Build a Stash You’ll Work From with These Tips
A Little Planning Will Make Your Fabric Stash More Usable!
Unless you’re one of those rare quilters who only buys fabric for a specific project, you probably have a fabric stash started. It’s hard to resist the urge to bring special finds home to tuck away for future use.
Over time, those extra purchases can really add up, creating a significant fabric stash. While it’s in the quilter DNA to collect and admire fabric, how much of your stash actually gets used? After all, shopping from your stash is a worthy and rewarding goal, regardless of how hard it is to cut up especially beautiful fabric.
Putting quilts together from your stash can sometimes be a challenge. Some quilters tend to collect a lot of one or two colors and few of others. Maybe you prefer lights and darks but have a limited number of medium-range fabrics. Or, you have a lot of medium and large scale prints and few that are small in scale.
Your stash reflects your quilt style, of course, but could it use some expansion in color and style to make it more workable? This might be a good time to do an evaluation and determine what types of fabrics would make it easier to put quilts together from your stash.
Sandi from Piecemeal Quilts has written an excellent article about building a workable stash. It’s also a nice lesson in combining fabrics for beautiful quilts. You’re sure to find a lot of good ideas here to keep in mind as you continue to develop your stash.
A companion article by Jeanne of Grey Cat Quilts expands on the topic. Between the two articles you’ll be able to evaluate your stash and determine what to emphasize in the future.
There’s nothing wrong with falling in love with a fabric and buying some “just because”. However, as you continue collecting it only makes sense to create a nice stash with a balanced variety that you’ll actually work from.
