Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara logo

Stashes . . Why?

Lately, in the comments, I’ve had a couple that made me think. Before I go any farther, remember this is not a debate and there’s no need for anyone to be snippy. You may or may not see the need to stash anything but I hope you can see that we’re all different and we all have different opinions and different ways of doing things and I find it interesting to know why folks do or don’t do things.

My questions for you:

  1. If you’re keeping up with how much you’re adding and how much you’re using (either fabric, yarn or whatever), why do you do it?
  2. If you have a stash at your house, why? Why don’t you just go buy it when you need it?

This is one of the recent comments:

Wow ! I have never counted the yards I have used up. Why do you keep a record? I really dont understand all the records you keep. I hope you can explain to me why you do this. I find it interesting.

My response:  I don’t go to a great deal of trouble to count up the yardage but either I’m using a pattern, which has the yardage given, or I’m working off Electric Quilt, which also gives the yardage needed. Since I’m working out of the stash, I have to measure to see how much fabric I have, and compare that to the required amount of fabric. Documenting the yardage used with each quilt as it’s made takes about half a second so I don’t consider that to be any trouble. It’s something I enjoy doing and if I didn’t enjoy it, or didn’t see the value in it, I would no longer track it. There’s nothing wrong with not doing it . . it’s just how I do things. BTW, I can tell you pretty much exactly how much food I have in my pantry, how much we spent on groceries, eating out and gas this year . .  not because it’s tax deductible or anything but that’s just how I operate.

As far as the fabric tracking, I like to see how much I used or how much I added. If I’m adding 100 yards per year and using 300 yards per year, I know that if I keep that up, I’m going to run out of stash some day, depending on the size of my stash. At this point, since I’m not adding fabric, I enjoy going back through the years and seeing how much I’ve used.

Also, I am starting to see a dent in the stash . . just a tiny dent but a dent nonetheless.

The second comment:

By my count, you have somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 skeins of yarn. Based on what you used this year, it will take you 10 years to knit all that yarn up IF you don’t buy any more (and I don’t really think you can go a whole year without buying any, LOL).

I have to admit though, I don’t really get the concept of stash. When I want to make something, I buy the fabric or yarn I need and I make it. I never really understood investing thousands of dollars in stuff I may never use just for the convenience of having it around. It obviously makes you happy though, and that’s worth something!!

My response:

First, I’m not taking money or yarn with me when I go so I might as well spend it, since I enjoy shopping for yarn, waiting for it to arrive, opening the packages and fondling the yarn. Yes, it makes me happy. As an example of how different we all are, it is really hard for me to go to a restaurant and spend $50 or more on dinner when I could have made something equally as good or better at home, for about $8. And, we rarely go on vacation. We have everything here that we enjoy so why spend money dealing with other people, eating out and then come home with nothing to show for it? It’s all in how we see things. I don’t fault anyone who goes on a nice cruise every year but I spend way less money on yarn than most people spend going out to eat or on vacations.

Second, I’ve never lived near a quilt or yarn shop. When we were in KY, it was about 40 miles to a quilt shop. In MO, it was about 60 miles. Here, I don’t have a clue. There’s a yarn shop about 2 hours from me.

I’ve seen this happen a little bit with yarn but much more so with fabric. There’s hardly a piece of fabric in my stash that I paid more than $4/yard for. I bought fabric from Eleanor Burns’ tent at Paducah and it was less than $4/yard and I would load up on the name brands I loved. When I quilted for a quilt shop, I got a great discount and bought lots of fabric there. When I ordered whole bolts from a shop, I got a great discount on that. Years ago, I would catch good sales at an online shop and often got quilt shop brands for $2.50/yard along with free shipping.

If I want to make a quilt, it’s hard to order colors online and have them be exactly what I wanted them to be. It’s easy to go to the fabric closet and pull out what I need. It would be a total waste of time and money to drive 2+ hours to a quilt shop from here, shop, then drive 2+ hours back home. It’s so much easier and more convenient to have it on the shelves here at home so I can use it when needed.

