Not buying any new fabric !!
 

I have a friend who is a hoarder. I have not understood why she buys and buys and her house is full as well as about 20 storage units. Now I do ! A shelf in my sewing room broke so DH needs to fix it. I have fabric stored in bins on the shelves and they are too heavy. I knew that I had FQ's, yardage and scrapes all mixed together so I figured I would clean the bins out. So far, I have gone through the red, green, brown, yellow and orange and the purple and turquoise fabric bins. I must have 500 FQ, about 50 Fat 8ths and three grocery sacks of scrapes to be cut up. Now that still leaves me the black and white, the patriotic, 2 bins of Christmas, 2 bins of children, 1 bin of mixed, one bin of floral and 2 very large bins of blue. None of these have solids in them, that is another area of the room. I think there is another bin, but I am afraid now to go into that room and check it out. I also have FQ's in the chest in the guest bedroom with all my charm squares. There has to be about 50-75 FQ of my Kaffe Fassett fabric as well as my Liberty of London Fat Sixteenth's. And believe it or not, all this except the chest are in my sewing room which is a small ex-bedroom. So now I am more than a little ashamed of all I have, I will never ever use up all my fabric. I have made a rule now that I will not buy any more fabric -other than the background or borders for my quilts. It comes at a good time as I have made all my family members quilts in their desired designs/fabrics and now I am free to use what I have. I am wondering if there is a 12 step group I can go to ?

I know the feeling! I haven't even gone through my scraps or the boxes of scraps that I bought a year or so ago from someone on this site. The guilt and shame is driving me a little nuts. But I do still have family quilts to make. I don't have as much as you. But I have way too much for having only started in mid 2011! I am trying to not even buy for backing. However, I do lack in solids except for a couple of colors. Hang in there and quilt away!

Just take it one day at a time. And keep telling yourself, I will use my stash. You are very lucky to have such a stash. Especially with the price of fabric now. So just give yourself a pat on the back for planning ahead. :D I hope you find lots of fun things to do with your stash. :)

Well if you find a program - let me know. I am in the same boat and am trying very hard (so far successful) to not buy any fabric.

Hang in there. I went on the fabric wagon in October 2001. Wanting to buy more fabric in the first 6-8 months almost make me ill...it was just a habit that had become an addiction.
30 pounds of fabric equals 100 yards, give or take a few inches.

My stash didn't even begin to look like so many shown here...and it took me 13 years to use it down to what I consider acceptable levels. Stashes are perfect for all scrappy all the time quilters. But planned quilts? Hopeless, you ever have enough of the right stuff.

Good luck, PM me if you need real courage. The wink wink nudge nudge about getting a handle on stash here isn't the answer if you really want to get a grip on the problem..

Another way to look at it, buying fabric because it is on sale, only flys if you put the $$ you saved in a savings account on the way home from the store. Other wise all you've done is spent money and saved nothing.

I keep mine on mini bolts for easy access and I have not bought any new fabric this year. Oh that's right, it is only FEBRUARY! :D I am committed to sewing from my stash but with the price of fabric these days, I am darn glad to have it!

I have quite a stash as well but I think you have me beat by a long shot! LOL I lack in solids though. Oh well, another trip to LQS seems to be in order.

I had a small tote of scraps that was bursting open, so I finally dug into it and started cutting EVERYTHING IN THE TOTE down to usable sizes. I started with 10" squares, then 8", 6", 5" and then 2.5" strips. That cleaned up the tote for more scraps and gave me a huge stack on 10" squares to make utility quilts. Doing 10 blocks by 10 blocks and using double batting makes a huge extra warm quilt for our cold months. I am on quilt #3 like that and my girls just love em. May not be the prettiest things, but they will never be cold!

Not a 12 step program, but you could join the 2015 Fabric Moratorium we have running in the Challenges sub forum. We try and encourage members to curb excess purchases and commiserate slips ups!
http://www.quiltingboard.com/quiltin...m-t259073.html

My advise... any time you feel tempted to buy... spend 10 minutes in your stash.... trust me the urge will pass.

