Thursday, May 19, 2011

Stash bustin'


Tidying my stash recently I realised that I've really got to reduce it. I'm always thinking that, lets face it, but this time I mean it (I do, I do, trust me ;-) One day we are going to have to move out of our 2 bedroom house and I don't want to take more than 4 plastic tubs of fabric and associated bits with us. At the moment it's bursting out of 5 (probably would be 6 but I don't want to admit it!). So that's about a third I want to clear.



Trying to work out strategies to get there I decided I needed a plan. Here we go:

1 • No more fabric buying! No excuses, and no thrifting either - it all adds up to volume!
2 • Put together a list of clothes and household items we need that I can make. Plenty of times I've made yet another something cute for the kids when really they just need plain leggings or something, or the oven mitts are threadbare.
3 • Don't be precious about fabric choice - if it's not entirely perfect, use it anyway. Near enough is good enough here!
4 • If there's any fabric lurking around that I don't particularly like, donate it to charity.
5 • Go through the scraps tub (yes, there's one whole tub devoted to this) and weed out any bits too small or useless looking.
6 • Finish projects lying around, or if I don't want to make them anymore, throw them out!
7 • No more pattern buying for now. As much as I'd love to (there's a Chinese jacket I'd love to make for winter), I have at least 3 patterns laying around that I haven't even tried yet.

To motivate me to actually carry this out I'm going to put a new "Stash bustin' tally" over there on the right. I'm hoping to see it grow in the next few months and report back each time I add something to it.



I'm quite excited about no. 2 - making the list of useful things to sew. It appeals to my organised side to reduce the stash and fulfill a need. Actually I do have a finished project that does exactly that, which prompted this post. I'll post it tomorrow. That way I'll feel like I'm on my way ;-)

Do you have any tips on stash busting for me? I'd love to hear.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Jo, we have a mat from my dad's old village made up of odd bits of fabric scraps cut in strips (but I really dont know how to make it). If you like that kind of thing,maybe you could use your scraps and unwanted fabric to make a hall runner or table runner, or door mat, kids room mat etc. I'm sure someone will have an idea how it's done!.... and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, hope to see you at school and catch up. Vanessa

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  2. That's a great idea Vanessa. I must ask you more about it. I'd love to see your dad's mat one day.
    And thanks for the birthday wishes! x

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