I don't have a stash, don't want a stash - scraps get trashed.

My stash:
These are unfinished cupbaords, about 7 1/2 ft high (that's why one is white, they will all be that way eventurally) that hold, um, maybe a third of my stash.
Now I feel better, doing my part for those who don't have stashes.

Hugggggggs Sandy, can I be your friend and on your give away list? Smilessssssssssssssss:D:D

OMG Carol can I be your friend too, and you can throw your leftover scraps from your projects right over here to me and I promise to put them to good use. Hugssssssss and smilessss, :D:D

IMMEDIATELY!!!

I'm with you, pjemark, no stash for me. I am to old to be worring about tomorrow. Besides it is a waste of money. I like to buy when I decide to make something. I found when I had fabric stacked up, I didn't like it after awhile. Too much new and prettier fabrics out there. I save scrapes for a while, make a scrap quilt or two and the pile NEVER goes down. There hatch over night. So after a scrap quilt or two, I sort and anything smaller then 3' goes to the closest quilter to me at the moment or in the garbage. I don't think twice about it once it is gone. I like to applique, so I do use some of the larger scraps at times.

roflmao
i'm sure several of the members of this board would qualify as counselors for the Institute.

This totally amazes me - you can not create without clutter. My Mother's sign said "Dull women have immaculate homes!!!" I am not dull, neither am I a mess!!! Those of you who give away your scraps, I would love to help you!!! I live in Anchorage, Ak., I am on disability, in charge of "giving" programs at my church, and we are already paying between $10.00 and 13.50 a yard for regular quilt shop-quality fabric!!! and that is before the coming 30% increase that our shops have been told will be on the next order. We would gladly pay flat rate box shipping and your "scraps" would be put to good use.

the Frozen Quilter

This totally amazes me - you can not create without clutter. My Mother's sign said "Dull women have immaculate homes!!!" I am not dull, neither am I a mess!!! Those of you who give away your scraps, I would love to help you!!! I live in Anchorage, Ak., I am on disability, in charge of "giving" programs at my church, and we are already paying between $10.00 and 13.50 a yard for regular quilt shop-quality fabric!!! and that is before the coming 30% increase that our shops have been told will be on the next order. We would gladly pay flat rate box shipping and your "scraps" would be put to good use.

the Frozen Quilter

Every time I read about perfectly good fabric going into the garbage/trash, I find myself starting to twitch and shudder.
I just can hardly bear the thought, when so many of us could use that fabric to create quilts for charity. Especially now with the weather causing so much loss and destruction of homes and possessions. And there are as always, the ill and wounded who benefit from our efforts.
So many of us struggle to obtain the fabrics we use for these good causes, I just cannot understand why anyone would prefer to toss fabric into a landfill rather than pass it on to be used. There are many ways to pass on this fabric, some much less bother than others. But all so much better than throwing it out.
My heart aches to think of such waste. Am I the only one who feels this way?

That wasn't a very nice word to use. If I have leftovers I really don't want to use, I give them to Goodwill, would never dream of throwing them away.

That's a better use indeed. Then we can buy them and help Goodwill too! Hugs and smilesssss

Know a prolific quilter who throws out her scraps. Says once she's worked w a fabric she doesn't want to work w it again.

I've already run out of places. I suppose the next place is the kitchen cabinets -- eh hem, maybe the highest shelves. :roll:

I guess you could say that a fabric store puked in my sewing room because I have a large stash. I have to get my fabric when I have the opportunity and the finances to get it. I get a lot of mine from Salvation Army stores and auctions. Some I got when was on a road trip and knew I wouldn't see that particular fabric again. I love my stash. I like sorting it for objects and I know that I will have enough to make any size quilt. We live in the country so it's hard to get to stores when ever I get an urge. Sorry this is so long. Patti :mrgreen:

You all do not want to look at my sewing room. I need a major overhall. Anyone interested in having a cleaning party?

I am having to lessen my stash as my son is home from Uni. My DH keeps threatening so I have agreed to get rid of everything that is not 'quilting' fabric. That should keep him and me happy!

Oh I have a stash, so much I have no idea what I have anymore. I just cannot help myself, when I see a fabic I like I buy it.

I have a very large stash, I think it is around 10 tons of fabric now. Much of it is not cotton but I use it for everything from the poppy quilt I made to bags of weird artsy quilt things with applique.

I love my stash, it has opened doors and windows of creativity in my life. I do however have days ...... where I set myself new rules. NOTHING can be stacked in front of the shelves on the floor, this never works for long.
The picture reflects a small small portion of what is in the house, then there is the garage.
I do keep my scraps, in fact I have a 15.00 flat rate box on top of something to put them in, when it is full I start another one, some of the scraps are cotton, most of them are not. Non cotton scraps are either stabilized with woven interfacing or really awesome designer fabric.
Please fell free to p.m me I will happily send them to a new home as I fill a box for shipping and a very, very minimal fee.

