Episode 8 ~ Fabric Stash
April 26, 2009 in Podcasts 11 Comments »
April 26, 2009 ~ Today we talking about keeping and organizing a Fabric Stash.
Thank you to everyone who left reviews on iTunes and comments this week. Kelley from Pioneer Quilter, Corrine, Claire, and Shelly Beth from Fibermoon.com
What did I do this week:
Completed my first paperpieced block.
Picked up stuff to make baby booties for an upcoming baby shower.
Completed one bootie
Joined a quilt block swap on Facebook
Joined Ravelry, but I am still waiting on my invitation – Come on, Ravelry, it has been three days!
Care package from Kelley at the Pioneer Quilter.
Question of the Week Results
- When buying for your stash, how much do you buy
- 25 votes
- 48% buy one yard
- 28% buy 1/2 yard
- 12% buy 2-5 yards
- Corrine says “if you like it, buy a yard; if you REALLY like it buy 2 yards; if you can’t live without it, buy as much as your budget will allow”
Topic this week: Fabric Stash
- Benefits of a stash
- Tips for taking care of your stash
- Ways to organize your stash
- Folding the fabric in your stash
- How to know what you have
- Is it possible to have too much stash?
Check out these links for more tips:
Buy Comic Book Boards here.
Call to Action
- Answer this week’s poll
- Leave a comment and share how you manage your stash
I will post an article this week on all my research – no lunch breaks this week to get to it.
I found your podcast today! I have been listening all day, chores done early this am.. Totally enjoyable!
I volunteered at a local Quilt shop for over a year.. Now mind you I did not get paid cash, but barter/trade. My time per hour added up rather quickly. So, of course I got BOM’s, kits, etc. At one point I was over the $1000 mark to shop! So needless to say, I probably could open my own quilt shop, NOT.. I have five daughters and only one of them sews apparel for her children, two daughters and a son.. so when she needs fabric she comes over and has a great time FREE shopping in my quilt studio. It is organized with lots of see thru bins, cabinets, book cases, shelves etc. I KNOW what I have in my studio and I know where everything is.
At the moment I am English paper piecing and just love doing the hand work, portable, and theraputic. I have been EPPing and listening to your podcasts all day and have got alot accomplished. Thanks for sharing your time with me today!
Keep up the great Podcasts and Kudos to you!
For paper piecing Carol Doak is said to be the Queen! She describes how to measure and cut pieces enough before you begin. Her most recent book on stars would have the method.
It’s so much more better than just guessing- and the triangle pieces work the first time!
Have you ever made booties before? The one you posted is absolutely adorable!! I really enjoy your podcast & hope
you enjoy it enough to continue it and help to keep us inspired. I wanted to check out the Domestic Diva but also could not get the link to work. Can you give us the info again please? Thanks.
Hi Brye Lynn
Two of your links (The Domestic Diva and Feathered Fibres) don’t work.
I keep my stash in various places depending on the size. I keep my fat quarters in one of those plastic 4 drawer storage units. They are folded, end up and you can put two rows in a drawer. My larger pieces are folded and organized more or less by colour in a small cupboard.
My larger scraps are folded and in baskets on a shelf. Medium scraps are in a couple decorative boxes, and I’ve been cutting the smallest units into 2 inch squares for a scrap quilt – I keep those in leftover containers – one for dark, one for light, and one for the darks and lights I’ve sewn together. I figure I’ll have enough of those to make a quilt in about 100 years!
Colleen
Congratulations on the paper-piecing!! I hoped you would enjoy it and that I wasn’t misleading you with the “paint-by-number” ease. The bootie is just lovely, I’m very impressed. My stash is very contained in 6 sweater bins, mostly scraps from projects. When they too full, I stop buying and concentrate on making scrap quilts until there is room again.
Love the podcast!
Hi, Brye Lynn – I’m a lurking listener who’s finally commenting. I think you have a lovely calming voice, and as someone who’s still a beginning quilter, I really enjoy your forays into different aspects of the craft. And let us know your name on Ravelry – I’m very active there as a knitter/crocheter!
I manage my stash rather haphazardly – I have a plastic bin under the bed, and am actually trying to burn through stash since I plan to start dyeing my own fabrics for piecing. I only have batiks (we have allergies, etc.), so they’re easy to organize, but it’s not a large stash, anyway. It’s mainly a few dozen yards of fabric, a couple of bags of scraps from a local shirt-maker, a basket of cut pieces for a postage-stamp quilt, and a piece top that I’ve got to back and quilt. Spring is a little nuts, though….
I know that it is bad but I don’t manage mine at all. When I want to make something and I’m not in the mood to work on my current project, I spend an hour and go through my stash looking for inspiration. It is like going to the quilt shop all over again. I like to look at the colors and feel everything and then something jumps out at me. My husband just rolls his eyes at me but since it is in my little cubby-hole it doesn’t bug him.
I am so impressed with the booties. Very cute! I wish I could do that!
Enjoyed the podcast! What I love about your shows are that you research your subjects so well.
This is weird…but I don’t generally stash! It feels wasteful for me to buy fabric when it doesn’t have a purpose so I rarely do it. The little I have bought that way languishes uncut because I like it too much to cut it.
Manage my stash? I don’t, anymore. I used to file everything in cabinets, in boxes for fat quarters and piles for yards+, according to color. For the last few years, I’ve been piling up new purchases on a table in my sewing room. There’s a pile of batiks, piles according to collection, piles for a quilt planned, etc. Everything is covered with a sheet of fabric to keep the light out. But, I DO know where everything is!
BTW, the new poll on thread is not showing up for me. I still see the stash poll.
Even though I am an experienced quilter, I do enjoy your podcast. There’s always something else to learn.