Sunday Stash #118 – Stash Tour

After last week’s post about shopping your own stash, I thought it might be a great opportunity to show you my own stash in its entirety! When we moved into our new apartment I made sure to have one of our built-in wardrobes outfitted with adjustable shelving for perfect stash storage. Forget hard wood floors, marble bench tops, and designer furniture, this is truly what quilter’s dreams are made of! 

I love that this wardrobe has doors to protect my precious fabric from any sun damage, let’s call it SPF 1000+! I’ve rearranged it a few times, (there will probably be a dozen more), but I’ve tried to organise it in a manner where the items I use most are at a perfect viewing angle and easily within reach.

The top left is where I keep yardage that could be used for backings, or foundation fabric for a project. The eagle-eyed amongst you might see that half this shelf is full of Tula Pink fabric, mostly from her out of print Parisville range. Right in the middle on the bottom is 4.5 yards of the Cameos in Sprout, and 1+ yards of many others. A quick scan through Etsy implies I might be sitting on a gold mine and didn’t even know it! Mama, needs a new pair of shoes!

Below this shelf is where I keep some of the collections I’d like to hoard save for projects of their own. This is where I can give David Butler the heavy petting he deserves! Ow! He sits next to Carolyn Friedlander’s collections, as well as Cosmos by Laura Gunn, Color Me Retro by Jeni Baker, Noteworthy by Sweetwater, Oh Deer by Momo, Kate Spain varietals, and Comma by Zen Chic. All of these are still eligible to be mixed and matched with other projects, but for now they like hanging out with their brethren. 

As you get a bit lower, you’ll find my collection of solids. These are grouped by Art Gallery, Kona, and then non-designer brand homespuns. The front row is predominately neutrals, with a few “Where in the hell does this fit in?” pieces scattered throughout. (We all have those, right?!) Every time I look at this shelf I want to make a black and white quilt! Must make all the things!

Back up to the top right is where I store the fabric bundles. I don’t generally buy entire collections, but sometimes it just has to be done! Shimmer, Doe, Get a Clue with Nancy Drew, Pretty Potent, it’s a pretty eclectic mix up there, much like a dinner party at my house. Of all these bundles, the Nancy Drew fabric still has me stumped the most. She’s like that family member that you have to love, but you don’t really like, so when she shows up for Christmas dinner you spend the whole night trying not to get stuck next to the bowl of egg nog with her crazy ass. Yes, exactly like that.

This is probably my most used section. These are all fat quarter and half yard cuts in a rainbow spectrum across countless fabric ranges and designers. This is where my creative juices get their juiciest because I’m free to play with all sorts of colour and design elements with abandon! Having all these colours on one shelf allows me to pull some surprising colour combos–some disasters, some delights.

Further down is my shelf of batiks, Echino and other linen blends. This is a shelf I’d love to use more, because many of these fabrics were purchased in Japan and hold such pristine memories. My couch can only hold so many cushions though, and I’ve yet to make a pouch of any kind. Bad quilter, I know! I love sneaking batiks into my quilts, so maybe it’s time to do so with the Echino as well. 

The bottom half of the wardrobe is where I store fabric strings and selvedges, WIPs, books, rulers, batting, my princess crown, and other miscellaneous sewing goods. Trust me, it’s not always this organised, but I cleaned it up to get some good pictures for you! The only thing I haven’t shown you is my scrap storage, but that’s a whole other post and a half! I hope you’ve enjoyed checking out my relatively small stash–at least that’s what I’ve been told–and can take some inspiration from it to build and organise your own!

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