I hope this gives a little insight into why I do some these two things, even though my reasonsing probably makes sense to no one but me.  🙂

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. your reasoning makes perfect sense to me – I do not live near a quilt shop – about 1 1/2 to 2 hours in any direction – who knows if you will find what you want when you get there – it could be a wasted trip for all you know when you set out to waste that gas for your car. I order on line and only get quality quilt fabric on sale from the top on line shops that I know I can trust. I too shop my stash for quilts and order bolts of colors that I like to use for my backgrounds. I get it at discounts. I can not see going to a quilt shop and paying $12 a yard for fabric when I can get it on sale (from my stash) for anywhere from $3 to $5 a yard. This past August and September when we were traveling in the motorhome – our enjoyment – we did stop at quilt shops along the way to see what they carried – but when I got home after 2 months and about 6 quilt shops I had one book with me and a couple packages of needles. I wasn’t going to pay that high of prices. I would rather pay for campgrounds and the gas for the motorhome then pay the prices for quilt fabric, classes and workshops.

  2. Great post Judy. I have a stash because I see a pattern I want to make so I buy the yarn. Unfortunately the amount of patterns I like are published faster than I knit, so the stash starts growing. I’m impatient. I don’t want to wait for yarn to arrive so I can cast on/start a project. There also are times when I just want to try out a new yarn. Lastly, it makes me happy so look at all the pretty colors.

  3. I have a small stash but I also only have a small space for storage. I also am within an hours drive of at least a dozen large quilt shops. I can hop in the car and head off to shop on a moments notice. Everyone’s needs are different and I understand why your stash is so large. You go girl!!!

  4. Thank God for diversity 🙂 I am lucky in that in the very small town I live in there are 3 quilt shops!! Then in the larger city that I am within 20/30 minutes of there are 3 more !!! Lucky me!!! There is a great yarn shop in each city also. Blessed aren’t I ! However I still fell the need for a stash. One reason is I also frequent sales. I can save a lot by buying fabric then and saving it for projects. As for getting yarn and fabric online, I totally get it, it’s Christmas every time I get a package. It’s just fun and a highlight in my day!!
    With Hubby out on the truck and me staying home more and more I get the eating out thing. My hubs surely wants home cooked, even if it’s Mexican or Italian, Chinese, or whatever, he wants to enjoy being home. I get that. It is sooo expensive to eat out and his main complaint, not enough veggies are served at those Truck Stops.
    There really isn’t room for arguments, we are all doing what works for us!
    I admit not keeping track of my stash. I am going to at least try to keep track of what comes in and goes out this year. Not going to count all that is already there, that sounds like work (LOL). At least the current ins and outs will give me an idea if I am getting ahead.
    Well I am happy doing what I do…now to use some of that stash 🙂

  5. Judy, If it makes you happy why not, everyone does what they want to do. It is always good to go and look and stroke colourful fabric and yarn and ….dream……

  6. I agree, I agree, Judy (not that it matters, LOL). You beautifully put my words (or at least my thoughts) out there (started to say on paper, but, unless I decide to print it out, it won’t be on paper, LOL).

    For food, I need very little from the store (a few perishables) because I have a stash of food in the cabinets, pantry, refrigerators/freezer.

    When I started quilting, I did buy more than I was using BUT, I’m able to shop in my stash when making new projects (not necessarily quilts, but pillows, pillowcases, purses, napkins, etc.) and when I got back to knitting, I had some skeins and acquired several more, as well as additional needles. The same with machine embroidery – I acquired a LOT of thread and stabilizers and am able to shop in my stash.

    When we moved to a SMALL town, my supplies, aka stash, have come in really handy – I’m able to have most things I need without going to a large town 60 miles away that may or may not have what I need.

    And, when the weather outside is frightful, I can still cook, bake, sew, quilt, embroider, knit, crochet because I have my own personal shop.

  7. P.S. I forgot to include that for us, our vacations are usually working ones! Want to go to Yellowstone, The Black Hills, Niagara Falls, Williamstown, Hershey, PA, Key West, Cape Canaveral, you know touristy places in OUR country. We enjoy seeing the country and making a living at the same time. Lucky for us we sometimes go together and have to take a little break to tour the area we are delivering to!
    I remember the first time we went to Disney World. I looked around and saw so many folks from all over the world who had saved for years to get here and we got free passes because we had delivered some boulders for one of the hotels there!!
    We are very blessed to have seen so much of the USA and it seems we always seem to find new places to explore as we are getting paid for hauling freight!
    Just what we do! It works for us and our lifestyle/business.

