I’ve been sewing for over 50 years and have accumulated a very large stash of fabric, notions, patterns, sewing books, etc. Some of it I’ve bought and some was given to me by friends.
These four shelves contain 371 yards of fabric. Last year I went through all of it and made entries for each piece, noting yardage, width and fiber type, along with a small swatch. I keep these pages in a binder and have found them very helpful when I want to sew something.
Last year I made a kitchen smock, a couple of tote bags, a hat and apron for GD1’s school project and a small backpack. This reduced my original yardage total but then I added some pieces from fabric that is stored elsewhere. There are several pieces of fabric on the other side of the closet as well as a large box in another room. There are also a few boxes stored in the garage. And a few boxes here and there with fabric meant for doll clothes. As space is available in the primary closet, I will bring in fabric from these other areas and add it to my binder.
By the way, the bolt of striped fabric is not included in my total count. It was propped up in a corner of the sewing room when I did the original count and was only moved into the closet recently. One of these days I will unroll it and measure the amount so that I can add it to the binder.
My goal when I retired two years ago (has it really been that long?) was to whittle this collection down to just about nothing in five years. I haven’t made much of a dent yet but I’m still determined to try. I thought that, last year when I looked at each piece, I would be able to pull quite a bit for giving away, either to our local hospital thrift shop or on Freecycle. But I found it very hard to let go. I ended up giving 3 or 4 pieces to the shop and a jar of buttons to someone on Freecycle.
For the last 15 years, most of my sewing has been for quilts and, in addition to all this fashion fabric, I have a large collection of quilt fabric – all 100% cotton of course. I decided not to spend time measuring and swatching the quilt fabric, since a lot of it is on open shelves and I can easily see what I have. Instead, I will count it as a I use it. I don’t add the amount to my “used” total until I actually finish the quilt. So in 2009, even though I went through about 30 yards of quilt fabric, I didn’t actually “use” any. That’s going to change this year as I finish up all those quilts I started last year. (Sure hope I don’t have to eat those words!)
