Fabric Moratorium 2024
 

Hi and welcome to another year of focusing on reducing stash in the FabricMoratorium2024 thread!

I'm back to moderate this thread to the best of my ability and in the interest of getting it up and running quickly I'm once again making efficient use of last year's message! :-)

I'm the owner of a not-too-large-but-still-too-large-for-my-storage-space stash and have loved the stash-busting ideas, support, and company on this thread in the past and am looking forward to continuing this journey with you. Everyone is welcome, no matter where you would place yourself on the fabric-collecting spectrum!

The following is heavily borrowed from Iceblossom's intro from 2022 because it covers pretty much everything. :-)

We have general guidelines, but please just do whatever makes sense for you. Although we call it the "FabricMoratorium" the main idea is to avoid adding to our stash and hopefully reducing it, so any efforts in that direction are worth celebrating.

Here are some general guidelines:

• No fabric purchases "just for your stash" from January 1 until U.S. Black Friday (November 29, 2024 - it's late next year!).
• 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 so we can encourage, commiserate with, and support you! Post tips on how you organize and use your stash, ideas and projects you are planning or complete from your stash, as well as your deep thoughts about stash, purchases, and fabric in general. :-)

Also let us know about falling off the wagon, as everyone enjoys a great story about excuses to purchase fabric! Some members have come up with creative exemptions such as trips, birthdays, quilt shows, receiving the Covid vaccine... I'm sure our imaginative followers will think of others.

Pictures are always wonderful!

As stated these are just guidelines; there are no Moratorium Police here! 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!

Here's to a fantastic stash-busting 2024!

i'll have to start over this year. i hadn't bought any fabric for around 3 years. i actually had empty drawers! (yay!!!)
a few weeks visiting my enabler friend in PA and my drawers are stuffed full again. lol?

i console myself with the knowledge that i did - at least - find suitable backing and border fabric for 2 tops that have been languishing on the UFO pile for quite some time.

here's wishing all of us luck this year! :-)

I'm still good with not buying much fabric in the past 5 years. I did though buy some upholstery fabric at the thrift shop to make myself a couple dress jackets. Does that count as it won't be for quilting items?

I usually go shopping in my scrap bins first and then head over to the yardage shelves if I don't have enough. Plus the next 5 projects already have their fabrics pulled from the shelves.

Didn't do much sewing/quilting this past year either but hope to remedy that as I checked the quilt that's been on my frame since last April and though I have it covered, my middle furbaby decided it was the perfect place to take a snooze numerous time from the look of all the hair on it. Even found a couple tiny holes made by her back claws. I have windshied covers over the project to hope to deter my cats from getting up there but I guess it was just too tempting for Tabby to resist, darn her. Maybe she's trying to tell me to get the lead out and finish it.

Anyway, again I don't plan on buying fabric but ocassionally I might pick up a small piece at the thrift store.

I am so going to shop my stash. One sewing machine store gives us one yard of fab per month. Last year I bought neutrals. This year plan to do the same. Breaking my elbow really slowed my ewing so I have no busines buying fab. I don't have a lot of yardage for backings so decided I will sew blocks I like tro make and use those for backings. twodr appointments today and then I can sew.

Glad to have people hopping on the wagon already!

Towards the end of last year my sewing slowed down although I did manage to finish the little purse I'd mentioned in the 2023 Moratorium thread. It's far from perfect (and getting the braid done just about killed me) but it's perfect for what my Mum wanted it for, so that's what counts. It's got a pocket inside and a magnetic closure and I did some matchstick quilting across the top of the purse where it folds over so that it closes on its own. I'm happy with how I was able to adapt different ideas to give her something that will be functional and easy for her to use. :-)

One of the things I love about the fabric moratorium concept is being intentional about taking inspiration from what I already have. While I wasn't sewing much, I did continue to play with fabric on and off and I now have a tote of partially curated stacks of fabric that I think might work well together in a quilt. Of course, playing with the fabric is the easy part and so I also have a tote of quilt tops/flimsies that were the result of previous play sessions and that really should be taken to the next step before I start too many new projects. Finding the right fabric for backing isn't always the easiest when shopping your stash first, but I plan to give it a good try.