    • I assume you’re talking about City Sewing downtown. They have all kinds of fabric but not a whole lot of name brand quilting fabric. They have probably less than 50 bolts of Moda, Robert Kaufman, and maybe a few other brands. They have some calico and quite a bit of fashion fabric but I don’t really consider them a “quilt shop”. I doubt I could come up with fabric from there to make one quilt unless I wanted to go with all the fabrics from whatever line of Moda they happen to have. I’m glad they’re here . . I buy most of my sweater buttons from them but I don’t think of them when I think of a quilt shop.

  9. Well I think those of us who have old large fabric stashes are laughing all the way to the bank… 12.99 a yard now?!!!!! Ouch. There is so much wonderful fabric being produced now, but frankly I can’t afford most of it. So I’m happy that I have plenty to keep me busy for ages already in the closet that I didn’t pay nearly that for. I’ve also rationalized it that I don’t drink, smoke, wear makeup, or care about fashion, that’s a huge savings right there. But yes I knit and sew and read, so I haven’t saved a penny!! I do have plenty of shops near, but fabric also comes and goes, so when you see something that sings to you, you better buy it because it will go out of print and you cant get it again. (That’s the best type of marketing, quilt fabric manufacturers are smart.)

    Yarn is expensive so I don’t have much of a stash of that, but I do quilt fabric! It doesn’t spoil and my tastes haven’t changed that much over the years, I still like 99% of what I have.

    I think most of us would love to have the means to be able to stash like Judy, hey Id like to be half the quilter, knitter, gardener, cook and homemaker she is but I’m not, so oh well. We all have our strengths and advantages. Frankly anybody who provides as well as she does and feeds a guy 3 times a day deserves every box of fun she gets in the mail! Its all relative, as she makes 50 times the items in a year than I do (I swear the woman has a clone, she gets more done in a day than I ever did in my 20’s), her stash has to be bigger too. And honestly aren’t we all just a bit envious that we don’t have a big quilt studio and have a lot of time to quilt and knit? Well that’s one reason why I read her blog, to live a bit vicariously through it, (and other quilters too).

    I haven’t gotten around to counting my fabric yardage, and I think that would spoil the fun for me, Id feel guilty that I have so much that I shouldn’t buy anymore and that’s no fun! I’m not bursting at the seams for storage and that’s a good parameter to managing it. So I don’t track what comes in and what goes out, but I do have fun arranging it and organizing it so I can find what I’m looking for later…

    Well I guess the real question was why do we stash, and for me its for the fabric itself as much as being prepared for a later project. I love fabric, the colors and design and the feelings the different styles invoke. And like David Taylor says, so love to pet it! And I love to shop at quilt stores, a fat quarter here and there and some yardage is a not that expensive way to gift to myself, reward for being good and working etc. I may not have much time to quilt now in my life but I hope I will later. So Ill probably keep buying fabric, just not as much as its gotten so pricy, which is hard because they are making even more yummy fabrics than in the 80’s, so much to choose from! I really need to win the lottery… even a small one… sigh.

  10. I have a stash, because I found fabric I liked and wanted to do something with it. Most fabric lines are only around for a short time, so when I find a line I like I buy some. But even with lines that I like, I watch for sales, and rarely buy at full price. I understand the idea of not having a stash, but that doesn’t seem like any fun to me. 🙂

  11. My stash comes from estate and garage sales! While I appreciate the beauty of modern fabric lines, I prefer to use older and unique fabrics (but not calico). It is such fun to see what other people purchased with hopes of making something special. Unfortunately I have a hard time walking away from fabulous finds at low prices, and now my stash is rather overwhelming! I am considering a fabric fast for 2015, but those emails that tell me of upcoming estate/garage sales that feature fabric and sewing supplies will make that very difficult…

  12. oh, i love love my stash – it’s probably too big by someone else’s standards, but it’s my stash and I love it.

