You know, let’s talk about stuff, as eloquently described by Carlin, but also some baggage stuff. I seem to be preoccupied with stuff these days. the books close at hand are about hoarding, procrastination, organization and vegetarianism–which is essentially how we interact with stuff. There are plenty of ideas about stuff swirling around here for weekly musings for a while.
I might have mentioned before that I joined (maybe even helped to form) StashPact11, a group of folks refraining from purchasing fabric and yarn during 2011 (subject to personally-imposed caveats/exceptions). This seems like a great time to examine stashing behavior more closely and get a better sense of when, why, and how to stash differently.
Shall we begin with why the heck there is a veritable Mt. Scrapmore in my house?
I have piles of my own scraps that I share freely with other patchworkers and then there are piles of scraps shared with me from other sewists that I feel compelled to use up until there’s only fabric dust leftover. The nature of most of my patchwork requires regular infusions of scraps in order to diversify the raw materials, but at some point my piecing fell behind the flow of new materials into the house. I still have a need to engage in tedious piecing of tiny scraps, but my instincts are also wondering about larger-scale work.
Goals: Process scraps on-hand into patchwork and share with other patchworkers at a swifter pace, perhaps looking to eliminate current silo of scraps by year’s end. Get over inflated sense of value of yardage and begin to re-imagine use of stash of fabric yardage as merely gigantic scraps?
Unfortunately, Mt. Scrapmore is only the tip of the gigantic iceberg of fabric stashed in my house. I must read more and think more to formulate an understanding of my relationship with it and begin to change. More navel-gazing to come.
“Get over inflated sense of value of yardage and begin to re-imagine use of stash of fabric yardage as merely gigantic scraps?”
I need to work on this too. I have a very hard time cutting into larger pieces of fabric. I have actually been on a stash diet for several years. Last year I only bought fabric for large quilt backs, a few solids, and stuff at rummage sales (which I consider scraps). What I have learned in the last few years is – it doesn’t take very much fabric to make a quilt. Which means I have enough fabric to make more quilts than I can imagine. I need to work on mixing up the old tastes in fabric with the new. I have also learned that I love making scrap quilts more than anything else, so I think I need to make scraps from my larger pieces and work from that. It still seems like such an arbitrary thing to do though. So I haven’t done it.
I have a hard time using anything period! I hoard my fabric stash and scraps with the “what if I have a project that needs that yardage or scrap and I don’t have it anymore?” mentality. ACK!
I’m glad I’m part of STASHPACT2011. It really is curbing my lust for pretty fabrics. My room is full of them!! I think I’m going to write down the $$ I spend this year on fabric.
What is the point of pretty fabrics when they can be pretty quilts instead?!
This is a topic very close to my heart (though my stash is yarn). I’ve committed to not buy any new yarn for two years from September 2010. This scares some people, but for me it was very necessary. I really don’t like the permission we give one another to just go nuts and build stashes for life. It started to weigh on me and affect how much I enjoyed knitting. Always this ‘get more get more get more’…it started to feel like hoarding. I started to buy yarn just because it was on sale and not because I loved it. The process of only knitting from my stash has taught me a lot so far. In the future, I plan on trying to have only a few projects’ worth of yarn at a time. I don’t suggest this for everyone of course, there are all kinds of degrees of stashes and degrees that people can cope with them. But for me, this has been necessary, and such a lesson in consumerism.
All the best in your own stashbusting!
I’ve been using my stash, and it hasn’t made a dent in the two basketsful and one closet of yarn in my house. Yet…. (and why is this?) it seems that I never have the “right” yarn for the current project I want to make. How is that even possible?
I commend you all. I’m sure I don’t have the long term discipline required to stick to this for a year. Besides, I don’t really consider myself a hardcore stasher. My problem lies with acquiring NEW craft materials for potential new hobbies. Which is just as bad.
I’ve been going through this in a different way recently. I’ve been quilting for 10 years, and I have a lot of fabric that I bought 8-10 years ago that I don’t like anymore. I have a small sewing room stuffed full of fabric, and it’s a mess. So I’ve given myself permission to give the fabric I don’t want away. I just need to find a quilting for charity group to send it to!