Anyway, I'll have to see what happens in this new year but I'm hoping to be a steady presence on the wagon. Looking forward to the ride! :-)

Thanks Gemm for starting this thread.

I stopped by the quilting room at church today. I filled bobbins for the industrial machine, changed the needle, and stitched around a quilt. As I was putting the quilt on a table, 3 donated green fabrics on a different table shouted at me to take them home. 🤷‍♀️. It’s a little over 2 yards total and I will use them to enlarge some green quilts that were given to our group that need to be bigger. Hopefully, I will use most of it without putting it in my stash.

Thanks for starting this year's Moratorium thread. Last year was my first time hopping on board that wagon. There were some bumps along the way and I'm sure more fabric came in my door than went out it. But I'm ready for another year. I finished last year with working on Bonnie Hunter's latest winter mystery. So far all the fabric has come from my stash - and I haven't bought any new fabric since the begining of this new year!!

I am in again. I can't remember for sure how long I have been stash shopping, but it has been since before COVID. I reduced my stash this year by about 120 yards. I don't see a significant difference but the UFO pile is smaller which means I used stash for backs.

I will likely have to jump off the wagon for backing now and again because I have very little yardage big enough for a back. I will still shop stash first. You just never know what may work its way to the top of a bin or pile and be "just the ticket" for a quilt back.

Hint that Works for me: I track how much comes in and goes out of my stash each month. I am motivated by numbers and seeing that "out" number is an encouragement. Some months I break even and other months, I purchase more than what I use from my stash. I don't get crazy with exact inches in and out but I do track. If you chose to track don't forget the backing and and the binding. It all adds up. I also count donation fabric or donated UFOs. Out of my stash is OUT and I count it. ;)

Did pretty well last month, made 30 holiday pillowcases. used a lot of my Christmas fabric. Now will start a string quilt. Lets sew, sew, sew up that fabric.

Thanks Gemm for starting this up!

I moved so much fabric but I did pass on about as much. In the past 10 years I have gone from an entire room full of fabric to a hefty closet full. In some ways it was very helpful to me to see/feel the weight of what I have. I know I will be buying some fabric this year, mostly civil war reprints in colors I don't have so I can use up the browns I do have... I won't really mention the buying in this thread but I should acknowledge it at this point.

Now that I'm out of the big city and spent my year in pre-moving and not-buying and reducing in general, I've largely broken my thrift store fabric shopping addiction.

I will have to reorganize my fabric, towards the end I was filling my sorted half-full tubs with random things. As I go through, I will be putting ideas together but my big goal for this year is to finish/quilt down some of the many tops I also moved with me. I think I do have backs for each of them, some pieced and some the extra large size. There isn't a moratorium on buying long arms :p I will be actively looking for one. Don't think I can afford robotics but will be ok with free motion and a stitch regulator and am thrilled to have enough physical space.

Pillow cases, what a good idea! They eat up stash right before you eyes. I could do that too and donate along with my Project Linus quilts. Duh, why didn't I think of that before. Thanks for the reminder, dmo. Hey, we are Michigan neighbors. Tee-Hee-Hee!

I'm going to hop on board again this year and see if I can do better than last year. I have acquired a sit down longarm and my goal is to finish lots of things waiting to be quilted. I've already finished two of them. I will need to purchase some backing fabrics but that should be all I will need. Here's keeping my fingers crossed I can stick with the plan this year.

I'm joining the challenge with you this year and want to focus on using up the fabric stacked in the closet. The four shelves are packed full of fabric and there is no room to organize other sewing items. There are also bins of pre-cuts to work through. I really want to be a good steward of my stash and make pretty things.

I like the idea of tracking amounts used for quilts and projects each month or year.

I started last year, but fell off the wagon during the summer, and was never able to catch up. The past couple years, I had been in a quilting rut, so to speak. I was still sewing, but it was mostly guild projects or quilt alongs, or following others instructions as my creativity lapsed. Recently, there were a few new additions to the family (none of whom I knew about until they were born), so I did need to purchase fabric for baby quilts. None of it has arrived yet, but as I hit the purchase now button on the 31st, I figure I'm still good for 2024. And I whipped open EQ7 yesterday to finish designing a quilt that I have been thinking about for over two years. It's mostly finished, but as I tend to design on the fly, I can easily start sewing before I know how this one is going to end up. The good part is that I have pulled all of the fabrics, and every one of them is from my stash! Alas, I auditioned so much fabric that I need to do some serious cleaning up before I can actually start sewing!

