I hoard fabric. Help

I am quite new to quilting and already have an overflowing stash!

I can only suggest that you might put some on eBay. It is a place where I have bought from enemy needing a particular fabric.

Only don't be tempted to spend the money on more fabric! x

Sorry don't know where the rogue word enemy came from!! x

Tote bags are quick to make - gifts for friends or to sell at a sale of work for charity. Last Christmas, everyone had a tote bag with their presents, this year it will be glasses cases!

I'm making this baby quilt (in pastel shades) which is very quick and easy to cut and piece, using only squares and rectangles. You could do each 3-piece square larger than shown here to make a bigger quilt.
And yes, tote bags are always a quick way of using up a fabric stash. I'm planning on making loads for Christmas this year!
Do you use Pinterest? There are hundreds of ideas on there.

I don't just hoard fabric - I have dozens of embroidery silks, bags and bags of knitting yarn including pure wool for knitting and then felting (fulling) which I make into glasses cases. Also I have a stash of merino wool tops which I bought a few years ago intending to 'get into' felting. I took a class, then bought some carders, and found that carding wool brings on what I can only think is an asthma attack (I don't otherwise have asthma ). So that's just sitting there... Oh and then there's all the card making stuff, loads of card blanks, embellishments, paper packs, stamps, punches, ribbons.
I too worry about the family having to sort it all when I go

I hoard seem to be accumulating wool, and I have an unreasonably large stash of beads from making jewellery

DH will have a dickey fit if he ever looks into the dresser cupboards!

I have started sending my stashes out to friends. Let them find space for it! Most have contributed to postal costs. I had a clear out over the winter, but still have a lot left. We have started a knitting and crafting club here, that seems to be dealing with local hoarders. Many xmas presents are on the production line already.

Yes, tote bags, especially since carrier bags are not accepted in many places now. Ones with handles long enough to go on the shoulder are very popular. Cushion covers, bunting? That's very fashionable still.

I was going to make the DGDs dresses with the fabric I bought to make dresses for the DDs.
My yarn stash would go down (have knitted up some of it!) if I didn't keep buying more. The new stuff is so nice and tempting.
China inherited from both sides of the family is another hoard.
Books. Don't mention books.

I recognise all these symptoms! I have no real answers, but I think it's a Magpie mentality!
x

Books! No definitely don't mention them! Thank heavens for Kindle - my book stash now takes up only virtual space ��

Oops, I forgot I can't use Facebook emojis on here

MiL still can't get into two of the bedrooms in her new house. She phoned me the other night, having kindly donated a few elderly tomes to the local library.

I suggested that she donate them all, all 3000 of them (and it took DBH and I several years to get it down to that number). She was getting quite cross with me until I pointed out that she could always borrow them back any time she liked, and that they could house them all for her. I thought it was sheer genius.

Three thousand? Goodness, and I thought I was bad!

I have made inroads into my stash of fabric Stansgran by making quilts for Project Linus and have 21 ready to go. One of the quickest ones I make is very good at using up all those 'bits'.

Cut fabric into 2.5 inch wide strips - they can be any length and a good range of different fabrics works well.
Join all the strips together - you will end up with a VERY long strip (there is no need to iron all those seams)
Find the two ends (don't worry about it being twisted), put RS tog and sew together - this can take quite a while! When you get near to the end it may well be twisted so just cut as near to the end as you can to release the twist.
Repeat until it becomes rectangular - you will know when it is right.
Iron the whole thing and finish in your usual way.

It is difficult to say exactly how much fabric is needed but as a guide if a Jelly Roll was used it makes a single bed size quilt. Linus quilts can be any size which is just as well for me !

I think I will try doing that to see what happens. I generally send my quilts to a hospital shop in Tooting. I use my scraps by sewing them all together at the conclusion of each quilt. Pity you can't post a picture for me so I can see what you mean.

Cut them into strips (3"x1") and peg a rug. If you're using lighter fabrics though best to cut them with pinking shears so they don't fray.

I would also suggest bags and simple cushions to use up stash. Google Linus quilts if you are happy to make for charity. Ask locally if there are any charities that accept quilts or knitted goods.

I have a rather large stash of fabric, wool and other craft items. I am very lucky to have my own dedicated room so it is all stored tidily.

Can one actually have too much stash ?

One can when it starts to spread to other areas of the house, and it eats into precious wardrobe space!

I looked at all of mine and asked myself - honestly, will I use all of this up in my lifetime? And the answer was, No. So half of it has to go. Along with posting it off to friends, I let DD have a rummage every time she comes up to stay, for craft projects with the DGCs.

Yes, I think one can have too much stash, but I find it so hard to get rid of it. I just love knowing that I have so many materials - fabrics, beads, buttons, ribbons, lace, paper flowers, brads, etc. etc. Most things I think of making hardly need a trip to the craft shops - I just have a rummage and nearly always find what I need.
Though last summer I did send my sister home from a visit with a big box of cross-stitch fabrics, some threads, patterns and other paraphernalia for her two granddaughters who love all things sewing. I know I'm never going to do cross-stitch again, I'm so over that! (I kept the majority of the embroidery threads though because I do use them for all sorts of things).

Stansgran - I think you will very quickly get the hang of it and see how it is going !

I do have a list somewhere that I picked up in South Africa many years ago of 72 reasons to buy fabric.
I also remember a friend saying that stamp collectors will get their collections out and just look at them so why can we not just do the same with our fabric !

I made up a poem years ago too which went something like ..............

I've tried to use up all my bits but I would like to know
Why when I thought I'd used them all that they just seem to grow
I've used all this and I've used all that and swopped some with a friend
Drawers are over-stuffed you see - another quilt may be the end

Memory is playing tricks again as there were also a few more verses which have disappeared into the wild blue yonder.

They breed, that's what it is...

A friend of mine started a class where they used embroidery threads on art works, as texture. It was way too expensive for many of her class, so I said I would sort out my silks. Well - I was horrified by how much I had when I sorted them all out together, from various hiding places. I not only had my own, I was presented with my mother's, as she had decamped to tapestry many years ago, and also with an aunt's. I must have thousands of pounds' worth - and that is after having sent a third of it all to my friend, who had enough to supply her whole class with!

I feel the same way AshTree .i love being able to do a quilt without having to shop as I knew that when DH retired I wouldn't have the freedom to go to quilt fairs or browse the materials in john lewis so I bought everything I liked and every shade of thread made by Gutermann before he retired. Now I have more than I suspect I will ever use. I liked the web site for the Linus project Tiggy especially a quilt based on a Chinese door which would use up the japanese fabrics I have. I do them for charity so I have to be interested or I flag. I'm sure Linus won't mind as it's for charity. I also think it's more for the clearer uppers to have to deal with. I don't want them cursing my bones or tossing everything into the skip. I know what you mean Jane Rowena there must have been a small fortune spent on threads and silks.

I love fabric and have a cupboard full , but I always seem to lack the very thing I need for my next project and have to go and buy some more! I also have a couple of those clear ikea storage boxes full of my DH and DS 's old work shirts which are very good quality cotton from the likes of Thomas Pink, which would make up into a lovely quilt ( when I get round to it) I have used some of them for nightdresses for my DGDs. They always have a new nightie when they stay over!

I have a collection of shirts, too! Oh Lord, I had forgotten all about them.