I have run out of room until I reorganize so some of my stash is sitting on the floor. :oops:

I have a stash. I have a huge stash and I love my stash. Do I need more fabric. NO! Do I buy more fabric anyway. YES!! Will I ever use up all my stash. NEVER!!! But, I can't seem to pass up a fabric that I really love, especially if it is on sale. Guess I'm a fabricholic.

:D Welcome to the board. Lots of great information here. Maybe we should have a place where those that need scraps could put their information. Then those of us who want to send them our scraps could do so. I have a small apartment so I have to keep things to a minimum. BrendaK

She would probably have a heart attak if she saw my sewing room. I have fabric all over the place, I have 3 projects in the works now. When I get bored with one I work on the others. Iam retired so I don't care.

she's sick

lol!!!!!

I agree with you! I'm kind of a neat freak and I have a stash! Mine scraps are sorted into stacking bins (neatly stacked of course! :mrgreen: ) and my "stash" is stored in a nice dresser and yes again, neatly stacked bins!

Just because you have a stash doesn't mean you have clutter. And who said clutter was a bad thing anyway? To each his own and whatever gets the creative juices flowing... lol

LOL! My mama always says, "A messy room is the sign of a creative mind!"

What's the fun if you can't have a stash and a little mess.EEK

Just what kind of scraps are you guys talking about? When I say "scrap", that's what I mean. For about the past year, I have been making baby quilts for Quilts for Kids. If I need 1/2 yd fabric to cut 12 blocks, I buy only 1/2 yd. I'll square up the fabric and get 2 long skinny triangular strips from the edges, then cut my squares. Do you mean to tell me that you would use those "squared-up" skinny uneven strips to include in a quilt?

If I'm making a bed-sized quilt, I only do hand applique. After I cut all those curved shapes into flower petals or hearts or pieces of birds or whatever, there's nothing left but odd-sized, curved shapes that aren't good for anything but the trash bag. Say I have a 1/4 yd strip of fabric from which I cut a bunch of leaves or hearts arranged so that I get as many as I can from that fabric. Imagine rolling out cookie dough and cutting out cookies with a cookie cutter. That's the kind of scraps I throw away. Would you guys actually use those junky little pieces?

I only buy as much as I need and there is SELDOM anything usable left.

I can't afford to buy fabric just to store it because someday I might find a use for it. I buy what I need when I need it, and throw away the above-described scraps.

What kind of scraps do you save to re-use at a later date?

Carol~ scraps means something different to everyone. To me it would be pieces no smaller than 2-inches square. I keep anything that can be cut into a 3-inch square or a 1.5-inch strip for myself to use in a scrappy quilt some time down the road. I actually sort into bins for Christmas, Kids and the rest. I know... OCD is coming to mind here...lol

If I have something smaller like 2-inches to 1-inch squares or strips I'll save it in a bin in case someone on the board who is braver (crazier?) than I am is looking for itty bitty pieces for a project.

Anything smaller or weird shaped does go into the trash. Fabric is sooooooooo expensive that I can't just toss it. I never pay full price and I don't think my stash would be considered large by anyone...but it's mine and I love it! :mrgreen:

I'm not a neat freak but I don't have much of a stash probably because I've only done four quilts and have two projects I plan to work on. I just don't have the budget for a good size stash.

I'm far from a neat freak and I have my stash in the closet neatly folded on the selves (until the cat decides she wants to rearrange the piles)I cannot afford to throw away extra material unless they are less than one inch.

Hi Carol, I agree that we each have our own ideas about what scraps are. I, too, keep anything I can make a 2.5" square or a 1.5" strip from. Anything smaller I save for the members of the board who use those tiny pieces, and there are a good many who do.

Thanks for all the responses.

I understand what you're saying; however, I can't afford to build a stash of stored yardage with no purpose in mind, and as far as scraps go, I just can't see working with tiny pieces 2 1/2" square and then sewing a 1/4" seam on all sides. No, thank you. Maybe I'm just too picky and too impatient. Maybe it's because I don't like to do pieced quilts - only hand applique, and I have to have a pattern and color scheme in mind before I go fabric shopping. Maybe I'm not as avid a quilter as I thouoght I was. Anyway, as far as stashes and scraps go, I still just don't get it. Sorry. (But more power to those of you that do!)

I could not quilt that way! I am a inspiration sewer .. what ever My mood or inspiration hits , I can go with it. If I had to go to the store ... the spirit might/probably would be gone.

For wildyard:

Ditto everything you wrote. Well said!

See? That's one of the differences in people that make the world go 'round! When I go to the store, my spirit/inspiration soars out of sight.

That's what makes this board do great - we're all different, yet we come together under the same umbrella to celebrate those differences. Wouldn't it be awful if we all thought alike?