I’m a part of the group as well, and I’m focusing primarily on yarn restraint, but I’m hoping to minimize fabric purchases as well. I haven’t been sewing patchwork for too long, and I haven’t accumulated a giant scrap bin. I sometimes wish for more scraps, to make more eclectic pieces, but I need to think about the larger pieces as you’ve described. I’m sure partof the reason I stash is as others have described: I can’t craft during the day job, and purchasing fabric gives me the false feeling of accomplishment. It’s silly, but true. I’ve been trying to actively work on crafts each evening, which has helped.
I’m looking forward to seeing all of the projects you complete with scraps (including larger scraps!) this year.
My yarn stash exploded when the yarn store where I used to work closed. I bought a TON of yarn then. My husband encouraged me saying that I would never be able to buy at the price again. He was right, so, I bought. Then on closing day the owner divided the yarn that was left (mostly fluffy, hairy, novelty stuff that was so popular then) with her workers. So I ended up with even MORE yarn. This was almost 6 years ago. I haven’t bought a lot since then but buying any without a specific purpose to knit right away was silly. I have given away most of the fluffy, hairy, novelty stuff but still have much knitting that I can do.
I even acquired a DMC floss cabinet crammed full of embroidery thread on that closing day.
I have been collecting for a long time. I finished my first quilt in 1976. And, I inherited some of my moms sewing room stuff. I could craft for a very long time without any new stuff. I would need batting and thread but that is about it.
My goal is to reduce the piles enough to regain more usability of what I have.
I didn’t promise to stop buying, but to posting a picture of eveything I buy….I thought by coming clean, to my fellow enablers, whoops I meant quilters, it would help curb my fabric appetite. I usually get someone telling me how lovely the fabric I bought is………so helpful. Oh, I cut into what you call large scraps all the time…that just creates more scraps, large ones I might add, which I swear, reproduce over night.
I’m definitely going to join StashPact11. I’ve just started reading some of the “pacts” and oh my … do they have “my” name on them. I’m trying to “spring clean” and keep walking by my sewing room door as I can’t get in there for the mess … but one thing for sure: no more yarn buying for a while …. there is just NOWHERE to put it.
And then there is that “quilting thing” that keeps calling me … :)
Can I just say that every post about your stash makes me want to come on over and just fondle everything?!? ;)
Wow, I love Jacey’s comment. I totally relate to buying as a way to feel that sense of accomplishment. I like to “virtual window shop” – put things in my shopping cart and close the browser before pressing BUY!
Yes, the ‘stuff’ I’ve always endorsed guilt-free stashing of fabric because it’s more of a collection. Stashing of yarn represents Unfinished Objects, and hence, guilt. I wonder if that’s why my fabric stash is so (comparitively) small?
I have the same problem with leftover yarn especially sock yarn. I have used some of it to repair socks which is my reason (excuse) for keeping it all but it is started to get out of hand. Glad to know I’m not alone.
So scraps must be a ‘thing’ for quilters, huh? Like you feel guilty throwing it out because you know that technically it would be possible to use in some way in the future? Got it. Yeah I can see how Mt Scrapmore took shape!
Hi C,
Been lurking here and at your Flickr page for so long ……in awe of your skill and at how much you manage to get done. My daughter and I have just been having a similar conversation about our yarn stashes, with very little resolution! However I did remember someone once telling me(probably because I’m a librarian and we discuss books a lot!) that people buy a book thinking that they are buying the time to read it. Surely yarn and fabric fulfill the same function?
Regards
Lynne – in a UK house with 2,000 books and more yarn and fabric than I care to admit!
Why is it a problem to have a stash?
I’m going through my stash too, both yarn and fabric. My goal for this year is to take stock of what I have, reorganize it in a way that makes sense to me, and, most importantly, start using it. At the start of the new year, I decided that I would do something crafty every day. Sometimes it’s just ironing and folding, or a few rows of a project. So even if I can’t make a sweater a week, I can still feel good about doing something with the things I love, and try to make some of the things I was dreaming of when I bought them a reality.
Ooh, I could tell when I read this post that I must follow you. I am a lover of scrap-using, and I do ponder how it fits in with this buying of yardage. Inspired.