I’ve been getting asked more and more questions about my Fabric Stash, about how I deal with my scraps, how I store them, and how I use them, so I’ve decided to begin a series that will hopefully answer all those questions and give you some ideas for your own stash and scraps.

Keep in mind, this is only MY method of doing things, and it evolves every now and then. As my Grandma always said: “There’s more than one way to skin a cat!” So take what works for you, and ignore the rest.

I’m gonna talk about how I store all my fabric, from yardage on down to the tiniest of scraps, and I’ll also talk about how I use it. I’m gonna post pictures of my fabric and scrap storage, hopefully lots of links to some good scrap quilt patterns, and show you the scrap quilts I’m working on along the way.

And I’m not gonna sugar coat anything — I have problems with some of my methods, so I’ll also talk about those — what works and what doesn’t — and what I hope to change or fix about it. And as I change it, I’ll show you that, too!

You’ll be able to find all these posts HERE under the Stash Tales category, which you can also find in the sidebar under the categories drop-down menu. As I continue working on my web site, I have plans to set up a page with all the links so you can find them easier — I’ll keep you posted on that. I’m also hoping that the comments you all might leave on these posts will add to the good ideas we can come up with together.

I worked hard on whittling down the size of my stash last year. I made lots of backings and pillowcases, gave some of it away, and started a few new scrap quilts. As I cleaned up the rest of my studio (slowly), I ran across more fabric that had not been put away properly. I downsized or got rid of some UFOs and needed to put that fabric back in the stash. And then, of course, I did purchase a little bit of new fabric, and one huge tub of fabric from an estate sale.

I’ve said before that my goal is to get all of my stash to fit into the Tubs I have for it, and that’s more important to me now than ever. I’m trying hard to downsize. We’ve downsized the farm a lot — now it’s time for me to downsize my studio. It’ll be nice to have less stuff to deal with and worry about.

Other than the large tub from the estate sale, I did manage to get all the fabric to fit into the tubs last year (not the big yardage, but the “regular” stash). However, it’s not in those tubs the way I want it to be, and some of the lids are bulging. So this year, I’m working to get the tubs more organized and to make all the lids fit. And the ultimate goal, in the end, is to have fewer tubs.

To do that, I’ve been choosing one color a month to concentrate on, since I have my regular stash sorted by color (which I’ll talk about in the next post).

We’ll start, tho, with talking about the large pieces of yardage  . . .

Anything I have that’s over a yard gets folded and stored in the closet in my sewing room. I have one shelf for it to fit on . . . PLUS two large tubs that are on the floor down below. One tub is specifically backing pieces. The other tub is the largest pieces of yardage. The shelf holds the rest of the yardage, mostly the smaller pieces. You can sort of see it here, altho it’s very dark in the closet, in spite of my efforts to find lights that will actually illuminate the interior of the closet. I usually just take a flashlight along when I’m digging for something!

As you probably know from your own experiences, if you’re using out of your stash, it gets rearranged and ruffled, and out of order now and then. Every once in awhile, I have to go in and re-fold/rearrange and get it back under control. I use out of these pieces for backings, backgrounds, and borders, mostly.

Lately, I’ve been seeing patterns that use up three (or five) one-yard pieces, and I’m thinking that I should pull a few yards and try several of those quick quilts to use up more. Finding time for that is a problem, tho. I can’t start ALL the quilts at once, even tho it appears that I try quite often!

Here is a post with links to some 3-yard quilts: Three-Yard quilts

Since sorting through my tub of to-be-quilted quilts, I discovered a lot of them that need backings, so I hope to be able to use up a lot of these large pieces for that purpose. I pulled out a large piece yesterday to use for background for a new scrap quilt I’m starting.

I’m not in a huge hurry to use it up, because I like having the option to shop for scrap quilt backings in my own stash, altho I would like to have a bit less of it. Maybe I can eventually use enough from the shelf that all the fabric will fit into the tubs down below.

My main problem with the tubs down below, however, is that it’s a major production to get the tubs out and locate the piece I want, so that needs to change. So I’ll keep you posted on what I come up with!

Perhaps you don’t have as much large yardage as I do, but I welcome any of your ideas and suggestions on how you store your large pieces, so please comment below.