Hi all. Good to see you again. Thank you, Gemm, for keeping the wagon rolling.
I've brought a rocking chair onto the wagon this year. If I jump up to stretch, you are welcome to jump into it.

Day three and I have not bought any fabric this year!! Woohoo! Shopping my stash. Keeping track of ins and outs on my to do list. I am participating in the Birthday Candy swap so that will be an even in and out. I hope to do a lot more out than in on my Mad Adders participation.

Good luck to all of you on your stash journey!

I'm so far in....I can't turn around in my guest bedroom...aka the place where I store the fabric. I can't have any guests!!

I already declared a personal "no buy January (if you follow TerriblyRadQuilts - she introduced me last year). I also made a list for myself of Projects I already Have the Fabric For....and I filled a full page in my journal.

Already had a moment of Victory this evening. Finished something up on the longarm but I had loaded a very long piece of backing...so there was still space. Found a floral scrappy in the Flimsy closet and a piece of batting that "just* fits. And the whole thing is already loaded and ready to go. It's not exactly the backing I might have chosen, but it will be pretty enough and will make a lovely Project Linus donation.

I’ll hop on. I just started quilting again this summer after ten years of only small-project quilting (table toppers for gifts, stuff like that. Maybe one quilt.)
I started again because I got to looking through my stash and realized just how much I had. So I made each of my two boys a quilt, and I still have lots of yardage and scraps I need to use up before I’ll feel good buying much new fabric. I did some gifts for Christmas - my rule is that each project has to use something out of my stash, even if I do buy some new fabric for it. But I also impulse bought at least two and a half yards of various fabrics that I have no project underway for, so I need to nip that in the Bud or I’ll be back where I started.

i want to make a mystery quilt, I want to experiment with improv quilting, I want to make my dad a quilt. . . Not sure which of those will be my next project.

Yes! This! I'll come back to this in a minute...

I have been a lurker here, following along with all your slips and victories, and I just wanted to say a big thumbs up, high five and congratulations to all of you. It is big, in my world to even try this.

Thank you, Gemm for this...second (and third, etc.) chance to try, try again.

Way back, in the *oh oh so long ago* way back machine, I purchased all the fabric *cough* I would ever need before the prices went up. At that time, a high price was about $6.50/ yd
But, you know....that fabric is SO cute, pretty, perfect for the niece, bff etc.

Back to the "I already declared a personal no buy January..."
I REALLY need to do at least this!

So....I really haven't bought any fabric...for...months now. Pat on the back.

Instead, I have been buying vinyl and cork and faux suede because I like to make bags, coin purses, totes etc.
and, because I have begun wire weaving (love that) I have been buying wire and pliers and beads and...
and, because I enjoy knitting, crochet and other yarn projects, I have been buying yarn.
Does embroidery thread count? DMC and perl cotton? so pretty! and so fun to do some slow stitching in the evenings.

I also love to paint....I did actually sell all my air brushing supplies, but kept the H2O colors & other stuff
and I'm weaning myself from wood working and egg carving
but do you know how fun dyeing fabric is? That is one thing I won't stop doing -buying more dyes, etc.

Is there a moratorium for just...everything?
it's still early days for 2024.
maybe I'll just keep lurking :thumbup: :)

Wow - such a great group of people on the wagon already - this is going to be a fun trip!

Of course, someone has to be the first to fall off the wagon and so, out of the goodness of my heart (and if you believe that I have a beautiful bridge I could sell you, too... :-P) I have to admit to a brief tumble yesterday. Sigh.

It was one of those "straw that breaks the camel's back" days - just lots of little things going wrong and making the day more difficult than it should have been, and when the fifth or sixth of those things happened I was just down the road from a thrift store I haven't been to in a while and so I went in for some hopeful retail therapy - ostensibly to see if they had any thread - and I walked out with two small baggies of scraps I don't need. Total cost: $3.20 including tax, so not the end of the world, but I'm still feeling a bit frustrated with myself.

