2020 Fabric Moratorium
 

Welcome to the 2020 Fabric Moratorium! A new decade to focus on using stash rather than adding to it.
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 (11/27/20).
* Whenyou 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. Some members have come up with creative exemptions: ie travel, birthdays, quilt shows...I'm sure our imaginative followers will think of others. I think I'll add Moving, as I'm getting my house ready to sell & will relocate to a smaller town in a more rural area of Texas.
Pictures of your new purchases and/or how you've used stash 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!

Well this train is not leaving without me! I have a great deal of fabric...all pretty of course. Now to use it up. My overall plan is teach my Grands how to sew and that solves my problem! GD is playing with some solids from stash to coordinate with her FourPatch Posy and younger one has found solids to use in a fabric rendition of a painting she made last year. What fun to watch them explore color and design!

I am, of course, back in.

Still Downsizing
 

I'm in again. Made a lot of progress last year. Love the encouragment. The accountability makes a difference in my success.

I'm almost relieved to have this 'excuse' to stop buying fabric! I'm still a newbie and have been doing more research than sewing. I have built a decent UFO stack, though. What with sales, coupons, freebie tables and gifts I have more fabric than I could ever use. Some I like, some I don't, and some is still to be determined. I want to lay out the UFOs and make a list - some may go by the wayside as I've learned enough to know they are not salvageable - one in particular is made with junk fabric; it's cute fabric but not worth the time & effort as it would likely fall apart. I look forward to finishing something, anything. I do need to purchase some solids - I have been avoiding them as I have been enamored by prints & blenders. Now I see I do need some; especially for sashing, HST's and background. Tried to beat the clock today and get some ordered but felt too pressured and confused by the different fabrics, prices & websites. So, I have claimed a rain check for some solids. If you have any helpful thoughts, please see the thread in the Main Forum: Solids - What & Where to buy? See you in the new year!

MADE IT BY THE SKIN OF THE CLOCK! I know, mixed metaphors, but hey, it's how my mind works. I got quick and helpful answers to my question about what and where to buy solids so, just past midnight, I pushed the Place order button at fabric.com and can now begin the new year with a clear path toward not buying fabric for my stash! I hope your New Year will be a bright as I'm expecting mine to be. :-)

I just moved my stash - over 50 boxes of fabric and I didn't count how many totes! I'm retiring in 9 years and told my husband I want to use up at least half of it before then. I've had it tucked into so many places, I didn't realize just how much there was.

I’m in! Just before Christmas I started organizing and consolidated my fabric (mostly fat quarters) in shallow bins neatly folded and quasi sorted by color, but definitely sorted by Batiks and Regular quilting cottons. I’m 1/3 of the way through my organization and hope to be done by the end of January. I’ve been doing this between Frolic Mystery and this mystery was actually my wake up call regarding my fabric stash and just how much I really have and how much I need to stop buying fabric. I hope with everything neatly organized by color I can now just open the bins and pick from there. Before everything was bundled as I purchased it and either in a tote or in a cabinet. I’m becoming best friends with my iron that’s for sure! I’ve got 12 done now and I will probably need another 12 .......

I am in again! I think I have done pretty good in 2019. I made only a few purchases that could not be overlooked. I am all about using my stash and trying to get it moving downward in size.
At this point I am seeing a bit of empty spaces on the shelves and hope to see more. My scrap baskets have become fuller and several scrap quilts were made in 2019. The goal is to do the same for 2020! Looking forward to the 2020 Fabric Moratorium .

I'm in again. I did very well last year, what little I bought was used almost immediately in specific projects. I still have two pieces of fabric from the Walmart $1 sale. I have plans for one...

I'm still allowing myself to buy thrift store fabric but I'm becoming more mindful and buying less and less. The moratorium has been good for me on that and for examining my inner desires for buying. I stop and ask can I actually see myself using this particular piece of fabric (not adding it to a collection or whatever) within the next 5 years. I'm surprised how often I tell myself no!

This year I'm going to try and be using my Civil War style fabrics. I was never that thrilled with them myself, but I did a lot of swapping and so I got quite a number of 10" squares to use. I have one top planned, and another one almost there. For those joining us this year, when I talk about collections of swapped fabrics, they have been waiting to be used for 20 years! Most of my swapping days were right around Y2K.

