Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Show Your Sewing Space and Stash

A few weeks ago, when my sewing room was actually clean, I took a few pictures of my sewing room. This coincided with Sew Mama Sew's Show Your Stash, so I figured I would post my answers to the questions along with the pictures of my room. Here is my sewing room (the pics on flickr are annotated): Sewing Room Here are my stash answers... What do you usually sew? I almost always sew quilts, but occasionally I will also sew clothing for my daughters. When you shop for fabric, what size cuts do you usually buy? (i.e. If you see something beautiful, but you don’t have a use for it right away, how much do you buy?) I used to buy a lot of fat quarters, but now the smallest I will buy is 1/2 yard cuts of prints, and 1-2 yards of solids. With fat quarters, I often find that I run out of a favorite print much too quickly. Do you buy on impulse or do you go out looking for something you need? Both. I build my stash on impulse, then fill in the holes with desperately needed solids, tonal fabrics, or monochromatic prints. Are you a pre-washer? If you are, do you wash your fabric before you need it, or only when you’re ready to use it? I always pre-wash red prints and solids. I have had solid fabric bleed on me more than once, and it just isn't worth the risk to me. With prints, I think there is a little more leeway, but I still try to prewash. Do you iron it? Yes. How can people not iron??? How do you sort it? (color, print size, collection, etc.) Color, but also by size. I keep larger cuts of prints in a separate stack. I also separate out non-cotton fabrics, such as linen cotton blends and upholstery weight fabrics. Do you have any special folding techniques? No, I prefer not to have raw edges sticking out. How do you store your fabric? On a shelf. What tips do you have for building up a well-rounded stash? Buy the colors that you aren't drawn too. Keeping my stash sorted by color allows me to instantly know what colors I need. Also, don't buy fabric that you aren't in love with. Because of my impatience I have spent way too much money on fabric from JoAnns that I don't even really like. I wish I had bought quality fabric online, and just waited for it to come in. When do you say enough is enough? When my paypal is empty :-( What are some of your favorite stash-busting projects? Scrappy quilts. Do you have a current favorite print in your stash? I am really obsessed with early Amy Butler right now, especially Belle and Lotus lines. What’s your definition of the perfect stash? Bigger!!!

7 comments:

Alissa said...

Such a nice sewing room & stash!!

Doris said...

Kristen, I would give my left leg for those windows! Well, okay, maybe a couple of toes...

Lovely room and so tidy! I received your fat quarters the other day--LOVE 'EM! The large floral is the same print as my toll bag that I take to retreats, etc...I've never seen it anywhere but on my bag!

Doris said...

That was supposed to read "tote" bag. I do not know what a toll bag is.

Anonymous said...

This is wonderful and what a lovely room. I'm going to do this on my blog.

If you ever want to do a scrap exchange I have lots of Amy Butler, especially early.

beanie g said...

Hey, Kristen, did you get the scraps I sent to you? Drop me an email when you can eileen0313(at)comcast(dot)net.

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness I am drooling over your sewing room! Lucky girl! :)

Cristin said...

Look at all that natural light, I love it! I have just a corner of our 2nd bedroom as my "sewing room."

And I agree! The only way to improve a fabric stash - make it BIGGER :-)