My Stash

Yesterday (I'm late) at Sew, Mama, Sew they had a forum asking people about their stashes of fabric and I decided to play along.

What do you usually sew? Most recently I have made little girl aprons, burp rags, cloth napkins, and these adorable tops:

I also sew home decorating stuff like curtains, table runners, table cloths, etc.

I would love to make clothes for myself and Emmy and maybe even doll clothes for her babies. The few times I've made clothes for myself it wasn't all that successful, except for the odd skirt here and there. I am determined to make Emmy a sun dress for the warmer weather. I did make Emmy a little red tute like skirt for her Christmas dress that was super cute. See?

When you shop for fabric, what size cuts do you usually buy? (i.e. If you see something beautiful, but you don’t have a use for it right away, how much do you buy?) Do you buy on impulse or do you go out looking for something you need? If I see fabric that I can't live without and don't have any specific plans for it, I will usually buy it by the yard. I buy on impulse or for specific projects.

Are you a pre-washer? If you are, do you wash your fabric before you need it, or only when you’re ready to use it? I am a recent convert to pre-washing. I've always been told how important it is but never really did until recently. It is so much easier to work with once it has been run through the wash once, plus you don't have to worry about it shrinking after you've put all the work into making it into something. I typically wash fabric as I get it so that it is ready when I need it.

Do you iron it? As I use it, not directly out of the wash.

How do you sort it? (color, print size, collection, etc.) My stash isn't that big so it isn't that hard to organize. I usually sort by color and size.

Do you have any special folding techniques? Not really, whatever gets it small enough to fit on the tiny shelves I have for storing fabric.

How do you store your fabric? I have my stash stashed on a small white shelving unit. I would love to get something fancier one day when I dress up my craft room a little better. This will have to do for now:

What tips do you have for building up a well-rounded stash? Don't put much thought into it. Most of my stash I collected because I saw it at the store and couldn't live without it or else it was too good of a price to pass up. It also doesn't hurt if you have a mother who LOVES to buy fabric that she likely won't use and then let's you rummage through all of her stuff.

When do you say enough is enough? Enough? What's that? If your shelves are too full, it just means you need to make more stuff :)

What are some of your favorite stash-busting projects? See above.

Do you have a current favorite print in your stash? Let’s see it! My favorite print is the one I use to make the giraffe appliques on the shirts from earlier in the post. It was just a fat quarter and is almost gone. I hope I can find more of it before I run out.

What’s your definition of the perfect stash? One that is well organize and ready to be used on a whim.

On a different but related note, Gramma Sandy and Papa Chuck were kind enough to keep Emmy last Friday night and through the day Saturday so that I could organize my upstairs rooms, which includes my craft room. Those rooms were a mess from all the holida chaos. I am so relieved and excited to have everything organized and have fallen in love with my craft room all over again. It could stand to have a little color added and be spruced up but it is so functional and perfect for me. Here are some of the after pics (I didn't think to get any before pics):