Friday 26 September 2014

A is for...

N.B.  This post is not to criticise anyone, we all do things our own way and if you're happy I'm happy.  This post is not making light of people with genuine problems.  This photo is not to brag!  If I offend anyone, I'm sorry, I'm really not trying to.  



I have read quite a few blog posts and articles recently regarding one thing.  Stash.  The one thing these posts all had in common was to tell you how to buy fabric, in order to not overbuy and to keep your stash basic and workable.  Lots of advice, lots of what not to do etc.  All seeming to concentrate on encouraging you NOT to buy fabric.  

I've also seen lots of "have you got a problem" and "key symptoms to look for" and "if you do half or more of these things then you have a problem".  And here is where my gripe lies...

To begin with, I read these posts and thought "oh.  That sounds familiar."  Then it was "yes, I do that too".  Then it became "Oh dear, that does sound like me."  Eventually it was "Oh wow.  You're right.  I do have a problem."  

Now this has been on my mind now for quite a while.  We've all done the "fabric diet".  We've all tried the "not buying for 6 months" etc.  And lots of us have come out and declared 
I am a Fabric Addict.

Now if this is you, and you're happy with all this, thats fine with me.  I have no problem with anyone else.  You do whats good for you.  I want to do whats good for me.  And thats what this post is about.  I have a declaration for you.  
I may or may not be a Fabric Addict.  But either way,
I DONT CARE!

You know what?  No bills go unpaid, nobody goes hungry, no overdraft gets touched.  So, thank you, but no thank you, I dont have a problem.  

Its FUN to buy fabric.  

There's nothing wrong with the fact that IT MAKES ME HAPPY.  I do believe from reading the blogs I follow that I'm not alone here.  Life can be lonely, life can be stressful, or even just repetitive!
There is nothing wrong with looking forward to the post arriving and anticipating your purchase.  There's nothing wrong with a little cheer me up shopping.  People do it all the time.  Cake.  Wine.  Shoes!  

The popular online retailers who offer enticing discounts all the time are AWESOME because the regularity of their discounts dont force me to spend more all the time, they allow me to relax in the knowledge that I dont need to shop every time as there will be another one. 

There's nothing wrong with being able to recognise a print and know what its called and who designed it.  I like to think of it as a compliment to the designer that I know their name and even more so if I can spot their style.  Admittedly now I have Molly Moo my skills in this area have dissipated, but I still see nothing wrong with designer appreciation.  Regularly checking out what's new is fun.  How many read fashion mags to see what the latest trends will be?  Do these same people feel they have to have a brand new wardrobe every season?!  (seriously, do they?  I wouldnt know, I sit in pjs as much as decently possible.)  

When people blog and Instagram what they've bought, its fun to see what others are getting, and the pictures are pretty....  And so what if every now and again you get a bit of stash envy.  We're grown ups, arent we?  We know that we dont HAVE to have the same things.  Who amongst us wasn't taught that as a child?  "Just because they've got it doesnt mean you have to."  
I remember crying my eyes out to mum and dad because everyone one in my class had something and I didnt.  For the first and only time they caved and got me one too.  If only I'd listened to them I could have proudly stood up today and said "you know when you all looked like twats in shell suits?  I never wore one!"  But I cant...... D'oh!

So.  I'm sick and tired of hiding fabric.  I'm sick and tired of feeling like I should be ashamed of what I've got.  Good god, its fabric  -  its stuff that will be admired as it is, then used and loved and admired even more as warmth, as gifts, as homewares.  Its not drugs!  Jeez.  Anyone would think I bought hardcore porn the way I've been sneaking about and hiding it and fibbing about what's in the mail.  ITS JUST FABRIC.  





This is my stash.  And in the interest of honesty and my whole "no more shame" ethos, there are another 2 boxes in storage, along with a shoebox of japanese kawaii, and a shoebox of "my precious" Melody Miller, and a small box of equally precious Denyse Schmidt.  There are also some 1930s reproduction prints, and a bundle of solids on the table with my sewing machine, and 4 prints from Far, Far Away in a drawer.  Oh and my scraps.  I put my scraps in ziplock bags and we used them as packing material around breakables!  

Jeez, even as I sit with the photo uploaded I'm itching to tell you that barely 10% of all that was bought at full retail price.  I shop sales and special offers.  I'm canny.  And that's 5 years of quilting worth.  But there I go again, apologising for having it, feeling guilty I've got it, wanting to try and justify it, worrying you'll think less of me.  Why?!  Because it is more than I could feasably use in a year?  So what!  No more!  Publish and be damned....

Do, please do come out and join me.  Blog your stash, all of it, and be chuffed you have it!  Blog the last thing you bought, and dont feel you need to justify why you deserve or need it!!!  If I manage to get a space to do so, its going out on shelves where it can be seen until its used.