I also have more of the metallics to use up. Goal is that whatever I've done or not done, by the end of the year what remains of the metallic stash will be used or given away.

I have a couple of projects kitted up and ready to go. I say it here because I'm trying to hold myself accountable, but girl -- you gotta work on that paper piecing this year. It's not going to hurt if you just sit down and do it. Once I get those blocks done, the rest of the top (and a slightly pieced back) will go together with fun and ease and then an entire box of stuff will be free to purge.

I'm ready for the journey. Each year I have done better and better but I still need to keep myself mindful to use stash. This year I I'm going to keep track of fabric in and out instead of having only a vague idea of the two. This way I will have more accountability with myself.

Happy New Year! It is already past midnight here. Yesterday I did my last fabric shopping for a long time. It was mostly for fabrics for ongoing/planned projects, but since I went to thrift stops, I knew I would not resist buying something for stash. So I rushed to do my shopping still in the old year, before the onset of this year's Moratorium.

Through 2019 year I managed to make a significant dent in my stash. Only once fell off the wagon, and that was only 1 piece of fabric, and discounted nontheless. Even with that shopping I finished the year with less fabric than I had 12 months ago. I learned to shop my stash first when in need of fabric.

I hope that in 2020 we will turn more and more stash into quilts. Best wishes for you all!

Since I'm planning to move, I havent bought fabric to add to my packing woes. However, I was twice gifted fabric in December. I've spent the last few days quilting the tee shirt quilt & piecing some red & pink squares into a top. I have a quilt I finished in June, except for binding, waiting its turn under the needle. I'm trying to get things completed before I move!

While white , black and grey will make good solids for what you’ve named, I would recommend you shop for any color as you need it , or else you’re still buying for an unspecified project.

Here’s my ticket for the wagon ride! I did very well this year using stash and avoiding impulse buying. I had one fall off the wagon but it wasn’t terrible. My biggest weakness is when I’m online shopping and the incentive for free shipping if I spend at least X amount—which is always more than I was planning to spend and for unspecified projects.

The accountability has really helped. Planning to keep being content with what I have and motivated to leave quilts, not stacks of fabric, to those I love.

I’m in again this year. Looking forward to using up even more of my stash!

I am so in again. I did okay last year. Better then a prior year that I tried. But, I am hopping back aboard this train ride. I think the wagon was a bit bumpy for my taste. I used to love train rides. You all inspire me to keep trying. I know I can't keep track of the yardage by yards so I will track it by finished quilt tops and finished UFO's. I also will keep a running list of what actually comes in. Maybe that will show me more of my buying habits. And, hold me accountable for the money I'm spending.

I did splurge on some fabrics around Thanksgiving. But am working feverishly to get it made into a quilt top. It's not going to make for this year, 2019. I still have 2 blocks left to go. And, I'm still debating on the sashing color. I'm just can't see the project finished yet. It is the 2nd quilt made with the same pattern. And, it's growing organically. I incorporated a fat quarter that I've had for years. I was able to get a bit of it into 6 different blocks. (gasp, It was actually in the donate bin. I loved the print. So, I decided to just use it up.)

I'm in also. Today I finished up 2 tops made from scraps and one was 2 layer cakes that have been languishing waiting for the right project. I found fabric in the stash for backings, so in total I used up 21 1/2 yards, not a bad start for the new year.

I'm back on board this year. Last year was a great success and a real shift in my thinking. I'm blaming Conchalea for my thunking fall off the wagon recently because she explained that the Moratorium only went to Black Friday, LOL. I joined a BOM and bought two kits from Bluprint during their sale. Back to moratorium mode thinking now! I have about 55 stash quilts kitted up and as soon as I finish an En Provence I've been working on forever I intend to have fun completing those tops.

I'm in on both fabric and pattern moratorium.. I did well with fabric in 2019 but blew it with the patterns. Ugh! Happy New Years!

This probably should go into 2019, but I want to celebrate to bring in the new year.

