Quilt in a Day Forums

I am curious about how much fabric to purchase when buying for a stash. I see fabric I like but I can never decide how much to buy for my small stash. Any suggestions?

Diana

If I really like it and it's a good price, I will buy 2 to 3 yards. But, I find the best stash builders are fat quarters. I walked into a quilt store the other day and they had reproduction fat quarters on sale for a $1 each! Also, charm packs, if they are on sale, are great stash builders. Sometimes you just need a little bit of something.

DuckyLynn - don't ask Georgiapeach that!! I don't think she buys any less than 6 yds. of any fabric ever. I have a very puny stash myself. I buy fabric only when I need it for a specific pattern. If I were to see a focus fabric that I just couldn't live without I would probably buy 5 yds. because I would, more than likely, use it for the border, too. I tend to make large quilts - queen or king size - so I think it would depend on the size quilts you normally make. Most of the folks on this forum are impulse buyers so they can probably answer your question better than me. I'm not being critical of them - I wish I could loosen up and be more like them but I don't see that happenin' any time soon. I'm no fun

This is one area that Cindy and I are different on - I buy 2-3 yards of something I like (sometimes more), just because! I have some fabric that I LOVE and just can't quite part with (because I give most of my quilts away), and I've been forcing myself to start making quilts for DH and me....but they all have the same fabric!!! LOL!!!

Mostly, I agree with Evie - buy fat quarters and charms! They are wonderful.... then you can pick some out, and get a background fabric that ties them (FQ and charms) together!

Cindy

I love buying fat quarters because it makes me feel so rich!
I know that doesn't sound silly to other fat-quarter buyers!

I collect patriotic red/white/blue since my son is in the Army.
I also collect plaids and stripes. A local quilt shop was having an anniversary sale and was giving out door prizes. I was totally shocked when my number was called and I got this huge bundle of plaid fat-quarters!

I also love to collect neutrals & creams because I love the scrappy look. I can use these as a variety of "backgrounds" to create interest in a scrappy quilt.

So how much to buy? After the bills are paid, the food is bought, you have gas in your car, and your weekly church offering is set aside - that's how much fabric to buy - whatever $$$ is leftover! (;-)

I buy fabric that #1 I can afford, and #2 have room for

dawne

I second (third, fourth) the fat quarters. And I can't wait until mid-November cuz my LQS has a sale 40 fats for $25. They pick them and put in a bag and you choose the bag. I did this last year and got some great ones, some not so great but you never know what you'll use in a scrap quilt!

Suz

I had been buying a yard which I find is not usually enough unless you are making scrap quilts. I am going to try to buy at least 3 yards from now on.

I usually buy 3 yards. I might up that to 5 yards because I usually make king size quilts. If I'm doing a scrap quilt 3 usually fine.

Most of the time, I buy fabric from QIAD and I check up on the sale stuff almost every day (I wonder if I can over load my Wish List) and I almost always buy at least 2 yards, unless there's like 3 yards left, then I take it all. Same when I go to Joann or LQS, 2 yards for sure, more if it's for something specific, and if there's a little left on the bolt I finish it off! Anything blue, yellow or floral catches my eye and I seem to gravitate to those colors first. But now with all the Christmas fabric out I've been going crazy with Red and Greens! Only a few times have I ever bought fabric specific to a quilt I wanted to make.

I have found over the years that if I like something I like a LOT of it: which is probably why I have 8 tote boxes full of yarn, over 300 pens, a stash of spiral notebooks, and now a stash of fabric. My sister thinks I'm crazy! Boy are we opposites! But then she doesn't sew... so she just doesn't understand!

Maryq