[savingbananas]

If I can afford it I buy two yards. That should give me just about enough of whatever I want to do and if I need more I can always trim with another fabric.

[Tamara]

See this is the thing, I buy for a project, the project either doesn’t get made or the fabric is wrong. Fabric is very good at telling me what to turn it into but sometimes when I get it home, it tells me something different. So it ends up on the shelf until I get another project to do. For example, I bought about 4.5m of fabric from Farmhouse fabrics to make a dress for the up coming Royal show. Get it home from the post office, wash, iron and pleat it and the design just doesn’t work. NOW it is telling me it is better suited to something like a School Photo dress which it probably would and a few other items also. I don’t generally buy that much at a time all the time but this was for a specific smocking project.

I do mostly purchase a minimum of 2m as I know that that is the minimum I can get a pair of trousers or a shirt out of with a little extra. The little extra is helpful in those times when the project is botched but not so helpful when you end up with it not being big enough for anything major. I have a growing pile of pieces less than 1m and too big for a scrap bag.

When I lived urban, I bought per project and I was quite good at getting things accomplished but now I live in the bush miles from a fabric shop so I have to stock up to save running to the fabric shop miles away all the time. I love to just browse online and then I can think and come back and possibly buy that fabric – intending it of course for something but it often doesn’t get made into that and so the cycle continues.

Oh Fabric.com really have some beneficial sales don’t they? Quilthome are great too and that sale on the patterns at Fabric Depot fabulous.

[JohannaO]

I try to buy 2 yards at a time as well, it gives me enough for at least one project, and possibly some trim on another project. I have a serious weakness for online sales, and store closing sales. There was one in my area that had all their Japanese fabrics for 6/yard. I think I almost bought out their entire stock of those fabrics. My goal for this summer’s sewing to get all my fabric into one dresser, and two under-bed storage bins. I’ve found that once I cut into my fabric, I feel more pressure to finish the project, because I need to sew it before the kids grow out of it. That’s one of the ways I’m going to “bust” my stash. As for keeping tabs on it- I photograph it, sometimes in groups that “go” together, so I can see how much I have. Once I’ve washed it, it gets a blue painter’s tape label of how much is there, so I can quickly sort through the fabric to find the “eligible” materials. (It’s a bit like playing matchmaker.) 🙂 I tend to keep bottom weight fabric together, and then quilting cottons, knits, then other top weights together. All the interfacing goes together into their own gallon sized ziplock bags, with the weight of the interfacing noted on the front. For a while I was running out of interfacing everytime I turned around, so that has been helping me keep tabs on how much I have left, and keeping the different weights seperate.

I’ve been trying to sew things for myself as well, because that eats into the stash so much faster!

[dare moi]

I cannot afford more fabric, but it is like a drug.

I am getting better at ordering more ‘practical’ quantities tho- 2m/yds.

I just had to order some of the new echino – pockets and trims.

Telling myself that i have to get through the stash before i buy more has not worked. I always end up at theop store during my lunch break to check it out, and online fabric stores that don’t charge revoltingly expensive freight from the US.

there is no labelling here in my place, but at least i am now washing as I buy (although i can never fold it as neat as when it came to me!!)

We should organise a support group for our addiction!

xoxx s

[Tamara]

Oh woe is me! I have been spending alot of time re-sorting the mess that housed my stash. Honestly it was in a right pickle. So here I was neatly sorting and folding and labelling and it is only now that I have discovered that there is no room left!!! I have lots of fabric still left to be put away sitting on the cutting table and here I was thinking that I could buy more. Guess I will have to work harder at emptying a shelf.

I have a parcel of Stella knit from Crafty Mamas on it’s way and no where to put it all. This is bad!

Miss 8 picked out more CW and MW fabric to make doll’s clothes. She wants me to use the leftover MW interlock to make her doll a nightie so they match. She’s contributing but she’ll have to work harder than that – poor baby.

I have to do something drastic to make room – maybe sit on the fabric to squash it down a bit more? That could help.

You are so right – it is like a drug but not illegal THANK GOD! And to boot Fabric.com deliver yet another email with everything $1.95!

I need rehab!

[Robin]

I think we need to have home based fabric buying parties like Tupperware. Does that make sense? I could have friends over, “demonstrate” some fantastic pieces of fabric I no longer love and sell it. Alas my stash is not large enough, yet, for such a home based business. 🙂

[scgoble]

I am sort of the in opposite camp from you fabric-buying fiends. I only buy fabric for specific projects, because I just can’t stand the thought of having fabric that’s just sitting there. In my mind, it isn’t a project patiently waiting to come to life, it’s evidence of my inadequacy in not having used it yet. It stresses me out – it’s like a to-do list to me, so buying more would be like constantly adding on to my list.

I know, I have issues. 🙂

[Tamara]

Brace yourself scgoble, I’ve just officially driven you crazy!! I have gone through my entire stash to find fabric big enough to make a Family Reunion dress with a view to joining in the sew along. Well! I can only find three lots of fabric that would a) suit and b) have enough to actually make the dress.