    I work really hard, got a good education and a good job, and I don’t buy fancy clothes or jewelry – I buy fabric. And on the weekends I hide out at home and sew, and shop my stash. I only buy on sale – even though I “could”, I just “won’t ” pay more than about 7-8 dollars a yard, and try to stay at 5 or under. Above ten? No way. Red is red is red.

    Once in a while I think I should limit my purchases – and think I decide no – if I want some more fabric, the quality is good and the price is good – I buy it… and if I die with fabric, someone else will be really happy, because it is great stuff !!!
    Walking by bins of fabric is like taking a walk through “possibilities” – and it makes me soo very happy.

  13. I have a stash the way a painter has oil paints– if I need the color, I want to have it here when I need it. I don’t work from EQ, I just go to the stash and start pulling out fabrics and design as I go. The stash is part of the creative process.

  14. I started quilting 27 years ago. I had to go buy fabric for the first class I took. Now my fabric stash is huge because all these years I’ve searched for bargains where ever I shopped—including yard and estate sales and thrift shops. I love every bit of it! It isn’t today’s “designer” lines. Do I care? NO. I bought fabric I loved. I don’t buy much today because the prices are triple what I used to pay, but every now and then a piece catches my eye and I buy some.

    I don’t drink or smoke. I rarely eat out. I don’t attend movies or shows. My only indulgence is a new piece of fabric for my stash. I don’t buy by brand name or designer. I rarely buy with a project in mind. I might buy a half yard or it might be three yards. I don’t buy packaged pre-cuts. I want to do my own coordinating! I love multiple fabric quilts, so I “shop” my stash much more than I shop in quilt shops these days!

  15. Good answers, and I can see all kinds of ways of stashing or not stashing and whys and wherefores. I do stash, and I do it for a variety of reasons. One is that just collecting the fabric, finding things I like, gives me happiness. Another is that I’m a scrappy quilter all the way. That requires a lot of different fabrics. After I use most of something, that goes into a tub or drawer to make REAL scrappy quilts. I enjoy quilting that way – finding things that look good together. There are three things in life I need to be happy, other than the usual God and church and family – food, fabric and books. You will see that money isn’t on the list. It’s only required for … food, fabric and books. LOL And the basics, of course. So I stash what makes me happy. Don’t ask how many books are on my Kindle or on DVDs that I took off Kindle. Couldn’t tell ya. My husband only needed one thing to keep him happy – gun stuff. =)

  16. I also have stashes! Note, i use the plural! I have a fabric stash, an embroidery floss stash and a papercrafting (paper, inks, embellishments) stash, and all came about because I have NEVER lived near shops which gandled any of these, especially when I started all three hobbies while living in England, China and Saudi Arabia! Even now, online is my only reliable way of getting materials for my projects as all we have available are chains and waiting for online orders is not only unreliable (you can’t get a true feel for color, feel or even size online) but usually takes way too much time (sometimes projects die in their infancy while awaiting a delivery!)…

    When I start something, my stash is my shop AND my inspiration But I don’t track my use. Perhaps I should but this late in my crafting career, it seems it might take more time away from my projects than I would want.

    BUT I love reading about your stashes and feeling good by proxie!

  17. I am the area coordinator for Binky Patrol and get a phone call about once a month from someone whose mother or grandmother passed away and left behind a stash of fabric or yarn. They don’t sew or quilt and don’t know what to do with it. I have an entire shed and garage full of fabric. we make about 1,000 quilts a year from all the donated fabric and I still have a huge stash of fabric. I have about 50 ladies and another 50 high school students who help me on a regular, monthly basis to sort and cut the fabric into quilt kits. I don’t worry that I won’t use it all up in my lifetime because I know that when I’m gone, another charity group will inherit my stash and put it to good use. For now, I’m having fun with all of the fabric someone else accumulated and I know they had fun accumulating it with great plans to use it too. My kids made sure that I have plans for my stash for when my quilting time on this earth comes to an end 🙂

  18. Okay, after reading the comment from Carol Harper, I must confess. I put all my hobbies in one bucket and called it a stash. I too have many stashes. Whatever I do in life, it’s not small. I jump in with both feet…..gardening, embroidery, cross, sewing, re-purpose get furniture, knitting, etc. I have a lot of stashes….I like stashes????

