Originally Posted by Pamela Artman

I have two tall bookcases, each shelf filled with piles of fabric, plus 9 drawers of scraps, a wall shelf of fat quarters, and a tall narrow set of shelves that hold all my tapestry fabrics for purses and totes. I don't buy much fabric anymore because I feel I have a good size stash, but at times, I think there are still spaces in my shelves that could be filled and a couple colors that I could use more of. I've vowed not to outgrow my shelves! Recently, I've started to ask myself when is a stash too big? I have been organizing an older friend's sewing room and sorting and folding her fabric. I've been working at it 3-4 hours every week or two for almost a year. She has soooooo much fabric, boxes and boxes and shelves and shelves and piles and piles - so much you can hardly walk in her sewing room. As I fold fabric and arrange on shelves by color, I start thinking I'm getting close to being done and suddenly there appears more boxes of fabric! I spent the night with her a few months ago and saw even more boxes of fabric in her guest room. I've seen some boxes in her bedroom too, and in the upstairs hallway and a second storage room upstairs. I separate her fabric into yardage, fat quarters and scraps (less than 1/4 yard). So far, I've filled 2 and a half huge boxes with scraps, a box with fat quarters, and two walls of floor to ceiling shelves with folded fabrics. Many of her fabrics are 10 yard pieces. She has many fabrics that are "vintage", thin, or just plain ugly. She is 84 and of course will never use even 1% of her fabric before she dies. And still, she buys more. She has 2 shelves, (8 piles) of white and cream background fabrics, mostly in 10 yard pieces. I just laugh and shake my head sometimes... she is a true hoarder! I look at my stash and ask myself, am I becoming the same way? When is a stash a good size, usable, valuable, and has hopes of being put to use in my lifetime, and when does a stash get too big and wasteful?