I admit it. I'm addicted to quilting fabric....and thread, and rotary cutters and mats. I need to have a bumper sticker that reads "I Break for Quilt Shops."
One of my favorite quilt shops had a sale today. You could get 20 fat quarters for $20. I know...."What the heck is a fat quarter?" A yard of fabric is usually 36 inches by roughly 42 inches wide. A traditional quarter of a yard is 9 " x the width of the fabric. To create four fat quarters you take that same piece and cut it in half, and then cut those two pieces in half along the opposite axis. You end up with four pieces that are 18" by 21". Quilters feel that you have more options with a fat quarter because the piece is wider.
Quilting fabric has become pricey. This particular shop charges anywhere from $8.50 to more than $12 a yard. Four fat quarters equal a yard, so I paid $4.00 a yard for this fabric. Quilting shops carry fabric that is designed expressly for quilting, and is first run. The quality of fabric is different from what can be purchased in chain stores.
I thought....I'll go and get 20 regular fat quarters, and twenty of the batik fabric. Most likely everyone else will be out Christmas shopping and I can sneak in and out in a flash. WRONG!!! I should have known better. If I was willing to go so far out of my way today, you had to know that half the women in my town would, too. And, they did!
When I had my collection of sale fabric, I made my second mistake. I asked if they still carried a certain fabric. The shop assistant told me she wasn't sure, that I'd have to look around. Well....by the time I got to the check out I had 61 fat quarters, and at least ten yards of fabric I hadn't planned to buy.
With the exception of fabric, I'm normally not an impulse buyer. I tend to buy most of my fabric in January, or at least, during the winter. All the quilters I know have what we call a "stash" of fabric. Mine is contained on shelves that are 10 feet wide by six feet high, and the ladies of my quilting bee give me a hard time about how little fabric I have. They are MORE addicted than I am, and would willingly admit it. One of them works at the shop that had the sale. I can't afford to work at a quilting shop. All my salary would have to go to pay for in store purchases.
So, tomorrow I will be ironing fabric. LOTS of fabric. Fabric in country style Christmas colors, and fabric with striking batik designs, fabric with florals and fabric with geometrics. The only thing I didn't get was solid colors. The next question will be...
"Where the heck do I PUT it all???"
Comments (13)
OK, Buffy, the only one more pathetic than you is one who buys fabric and never sews it into anything--me! What causes these addictions? My mother sewed not at all, but she had a stash! I've turned into my mother in one more way: I've started to embroider. Why me, oh Lord, why me? (Why you, Buffy, why you?) Enjoy looking at the beautiful fabrics. Think of those shelves of fabrics as part of the decor of your bedroom! (They ARE quite lovely, you know). I'm giggling because I'm not alone in this world!
Posted by Cop Car | December 12, 2004 11:42 AM
Posted on December 12, 2004 11:42
There is no denieing you love to talk about quilting! 6' high 10' wide and no room to put any thing! It is great to have something you enjoy girl. I feel the same about golf!
Posted by Joe Smitherman | December 12, 2004 1:04 PM
Posted on December 12, 2004 13:04
Dear Husband feels the same about his boat, Joe....so my addiction is small compared to his. *G*
Posted by Buffy | December 12, 2004 3:09 PM
Posted on December 12, 2004 15:09
Isn't it nice to have company in your addiction?? I plan to ask for two weeks off this winter so that I can sew dozens of things. I won't do paperwork, blog, fix meals, clean or read my mail.....just piece or quilt! YES!!!
Making room for more fabric!
Posted by Buffy | December 12, 2004 3:12 PM
Posted on December 12, 2004 15:12
Watch it, Buffy. You never know what the boss is going to want in return for the two weeks off. *s*
Posted by Cop Car | December 12, 2004 5:53 PM
Posted on December 12, 2004 17:53
Oh NO!! MORE PAPERWORK!
Posted by Buffy | December 12, 2004 6:11 PM
Posted on December 12, 2004 18:11
There are worse, and more expensive, things to be addicted to. Hold your head up and proudly exclaim that one day, when you need that perfect fabric, for that perfect quilt, to give to the Queen (King, intergalactic traveller - whatever) on her/his/its stately visit to you humble place, YOU WILL HAVE IT!
Finding it may be a different matter however.
Posted by bogie | December 13, 2004 4:28 AM
Posted on December 13, 2004 04:28
Bogie--I am confident that Buffy will be able to put her hands on just the right fabric, at will. This is one organized woman that we are discussing!
Buffy--I like the thought of your entertaining an intergalactic potentate. After all, you've entertained a lot of people just in the short time that I've known you and I can think of no family that I'd trust more to represent the human race. (Gee, I'm glad that we are family--*g*.)
Posted by Cop Car | December 13, 2004 5:35 AM
Posted on December 13, 2004 05:35
Bogie....I can tell that you've known another fabriholic, first hand! lol
I can find MOST of my fabric. That's why my bee members snicker at me. They have ROOMS of fabric!
Cop Car....do you remember the song from "Of Thee I Sing" that goes...."We belong to a mutual admiration society...." We certainly have one going here! Thanks for the nice comments on my being organized. I'm not....but we don't have to tell everyone. *S*
Posted by Buffy | December 13, 2004 8:00 PM
Posted on December 13, 2004 20:00
I have every off-cut from every thing I've ever sewed. It's a huge huge bag. Full of wonderful memories. Dresses I made as a teenager, curtains I made for my first home, backgrounds for things I patchworked...
Yes, it's an addiction.
On a slightly macabre note... I often wonder what happens to people's fabric and yarn collections when they die. I've rarely seen any in sales or house auctions.
Posted by Blue Witch | December 14, 2004 11:53 AM
Posted on December 14, 2004 11:53
When a friend with whom I had worked nearly 30 years ago, Carrie, died, her grandson (Garth--with whom I had been working for the last 10-12 years) let me know that they were having 2 or 3 garage sales with Carrie's leftover fabrics. I bought several boxes of fabrics and skeins of yarns. Most of the fabrics were from an original stash, but there were also half-finished projects and scraps from projects. I suspect that some of the fabric had been from the middle generation--Margaret--daughter of Carrie, mother of Garth.
Margaret had made a lot of my work clothes for me back in the days that her mother and I worked together. She had preceded Carrie in death. I still have the scraps from the clothes that Margaret made for me.
My daughters don't sew, except for mending--that I know of--and I haven't sewn very much since the girls got out of grade school. Thus, when I die, the scraps will all be pitched or given to the DAV or Goodwill. Oh well--I won't care, will I?
Posted by Cop Car | December 14, 2004 3:31 PM
Posted on December 14, 2004 15:31
What an absolute shame that you can't make a crazy quilt out of those fabric scraps you remember. I've done it with DH's work shirts. I can help you do it.....set a date and I'll come visit you and your stash!
Posted by Buffy | December 15, 2004 4:14 PM
Posted on December 15, 2004 16:14
BW, over here a quilter's stashes are frequently sold to her friends, who come to help clear out all the sewing things. It's done in a loving manner....not greedy. Frequently it's a help to a husband who doesn't know what he has on his hands.
The bags of scraps are taken for guild projects....quilts for children in the hospital, or families whose houses have burned.
As you can see from CopCar's comments, love of fabric doesn't always flow through a family. I recommend that you do the same thing I told her to do. Make a crazy quilt of the fabric that has been a part of your life. If you can, identify the pieces, and it will become historically valuable when you've passed on. Quilt historians here LOVE that kind of thing!
Posted by Buffy | December 15, 2004 4:31 PM
Posted on December 15, 2004 16:31