So from 12/10 to 12/31/2019 I had none in and 72 yds out!!!!!!!!!!
So for January my goal is none in and 100 yds out!.

Petthefabric, that's awesome! And the 55 kitted quilts of Joe'smom also sounds impressive.

About the Black Friday-New Year period: shouldn't we consider it a time when the wagon stops and we are allowed to get off it rather than consider the stash shopping "falling off"?

I have a bunch of fabric kitted up too, will have to count how many. I also found some projects that need to be completed for one reason or another. The backings will come from the stash. I am looking forward to keeping track of fabric in and fabric out. I must be especially good for the next couple months because in April I am going on a bus trip with 50 like-minded women to Paducah and to Hamilton, Missouri with several stops between to check out fabric shops around the country. I am hoping there will be some exemption for such trips. Like, I never go anywhere all year so I should have fun on this trip. Or, the bus makes stops, and I need to get some exercise walking around stores. Or, maybe, the credit card is having withdrawal symptoms.

I don’t have a large stash by any means but having spent a couple of day after Christmas re-organizing and cleaning my sewing room I realize I have fabric that I’m tired of looking at so I have decided to participate in the moratorium this year. My goal is to make more charity quilts this year and some scrappy projects to use up existing fabric. I also have a handful of children’s panels that would be fast and easy to do for Project Linus. So rather than being a lurker this year, count me in.

In again Looking for all new ideas

I have been on a semi-use only my stash for several years. This year, I intend to use only what I have period. Might end up with weird quilts, but I am all in.

Speaking of wierd quilts... I had a batik jelly roll,actually one of many, that I wanted to use, so i decided to make a Jelly Roll Drag Race, AKA Donna Jordan. I poked around and finally found a yardage piece of a dark batik to put the diamonds in. I got it finished and thought it was rather nice looking. Well, my friend, who binds a lot of my quilts for me, was showing it to her friends, and it was voted "The Ugliest Quilt they had ever seen". I figure it will make a wonderful quilt for someone who just needs a hug, and doesn't care who or what the hug comes from.

Joe's mom, as leader I'll accept blame for your fall! I'm awed by your count of 55 kitted quilts. I don't have enough fabric in my house for that many quilts!
Pet, you really turned out the quilts this year. I bow to your dedication to our artform.
To all who are rejoining, or hopping aboard for the first time, welcome! Use the fabric that's stashed away so people can enjoy the lovely quilts made from our wonderful collections.

You are correct, in that the 'rules' state the moratorium only lasts until the 4th Thursday of November. In my mind, the main purpose of this thread is to make us more mindful of what & how much we buy. In my case, I bought exactly what was needed for the backing to a 2nd tee shirt quilt, when I could have added another 1/2 yard & then bought the bolt's remainder at a deep discount. I had no plans for that extra & I would only have to move it to my new house in a few weeks, so I resisted. That's the benefit of the moratorium to me. Only buy what I need so my stash doesn't grow out of control. I'm moving to a smaller house, so I can't afford the space a big stash will use.

Teen..your pattern buying can be classified as quilt planning as you slowed sewing time for moving time!
Way to Go, pet! You inspire me!
I like the ideas of kitting up fabric, too grann.
Onward to using it up!

Well, one of 2 things happens to me, I find fabric or a precut and then forget what pattern I was going to use, or I find a pattern i like and then forget what fabric I was going to use. So now this way when the fancy strikes me for a certain pattern or fabric, I quick kit it up and put the pattern with it in an artbin so it is all ready for the time to use it all up.

I have 5 of last year's quilts all trimmed and ready for binding. I want to get all the "old stuff" out of the way so I can begin anew.

I'm in again. I only bought fabric twice that wasn't for immediate use. I have used half of one purchase and know what I'm doing with the other half, plus with the other purchase, though I am a little leery of the cutting in a bargello. How do you keep the fabric perfectly lined up so the strips don't have jogs?
I stayed on the moratorium after Black Friday. I don't need anything. I don't count the fabric for 16 pillowcases as it was in and out. Enjoy your stash, everyone.

I really need to get in on this. Last year I bought a ton of fabric. I keep blaming it on my baby granddaughter lol
I had my sewing room in good shape until I started the Bonnie Hunter mystery- yikes what a mess I've made!
But....... I didn't buy any fabric for it.
Good luck to everyone (me included).

