The Sewing Place
The Emporia => Patchwork & Quilting ... Welcome to the Darkside => Topic started by: Pearl on July 22, 2021, 12:19:03 PM
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Have been trying to use stash fabric for the Boom but am beginning to struggle so, inspired by @Iminei ’s choice of green fabric for the emerald block, I wondered how you build a usable stash. By this I mean having a range of fabrics that you could use for a given project, rather than having to buy.
I have a room full of fabric but never seem to have what I’m looking for.
What do I need to buy? How much? What colours?
I joined the Beautiful Batiks club of Hannah’s Room, but only ended up with a range of batiks in colours I’d never choose.
I tried looking for blenders on the destash site, but Facebook seems to think I want to make smoothies. :laughing:
Please help!
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If I find a great blender, like the Makower Geometrix that I use allllllll the time I buy it in as many colourways as I can.
I used the Cappucino Geometric for my first ever Real Quilt, The Opus,
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You can see several colourways of the design and others from the same range, and a great John Louden blender which I believe is still available in the Undulating Terror and The HSTathon ... see how many you can pick out?
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I love, love, love the Pink, Purple, Turquoise, Green and Blue versions and have used it extensively through BOMs, many other projects and swaps
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So you’re saying I need to buy lots of fabric? Excellent. How much do you buy in each colour?
I’m planning to take a trip to the Bramble Patch with my FoQ budget.
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What you buy/need depends on what you are likely to make in the future.
If I am buying patchwork fabric it's nearly always blenders, small prints and splodgy designs; and some batiks. No big patterns and I always look at the colours rather than the pattern. Whilst I don't often go for plains I do nearly always choose fabrics with just one main colour; similar to most of those which @Iminei posted.
I also choose FQs above precuts and only buy bigger pieces in white or cream or if wanted for borders, binding or backing.
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Are you going to FOQ @Pearl ???
or just to bramble patch?
Look for ranges and buy all the colours you like in them ... FQs minimum, if they are really great (like my Geometrix), buy Yardage ... I cant get them any more and tho' I have a drawer full but its running out ! :(
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No, not going to FoQ, but am going to spend what I would have spent there (including train fare and entrance fee) at BP.
Thank you, both. This is just what I needed. I feel that I am in a middle ground between those who are able to pull fabric from their stash and those like @Lowena , who buy with a project in mind. :headbang:
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I do a mix. Occasional metres of something which I find pretty/interesting, and also lots of individual fat 1/4s. It’s a nice way to buy pretties and basics, one or two at a time, so you don’t feel like you’re breaking the bank.
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I’m like fajita and do a mix. I buy less FQs than I used to because I tend to make bags more and they usually require a minimum of half m. I only buy FQs of fabrics I think I will use for EPP. I’ve been growing my collection of blenders by buying what I need for a project and adding mire (eg, need half m so buy 1m). This means the cost is spread out. My favourite is Moda Grunge but it is pricey for a blender
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@RJR_38 I was going to suggest grunge! It's one of my favorites. I buy 3 yard lengths, sometimes 4 yards of good blender or backing fabrics. Also binding fabrics if fantastic I'll get several yards.
My basic rule for many fabrics is 1 to 1¼ yards so it could become a pillowcase or 3ish yards if it would be a good look for summer weight crop pants. Moda grunge makes great casual pants. :thumbsup: I buy fat quarters of lovely fabrics I can't imagine actually ever using. It satisfies the acquisition urge without taking up much space. Many of all the above do end up in quilts but in case they don't I have enough for them to be useful in some other manner.
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My basic rule for many fabrics is 1 to 1¼ yards so it could become a pillowcase or 3ish yards if it would be a good look for summer weight crop pants.
My God!! Lightside projects takes soooo much fabric and its sooooo wasteful too ... Bremembering the lining fabric I have from when I made waistcoats)
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And what I've discovered since flirting with the Dark side is that you can have lots of lovely colours and patterns for a project instead of just one or two :D
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My basic rule for many fabrics is 1 to 1¼ yards so it could become a pillowcase or 3ish yards if it would be a good look for summer weight crop pants.