Lets make the A stand for Aficionado not Addict!





40 comments:

  1. I don't think that this is too much, or that it is a very huge stash.
    We need the fabrics to create quilts, and if you want to make colorful quilts with a lot of different fabrics, you need a good variety. No painter has to apologise for his paints. No woodworker feels guilty because of his stash of different woods.
    And if you don't have a LQS near you, and have to wait several weeks for every online order to arrive, it's important to have enough materials at home when the creative bug bites!
    http://www.steffiscandyquilts.blogspot.de/2013/08/my-stash.html
    Here is a post about my stash. It's from last year, but it hasn't changed a lot. :-)

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  2. Great post! When I look at your quilting stash, I only see inspiration. The more stash you have, the more quilts you can make and blog about--all the better for us out here in Blogland!

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  3. Priceless! I must get gordon to read this - he clearly thinks I have a problem!

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  4. Well said! You could be addicted to much worse, and buying fabric is cheaper than paying for therapy!! Don't feel guilty! Jxo

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  5. I am with you. I love my stash and I am damn proud of it!

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  6. I am so totally with you. And I love your fabric!

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  7. Great post. I love my stash and am thrilled every time I am able to create something without heading to the store. I figure that my fabric shopping is included in my therapy and entertainment budget. Oh and gifts and charitable contributions too.

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  8. I love my stash too, and when I look at it, and try to fit yet more in my over stuffed drawers I don't think I have too much. I often think there's not enough, and I dream of a time I can order cuts bigger than FQs.

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  9. Go you!!
    And let's face it, no matter how big the stash, you never have just the right fabric for your project.x

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  10. Good for you, Chicken!! I hope you realise that when I tease you over the size of your stash it's not because I'm jealous or think you have a problem but because you're my mate and that's what we do! *g* As you know I'm not much of a fabric shopper (feel free to laugh at my meagre stash! Heh) so have my own issues with the "correct way to aquire stash" bollocks. But, yeah, you gaun yersel' - an out and proud HAPPY stash addict. Why the fuck not?! X

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  11. Never feel guilty to have the materials to create when you feel like it. My stash is small(ish), not organised (at all), and I am only starting to find out about designer collections, but I wouldn't quilt or sew without it!

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  12. I hate not having the right fsbric on hand when I decide I need to sew something. I have to have a good stash for that. I am on a fabric diet, sort of this year. But for financial and physical space reasons. I wish I could collect more. I love having it all.

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  13. You know I'm totally with you here! I shop sales and coupons and deals. Not all the time, although if there's something I particularly need to finish a project I'll go out and buy it. I've never thought I had a problem, but then I've got no-one I have to justify my fabric spend to, and the only person that could starve or go destitute is me, and I think I'm safe for now. Especially as you know how well stocked my kitchen is too ;o)

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  14. Ha! You go girl. My stash buying has changed over the years. And I am much more selective nowadays. But my stash makes me happy. In fact I was worrying that it was getting a bit low. I'll blog about it soon. Aficionado...I like that!

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  15. So well said! Like you I also mostly shop the sales, discounts etc. And you know what, I rarely go out, hardly drink at all, don't smoke or gamble and am not excessive in clothes or shoe buying, so I think there could be worse indulgences. It's also really nice to decide to make something and to be able to do it now - not a week or two later when I've been able to go fabric shopping!

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  16. Well said....coupons be damned!! unless you have one😉

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  17. So brilliant!! I'm totally with you, if I don't have the money I just don't buy anything but fabric is how I treat myself and I don't have a problem with it either!! I am jealous of how beautifully organised your stash is! :)

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  18. I love my stash. And for the record, I have approximately twenty large bins of fabric. I love to buy it and use it. I never toss my scraps until they are too small to use. I do not consider myself a fabric hoarder, close but the difference to me is if someone needs a fabric and I have it, I will give it to them. I use a lot of fabric in my classes that I teach. Also about half of what I sew I give away. I just love to collect fabric and sew. I don't do drugs, I don't smoke...this is what I do.

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  19. Yay! Thank you for speaking for the rest of us who are unabashedly in love with our stash! I have a huge stash and I know exactly what I have and there is nothing more fun or rewarding that wanting to start a new project and being able to shop from my stash and have everything I need at hand. I love "stalking" my favorite designers and can easily identify collections and styles of many, many of them...I am tired of being made fun of for having that knowledge! Even in quilt stores, clerks look at me as if I am weird because I know the names of collections or can identify who the designer is of a fabric without looking at the end of the bolt. So yes, to all you have said. I thiink I will need to blog about my stash soon!!!

