Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Building Your Fabric Stash

Building your fabric stash can be a daunting and overwhelming task.  I know that we as sewers and quilters have quite the collection of fabrics already but do we have the right type of fabric in our stash that can be easily pulled and used for a particular project?  I wanted to share some simple ideas and questions to ask yourself the next time you are at the fabric shop and wanting to buy some fabric to build up your stash.

What color of fabric do I need or want? 
 
We all have a color we are drawn too, for example, I love anything in the aqua/blue/teal colorway and when I am shopping for fabric I have no problem picking out fabrics in those colors.

 
This is a current picture of my aqua/blue/teal stash overflowing in quite a messy way!
So think about colors you are not drawn to and force yourself to pick up a couple of pieces in those colors each time you are at the fabric shop.  For example, I'm not a big lover of purples and reds so I try to buy at least one piece in those colors each time.  My purple stash is slowly growing and I'm still working on my reds.


Do I have a good collection of all colors of fabric?

If you think about the color wheel, ask yourself if you have a good balance and mix of all colors in the color wheel.  You have your primary and secondary colors.


 These are the basic colors in the color wheel.  There is also the tertiary colors, colors produced by mixing two secondary colors together.


Shopping for all shades of colors can be overwhelming, so one idea is to start with your primary and secondary colors and once you've mastered that then move onto the tertiary colors or of course do it all at one time and little bits at a time.  It takes time building up your stash.  
 
Do I have a good collection of fabrics for background quilt fabric?

Background fabric can either be very simple or more complex.  Most quilt patterns call for yardage for background fabric but if you would like to explore the idea of having more scrappy backgrounds than you will want to build your low/medium volume stash.  



These fabrics can be a little boring and aren't as exciting as your colored fabrics but if you pick up just a couple each time you are fabric shopping then you will be very pleased when it comes time to make that all scrappy quilt including a fun scrappy background! 
 
Now that we have talked about building your fabric stash in color and background fabric lets talk about the print of the fabric. 
 
Do I have the right fabric prints for my stash?

This can be an overwhelming thing when we are at the fabric store or shopping for fabric online and have so many fabrics to choose from.  One thing to think about is this if the fabric has a defined color scheme, that can sometimes be more difficult to use in a quilt or project.  Those fabrics are usually good for a particular quilt or project in mind and not necessarily good for building your stash. 


Although these fabrics are beautiful they aren't my "go to" fabrics when I'm in the middle of a project. 
Try looking for fabrics that have 2-3 shades of color likeness within the print.  For example a red/pink print could be used as a red or pink within my project.  Here are some examples of these type of prints. 


These fabrics can be easily pulled for a project and blend in nicely.   Another thing to think about is the size of print and making sure you have a good mix of small/medium/large print.

How much should I buy of one print for my fabric stash?

I'm sure there are many different opinions and ideas on this but I like to buy 1/2 yard cuts.  I've been doing this for years and like that I can use the fabric a few times before running out and that I don't get tired of using it.  
 
We would love to hear from you and your thoughts and ideas on how you build up your fabric stash! Mine is a work in progress and I loved sharing my thoughts on this subject today!
 
~Jenny~


4 comments:

Paula said...

Lots of gorgeous fabrics there. I find that I tend to focus on collections I love when building my stash. Alison Glass's Sun Prints, Kate Spain and Carolyn Friedlander's fabrics are all big favourites of mine so I often find myself buying fat quarter bundles or half yard bundles of their collections. I also use a lot of Liberty fabrics but a little goes a long way for EPP projects so I've found fabric clubs to be a good way to build up a sash of fat 16ths. The clubs can also be great to build up a basic stash of colour groups and after that I just pick up fabrics here and there as and when I see something that really takes my fancy.

Annie said...

I have never 'built my stash". It grew naturally during the 30 years I've been a quilter. You can't tell someone what fabrics to buy to "build their stash". Each quilter has to buy the fabrics that suit them for whatever project they are currently working on or to put on the shelf just because they saw something they loved. My advise is to make your own choices! Ignore "fabric collections". Don't look at the labels to see who the designer is! Just buy the fabrics that sing to you!

Jodi said...

Thank you fr the guidelines. I have been quilting for over 25 years yet I still feel like my stash is a hot mess and often not very useful. Lately I have been reading post about building stashes and it has helped me a LOT. I tend to impulse purchase multi color and focal fabrics when shopping and rarely buy fabric that is good for multiple uses, thus it sits on my shelf unused. I am now focusing on blenders and filling in my color wheel like you suggested and it is helping a lot. Thank you for the helpful tips.

Jodi said...

Thank you fr the guidelines. I have been quilting for over 25 years yet I still feel like my stash is a hot mess and often not very useful. Lately I have been reading post about building stashes and it has helped me a LOT. I tend to impulse purchase multi color and focal fabrics when shopping and rarely buy fabric that is good for multiple uses, thus it sits on my shelf unused. I am now focusing on blenders and filling in my color wheel like you suggested and it is helping a lot. Thank you for the helpful tips.