Today I have managed to clamber back on the wagon with little injured save my pride, and I'm happy to say I'm ready to resume the journey!!! Tally ho!

Gemm - no you didn't need. But you did NEED. Here's the assignment. Make those scraps into some kind of block asap. It's only 2 small bags so ... 9 patch? Wonky stars? HI? (I hate crumb blocks so I'll never suggest - but you do you). Somehow a block of some kind feels more productive than just kicking yourself for falling off.the wagon

Thanks for clarifying the "need", Rff - you're absolutely right!

I've already put the larger pieces through the wash and have a stack of weird orphan blocks I'd never use that I will pick apart (I actually enjoy this task in small chunks like this will be) and those pieces will go to my colour boxes. I'm actually quite pleased by what I have discovered, including about 1/4 yard of neutral fabrics which are always in short supply here.

What is the "HI" you suggested?

HI blocks are a 9 patch- 2 long bars of color A across top and bottom, a square of color A in the middle and 2 contrasting on either side. Shapes a little like an H or an I (90 degrees rotation). Just a fun little scrap block.

If you like unlocking seams...go and have your Bliss!

As for me - I declare this weekend to be "A Festival of Binding". I have 3 to do - all in a blue palette. So I'm cutting what I got to finish these off. 2 charity and 1 for ME. This weekend is our first snowstorm so - it's hot chocolate, black n white movie and sewing weather

Started my first "new" quilt for the year. Just a simple checkerboard alternating color and white. I am doing color ways, so will end up with a rainbow quilt of some sort. Using my 2.5s collection and scraps of white. Easy, peasy and will delete scrap white/white pieces that are too small for other purposes. I will be checking the stash for backing in a week or two. Likely will be frankenbatting to diminish batting stack too!

By the way, and this may be too late for many of you, but I used some of those long, narrow pieces of batting to wrap around fragile Christmas decorations before I packed them away for the year. Also, cut some batting scraps into small pieces to put in my ornament boxes, you know those sturdy boxes with dividers for individual glass balls you find that this time of year. The individual compartments are often too large and the ornaments rattle around. But not any more. :) Repurposed batting that would otherwise go in the trash.

WMUTeach - great suggestions. I always end up with batting that just a bit too small to do anything with. Never thought to use it to protect anything fragile.

I live close to a "make your own ceramics" place and they are constantly shipping fired pieces to tourists back home. I give them my narrow trimming.

There is always more than I can use!

great idea

I’m glad I found this years thread after I went on a fabric shopping spree. I bought fabric to make a new king size quilt I hope to have completed by summer or Christmas at the latest. I’m hoping it looks okay. I will start it next month. So I will jump on the wagon again this year at zero in and zero out.

I've lost my 1\4 piecing foot. How do you lose such an essential part of your sewing kit I don't know... maybe I'm special. So I went to JoAnns yesterday to get a new one....and spotted the beautiful little winter FQ bundle of batik. Immediately started drooling. Picked it up and couldn't see the price. Looking around...and realized I have *plenty* of fabric and don't need more. Walked out without buying anything. (Didn't see the foot either)

Stay strong my friends!

Good job, Rff1010, at using your power of resistance to the lure of a a batik bundle. Bask in all the fabric you have at your finger tips in your stash that is already paid for and waiting to be put to use in a new quilt. Fingers crossed that you can find the 1/4" foot. Mr. Google can always lend a hand. ;)

It's a real challenge for me to get to any fabric store, as the closest is more than an hour away. But I had to take a road trip the other day and found myself near a JoAnn's. One of my dogs sleeps on a simple pillow filled with shredded foam, and it needs to be replaced every couple of years. As I didn't have any suitable fabric (I usually use a heavy twill or home dec fabric), I picked up enough for a couple more rounds. OK, so I had to look around while I was there, right! Found Warm and Natural batting for 40% off, and since I'm down to enough for maybe two more quilts, some jumped into my cart. For some reason, that seemed to satisfy my itch, and I drove right past the LQS on my way home.

So, temptation averted, at least for now.