I'm in again. And this year I hope to do better, even though I used more than I purchased, I still over-purchased. I really like the idea of kitting up quilts for future work. Since I make prayer quilts, I think I will kit up 20 to get started on the right path. I purchased a large bundle of blenders so will make up several from those. I'm also going to pre-sew backings as I tend to put off doing the actual quilting because I don't have enough backs made up.

I am going to try this this year. I hope to use my stash as much as possible. I have to get organized !

I'm a big fan of kitting up future quilts projects, too. Since I joined the moratorium early in my quilting career, it has helped immensely from getting out of control. Most of us sort our stash by color...I like to read Pat Sloan's blog and the ideas she shares about how she manages her stash. One thing she does is monitor the different colors and when one gets a bit big or outgrows her bin, she just makes a quilt with that color. I decided to try that with my green stash and made all my siblings a pet quilt. I think it was about 10 yards including backings. Very satisfying and quick projects that were well loved... Woof woof...:p

I'm in again.

Conchalea: "Just start using all that gorgeous fabric in your stash, after all, that's what you bought it for!)"
I chuckled at this statement in the Fabric Moratorium 'rules' because most of my fabric was purchased by other people and then donated to my church or baby bundle groups or directly to me-some yardages, fat quarters but mostly smaller strips. I still want to use it up though. LOL!

Thanks for hosting again this year.

I'm in again. This has helped me so much. I don't post a lot but I do read and enjoy what ya all are doing with your stash. I did not buy any fabric last year! And I finished several quilts and used what I had. I find that and incredible accomplishment!

Thanks for starting a new thread Conchalea.

I'm not fessing up or anything. But, I do have a confession of sorts. I purchased 2 yards of royal blue to finish the sashing on a quilt. And, it looked like I bought a yard too much. I decided to use the remainder yard for the binding. So, no yardage will be added to stash. I didn't feel "blue" buying it. It was a solid and I didn't have anything even close to matching it in stash. I can't even remember why I bought it in the first place. So, not only did I finish the purchased blue solid I also used up 4 yards of the same color in the same quilt in both quilt blocks and sashing. I did start a list of purchased yardage for the year. I just need to add on the last blue sparkle border and whip up the backing. On this one, I am going to pull from stash. Hope my DS doesn't mind flowers too much. Too bad, so sad, he doesn't have to look at the back. I really really want to use up this gray I bought. It's giant gray chrysthmums. But, an allover pattern.

Well, I wasn't so good today. My quilty friend and her DH came for a visit. He had knee replacement the beginning of Dec, and was excited to get out of the house. So they took me out to our LQS and sewing machine store. I put some more money down on the trip we are taking in April. And I went into the fabric store to use my year old gift card from my DD. I finished up the bolt of black Moda Marbles, 8 1/2 yards, and also 4 yards of off white Grunge, and 4 yards of ivory miniature gatherings. They will all get used for backgrounds and sashings in future quilts. And this morning I was REAL bad, got an email from Craft Town Fabrics with 30% off Susannah's Scraps. i have a pack of FQs and i think a JR or layer cake of it. But I will need yardage to complete the quilt. The pattern is called Oh! Susanna's Stars. So 30% off is better then full price, in my opinion. I am excited to do that one, as well, as the many others lined up. Now no more shopping till the trip, and I will make sure I am mindful of what I get.

Count me in - When I first bought my machine...it included a stash. I probably have 100 pieces of 15" WOF. plus additional yardage that I have purchased and I simply have a hard time resisting the $1 fat quarter sales. I have enough projects "kitted" for an entire year quilting so this will be the added incentive to ...

2 exceptions I am making right now: backings (although I am going to try more scrappy use-up strategies) and Marden's in Maine. (Mainiacs know what I am talking about...non-Mainiacs are just going to have to imagine an old Wal-Mart with the entire back wall full of *quality* name brand fabric sometimes as low as $1/yard)

I think I'm going to try Bonnie Hunter's Daybreak https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFBOYKNY2bc as a scrap buster. Has anyone done this?