My God!! Lightside projects takes soooo much fabric and its sooooo wasteful too ... Bremembering the lining fabric I have from when I made waistcoats)
Well @Iminei I multi task my fabrics. If I'm using quilt fabrics for garments the scrap parts go in the quilting fabrics. The pants I like take about 2¼ yards but you must preshrink it for clothes. So I add a bit more so my scrap is very usable.
If you are doing a quilt back you need significant yardage as you also do for sashing or setting blocks or borders for that matter. I like to cut borders unpieced from the lengthwise grain as it's much more stable and attractive that way. A throw needs about 2 yards and a queen almost 3 yards just for the right length. Backing fabrics are usually 3 to 5 yards. It adds up pretty fast.
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Sorry to be the odd voice out, but I don't see the point in starting with a stash. It's often the case that a fabric you thought would go with something else doesn't work in a composition once you're starting an actual project. And surely part of the fun is choosing something new to work with? Yes I keep left-overs for the next projects, but buying random nice stuff, just for the sake of it, with no project in mind - why? Keep your money until you're making a certain thing.
Each to their own way, I know :vintage:
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I can see the sense of what you say, @LeilaMay . In normal times, I go to sewing class near the Cotton Patch or make a trip to the Bramble Patch (about 40 mins away) but that has not been possible this year and I can see the benefit of having a stash of basics (blenders, neutrals, etc) to enable me to join in with sewalongs etc. I have not always had good experience with online shopping.
:thinking: :thinking: :thinking:
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I like having a stash.....it's a bit like having a fridge full of comfort food :laughing:
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I'm with @LeilaMay I can't see the point. Why spend money unnecessarily?
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I'm a fabric hoarder and proud to admit it :dance: and good job i am as during the pandemic you couldn't get hold of fabric easily so i relied upon my stash
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I like having a stash.....it's a bit like having a fridge full of comfort food :laughing:
Fair enough, but I don't have a fridge full of comfort food either.
In fact, when we admit we have too much food, or anything else "for comfort" we are highlighting something in our lives we should deal with, instead of hiding in the 'comfort' of not addressing it. But that's just me, not for everyone, I know.
:grouphug:
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I don't have a fridge full of comfort food either (well not at the moment) :laughing: and having a stash of fabric doesn't mean that there's an issue that i should be dealing with. I like fabric, i love buying it and i love looking at it.......nothing wrong with that.
Lets buy more fabric :perfect10:
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@RJR_38 I was going to suggest grunge! It's one of my favorites. I buy 3 yard lengths, sometimes 4 yards of good blender or backing fabrics. Also binding fabrics if fantastic I'll get several yards.
My basic rule for many fabrics is 1 to 1¼ yards so it could become a pillowcase or 3ish yards if it would be a good look for summer weight crop pants. Moda grunge makes great casual pants. :thumbsup: I buy fat quarters of lovely fabrics I can't imagine actually ever using. It satisfies the acquisition urge without taking up much space. Many of all the above do end up in quilts but in case they don't I have enough for them to be useful in some other manner.
@Renegade Sewist Moda grunge is so much more affordable over in US (£8.50 per yard compared to £12 per m which is only a tiny bit longer). Whenever one of my American friends kindly gets some bit to post over for me I always ask them to get a hard or two of grunge to bulk up the package
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I only have a little stash as I haven't been P&Qing all that long. But it grew somewhat during lockdown because ordering fabric online meant that matching colours up was a bit hit and miss.
What I do have is a lot of leftover pieces from many years of Light siding although I have had a few sort-outs over time and taken fabrics to school for various projects.
Maybe I could use the suitable leftovers for some sort of scrappy quilt. Hmm
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If you know what you want to make, buy for that project. Are all the blocks going to be exactly the same? You can buy exact amounts.
But if you like variety and scrap quilts, you buy things you like when you see them, (especially if the price is right - but don't confuse quality on special offer with cheap because it's nasty) along with the basics, black, cream, white on white etc. If you're short of one fabric, you just add another similar one to the mix, because you have it already - no waiting for the postman. Leftovers should not be binned, unless the bits are so tiny you can't get anything out of them, or the fabric was such poor quality you don't want to use it again. Someone grew that cotton and it used many resources, don't waste it.
