2018 Fabric Moratorium
 

Welcome to the 2018 Fabric Moratorium.
We have general guidelines, but please just do whatever makes sense for you. Although we call it the "Fabric Moratorium" the main idea is to not add to our stash and hopefully reduce it!
Here are some general guidelines:
* No fabric purchases "just for your stash" from Jan 1 until U.S. Black Friday (11/23/18).
* When you start a new project, shop your stash first. If you don't have anything that will work, then feel free to make a purchase. Hopefully at least some of the fabric for every new project will come from your existing stash.
As the year progresses, post your updates here. We can support and encourage each other, post tips on how you use your stash, and any planned new projects where you shopped your stash!
Let us know about falling off the wagon, everyone enjoys a great excuse to purchase fabric.
Pictures are always wonderful!
As stated these are just guidelines, there are No Moratorium Police! Please do whatever makes sense for you and your stash. Just start using all that gorgeous fabric in your stash, after all, that's what you bought it for!

Off with a bang, no purchases so far this year. Okay, that's pushing it, but did well last year so going to aim for the same goal this year if not better. Also, secondary goal is to finish all the UFO's I have in my crafts I started cleaning out the sewing room which hold all craft supplies, yarns, aida cloth, floss, etc and am putting all UFO's in a box and that is what I am working on this year. Scary, but I can do this. Good luck to everyone, Happy New Year as well.

Happy New Year may all our purchases be sewn up!

Happy New Year's Day everyone.

I'm in again. This is doable for me. My goal this year is to keep a yardage tab of using stash/scraps verses buying yardage. I know I need to buy backing for this years BHMQ. I have a package of fabric I ordered last week and expect it any day now. Most of it is for a swap and starting a 1-2 years new project. "365 day challenge, project. All of which should not count for this year. Later today I plan to go through my stash and pull out fabric for the Merry Mayhem NYD mystery quilt. It should be starting anytime now. If I do it today, it will be 6 yards plus a border fabric. Then I'm on my way to saving money. :) Like AnngleAnne, I have many UFO's to complete as well. So off I go to work on my projects today.

Thank you for continuing this challenge. My goals are the same as last year - not to buy fabric to add to stash (except maybe birthday exemption), and to use at least 80% of stash fabrics for any quilt. I'd like to say "100%" but there is always that one fabric that I need and don't have the right colour in my stash.

Happy New Year, everyone.

Happy New Year!! It's only 3 above right now in Northern Indiana. My hands about froze while feeding the birds.

I have no fabric on order.......does that count?

I'm joining again this year.
I did good last year and hope to continue shopping the stash.

Oh, I so need to join this. I was really bad last year with a LQS going out of fabric business I bought by the bolt along with yardage. I really want to use some of my stash, but it always seems I get custom orders and I don't have fabric needed. I am thinking real hard about this.

Happy new year everyone. My first dilemma is what should I do with the LQS gift cards I got for Christmas? I guess I'll have to save them for when nothing in my stash will work!

I am continuing the moratorium another year. Today I participated in my first mystery quilt project- pulled totally from my shelves. 6 yards of fabric put to use. Yea! Off to a good start.
Going to try to get some ufos done & not create more too.

I’m in again!

I know I will be buying some fabric to finish the BOM I have been doing through my LQS. I have put enough time and energy in it, while learning lots, to finish it with the coordinating LQS fabrics.

Like Happylab, I want to keep track of how much yardage goes out and comes in. I won’t measure the donated fabric that comes in-only purchased fabric.

Also like PaperPrincess, I do have a fabric store gift card. :)

Happy New Year!

Connie

Of course I'm in again!!
Last year was my first time on the Fabric Moratorium, and I think it Really helped!!
This year, there are several things helping to drive me even more seriously with my "no fabric purchases" goals. I must admit, I "fell off the wagon" yesterday evening, but it was for a consignment quilt, and eventually I will get reimbursed for the purchase, so it doesn't count.

It's a balmy 15 degrees here (LOL). I'm so happy that I have Lots of quilts to put on my bed!! I'm planning to toss one in the backseat of my car, in case of emergency on my way to work tomorrow. From what the Weather Channel is saying, everyone (in the US, anyway) is in for some major chill time this coming week.

Happy New Year, everyone!! May your stash and your UFO piles be greatly reduced this year!! :D

Even though I have only been quilting since spring 2017, I am going to join. I really want to keep control of my stash. As a weaver, I let my yarn stash really get out of hand and I am terrified that it will happen with fabric as well.

A happy, healthy, and productive New Years wish ro all!

Those could also be used if you wanted to get a special new ruler or other useful sewing tool. Perhaps a pattern book you've been really wanting.

That's exactly what I did with my LQS gift card - I bought one of Deb Tucker's rulers (that I was unable to find locally - this was the LQS near my DD in Raleigh). I had 87 cents left over! LOL! And surprisingly, I wasn't really even tempted by the fabric!

There is no way I could do this! But kudos to all of you courageous souls! :)

Oh NZ, you'd be surprised how easy it is once you set your mind to it! FYI, I work in a LQS and only bought one yard of fabric to finish a project during this last week's Year end clearance!

I'm in again this year. A LQS is going out of business for a couple of months. Last week I finally bought some fabric and used a "frequent shopper" card. But that was last year!

Now in the new year.... I'm finishing a UFO from last year and had to shop my stash to find enough fabric for the borders. It's not a special quilt, so the borders will be pieced to use up some small pieces. It's 36" wide now so only want 4" more to be less than the width of fabric-no piecing the back.

Good luck to everyone with their moratorium!