Miss 8 has reported that she “must have” the pink dog fabric from Sherbet Pips – but I swear I ummed and ahhed over this. I decided this morning that if it isn’t there forever, then it needs to be bought pronto or else I wouldn’t be able to get it. I’ve waited too long on some other prints that caught my eye and now I can’t get ’em.

So, I have made a pact with myself to do some stash busting and propose we have a stash bust – along one of these days. So at least we can feel justified in our fabric purchasing actions. Maybe tally up the amounts of fabric we’ve used over the course of a period of time and see who did the most busting?

I am a bit annoyed because I paid just as much in postage as I did for the package!! Fabric.com need to come up with better shipping deals – surely Usps have some great deals that they could utilise for their international customers. All I know is they are really really good at getting the package to you.

I got some fabric for a smocked doll’s dress and red dog fabric for a matching Sketchbook shirt for my boy and that will be part of an ensemble that I can use to exhibit in the Ag show this year. I can feel not so bad if I make sure it is used for a specific purpose.

Scgoble, I only wish I could bust as I go – I was very good at it once but now being in the bush I have to stock up like I said so that there is actually something to sew.

Note to self: – continue to clear a shelf of fabric.

Gosh! I thought I was going great on that score.

[Anonymous]

scgoble, I understand exactly what you mean! I’ve overbought too many times and it does really bother me to see it all sitting there. Makes me tense like it does you! I’ve finally learned that no matter how much I love a particular fabric, there will be another one next season that I love just as much or more so I can usually resist.

[sarahb]

I generally order fabric online, and if that’s the case I usually buy for specific projects. When I go in stores I will buy fabric I just love without a project in mind, and then I usually get just a half a yard or a yard, but I should start getting more so I have enough for a dress.

justsewit – did you get the pink puppy Sherbet Pips fabric? It is so cute! I have bargained with myself that I must sew at least one outfit or project from my stash between each new fabric project.

[Tamara]

Oh yes I did get the Sherbet Pips pink dog fabric. I also got some in red to make the boy a Sketchbook shirt for the warmer weather when it comes back. Apparently the print reminds the kids of our sheepdog LuLu and I suppose they are right.

I am forcing myself to resist the urge to buy more fabric after this purchase though, I have to bust a bit of the existing stash so that I have an excuse to fill it up again. There is plenty to go on with but I just don’t know … the urge to sit and browse and drool over fabric prints is all I can do to ease the temptation. You should see me writing lists of fabric names that I like the look of. It has come to that point where I have made a wish list and then I can go through and pick out what I really want to get and what I could use it for. Oh well, at least it is a form of pain relief for this current “condition”.

[Toyota888]

Everything here rings so true – from the angst that a huge stash causes in terms of an unfinished to do list, to purchasing more because it is insanely beautiful and you might not get it again. It is made harder right now by the AMAZING us/aussie dollar exchange rate – the feeling that that could change at any minute adds a sense of “now or never” to every online purchase – yes it is a genuine addiction with all the justifications that go with it – I do feel more sympathy for people with genuine addictions now tho 🙂

[sarahb]

I’m so happy to hear you are doing the sew-along! 🙂 (I’ve been afraid hardly anyone was going to join in!) And I can’t wait to see it in the pink Pips puppies! I’m making it in the grey puppies.

I don’t dare write down a fabric wish list. One good thing about my failing memory is that I don’t generally remember all the fabric lines I like, and since I usually shop only at one small online store that doesn’t carry all the lines or full lines, I forget about all the new releases until they are sold out, and then I don’t go hunting them down.

[Tamara]

Why on earth would you think no one would join in Sarahb? I’ve never done a sew along before so it should be fun – sort of like being in a group doing the same activity only online.

I write the names of the fabric down so that I can refer back to them when I am able to go fabric shopping. Sometimes I have a project in mind in this case and am looking for a particular fabric to make it with. It is also handy to shop around and see if the best deal on the same fabric can be found. I also like to compare the different fabrics to see what would suit that project best so writing the names down is handy when I do this.

I have found a use for my scraps now which is good as they were taking over the cupboard just a bit. I have also found a way to get the Liberty Jane patterns to fit my Australian girl doll which is slightly bigger than the AG doll – enlarge the jeans pattern by 10% and you have something that fits the bottom! The dress patterns are fine except for one or two but this girl has a big behind so the pants patterns need to be enlarged slightly. I did the same for the Peacoat pattern as it was tight. Now I can use the scraps for doll clothes to try out all these different patterns you can get these days.

The stash needs to be decreased. So I have decided to just go hard and get things made. My doggie fabric is on its way but Fabric.com don’t know what a tracking number is so I can’t find out where it is right now. I am expecting it next week or late this week because of long weekends her is Oz.

[dare moi]

I was soooooooooooooooooo not helped with the stash when i stumbled upon fabric fairy 45%… YES… 45% OFF at the moment!!

God willing i will not botch all the knits coming my way!!!

plus they have some sarah jane & heather ross avail too!

xoxx s