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  20. Brilliant argument Sarah, well done!!!! Only oldest daughter thinks I may have too much, but that because she now has to give me a days warning if she's coming home so I can clear a path to her bed!

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  21. You know I'm with you on this one! I don't drink alcohol, I don't smoke, I rarely go out, fabric is the one thing I love to indulge in and there's absolutely no harm in it....unless of course someone tries to remove fabric from my stash then there's definitely harm ;)

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  22. Great post! The pleasure I get from sewing and looking at my stash I think saves my sanity and I'm a great believer of saving so that when I see a line of fabric I really want or sale offer I have a little fabric fund that I can dip into and enjoy it!
    Although I do agree with Lucy, I very jealous of how well you organise your fabric! I start with the best intentions then have a massive fabric pull and then can't get it looking neat again!!!

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  23. Quite right. Putting together a beautiful stash is doing nothing other than making you happy. That's a good thing not something to feel bad about. Mine is pretty weeny in comparison but I don't ever feel guilty about it..........except for the clutter! Juliex

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  24. haha, great post. I think you need to have a good size stash in order to be able to make what you want to when you want to. My stash has decreased a bit in size in the last few years, mainly because of financial reasons but I would only love to be able to shop a bit more than I do.

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  25. Your stash looks lovely! What I especially like about it is how organized you have it. I dream of that for my pretties.

    I have a snippet from a shop newsletter from years ago hanging up in my sewing room. I wish I could quote it exactly... It talks about "Inadequate Quilter vs Fabric Collector". How nobody bats an eye when somebody displays their collection of xxx object, but people can be judgemental over the size of people's stashes. Instead of calling it a stash, call it a collection!! =)

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  26. I agree, it's not like you're hiding an addictive substance use. Sewing is your hobby and I don't see how buying fabric is any different from a fisherman buying rods, reels and flies, an artist buying paper, paint and brushes, or a woodturner buying wood and tools. It's not like you've taken up gambling as a hobby *hopes you haven't* You have the stash that suits you and how you sew and if buying gorgeous fabric (that you love) helps you feel better when life is rubbish then I don't see anything wrong with that, as long as you feel okay about it.

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  27. This was so profound to me that I quoted you on MY blog! Thank you for being an enabler in the MOST positive way!!!!!

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  28. LOL, very funny Sarah! And of course as a facilitator, I mean *ahem* fabric shop owner, I completely agree with you!!

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  29. Go for it! What else are you going to spend your 'treat' money on? Better that someone I know who feels compelled to buy virtually every Apple product which comes on the market!

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  30. This post made me laugh. Amen sister!

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  31. Brilliant post - I agree entirely. This year I've worked a lot from my stash - maternity pay doesn't seem to cut it. But that means that once I get back to work, I can start to rebuild my stash! I can't wait! Nothing beats pretty fabric and pretty fabric shopping!

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  32. I love my stash too, I actually recently went from failing the fabric diet and feeling bad about spending to thinking that actually, it's not that big and I could totally do with more. I even bought whilst I was on holiday, specifically scheduling in quilt shop visits. Honestly though I need to start paying off some debt faster (oh and apparently I need all new tyres despite only recently paying out for them because my wheels are all bent a fraction, arrgghh) instead of using all of my disposable income so I do have to be reasonably careful so I look out for the offers too. Your stash is so pretty and well organised :)

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  33. I love my stash, even if it groans a little, I love being able to see something and make it now! And my stash is a 25 year study in fabric aficianado, so I use it, share it and enjoy it. Not starved yet, never not paid the bills.

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  34. I loved reading this. Anyone would think buying fabric was equivalent to snorting Columbian Marching Powder up your nose! And I can't wait for the next episode of Breaking Bad - " Walter White and Jesse learnt to Log Cabin". Good for you and happy stashing everyone.

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  35. What a gorgeous stash and so well organised! Yes, that is what I am jaleous of: people having their fabrics nicely sorted in a box while I have a huge pile unfolded (but just used) fabrics. So keep shopping and make something nice or just adore it :)

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  36. I was in a local store recently and a bus had dropped off some quilters to shop for fabric. As one lady (probably in her 60's) was checking out, she told her companion that her sister-in-law didn't understand her "stash." The lady hesitated a moment and said that this same sister-in-law didn't hesitate to put a quarter in every slot machine she passed in Las Vegas and at least she had something to show for her fabric purchases. Exactly your point. We all have our "it" categories = where we spend time and money on something that isn't really necessary but it's a form of therapy for us. My husband and son are proud of my 3 years of quilting and don't hesitate to ask (in advance) for baby quilts for friends or some other type of quilty gift. As long as the bills are paid and the family is fed - go for it!

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  37. This is brilliant Sarah! Bravo to you for saying it with such irony and humor!
    PS - I had to look up what a shell suit was... LOL

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