When does unused fabric become "old"?
 

Many of the fabrics that I have - have been in my stash between ten and thirty years.

Some of these fabrics are still unwashed (yes, gasp - unwashed!)

I still consider everything that has never been cut into or made into anything "new" -

When do you consider your fabric to be "old" ?

For me - old fabric is fabric that has become unusable for some reason - it will tear easily, has gotten musty or moldy, or has become faded in spots.

I do not seem to consider the actual time that it has been around in my thinking of it as "old" or not.

For me - old fabric is fabric that has become unusable for some reason - it will tear easily, has gotten musty or moldy, or has become faded in spots.

I do not seem to consider the actual time that it has been around in my thinking of it as "old" or not.[/QUOTE] I agree

I consider fabric to be old when I no longer like it and know that I will not ever use it in a quilt.

I don't mind old, but faulty bothers me.

I consider my large collections of calicos to be old. I bought them in the 80s when I had a great discount working part time for House of Fabrics. Just bought too much !!

Wow....I have some from so-fro fabrics....closed a loooong time ago too. All calicoes, and recently I have seen a revival of those "oldies"..... So they are still new to me!

Whatever I consider old and I don't like it, I wash again since all my fabric has been prewashed, I make into pet blankets or cut up into scraps for pet beds. If I see mold or smell mildew, I hose it down outside as the washer is filling up with soapy bleachy water or soapy vinegar. Then use it to make pet beds for the shelters. I also use a double rinse cycle. I have a rack I can use outside and hang some of the fabric to dry. Give it a quick press, sew them up and off to the pet shelter.

"Old" to me means that it is good unless it is:
-out of style (my taste)
-faded to an undesirable color
-becoming thread bare (I would always pre-wash older fabric b/c it may not have been made with anti-bleed dyes)
-breaking apart
-damaged

Barring those, I'd happily use any fabric that I knew was good quality when I bought it.

I have "old" fabric altho usable. A friend of mine and I took a class. She finished hers..I didn't. Fast forward 30 years. I decided to finally finish the quilt. I already had the batting and backing pinned. I had someone LA quilt it...I wanted to use fabric from my stash for binding. I came upon the EXACT same color purple as in my quilt top. Is this fabric from 30 years ago???? Maybe?? I made the binding from this and completed it. SSSooo, unless it's ragged or torn I will try to use it for something.......eventually:)