Yesterday I had some time, so I made myself a set of microwave bowl cozies out of stash fabric (some of it was recently-acquired stash fabric, but still). When I had them all cut out I realized that I had enough of the special all- cotton batting left that I could make two more if I made Franken-batting, so I made two more for my husband’s grandmother out of fabric that is to her taste but not mine (so yay! A little bit of that fabric out of my stash!). I estimate that I used up something like 2/3 of a yard of fabric. I’m having a hard time picking my next stash project, though. Too many options.

Rff1010: Have you found your 1/4” foot yet?

woodland creature: You got a good deal on your batting.

Butterflyblue: Great use of your stash.

I like the idea of using batting scraps as a cushion for breakables.

I stopped at church to drop off a roll of batting. Since I had time, I trimmed and turned a quilt, sorted through a donation, organized the quilt tops by main color, and sorted through a tub of fabric. Of course, fabric followed me home-a large, stuffed tote bag full! However, most of it will be given to another organization for diaper bags but some will end in my stash. 😢. I keep track of purchased fabric and fabric out but I don’t record fabric brought home from donations.

Wow - so much willpower and strength to start out the year - thanks for the inspiration, all!

I'm still holding strong to my seat on the wagon but am also not able to get into the sewing room right now so the stash is staying at current levels for now. Soon, I hope! :-)

Nah, still no idea where it is. Broke down and put in an Amazon order with a bunch of other stuff.

Current challenge (and grouchy) is I have 3 quilts that need binding. My main machine is at the spa because the dual feed food (walking foot - built in) wasn't working. My backup/travel machine isnt powerful enough. I was getting nesting and bad tension. Part is backordered so who knows when main machine will come back??

So I pulled out a UFO, changed my mind about the backing, made some frankenbatting. And loaded up the longarm. It's a little project 30x41 but I'm much happier with the backing now. Used stash for everything!

​​​​​ Weirdly looking forward to the scraps from the backing. I cut a lot of scraps into 2.5 strips and that location is getting pretty full. Thinking about a JellyRoll Jam quilt.

So even tho I'm adding to the "need to be bound" pile I'm making progress with my UFOs. Using stash. Being productive . And the plan is to do more work on Bonnie Hunter project and move that forward once my new foot arrives.

Stay out of the bars and off the streets my friends.
(Thanks for listening to my rambling)

This sounds like a challenge, I'll try to not to acquire any more fabric this year. Lucky me for joining today and not yesterday because some fabric jumped into my arms and went home with me. Just three pieces for a QOV.

You guys are so entertaining! Love your stories!
Got room for one more? I don't consider my stash huge, but I am running out of storage space. Plus a pile of washed new fabric that needs to be folded and put on magazine boards. My fabrics are pretty, but my quilt designing abilities have improved beyond simple strips. Plus, I can't keep up with ideas that I want to try. Since I'm working on about 5 quilts/designs at the moment, I can't imagine needing (ha ha...needing) more fabric.
I am loving adding to stencil stash, though, to use with new sit down long arm. I'd rather purchase what I want, but I've made 2 by myself. I have about 7, and am now wondering how to store these!

Aashley333, here is where I have mine stored on the end of a dresser. My old kilt pin fits the holes perfectly, and the S hook helps keep it flat against the dresser. I used to have them on a huge ring, but it was too awkward in my room.

aashley, I use a pants hanger to store my stencils and they hang in my closet.

Oh, goodness two ingenious ways to store stencils. Mine are in one of those under the bed bins. It works fine, but I like your ideas better.

I use the pants/skirt hangers for hanging UFO's: flimsy, batting and backing all in one place. Sometimes I will cut the binding too and just loop it around the hanger hook. So nice to have everything ready to go when the mood hits to finish a UFO.

Still no purchases for 2024! But it is only the 10th Tee-Hee-Hee!

What a great conversation - having an effective way to store fabric, notions and accessories can make stash busting easier. I put my UFOs together with backing/binding as well, but have them in totes. Easy to forget to finish them when you can't see them! All of my fabric is also stashed away in boxes, so any time I want to go through stash, I make a mess. I love the What Are We Organizing Today thread for general ideas like this, but does anyone else have great tips that help you to know what's in your stash and to use it up?