I recently moved most of my FQ's out of boxes and into a small Lawyers Cabinet and can now see what I have and boy has it helped me to move some of that fabric out! My other fabric is on boards and in big Lawyers Cabinets and again I can see what I have and use from it before I go buy. With that being said, I did just spend $150 online with Joanns for blender for children's/donation quilts. I was almost out of all my bright colors...again I could glance and check it.

Hello my friend. My favorite color is blue. hint hint. lol.

Our guild just helped to sell the fabric of a woman who passed away. Many items still had tags and we charged 50%, still we sold $17,000.00 and there is a ton left. The money will go to her son and I'm so thankful he came to us and he will get some of his moms money. She had way toooooo much and it showed me to STOP buying and use up what I have

I have organized my stash and it took 5 shelves on two 50 ft closets...In the last 2 years I have only purchased fabric when I don't have the right color to complete a project...that has only happened two times. I am piecing some fabrics for backings and I think that sometimes it makes the quilt more interesting...
Also I am pulling out some fabrics that I know I will never use so I have given them to a 4-H sewing group.. getting the next generation sewing..

I don't even want to talk about it! My name is Leesa and I am a fabriholic!

Thank you, you put in words how I feel about building a stash. I make planned quilts and didn't understand how purchasing small pieces of fabric would make it easier. Prior to join this site my definition of stash was all the leftover scraps from other projects. Someday I will make a scrappy quilt from the scraps I have saved.

It has been about two years since I have bought fabric just because I liked it. I have bought only what I have needed to finish a quilt and only after checking my stash. When I realized how much money I was storing in my closet, I decided it was time to stop. There will always be fabric out there that you like and tastes change.

I am going to try your idea of putting the money saved into a savings acct. but also I am going to try very hard to not buy what I don't need unless for a specific project..I might need you as a life coach..lol

My group of sew friends and I shop for free at each other's stash before buying new. I need a light blue I see what they have first. This has worked great for us.

I have too much fabric also. It doesn't sound like I have a fraction of what some of you have though. I just have a small space to store it. Two years ago I stopped buying fabric except for what I needed to finish a project. My kids give me gift cards to the LQS at Christmas and birthday that I can spend through the year. That helps a lot. For the last two years I have been finishing UFOs. It has been a challenge to me because I had so many. That has helped with the fabric buying too. This year I think I will get all my UFOs finished. I am down to six. When I finish those, I will start on all the quilt kits I have bought. I have more kits than I do random fabric purchases. I make a list at the beginning of each year for which quilts to complete. So far my plan has worked. I can see that my stash is going down. Good luck to all who are trying to use up the stash and may you live long enough to need to buy more fabric.

Hello Leesa, but I have helped you get rid of some of your fabric; and now I have realized I too am a fabriholic! Any one know where I can buy more time to sew? I can't afford to quit my job.

I have for years now only bought WHAT I needed and NOT what I wanted. Slowly making progress.

I will not buy more fabric...I will not buy more fabric....unless I really like it.....I will not...

I am in my 3rd year of not purchasing fabric, unless I have to have it to finish a quilt or backing for a qult. Yesterday was the first time I haver been in JAF since August. (Neded borders for a chemo quilt.) Hope to makedo with what I have. Started piecing the backings, so this should help get rid of a lot.

Welcome to quilting!

Thank you, every single one of you for your comments. My closet is only 8 feet wide with 3 shelves but it's full. And then there are the cubicles full too. I told DH that I loved all the FQ's and the scrapes more than I liked the yardage and I believe soon I will give some of it away. I know that I can use the FQ's and the scrapes easier than making a planned quilt and since I love scrape quilts the most, I am very happy with them. I just needed to say how I was feeling about having all these fabric and you all are the best ever to listen to me and to make kind comments. Once again, thank you so much for your encouragement.

My fabric buying has slowed down a LOT lately. I think I've finally reached a saturation point. I have a wall of cabinets full of fabric - no real idea how many yards but I have had to use over 1,300 comic book boards and I have mostly 1 and 2 yard cuts plus 5-6 bolts of solids....so, "lots" is a fair description I think!!

