Sunday, January 9, 2011

Call me Dorothy

This isn't one of those posts wherein I am half buried by my stash and come to with the epiphany that I have way, way too much fabric and I can never buy fabric again and I'm at SABLE, and I'm a terrible person for wasting so much money on fabric when there is hunger in the world, and how many clothes does one person need, and (fill in your favorite recrimination here).

It's not one of those posts.

However.

I did mention, didn't I, that I finally decided on a project the other day and then I couldn't locate the fabric. The stash hid it from me.

Saturday was the day of reckoning. I took down every single piece of fabric in the shelving unit, rearranged and organized it according to methods only understood by me, and not necessarily even me, and put it all back.

I found the missing fabric.

I also found that (a) I'll never need to buy black fabric again; (b) the heavy non-stretch denim nobody sells which is keeping me from making the jeans I want to make . . . is on my shelf, times 3; (c) you can have too much boucle; and (d) unlike wine, does NOT always get better as it ages and some of this stuff pre-dates me. If I have issues, they're inherited.

So this isn't one of those self-hating, stash-hating posts. I LOVE my stash. But how much fabric do I need? It tells me something that I spent two days unable to decide what to sew next. Really? . If I can look at that much yardage and not be able to think of something to do with it, I don't deserve to sew. And you know I'm not going to stop sewing.

I'm not saying I'm not buying any more fabric. That's self-defeating right there. Even the most austere fabric fast allows you to purchase what you need to complete a project; how else do you ever sew down the stash?

I've decided to go to PR Weekend Chicago in May. I've never been to Chicago. I'm sure they have good fabric there. And my goal right now is to not buy any fabric until I'm in Chicago. We'll see how I do. It seems like a manageable goal - it's the fabric dieter's version of deciding to cut out dessert rather than vaguely swearing to lose 20 lbs.

So that's it. Just call me Dorothy, back from Oz. I don't need to go looking for my heart's desire, it's right here, in my own back room.

9 comments:

Elaray said...

Wow! Your stash looks so nice all folded up and neat! Good work! There's another reason why I don't have a large stash. I'm not sure I could keep it neat and organized.

Deepika said...

LOL! Awesome post. IMO you deserve a good stash because you sew such wonderful stuff. Seriously I've lived vicariously through you this past year because I never sewed and you did. And boy can you SEW! So don't worry too much about the fabric diet. Do it if you can't. And hey, I won't harass you about buying too much fabric but I WILL harass you if you don't bring those fabulous shoes to PR Weekend.

Faye Lewis said...

Your stash is beautiful!

Rose said...

I envy your organized stash. Maybe I need to stop fabric shopping and organize mine! I see some beautiful fabric in yours.

Gail said...

I like you stash. It makes mine look quite moderate..but much less organised!

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

I've used all of those excuses at one time or another about my fabric collection...*LOL* But you know I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my collection and wouldn't trade it for the world! So I understand how you've accumulated such a vast and diverse collection.

Anonymous said...

I thought this was a fantastic post. I recently spent a few days trying to decide what to sew next out of my stash and as you say, it shouldn't be that hard. I did end up finding inspiration. It reminded me I loved each purchase at the time, sometimes I just have to pick something and move on with it rather than debating endlessly between multiple options.

Cennetta said...

Well, Dorothy, your fabric is beautiful to me. Very neat and organized.

I hope to see you when you come to Chicago.

Happy Sewing,
C

Anonymous said...

Amen!