My Rules For Buying Fabric - Managing a Stash

I think I may be a fabric-oholic. That doesn't want to be in recovery! But I do need to MANAGE my addiction. It would be waaay easy to let my stash get out of control. I do NOT need to appear on the show "Hoarders" people.

((I found some awesome pics of ORGANIZED fabric stashes at THIS VINTAGE POST over on Domestic Diva))

So I recently came up with a few simple rules to keep my fabric stash under control. Pretty much all fabrics *should* follow rule #1, and then must follow either rule #2 or rule #3.

1) Don't buy something just because it's on sale.

By all means I am going to peruse the bargain sections of the stores I frequent. But when I am tempted to buy a bunch of stuff just because it is a great deal -- I must STOP! and think. I look at the regular price. If I wouldn't be willing to spend that amount on it, I shouldn't buy it just because it is cheap now. It's sometimes so tempting to grab something and think, "Oh that's sorta cute and wow just $1.50 a yard I can buy a ton of it!" -- because if I don't LOVE it, chances are it will just take up space in my sewing room, never to be used, and not especially admired. I'd rather save that few bucks from the clearance stuff and be willing to pay a little extra for a fabric I drool to play with.

2) Only buy something for the stash, if something else comes OUT of the stash.

I am a lucky gal that I have a room, all of my own, in our house, that is MY SEWING ROOM. It's a small room, and despite it's usual disarray, I relax just walking in the door. Anyway, I have a nice bit of space to store my fabric. But it would be alarmingly easy to let the fabric stash just take over. So - if I want to buy something to add to the stash, a different fabric has to come OUT of the stash. That means either A) make something with something or B) give some fabric away.

Fabrics in my stash that I probably won't give away:

Heather Ross Far Far Away. I WILL make something from this one day!

Let's Enjoy Britain by Kokka (heck pretty much any Kokka fabrics you would have to wretch from my poor withered hands on my deathbed to get it away from me.)

Michael Miller Tweet. Too cute.

Liberty of London Cotton Lawn "Yoshie" - Fabric to swoon over.

(The above fabrics were purchased from SomeArtFabric, Whipstitch Fabrics, and Purl Soho. All fabric purveyors worth getting to know, y'all.)

3) Only buy something if you have plans to make something with it right away.

This is how I cheat myself on rule #2. If the fabric I buy is used right away, then it never becomes part of the "stash" and therefore, doesn't need something to come out in order to come home with me! But I have to be honest about this. If I am invoking rule #3, it really does have to be used right away to make an actual project I have planned.

So there you go - the rules! I made TWO fabric purchases last week using the rules, and my next post will be about how I applied them to manage my stash.

Any of you have rules for fabric stashing? I would love to hear them.

Later skaters,

Janimal

http://todayscreativeblog.net/get-your-craft-on-29/