  19. I used to go into quilt stores, see something I liked and buy it just because. I didn’t have a specific purpose for it, I just liked it! Always joked saying I was buying for retirement. I still buy sometimes but pretty much always online. But after moving this stash a couple of times, I kick and kick and kick myself for buying SO MUCH! This year, I’ve used very little and, at this rate, I’ll never use anywhere near what I have (if I don’t buy anymore). It’s ridiculous! I keep saying I need to just cut a TON of it into pillowcase kits and donate to my church quilt group but so far that hasn’t happened. My stash is in every room in this house–good thing I’m the only one here. 🙁

  20. Boy, this post really got a conversation going! As others have said, I don’t drink or smoke, or gamble, don’t eat out much, can & freeze garden produce, but I sure do enjoy my stash. Some goes back to the late 70s and I still like almost all of it. If I decide I don’t like something any more or will never use it, I set it aside and donate it to the Lutheran ladies who make quilts for missions. They have a lady who can turn the most unlikely fabrics into lovely simple quilts. Most of the quilts I make now days are from stash. Maybe I’ll have to buy a piece for a border or backing and some batting…that’s the beauty of scrappy quilts. Sometimes it’s just fun to dig through the stash and pet the fabric. 🙂 At the price of good quilting fabric now, that stash is an investment that produces a better return than savings in the bank. I really don’t think we need to answer to anyone about why we have our stashes anyway.

  21. When I started quilting in the early 1990s, I enjoyed buying fat quarters just for fun. Over the years I built up quite a sizeable stash. Right from the beginning, I’ve been a scrap quilter, and having huge variety – lots and lots of smaller pieces of fabric – has been an excellent way of achieving loads of variety in my quilts. One Ocean Waves quilt I made several years ago had more than 90 different aqua fabrics in it – all from stash. (Mind you, I only had a 5in charm square of some of those fabrics, and they’ve been used now and not replaced, so I probably couldn’t achieve the same variety from such a narrow colour range today.)

    I stopped buying fabric five or six years ago: I simply don’t feel the need to keep building stash. Instead, I dip into stash – only buying for background or borders if absolutely necessary. I’ve also taken to piecing backings for quilts – they’re pretty ‘funky’, but I think they’re fun and they help to use up stash.

  22. Okay, okay, I guess stash has some value!! I do have a small stash of fabric and yarn, so if I decided today I wanted to knit, crochet or sew something, I could find the materials in my sewing room to make some small project. I do scour the remnant bins in the fabric store, and buy fat quarters occasionally, but I don’t get the same feeling you all do from having it. I do have access to a number of fabric and yarn shops, so having to travel is not an issue.

    Having said that, after reading all the comments, I realized that I have had “stash,” just not the fabric and yarn kind. My passion is china and crystal, which I collected for many years until we downsized several years ago and I just didn’t have room for it all. We don’t entertain much and I rarely had a chance to use it, but I got it all out every few months to wash it and handle it lovingly. I took pleasure in just owning it. It broke my heart to let go of my crystal platters and bowls and cake plates when we had to move to a place where there was no room for it all. My daughters in law weren’t interested. Nobody entertains formally any more and they just had no use for it. Fortunately, most of it went to a young woman that I know will love it as much as I did, and that made it a little easier to let it go. She couldn’t afford to buy it from me, so I gave it to her. I did keep one set of china and my Christmas china, my stemware and a few crystal serving pieces. I had thousands of dollars invested, but it happened over so many years, it didn’t seem like I was being extravagant.

    So I guess I do understand stash, if you get as much pleasure from owning all that fabric and yarn as I did from owning my china and crystal.

    We don’t go out to eat or vacation either, I don’t remember the last time I bought new clothes, and I am normally very thrifty. I like to repurpose things, so a lot of things end up in my sewing room for that. I make purses out of old neckties and blue jeans, pillows out of old sweaters, quilts out of old clothes, curtains out of sheets, but china and crystal were my weakness.

    So I guess I do understand stash … it’s what you’re passionate about.

