At the beginning of the year, I decided to try a fabric fast. I wasn’t buying up wildly, but I certainly was buying a lot more than I needed, let alone things I’d actually use (ie. charm packs – so adorable, rarely actually used). And I went well! I went to the Tokyo Quilt Festival and didn’t buy a scrap of fabric, just some Clover Wonder Clips. Totally allowed. I then had to buy some backing and bindings and solids, but these were all included in my personal “exclusion” list as these are things I don’t keep much of on hand as I prefer to buy specifically for each project.
And I found I was actually using up fabric! I ran out of purples and emerald/medium greens, and I’ve now run out of aquas. Who runs out of aqua these days?! Apparently someone who actually uses up fabric, and in large quantities like for my Bright Sky quilt.
As I recently restocked a few more light purple blenders and the emerald-ish greens, and am now addressing the aqua issue, I guess it’s now time to officially declare the end of my fabric fast!! I’m really happy with how I did. It really made me look at when and why I was buying fabric, and for the most part, it was because I had money in PayPal and I was bored and ooh look, pretty fabric! Now, I’m much more conscious of when and how I buy fabric – solids, backing, bindings still as needed, and now making careful use of sales to save some money. For instance…
Remember how I shared about Aurifil being 20% off at the Fat Quarter Shop? Well, I did place a few spools in my shopping cart, but as is the norm for me now, I let them sit there a few days so I could be sure to not impulse buy. And what a good idea this was!! Because now the Fat Quarter Shop has a big shipping discount for orders over $40 – free for the US, but 40% off for international!! Add to this the fact that I bought myself a discounted gift certificate in their annual Mother’s Day sale, I’m feeling rather proud of myself. So now I have until Sunday to commit to some new Aurifil threads and choose some aquas and purples.
PS – where did all the good aquas go?!
Amy mayen says
It’s made me change the way I shop too, although I’m going to finish out the year and then set a budget for next year- I can tell my bad spending ways aren’t totally reformed. It’s been really healthy for me 🙂 I sort of can’t wait to start running out of fabric!
Claudia TN says
I’m sure you get questions about the fabric every time you post fabric pictures, but if you’ll let me, what is the pink fabric on the right and the the gorgeous purple you used as your background?
Susan K says
I’ve been letting things sit in shopping bags too. And so far I’ve mostly only bought backing and binding. I have bought other fabric but it has been greatly discounted. I’ve also pulled out some really old projects and have gotten them completed. Think I’ll continue the fast for a while longer.
Lisa in Port Hope says
Way to go! The Stitch blenders from Michael Miller have some nice aquas or Botanique by Joel Dewberry (I don’t know if those are at FQS.)
Kelly @ My Quilt Infatuation says
Good for you Alyce! I’m not sure I’ll ever run out of greens and aquas (my faves!) Have fun restocking!
🙂 Kelly @ My Quilt Infatuation
Joanna says
I always stock up a cart and leave it for a few days, and was excited to see the 40% off shipping come up this week while I have a cart. Though unfortunately I left it too long because a 20% off code I had expired in the meantime! 🙁 (not that I can afford to buy anything anyway).
Mara says
Have fun shopping and I did the same thing, bought the GC at discount and then shipped at discount, if you find any good aquas let me know I have been looking, especially for small prints or as blenders.
Mary D says
I commend you on working from your stash and reevaluating your fabric spending habits. I have done that for other areas of my life but have yet to effectively apply these principles to my fabric buying.
While I have an enormous amount of fabric, it is not nearly all that I need/want in terms of patterns, colors, prints. I am inspired to try once again to fast on fabric purchases for some period of time and use stash.
For the Aurifil thread purchases have you tried Massdrop.com yet? They have had some wonderful drops on Aurifil thread and I do believe they has low international shipping costs in place.