Tag Archives: de-stash

All the Fabric!

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I spoke to a local quilt guild this past week about the topic below and referred them to my blog instead of giving a handout. So here’s the same information for you, with about 1/3 of the quilts I showed.

Many of my quilty friends are over 50 and determined to use all the fabric they have in stash. For most of us, there are a good number of large cuts in addition to mountains of scraps, a few UFOs (unfinished objects), some orphan blocks, and a few special fabrics we just had to have. How will we ever use it all? Here are a few ideas.

Let’s start with those beautiful fabrics you just couldn’t resist. My favorite patterns for these are the BQ patterns from Maple Island Quilts. Here are some of mine.

Patter is BQ2, available here

This pattern is BQ4 from Maple Island Quilts

Most of us also have big (a yard or more) cuts of fabric that aren’t focus fabrics. The good news is that many modern quilt patterns have big designs. That means they are quick to make, dramatic in appearance, and use up those big cuts as well as some smaller ones.

Curious By Nature is a free pattern available on the Free Spirit site, here.

There are many chandelier quilt patterns out there, but this one was free on the Free Spirit website, here

This is my version of the Bloem pattern by Libs Elliott.

This is derived from a design by Cheryl Arkison; you can look for more ideas in her books

Patterns by Eudaimonia Studio often use large pieces and are fairly easy to piece

Henry’s Humongous Hexagons, a pattern by Karl Hentsch

This is from the pattern “Contrasting” by Zen Chic; there are a number of Zen Chic patterns that use large cuts of fabric

I liked this pattern by Brigitte Heitland of Zen Chic so much that I made it twice

You can also use up yardage with books for “3 yard quilts”, like this one. Just pick three one-yard cuts from your stash and you’re ready to go! Then go back to your stash later and pull a fabric for a border if you want a larger quilt.

This 3 yard quilt pattern, written by me, is available from Studio Stitch

And then there are the collections, often of coordinated fabrics from the same line. There are many fat quarter patterns that can make good use of these. And some of the best fat quarter patterns are the oldies, Turning Twenty and Turning Twenty Again. Here are a couple I made years ago from those patterns.

The quilt is straight; my picture is not!
Charley Harper quilt using the Turning Twenty Again pattern
Bermuda Sunrise quilt pattern

This pattern is Bermuda Sunrise by Linda Hahn. It plays well with fat quarters. Ignore my paper tags, please!

Triangles at Play is a quick and easy pattern by Sarah Ruiz

The three quilts above are from the book Cozy Modern Quilts by Kim Schaefer. It’s an old book, so try first to get it through AbeBooks or a similar used book source. I found it there recently for under $7 including shipping–less than the cost of a single quilt pattern!

This and other patterns by Sassafras Lane are surprisingly easy and are good for using fabric collections

There are many patterns for scraps. In addition to the printed patterns available (and probably already in your pattern stash) there are many free patterns online. Quiltdom is one site with scrap patterns ranging from easy to challenging. And it links to other sites, so you could spend all day scrolling instead of sewing…

Here are a couple of my favorite scrap quilts. I choose simple blocks so I can use them as leaders-and-enders while making other projects, and often I have a quilt made before I know it. You don’t need a pattern for these–just copy them!

And then the orphan blocks and UFOs! Cut them up and use them to make improvised quilts. Be sure to have an interesting quilting pattern if you have a lot of negative space.

Aha! Orphan blocks can be cut up to make new blocks, as I did with my Giant Circles quilt, here

There are lots more fun patterns out there. Stick to the ones that look easy and your stash will diminish more quickly–if that’s your goal.

 

KonMari in the Studio

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Because I had seen so many reviews of it, I recently read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. It is very Japanese in character: there is a right way to do everything, and KonMarifollowing the rules brings good fortune. I’m a little surprised at how much it has caught on in the West. The author, Marie Kondo, calls her method for “tidying” KonMari, a combination of her names.

I was unexpectedly convinced by reading her book that I can, indeed, get rid of a lot of my “stuff” and be happier for it!  And I thought I’d start in my studio, since that won’t involve anybody but myself.

My studio is pretty neat, with almost everything stored away.  And when I see pictures of other people’s studios, I realize that my stash is minimal by many standards!

Lots of stash–how much fits my current needs?
Lots of fabric–does it fit my needs now?

KonMari recommends dealing with things by category, and in a strict order. There are no categories for a quilt studio, so I made my own categories and ordered them like this:
1. Fabric
2. Tools, such as rulers and scissors
3. Notions, such as thread and ric-rac
4. Published materials, such as books and patterns
5. Sewing and serging machines
6. Everything else

The method requires gathering all items of a particular category in one place. ALL must come out of their drawers, boxes, etc. Ms. Kondo says to pile it all on the floor, but you know THAT’s not happening!

studio organization, stash

Some of the stash laid out on tables–and some bins on the floor, too

The next step is to handle each piece and decide whether it gives me joy. If it does, it stays. If not, it GOES!

studio organization, stash managemengt

The stash from another angle

This may, at first, seem like a waste. After all, I paid for that fabric, washed, ironed, and stored it. But after reading the book, I believe the true waste is being weighed down by things I’m hoarding because I “might need them” or “intend to use them” in the mythical “some day”.  And really, do I want to work for hours on a quilt made with fabric I don’t love?

I’ll let you know how this first step turns out 🙂  How are you managing your stash?

Out With the Plaid!

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Several of the blogs I read have been focused lately on purging unwanted fabrics from the stash.  It sounds like a good idea. Mind you, I still think it’s important to have a good stash. But at this point it should be a little more curated than it is!

fabric stash

Lots of stash–how much fits my current needs?

We’ve all got fabric we don’t want. Maybe it was a gift, maybe we’ve just moved past the aesthetic phase in which we bought it, maybe we ordered online and it wasn’t quite what we expected. Whatever. It’s taking up space and heaping on guilt: maybe we’ll need it some day: waste not, want not and all that 😦

There are several things to do with unwanted fabric, including:

  • Donate the fabric
  • Make donation quilts
  • Cut it up small enough to use for its color only
  • Add some fabrics you like better to make another quilt
  • Make something like wrapped clothesline bowls where the fabric will look different
  • Use it for quilt backs
  • One woman even tore her unwanted fabric into strips and made rag rugs.  Yikes!

So here’s my first de-stash: Fabrics that don’t have a nice “hand”, or feel. Maybe they’re cheaply made, but maybe not. Anyway they don’t feel good so I don’t want to work with them.

fabric

My first de-stash pile

And here’s my second de-stash: Plaids. I’ve made multiple plaid quilts and enjoyed them, but enough is enough already!  The plaids will go to my sewing buddies if they want them; otherwise I’ll donate them.

fabric

These plaids have to GO!

So now I’ve put the fabric that doesn’t feel good, and some of the plaids, into my “bad fabric” box to use for tearing strips to tie up my tomatoes, cut into “bridges” for continuous piecing, etc

The discard bin

The discard bin

And what about you? Any plans to de-stash? How?