  23. If you don’t want your quilt to look like preprinted fabric from one collection from one company, it is important you collect fabric from different years and different companies. Fabric has to age to create GREAT work.

    The other reason to share one’s stash on line is so that anyone who has family members or friends who don’t “get it” is they can show our collections to them and they will realize maybe they need more!

  24. I’m coming late to this party. I don’t have a count of my fabric but I do “try” to keep it organized by color or designer or project. I do keep a record of how many hours I sew, hand & machine embroider. I keep that record on the sidebar of my blog so that from year to year I can compare the usage of my machine and such. I also keep a count of the things I can each year & what things we like or what I’ll never can again.

  25. Your reasoning makes sense to you -and that’s enough for me! I don’t keep track – I think the input outpacing the output would be discouraging for me – but it is fun watching other’s ins and outs! And best of all – the finished projects!!!

  26. I’m thankful for my stash. With rising kid expenses (the amount we are spending on my first kids’ braces is similar to purchasing a used car…close to 10K) and decreasing income, my stash purchasing has been non-existent this past year. The only stash that was purchased was purchased with gift cards from Christmas and birthday gifts(about $100.)

    I joke about shopping in my basement. But it helps me to not feel deprived or feel bad that I can no longer spend money on things that bring me pleasure.

    While we live in an urban area, all of our local quilt stores are closing up or for sale. Plus, my day generally goes from 5:30 am to 8pm at night six days out of the week. That doesn’t leave much time for shopping.

  27. Hi Judy – this is a very interesting discussion. In so many ways I am so different from you…..I live in a sizable suburb of a major city, (I wouldn’t know what to do with myself out in the country -LOL).

    I cook as rarely as possible….my husband and go out to eat at least once a week…we have many good restaurants around here. The rest of the meals we eat, we each sort of fend for ourselves because after major gastro surgery 4 years ago, my husband needs a low fiber, high calorie diet, and I need just the opposite! There is no way we can eat the same foods!

    BUT, like you I have a fabric stash and I keep records of a lot of things. My fabric stash (all quilt shop quality quilting cottons) is contained neatly sorted by color in a wire shelving/drawer system from the Container Store. The shelving unit is 8 feet wide, 6 feet high, and 18 inches deep. I don’t let my stash get bigger than that.

    Most of the time I have at least one major quilt under construction and 2 or 3 other smaller projects going at the same time. I use scraps often….my large quilts usually have 2 or 3 main fabrics that I have to shop for, with scraps added for interest.

    I have weeded out fabrics I no longer care for from my stash from time to time. Right now I am very interested in the Modern Quilting movement so I am adding more solids to my stash.

    I have just started a computerized Project Log where I keep photos and notes about each project I am working on. It will help me in the future to be able to remember how I did certain things, as well as a reminder of what I have accomplished, which is easy to forget. I am using Microsoft OneNote for this log.

    Speaking of record keeping, I also have a detailed Christmas spreadsheet I keep in MS Excel. I have a column for each family member where I record what I have purchased for them for Christmas and approximate cost, so that I can keep things relatively equal, especially for the children. My spreadsheet goes back at least 8 years. I guess the girl can retire from accounting, but you can’t get the accounting out of the girl! Claudia W

  28. Judy: I think you made everyone’s day by introducing the topic of “stash”. I have been quilting since the late 60’s. Always loved color and texture. While raising my family and working full time I just didn’t have enough time or energy for quilting. That didn’t mean I didn’t love to look at and fondle fabric and if it was on sale it came home with me. Well, not too surprisingly my stash grew by leaps and bounds. It now takes up the better parts of two bedrooms. I frequent on line sales, estate sales and garage sales. I buy quilt shop quality but rarely pay more than $5 a yard. When I design quilts it always comes from stash, rarely do I have to buy fabric for a project. I even enjoy the constraints of shopping my stash. Fabric is my entertainment and it delights me. In 2014 I joined a moratorium to try to cut back on my purchasing since I already have more than I could use in ten lifetimes. I did pretty well in cutting back until I noticed the put in, take out inventory system you and others were using. Well started it in October, big mistake. For some reason I am developing a misers attitude towards fabric. I now, since October, have increased my stash by 51 yards and that’s after the 29 yards I’ve used since. I won’t stop buying completely but in 2015 going to really try to use more than I buy.