To build a stash, take out the fabrics you have and sort them by colour and value (light or dark). You can then see if you have too many of some colours/values or not enough, and buy to fill/replenish the gaps. Remember, you may not like a colour - you wouldn't wear it for example - but you should still buy it. Why restrict your choices when that bit of lime green may be just the thing to sharpen up the palette you'd chosen that's looking a bit dull.
Stash building is not a rapid process and depends on opportunities and finances. It needn't be huge, and you can keep fabrics as long as you like before you use them. If you fall out of love with them, piece them up into a back and buy something you do like.
If you can find it, Color and Cloth is useful (there are copies on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Color-Cloth-Quiltmakers-Ultimate-Needlework/dp/0844226203).
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Fair enough, but I don't have a fridge full of comfort food either.
In fact, when we admit we have too much food, or anything else "for comfort" we are highlighting something in our lives we should deal with, instead of hiding in the 'comfort' of not addressing it. But that's just me, not for everyone, I know.
:grouphug:
So then @LeilaMay do you not have furniture "for comfort", shoes that fit properly "for comfort", healthy foods for the comfort of your gut biome, a bed "for comfort" so you sleep comfortably and therefore wakeup refreshed? You seem to be treating the word comfort like a bad thing.
The chair I have "for comfort" is from the 1920s. It has a hard flat seat and a straight wooden back and is indeed for my comfort. I don't consider giving my body comfort a bad thing.
Most of the fabrics I add to the collection are basics for me. I seldom use white or off white but red and acid green are staples. Interesting versions are not always available. I would not want to cut up for piecing a fabric I've had to pay $12 -15 for which is what quality fabric costs now. I won't buy or use cheap junk. But when I've been able to find something that would be an excellent binding or backing that's high quality and crazy cheap I'll get 3 to 6 yards of it. More than once I've gotten something a little strange that I overdyed for a perfect backing.
Although it is lovely to walk into a quilt shop and buy everything you need for a project in one go, especially if they have good employees who help you get perfect fabrics, it is very expensive to do that. I don't know many quilters who can afford to do that all the time.
@Deafoldbat is right on the money with her suggestions. :thumbsup:
If we have a full fabric store at home or strictly buy as we go project by project the choices are all valid.
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My stash has been reducing steadily and now it's got to the stage where I feel the need to replenish.
As I'm not a block maker my quilts may have many many different colours. I don't enjoy making identical units.
I will buy when I see something I like. I am really low on acid colours so that'll be the next thing.
I enjoy fabric, it gives me pleasure. It sits quietly in the box and doesn't eat anything , just waits for me to find it a home I usually buy half metre minimum. I am often tempted by pretties and I love to bring back fabrics from holidays. I have some loveliness from New Zealand that is proudly showing NZ trees - heck knows what I'll do with it but eventually it'll tell me where it wants to go, and in the meantime it reminds me of a fabulous trip.
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I will buy when I see something I like. I am really low on acid colours so that'll be the next thing.
Acid colors. Yessss... :meditation:
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If you know what you want to make, buy for that project.
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But if you like variety and scrap quilts, you buy things you like when you see them,
That's so right.
My patchwork stash is mostly little bits - that @Lowena would have thrown away! Yes I buy FQs, but I've also got the odd shaped bits left from making clothes (only the woven cottons), bits bought from the sales table at craft club and I'm still working through the last of the bag of remnants, many of which were 6"-8" width of fabric, which I got at Doughty's a couple of years ago.
The current scrap quilt project, which for some odd reason I have not been able to upload to TSP, is about half whites, which I had to buy, and the rest is a glorious mixture of all colours all from stash - including the left over bits from @RJR_38 's boom swap. Everyone who's taking part in that has contributed a tiny bit, so thank you all.
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I second @Deafoldbat 's post. Spot on Old Girl!
And during lockdown I made 2 or 3 quilts ALL from stash ... (Tho I admit I had to buy the backing fabric :| )
Everything else was from stash ... ALL year (and this so far ...
and what about all the BOM's I make .. Yup you guessed it!