I wasn't signed up for last year's thread, but I did do pretty good on my self-imposed "fabric diet". Other than a roll of W&N and 2-1/2 yards of a solid I really needed, I only fell off the wagon once and bought about 30 FQs that were only 50 cents each. It wasn't too hard, considering I only finished 4 quilts with pieced backings, thanks to my hand not working as well as I would like.

I'm hoping to be a little more productive this coming year. With all of my UFO's and scraps, I'm really don't have any excuse to buy more fabric, with the exception of white/off-white TOTs, which I am seriously low on. Fingers crossed!

I want to participate this year. I need to scale down. I am starting off with a well organized stash. I have weeded out some things that I am sure I won't use. There are lots of places to give away. I have looked over past plans that didn't materialize even after I had purchased the fabrics. I am also making some 'kits' for projects from the stash. I hope that will encourage me to do them. I have some gift certificates that I will use for neutrals that I know I will need to complete a project. I am excited to do this.

Count me in. I'm getting older and have had a couple of health scares so I have to do this.

Nice to know that when every brick and mortar shop closes...no one will notice. ��

sandy

??? I don’t understand your comment.
i would very much miss my LQS if it closed, and when we travel my hubby & I both enjoy visiting shops we’ve never been to before. Some of them are down right magical.

Thinking about your comment...are you referring to our moratorium? Just because we are using our stash doesn’t mean we still won’t support our LQS— the moratorium is to not buy just to stuff our shelves ( add to our stash) we still purchase what we need, we just don’t buy for the sake of buying. :)

I’m in. My stash is actually noticeably smaller than it was 2 years ago even though there have been several drive by fabric drop offs that needed to be added to my stash in the last couple of years. Now when I visit my LQS I go through their remnant bins with a list in my hand that shows what kinds of fabrics I am running low on and that are “staples” that can be used in a variety of projects- these are usually neutrals and lights since my stash still has lots of darks and medium value brights. I like scrappy, so By shopping the remnant bins, I can walk out of my LQS with 10 or more different fabrics and still have added as little as 1 and 1/4 yds to my stash. I still don’t fabric shop only to get fabrics for a specific project since my creative process doesn’t work that way, but I do shop with knowledge of what is currently in my stash and what things I use a lot of that need to be replenished.

Of course, I do fall off the wagon at times...LOL

Rob

I am "in" for 2018. I think I'm off to a good start....I am not even participating in my usual "Saturday Sampler" for the year. I have so many quilts to complete......and so much fabric in my stash......I am determined to join the moratorium. I am ready, willing and able! Good luck to us all......we can do it together!!

I'm in!!!!! Can actually easily close drawers after last years challenge!! Now if I keep it up it will pay for me to fold things nicely and know what I have. Oh the joy of quilting!!!!!!!!

I really should do this!

I'm thinking of following "so scrappy" and her monthly rainbow scrap challenge. This will help get rid of some of those fabrics!

http://superscrappy.blogspot.com/p/rsc18.html

Oksewglad: Thanks for the link to So Scrappy. I was trying to find her link a few weeks ago. I knew what I was looking for but obviously didn’t put in the right words. Lol! I subscribed so I can follow along and do the blocks.

Connie

Connie...I just need to figure out how to approach this challenge...I don't want to willy nilly make up blocks that end up in UFO land...we all know about those projects! How big of fabrics to use is another question. I'm not interested in doing the challenge quilt listed in the link. I'm thinking of making big HST's (6" finished)...I have a chunk of white and gray somewhere...okay now thinking outloud...ugh I have end of the year bookwork to do too.....throwing lots of rain on my quilt parade!

I'll join this year so as to keep my stash appetite in check. I've done pretty well without accountability, but this year my word is "contentment" and I want to be content with less fabric --by actually making more projects from what I have.

I'm going to try to record my inventory as well.

But don't worry; I'm a strong believer in keeping the brick & mortar quilt shops in business. Because of their higher prices, though, I tend to be more intentional about what I buy in my LQS anyway.

I am So weak!! I really don't know if I could do this but my stash is crazy...mostly precuts and FQ's which are my downfall...but I have a lot of yardage (7 whole bolts, too) that I should get into...I just don't. I'm starting a Baltimore album quilt this year and will be shopping on Thursday for the fabric...which will be a lot of yardage (20 yards) and there is nothing in my stash that I can use or have enough of (reproduction fabric). I need to buy all at once to guard against discontinued fabrics since this will likely be a 2-year project. I will join and do my best. I think just making a commitment to shop my stash first will be a huge step...

The fabric moratorium is such a good idea that we started one on another forum in regards to weaving yarn:-) No yarn buying "just because", shop the stash first. Thanks for being such a good influence on me! It will be interesting to see which wagon I fall off of first:D

Would like to join again this year. After several years of participating feel like last year was finally a success! I definitely controlled the "fabric bug" better.

I haven't purchased fabric all year!!!!

Me either!!!!!:D

I am in! I did ok last year better the year before but I really am limited on space and have far more fabric then is really reasonable and I need to be better at sticking to a budget! I know I will need to buy batting and some backing but really I played yesterday and was able to pull fabric in multiple colorways for quilts so what I have is very usable I just need to use it.

I got my 1st box of fabric I bought before the new year. Waiting second box and i’m Done buying for a while. The fabric is so pretty. It’s mostly batiks. I’m going to use the fabric for my 365 challenge I will be working on off and on this year and maybe next.

I’m so glad everyone have been shopping stash 1st before buying. Congrats everyone.

Hi,
I want to participate. My stash is out of controle : + 500 yards of fabrics. I'm a handmade quilter. with a job (35 hours/week). I make one or too quilts for year only.
My resolution : buy no fabrics, no books ou patterns, no notions. Only treath fot pieced or quilting.

Scuse my english, i'm a french girl !