It was very difficult for me, but I reduced my stash by about half last week! I had so much I just knew I'd never get around to using, so it had to go. I put it out there on Facebook and two women jumped at their chance for FREE, yes, FREE fabric! They were both young moms with little extra cash and both had hand-me-down sewing machines. I felt so good sharing my stories with them. I think we shall remain in touch to see what they do with their newly acquired treasure trove of fabrics!

For those of you that have fabric beyond what you want, there are many of us that make charity quilts to donate, and your extra fabric could be put to a good use. IMHO charity quilts should be as pretty and well made as those we make for our families. But buying good fabric to sew charity quilts can be prohibitively expensive for some. Sharing our extras can help many people as well as making the giver feel good about sharing.

I have tons of fabric and I'm not ashamed to admit it! And there is no way I'll ever use it all up and that's just the way it is. I think of it as insurance for when I can't afford to buy any more.

If you are looking for things to do with the fabric that you no longer feel attached to (!), if you area has an adult school, a parks and rec program or church programs that teach sewing, you could consider donating some. They often teach younger people how to sew making simple projects or toys and really prefer cottons. If you want to sew small quilts (36 x 36) and do a simple cross hatch quilting, you can make a bunch, fold them and stuff in large plastic bags and donate to the police dept. and fire dept. They carry them in their vehicles to hand out to kids in trauma situations. For my daughter's girl scout troop's silver award, I worked with the girls and we made several dozen of these quilts thru the course of a year and donated them. It was incredibly rewarding and several of these girls have continued to sew.

I am working on a string quilt in order to use up a few scraps but I'm determined not to buy new fabric (no matter what discounts or free freight is offered) until I use up the layer cakes and 3 jelly rolls I purchased and just had to have in 2014.

I stopped buying fabric about a year ago when I realized my growing stash was making me anxious. I don't work as fast or as hard as I used to when I made all my own clothes -- retirement has made me lazy! -- and so having all that unused fabric has created an urgency and a demand on me that I don't enjoy. Now I buy what I need at the time I need it -- if it's not in my stash -- and resist -- or try to resist -- buying fabric just because I love it.

No guilt - No Shame. I love my scrap bins, and can always find whatever will work best for applique or a scrappy quilt. Don't beat yourself up, but now that you will have them organized, have fun with them

I've only been quilting since Oct. so I don't have a "real" stash of fabric. I only allow myself to buy enough fabric to do 2 no more than 3 quilts at a time ... and I don't buy more until those quilts are finished.

Also, IMHO, you don't have time to join a 12-step group because you need to be quilting up your stash. LOL

I too have huge stash & finally realized I cannot use it all up before I die or arthritis prevents me from sewing as much as in the past! Now that I have retired & fabric has gone over the roof in price I thank God I have that stash to work with! Doing very well in not buying anything new this year! I guess I'm now in recovery!! LOL

I hear you, I heard on a podcast American patch work that some times you have to go through your fabric some times and get rid of what your not using. I also only buy fabric if I'm wanting to do a certain color of quilt and the rest of the time stay away from buying fabric. Lately what I have been doing is making rags to clean with or wash rags for my children to use to bath with. That way the fabric is being used even if its not being quilted with.

Join us in the Fabric Moratorium thread - we really encourage each other to stay on the NO-BUY WAGON. It's hard sometimes. We are also quite good at coming up with rationalizations when one of us falls (or jumps) off the wagon.

http://www.quiltingboard.com/quiltin...m-t259073.html

I am now getting worried at almost 74 years of age. I cannot sew fast enough. I have way too much!

12step program
 

I have the perfect answer to your problem....after trying desperately for years to start a prayer quilt group in my church, my DH encouraged me to do it myself. Well, I did it and I'm now a "one woman" prayer quilt ministry. As you know, fabric is very expensive soooo, to help you with your addiction, I am thrilled to take some of your stash off your hands! Just saying!!! Lol, good luck organizing. I have learned you can never have too much fabric. You never know when someone becomes gravely ill and could use a little comfort by way of a lap robe or quilt!