No, that’s not an attention-grabbing click bait headline, it’s the truth. I have seriously gotten rid of at least 1/3 of my fabric stash, plus most of my notions/patterns/STUFF that also accumulates. You can see in this room tour video what it looked like late last year, all tidied and organised, and already a little bit destashed, but barely anything.
And this really *sob* blurry photo I snapped before tackling it a couple of weeks ago.
Now, this is what my stash of colour-sorted fabrics looks like after having sorted through every single stack and print.
And what about to the left of those shelves? Mostly destashed. A small pile of novelty prints have survived – some sewing-themed prints, some Japanese-themed prints, a few multi-coloured ones that will be good for the back of pillows, and that’s about it. The plastic drawers of scraps are gone, the pile of fabrics on top have also gone…
What has gone
95% of my solids – I so very rarely use solids, and when I do, it’s in bulk yardage of neutrals. I’ve kept about 6 fat quarters, plus my Aussie Kona Club bundle. I’ll buy as needed for each project, with the plan being to buy a couple of bolts of the neutrals I always use, i.e. white and a mid-grey.
Scraps – I just don’t use them. Selvedges and scrap HSTs included. I wish I did, but I haven’t in 4 years so it’s not worth taking back with me.
Patterns – Not that I had that many to begin with, but between making my own designs 95% of the time and rarely re-making the same pattern, I’ve passed those on too.
Magazines – I had a nice little pile, but they’re not worth the weight of moving back to Australia to hold on to them. Books yes, magazines no!
Buttons/zips/interfacing/etc – The few bits and pieces I had of those, have mostly gone because #1 I don’t use buttons, #2 I kept the long zips, got rid of tiny zips (and here’s a secret – I’m gonna stock up on a range of zips that I WILL use before we leave, because Japan has cool/cheap zips!), and #3 I barely had any interfacing stuff to begin with, and it’s easier to just buy what I need whenever I next need it.
So what have I done with it all?
A friend here in Japan has started sewing again, so she bought or took most of it, especially the culled blenders. She also took all the scraps, patterns, and magazines. Another friend inherited my old machine took a bunch more too, and her 4yo daughter scavenged through my pink and purple scraps but ended up taking 99% of them, and it was adorable watching her pick and choose! The rest is ironically some of the best stuff (I think so because it was hardest to get rid of), aka Heather Ross, Melody Miller, and leftover Japanese prints; and is slowly being destashed either on Instagram or in my store.
Ahhh, it feels sooo good. Some of it was a little hard to part with, but the trick is to turn off the emotional sentimentality and ask myself these 3 questions:
- “Do I LOVE love this print?”
- “Is it unique – either the design or the shade of colour?”
- “Is it big enough to be useful/will I actually ever use it?”
If a piece of fabric got a no to any of those questions, it got cut. I know, harsh. But when you’re trying to move countries with only your checked in baggage, you have to be! And that’s why I got rid of most of the solids. Just don’t use them. That’s why I got rid of the scraps – too small to be useful for how I quilt these days. The stash represented 4.5 years of quilting, from newbie to now, and that’s a long time to span in terms of fabric taste and quilting style!
So here’s to a new fresh start with my stash, and to the adventures we’re going to have back in Australia!
Sue says
Packing to move house was a good time for me to have a clear out too only it wasn’t of my sewing stuff! I can only imagine how difficult it is to move countries. One good thing I guess is that when you get back you can have a restocking spend up!
Amira says
Have a safe and sweet move Alyce!!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on destashing…I need to do more of that too…. but it is HARD!!!! 🙂
Debbie says
Thanks for your inspiration to clean out, it great advise whether your moving or not! It’s an opportunity to revamp your stash- I know my taste has changed through the years- kinda giving you a blank slate…oh that’s right…you don’t like solids! lol 🙂
Best wishes for your big move!
Judy Blinkenberg says
I remember moving twice but within the state!! I put all my fabric in black bags. I think I had 9 black bags of fabric, more than half full due to weight. I have sold a lot on eBay and need to sell more. It seems the yardage doesn’t sell well although the precuts do. I bet it felt great!!
Daniela Kirk says
I could never de-stash, I have too much invested and too much I love for my fabric collections. Although I do need to make some more donation quilts. I have 3 quilt tops made now, I need to quilt and give. I love scrappy, so I keep a big round open tote, and keep the larger pieces. I could literally sew for a year and maybe make a dent.
My biggest problem is what to do with the quilts when I have completed the binding???
Caroline says
oh man, i would LOVE to get rid of some of my stash. i loved everything when i bought it, but now… meh. any tips for ‘normal’ folk on how to get rid of fabric? i.e. when you don’t have 1000s of blog or IG followers… is ebay the best bet?
Alyce says
Seems like eBay is the popular option. Maybe Etsy?
Jennie says
I don’t know if I could get rid of my fabric stash. My problem is not knowing what I have. I suppose I should take a month and organize it all. Yes I meant a month, since I not only have to organize a sewing stash, but I also do glass mosaic pet portraits and flower. Then I also love to carve Lino blocks to make prints on. There is still the odds and ends left from my Etsy store that I closed 6 months ago. What I need is about 12 large boxes, and fill each with something different. Like I seriously think anyone needs 700 bottle corks, and I don’t even drink. In the box they should go, but what if I think of something I really want to do with them once there gone. I’m so glad I’m not having to move. After more than 20 years in this house, I wouldn’t even know where to start.
Anja @ Anja Quilts says
Wow…I can’t imagine moving with only checked baggage. Impressive. I’m sure it was hard to let go of your fabrics, but kudos for doing it.
Bethany says
You know, reading this was hard for me. I was, like, half your stash??? I wanted to cry thinking about it. However, after reading what you said, I almost wonder if I should do something similar. I accumulated most of my stash when I was sewing little girls clothing. Now that I’m quilting, I often am drawn to different prints (no large prints, less florals, and more things that read as a solid). Now when I look through my stash to quilt I sometimes have a hard time seeing some of these fabrics as quilts.
Maybe I should destash what I have and work on building a more basic kind of stash.
Good luck to you on your move. I hate moving and the idea of moving to another country sounds daunting! Hope it all goes smoothly for you and yours!
Joy C. says
Fantastic post. This year I’ve been taking my fabric stash, small pieces or yardage, turning them into 5″ squares, 2.5″ squares, 2″ squares and 1.25″ squares. I’m going to work through what I already have and stop hanging onto so much. I also got rid of lots of magazines and some books because I don’t use them (maybe I just don’t follow directions).
MaryAnn Mings says
Very enjoyable hearing the fondness for your possessions. I think people who have large stashes would not know their fabric as intimately as you with everything in a concise and orderly way. My favorite part was seeing the order you made with the supplies and keep stored close to your sewing area. Really like that…thank you. I will enjoy making more HST with you even more!
Margaret (margiestitcher) says
How brave of you, I can guarantee f I get rid of something I then find I want or need it again . L but as I have not been quilting long still building up my supply and tend to use them when trying out a new block for the first time. Mind you my unused stash is pretty big and have said enough is enough only buy when really needed in future apart from batiks as I really need a stash of those!