Wednesday, April 11, 2018

My Fabric Diet

I know I’ve said it in the past, but it’s time I get serious about shedding some weight from my fabric stash. It’s not about the expense or the storage—although either would be good reason to trim my hoard—it’s how all that fabric, already purchased and waiting to be used, affects my creativity.

More and more, I find myself choosing projects or assembling fabric pulls to use up the fabric I have. It’s hard to justify buying the fabric I want to use for a particular project when I already have enough on hand to make many (many) quilts. (I discuss this briefly in my interview for the Creativity Project.) There are even times I think that I quilt to support my fabric-buying habit. I think it should be the other way around.

If my situation resonates with you, can I suggest ways to trim down the fabric you already have and prevent yourself from buying more?

1. Get rid of what you know you won’t use. There’s something helpful and productive about purging what you no longer love or what’s no longer your style. That subpar fabric can affect how you see all the other good and usable stuff in your stash. Any castoffs can be offered to friends, donated to charity, or put up on Instagram or Facebook and sent to a new home. This past February, I gave some of my unwanted fabric to my guild’s annual yard sale. (I wrote about last year’s sale here.)

2. Start with your stash when planning a project. It’s easy to home in on a new quilt design and immediately think that a trip to the quilt shop is in order. When I start playing around with my stash, though, I’m amazed by the potential. Sure, I may need to augment a fabric pull with a new solid or two, but the bulk of many quilt tops can be found in my stash. Precuts and bundles are especially easy to use up—they’re made to coordinate and require fewer new purchases.

I've started this Modern Medallion quilt, by Lynne Goldsworthy, with precuts
from my stash.

3. Buy what you need when you need it. When embarking on a new project, only buy what that project requires after you’ve confirmed that you don’t have a suitable substitute in your stash. I prefer to buy local when possible so I don’t have to order minimum cuts—which are sometimes a full yard!—from an online retailer. Some more advice on this front: Don’t buy too far in advance. If you’re like me, your to-do list will likely change and you’ll find yourself with fabric cuts you no longer need. Also, be wary of free shipping deals online. Sometimes, it’s better to pay five bucks shipping than add unneeded fabric to your shopping cart just to avoid shipping charges.

4. Identify your weakness(es). How are you likely to blow this fabric diet? Are you a social fabric buyer, someone who heads out with friends for some fabric shopping and lunch on a Saturday morning? Then invite your friends to your house to sew instead. Do you find yourself perusing #thegreatfabricdestash posts on Instagram or getting sucked into browsing fabric sales online? Then unfollow the necessary people or shops, and unsubscribe to retailers’ email lists. (All of these will welcome you back when you’re ready, I promise!)

Fabric on sale—especially if it’s by Denyse Schmidt, Amy Butler, or Anna Maria
Horner—is one of my weaknesses!

5. Give yourself some wiggle room. It’s hard to be good all the time. Decide on some healthy parameters for shopping at fabric stores. If you’re going on a quilt retreat and fabric shopping is on the agenda, determine up front how much you’ll spend shopping. If you’re dieting for a nonfinancial reason, try splurging on something other than fabric, like a fabric-cutting machine, quilting services, or high-quality thread.

A few months ago, I went fabric shopping with my mom and sister. It may have been the first time we did that (admittedly, my mom and I shopped, and my sister spent the time on her phone, researching Sesame Street Live!). I decided before we entered a store that I could buy a backing or two for some projects on the horizon. I scored Amy Butler fabric and Anna Maria Horner fabric for $3 a yard and used one of the cuts, pictured below, immediately. I got to have fun with my family and enjoy the thrill of some good fabric scores!

I bought this floral print from Anna Maria Horner when shopping
with my mom and sister. I paid $3 a yard!

Does the size of your stash affect you? Is it time to start a fabric diet? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to cheer you on!

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17 comments:

  1. I love these tips. I've been using what I have and buying as I go for some time now. My stash is almost down to where I want it to be--and my Stash Bee commitment is also helping with that =) . Thanks!

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  2. This post is a great reminder for me - thanks!

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  3. Great tips! This year, I've been really good about trimming my stash (even my AMH goodies). So much is not my style anymore, and honestly, I hardly remember what I gave away or sold. It's a great thing.

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  4. Only when I trip over something... :D I need to get serious about organization, so I can find what I have, and focus! I get so distracted by a new idea, or an old one I found when the pile tumbled off the ironing board. Anything I run across that doesn't work for me goes to my grandmother to turn into dresses for charity. But seriously, organization is my downfall. Sometimes literally. :D

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  5. I've been trying to use stash first for projects and trying to make it a challenge to see how much I can eke things out from my stash has been awesome. I've seen what I truly use, and it's helped me identify some fabrics that I can get rid of. It's also pushing me to be more creative about how I see certain fabrics. (But it's hard! There are some things I REALLY want to buy right now, and I know full well I want to buy them JUST to own them, not because I have any projects ready, haha.) Good on you for finding what works for you.

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  6. You are so right. I actually regularly destash so I only have good stuff I will use in my stash at any time, though it was easier to get rid of when I lived in the UK compared to now in Canada. Also I find there are fewer destash buyers out there. I think we are getting to the point of fabric fatigue. I think I read somewhere - maybe on Cheryl Arkison's blog that we have got to saturation point. We have these huge stashes, so big we will never use it all, so we are shopping less, and that's why book publishers and Freespirit fabrics and some of the shops are going out of business now. Ebb and flow.

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  7. Great tips, I am also on a fabric diet right now. My goal for the year is to end it with less fabric than I started with. Right now my two bookshelves for fabric are full and I want some room in them by December :)

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  8. I definitely reached this point a few years ago and still feel like I could downsize more. I think less is more when it comes to my stash and creativity, too. Great tips!

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  9. For the record, Sesame Street Live! rocked! Glad the cool pink fabric came in handy!

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  10. I am using up some of my stash to make Quilts of Valor. I have already created 15 quilts so far this year and a couple more are near completion. And, it is very gratifying to tell our Veterans how much we appreciate their service. My group has already awarded 104 quilts so far this year (in less than 4 months!!!

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  11. At $3 a yard I can see the temptation! I can’t speak for all UK quilters but the cost of fabric is so much higher here that it certainly restrains me. It’s ironic that maybe, as Penny suggests above, that the very accessibility of fabric in the US, is leading to less fabric being bought because so much has already been bought and is still waiting to be used!!

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  12. I definitely need to go on a diet!!! But I first need to get my stash in order. A sale always gets me.....as I've visited my LQS twice today because they were having 34% off for their 34th birthday. LOL

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  13. Another great post! I am truly uncomfortable with my fabric collection. I look at it and think I will never be able to sew all this up! And for a person that does not like "stuff" it is a little stressful to see all this fabric just sitting around! I have three large bed quilts on the to-do list this year and I am going to pick patterns that will hopefully require very little shopping to complete! I may need to just give some away!!

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  14. I have found that now I have very limited free time, I buy less fabric. Could that be a trick: keep yourself crazy busy? Unfortunately, I also have less time to sew. :(

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  15. Good info here. I have been trying to use up my stash...mostly FQ and not lots of yardage. That is a challenge, but I am getting lots of scrappy items done! Win-win!

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  16. These are all great tips. I absolutely agree with you about an overwhelming stash getting in the way of your creativity. More and more, I'm feeling that way and need to purge some of what I have.

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  17. Some great tips here, I think we could all do with some helping dealing with our fabric addictions! :)

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