Saturday, April 19, 2008

Stash and the Spring Shift

I hope Carolyn doesn't mind if I use her latest post to riff on the topic of stash. I don't think she will, as she's a generous soul and shares in so many ways with all of us in Sewing Blog Land. Anyway, I figure it would only give her credit for the inspiration...also Marji, who's been struggling with this issue lately. I admit, sometimes I worry about this a little too, especially since DF (the Minimalist) and I plan to combine households in the near future. He's going to be shocked when he realizes exactly how much stuff I have...and he thinks 1700 SF will work? Umm, no. I think not. I don't require a ginormous house, but I don't like being cramped either.

Anyway, to the topic of stash...

I know how I am. If I cleared all my stash out, I'd just start all over again. It's my nature. I do better having a supply on hand. What I really need to work on is doing actual instead of virtual sewing. However, no guilt! It's counterproductive. I'd prefer to focus on moving forward instead of the shortcomings of the past.

I'm in a bit of a spring cleaning mood today. I'm doing some fabric shifting. Most of my fabric is stored in the sewing room but there's some overflow into the guest bedroom. That room can stay vacant for months at a time. Therefore, the closet,





the bureau,





and under the bed are fair game. Most of the off-season fabric ends up in there.

But back to the sewing room. I keep some of my fabrics in the bookcase. It's a compromise. In my old house, I had a walk-in closet in the sewing room so I could just hang the stash and get visual inspiration by looking around. Now I have a bigger house but a smaller sewing room closet, so some of the shelves are used for fabric.



However, it's a compromise that's worked well. It's inspiring to have seasonal fabrics out where I can see them. Mind you, it doesn't mean I'll actually use them, but the visual cues help inspire me to sew for the new season.

And seeing fabric also helps me to remember the fabric in the bins.



PS. Since starting this post earlier, I noticed that the Slapdash Sewist and sewl sista #1 also posted entries on this topic today. Something's in the air, I guess!

4 comments:

Faye Lewis said...

Boy do you have the fabric! Can I come visit?

Annika said...

I had the same issue with my stash - and it got larger and larger because I couldn't remember what I had and I'd go out and buy more fabric...so I decided to put all my fabrics in my big wall of bookshelves and redistribute my book collection into pockets of bookshelves in my living, room, bedroom and study, divided by topic. All of the sewing related books stayed with my fabrics, as did my collection of Threads, Burda, Knipmode and Ottobre magazines. Over the weekend I carefully folded everypiece of fabric and placed them, mostly by color in the shelves. Now I can see see everything I have, and when theatre friends come over to discuss possible costumes, I know where everything is and don't have to go digging.

Carolyn (Diary of a Sewing Fanatic) said...

Nan - you know I don't mind! I actually think its the first spring breezes that make you run to clean closets and store things away or change things up! And please I was not advocating getting rid of stash...cause I couldn't live without one either! *LOL*

Marji said...

I love the fact that you change what's on view in your fabric wardrobe with the seasons.
I'm not against owning a stash. It's in my nature too - and I've been collecting fabrics for 30 some years, and have some incredible pieces.
My dilemma comes with the prospect of downsizing where storing a stash is just not an option, and a lifestyle that makes most of the fabrics in my stash somewhat obsolete.
If I didn't have the constraints I have right now, my stash wouldn't be worrying me at all!