Collecting fabric is just a natural part of being a quilter. I love to touch, buy, and collect new fabric as well as new-to-me fabrics. I have a good collection of vintage textiles, calendar towels and upcycled wool from garments that I’ve been incorporating into my work lately. Having different styles, colors, and themes of fabric gives us the option to experiment with our quilting styles.
The longer you quilt, the more your stash typically expands. And, I am not here to shame anyone for the size of your stash. I look at it as my art palette. I know a couple quilters who never keep a stash, and that intrigues me. Once they finish a quilt or series of quilts, they donate or destash on Instagram, and start fresh. Most of the quilters I know, however, keep accumulating more and more fabric.
If you are reading this post, you probably are like me, have evaluated your stash and realized there is no way you will ever get around to using even a fraction of the fabric that you’ve collected over the years. I have plenty of room for my stash, but here are at least 10 reasons why I’ve decided to purge my stash.
1. It’s either reduce the amount of fabric, or buy more plastic totes, since the mice just love my open stash. 2. One of the reasons I love doing block-of-the-month quilts, is because I get to play with a fresh new set of fabrics. 3. I like to support my local quilt shop. 4. When I release some of my stash, it opens up space for new ideas and new fabrics. 5. If I can only use a percentage of the fabric that I have now, why not pass it along to someone who can use it? 6. When I share fabric that I’ve seen for 20 years with someone else, it’s brand new to them! 7. My scrap quilts have all started to look the same. 8. For a year, I only sewed with what fit in a basket near my fireplace chair and I was happy as a clam. I don’t need as much. 9. There’s always going to be more fabric to play with. 10. I’m tired of moving totes of fabric out of the way, just to sew. 11. When I have fewer choices, I am more productive and more creative with my time.
Those are a few of the reasons that I am doing my yearly fabric stash purge. And this one is going to be a big one! I’ll be posting updates on Instagram!
