sewing room (formerly known as a dining room).

NOT have a stash???!!! Horrors!!! Would rather give up chocolate!!