If you've followed my blog for any length of time, then you know that I jumped into quilting without a whole lot of forethought or knowledge. I'm that kind of person most of the time in life, so it's not terribly surprising, but there's a few stash-building things that I wish I could go back in time and tell New-Quilter-Me that I thought I'd share with you guys, in case some of you are new to quilting, or for those of you who are seasoned pros, it might give you a good laugh :)
1. Don't buy that fabric just because it's on sale.
Just because it's a good deal, doesn't mean it's a great fabric. Doesn't mean you need 8 yards of it, doesn't mean you should even buy a half-yard of it! Only buy what you love, even if it's not on sale. Fabric you love will get used. Fabric you bought on sale because it was a good deal will wind up still in your stash years later when you move and you'll be embarrassed/horrified/baffled you even own it.
2. Don't buy fabric just because it's the "cool" fabric at the moment.
The only tastemaker in your sewing room is
you. Much like other areas of sewing, beauty is in the eye of the beholder with your stash. If it's a fabric you're passionate about and love, you will find the right project for it. If it's the "hot" fabric of the moment and you feel like you're supposed to buy it, chances are it's going to land in the destash or donate pile at some point in your sewing life.
3. Variety is the spice of life - and stashing!
Variety is important in a lot of different ways when it comes to stashing, but most especially it's important when it comes to value, themes, and in some ways scale. Value is the relative lightness or darkness of a fabric, and is often easiest to see in a photograph when the color is removed, and the photograph becomes simply black and white. It's important to have fabrics of different values, as it's one of the easiest ways to create contrast in your quilt blocks. Themes are important too. Unless you have an unhealthy addiction to polka dots and want to make all polka dot fabric quilts, you want to have a variety of themes or styles in your fabric stash. That might mean some stripes, some florals, some text fabrics, whatever - just a variety. As for scale, that's somewhat subjective. Take my stash, for example. I'd wager to guess at least 75% of my fabrics are small scale, meaning the print is quite small. Small scale prints are great for quilt blocks, because even in small quilt blocks, you don't "lose" the print. Often with larger scale fabrics, if you chop them up into pieces to make a block, you "lose" the print. So with scale, some variety is good, but it's nowhere near as necessary as with theme/style and value.
Bonus: Enjoy the rainbow...not just one color!
Make sure to share the love as you're stashing - don't just buy eleventy million blue fabrics. Because you will never sew through all of them. Never.
What do you wish you could go back in time to tell New-Quilter-You? Or what do you like to tell your friends who are new to quilting? Happy Monday everyone :)