  29. I loved your post about your stash and food storage. I too live in a rural community and always have. There is one little quilt shop 30 miles away but the rest are all a 1 1/2 to 2 hour drive. When I am doing round robins or group projects, I don’t want to run that far to get the fabric piece I need. Also, while I love to order online, it is so hard for me to know if I am getting the right colors online.

    I also highly favor scrap quilts. I am drawn to them and a great stash enables me to create this style of quilts.

    I too am a bargain shopper. If I find a great piece on sale, I am buying it. I always seem to find a project for it later. This style of fabric shopping has saved me much money through the years and I honestly enjoy the creative process of deciding how to use pre-purchased pieces.

    As for the food storage, my religion teaches to have a storage for a rainy day. It gives me comfort to know I can feed my family in a crisis. I rotate my food storage the best I can to keep it fresh and purchase at case lot sales.

  30. Judy, i find your yarn and fabric charts fascinating. wish i could be that organized. i have a huge stash of quilting and weaving fibers and fabrics in our summer home. the trip back and forth really limits what i can take with me so am starting on a second much smaller stash. it’ so frustrating when you know you own the perfect fabric and it’s 5 states away!

  31. A friend of mine used to say that when we bought fabric we were investing in our retirement. Now that I’m retired, what’s my excuse?

    I buy when fabric is on sale, but usually have no idea what I’ll use it for. Or if I see something I really like I get it because it won’t be there later. I have enough to last me years, and have slowed my buying but not stopped completely.

    I’m pretty frugal in other areas (clothes, etc) so I’m entitled to one extravagance!

  32. I *love* that you have a large stash! I am with you on the no-vacation, but have things that make you happy! If I had a spare room, it would be full of stash too! I have a small stash, so I have plenty to make many quilts. I still buy as I ”need” (want) to work on specific quilts, but I know with my stash that I will still be able to make quilts when times are lean.

  33. WOW, I spent a good portion of my morning reading all the replies and I agree with so many of them and of course, you too Judy.

    I have a big stash that has been accumulated over many years from closing quilt shops (4 that I can remember), friends passing on, donations of scraps that some people don’t want and of course buying from LQS when there were big sales. I have also been given gift certificates through the years for birthday and Christmas presents, so I’ve used that for those borders and larger pieces that I didn’t have in my stash. I don’t think I could get up in the morning and face my sewing room if I didn’t have a stash to work from. I too like to look at the colors (mostly arranged by color) and think of the possibilities that I could make from them. Now I am big time into making quilts for Quilts of Valor, and the Honor Flights, so I have a separate area to store those patriotic colors. I don’t worry that I will run out of fabric, but I also like to “make lists” for lots of things, so I do keep track of what comes in and goes out. Mind you, I DID NOT count all the yardage I had in stash when I started this accounting. Just started from zero in both columns and went from there. It’s fun to see how many yards you use each year. This year has not been too great for me, but with lots of tops waiting to be quilted, 2015 will be a banner year, I hope.

    Thanks Judy for throwing out this topic. It’s always fun to hear what others do.

  34. I have a stash of fabric, one of yarn, and one of papercrafts, not to mention the embroidery floss, fimo clay and jewelry supplies! I try to be organized, have a place for everything, and put things away where I can find it. If I feel that my stash is getting out of control I don’t hesitate to give things to others who can use it… for example my church quilt group has been gifted with fabric and the local preschool has gotten bags of yarn left over from projects. My granddaughters have asked to go shopping in my ‘resource center’ for projects, so much so that the dreaded Sunday night request for supplies is not so dreadful any more!

    To the person who buys for projects only and doesn’t have a stash to speak of: if that works, keep on keepin’ on. But when inspiration hits me and I get a flash the last thing I want to do is stand in line to make a purchase. Especially if it’s not on sale! And that does not work if your inspiration comes when the stores are closed, even if they’re relatively close in distance!

    I was recently gifted with a yarn stash that belonged to a woman who has Dementia and no longer knits. I feel sad for her. It has inspired me to actually finish projects. Although I always have multiple things going, I’m finding completed projects very satisfying too.

