So... I bought some fabric. The giddy, pleased-as-punch euphoria has since passed, as it always does, and as I look upon my fabric empire, I feel simultaneously overwhelmed and underwhelmed. Clearly, I have a self-control issue. I'm a fabric manufacturer's dream! I also have some on pre-order that will come in next month... After being pretty good for a while, I have fallen off the wagon. And since I have not sewn much in the last two years, the purchases are completely unnecessary. What is the solution?
Stop.Buying.Fabric.
Easy. Right?
Anyway, moving has also opened my eyes the the sheer volume of what I have and how I would feel about having to move it again (I really wouldn't). I definitely have fabric that needs to be re-homed. I have a gorgeous stash of batiks (my first quilting love). And while I don't want to get rid of all of them because I'd like to try my hand at some watercolor quilts in the future, I do not need a whole 20 gallon bin full (ok, it's about half full, the other half is a sad attempt at a quilt-as-you-go braid quilt that needs fixing).
I also just have some random pieces from swaps or grab bags or odd purchases, that just aren't my favorites. I don't want to keep things that I don't really love. And while there is something to be said about working with the non-favorites to change them into useful items, I think I'd prefer to use my limited sewing time to work with fabrics that I really inspire me.
Here's the first purge. Pretty good. The batiks, minus the 48 strips are about 16 yards. So, I'd guess that's over 30 yards total there! (Barely a dent, alas....) I plan to donate to Green Bag Lady, who takes scraps 3"x18" (for handles) and up. And I'll also be sending some to Margaret's Hope Chest.
I've seen a lot of successful destashes on Instagram and I've bit the bullet and joined on the off-chance that I go that route. I don't want to open an Etsy store just to de-stash and I'm not sure how many crafters really look to ebay for fabric purchases. A lot of successful Instagram destashers are bigger-name bloggers with a legion of faithful followers. So, I don't know if that route would work well for me or not. I've looked at Faith's suggestions and Allison has a whole podcast about it, both of which are very helpful. On the other hand, I've done a bit of destashing right here on the blog, which went ok. I suppose a multi-pronged approach would work best. We'll see. Once I get the donate piles out, I'll have a better idea of what might be de-stashed. I may just decide to donate it all - less work for me and a good deed to boot!
All I know is that it would take several lifetimes to get through the fabric I have with the projects that I've been doing (shark bag last week and this 1-hour wonder - the plastic bag holder - this week). The bag holder is a really fun, easy, useful project. There are a ton of tutorials out in the blog-o-sphere. I looked at Jeni's tutorial and Anne Marie's. In the end, I used what I had on hand and I think my rectangle came out to be about 19.5" x 28" before I made the tube.
It hangs in our kitchen, hence the toaster fabric. (I do tend to bring re-usable bags to the grocery store, but I still get produce bags and we also solicit from family members for dog walk bags, so we always have quite the stash of plastic bags). This is way classier than the larger plastic bag they were in!
I've decided to ease back in to quilting by working on quilts that are already in blocks. That way, I can tackle some UFOs and still get some sewing in each evening. Here are my triangles on the wall (again). I've got about six or seven projects of various ages in blocks, though at least three require trimming (blech!). And I need to make a Christmas stocking before mid-September. So that should be enough to be getting on with :) I'm excited to get some of these older projects checked off the list!
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