Stashbusting takes two forms: First, sew up what you have. Second, don't buy more fabric.
Not only have I not participated in or paid attention to the Stashbusting Sew Along since June, I haven't sewn much since then either. Nothing much has happened with this pile of fabric. I've got a skirt cut out and the darts pinned... and that's as far as I've gotten. So, no points for me.
Also, I've added all this to the fabric pile:
On the left, that's a blue chambray for me for a shirtdress, two shirts for Ian and a pair of pants for Caitlyn. On the left, that's three long sleeved shirts for Ian. There are two printed knits at the bottom (green and purple) for shirts for Caitlyn and me. You'd think I had time on my hands or something.
(Actually, I have a theory: I plan more projects and buy more supplies for them when I'm overwhelmed with other things to do. I suspect that when I don't make the time to be creative or to keep sewing, I compensate by coming up with more projects. It's like I unconsciously figure I don't have sewing projects or I'd be doing them, so clearly it's time to come up with more. The sensible thing to do would be to shed the commitments that are eating my time and keeping my from sewing rather than buying more fabric, but I don't think I've ever claimed to be sensible when it came to fabric.)
I haven't limited myself to garment fabric either. This spectrum of batiks has been calling to me ever since I started working at Stash.
And I've justified this pile of fat quarters by looking at my current fabric collection and figuring these will fill in "holes" that I'll discover as I continue making blocks for Sew.Quilt.Give.
This pile is all half-yards of Painted Summer from In the Beginning. I'm thinking about a Trip Around the World quilt (maybe scrappy? maybe standard?) from this collection.
I have at least modest hopes of converting my piles of raw material into finished objects next year.
Because if at first you don't succeed, try, try again, right?
First of all, I don't call my collection of quilting fabrics a stash, I call it my palette and it is organized by color and has stayed organized and not overgrown it's spot for many years and is very useful.
ReplyDeleteThe garment fabrics are a different story. They are lurking in every closet and cupboard and keep insinuating themselves in new places. I have noticed that same pattern of buying more during times when I'm actually sewing less that you mention, now that you mention it, but I have been very good lately and have sewn up several garments and not purchased any additional garment fabric in months. Once you get going, it feels good! I got started by sewing something easy from a tried and true pattern I knew would fit and fit into my wardrobe. That also helped. Good luck taming your stash!