    Local shops are important, and we should support the economy to the extent we can. We will suddenly find that we couldn’t get anything if we wanted to if all the stores go out of business because no one’s buying.

    My advice if anyone asks me how much stash a person NEEDS is: find your balancing point. Stash enough to keep the creative juices flowing. Buy enough to keep your local merchants in business! Don’t become a hoarder but don’t feel guilty about how much you have unless it’s keeping you from doing the things you want to do. Even my non-sewing aunt has a drawer with some ‘stash’ in it!

  35. This has been a great topic and I have found the comments enlightening to read. Thank you for posing the questions.

    I am going to assume by “stash” we both mean fabric that is not assigned to a project.

    Do I keep an inventory of the stash fabric?
    No. I don’t.
    I have never have had an inventory of the stash. My stash contains not only cottons for quilting but also fabric for both clothing and home decorating projects. I have cottons, wools, twills (both cotton and polyester) challis, silks, vinyls and fleece. It seems like too much work to drag all the fabric out to identify, measure and record it to establish a starting point. So long as I have the space to store the stash, I’m good.

    Why do I have a fabric stash?
    1. I am not that great at estimating what I need of a certain color, and I tend to mess up when cutting so I buy 1 to 2 yards extra for a quilt or home decorating project. I have found that overbuying by a little is better than not having enough fabric. The fabric is always gone when you come back for more.
    Leftover project fabric will be used in other projects – quilts, doll cloths, bags, mending and so forth.
    And yes, I throw away fabric scraps.
    2. I know what colors I want and sometimes these are not the colors that stores are currently selling. It is great if I have the color in my stash.
    3. Some of my stash I inherited from my mother when she passed. She not only passed to me fabric she bought, but also fabric that she inherited from both my grandmothers, my great-grandmother and an aunt. I will work these fabrics into projects where appropriate. When I see these fabrics I think of her and my other relatives.
    4. I see the fabric stash in terms of being a fabric pantry – there are some basic colors I try to keep on hand. These basics are white on white cotton, black tonal cotton, and a gold-yellow tonal cotton. Your basics may differ.
    5. Yes, I buy some fabrics because I love the design and color. I have learned that if I like a fabric, chances are it will be gone when I come back with a project that includes it. Better to get the yardage today.

    Why don’t I buy fabric when I need it?
    The short answer is that I do buy fabric when I need it. But only after I go through the stash and determine that none of it will work. Therefore, if I need sunshine yellow and bluebird blue I’ll go through the stash and find out if I need to buy both, one or none.

    Because I have a stash, I want to see how others store their stash – I want to know how they keep up with what they have and how they remind themselves of the colors and prints that are in their stashes. Do they fold it? How is it displayed to be seen? There are some great ideas out there.

  36. Wow! Great conversation! My thoughts were largely spoken by Emma and Theresa. While I worked, I had little time to sew, but wanted to stay connected to quilting. I bought fabric on sale and always had purposes for it. After I retired and began to quilt in earnest, I realized how much I had accoumulated and how dated it was. What was I thinking? I want new, modern fabric, but money is now tighter, and I want to live in a lighter, more streamlined way. Hence, the destashing of one hundred yards a year.

    Even if I were starting from scratch, though, I would want a bit of fabric on hand as a pallette. I need solids and blenders in various colors. I find working from stash causes me to make rich, interesting “design decisions” that I wouldn’t have if I had planned it all.

  37. Great conversations. I simply gather fabric for those 3 am sewing jags and I find I need a certain something. My stash is open and I can get what I need at any time of the day or night.

    Now that hubby is semi-retired I hear a lot of complaints about my spending time in this room AGAIN. It really is my favorite room in my house.

  38. Well, I have a personal stash even though I work in a big yarn and quilt shop every day!

    I stash because I know there are fabrics that come out that I won’t see again unless I buy them when I see them. The same for yarn. There are many indie-dyed colors that either won’t come around again, or that colorway comes in a bit different each time we get it in the shop. So I get the things I love when I see them, and I am happy to have them reserved in my own stash, waiting for me to use them in the future (or not). 🙂

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