There are several reasons for this:
1. I've run out of storage space.
2. My daughter who has always eagerly anticipated getting my fabric collection looked at me a couple of weeks ago and told me that this was too much for her to handle getting rid of...what?!
3. I've admitted to myself that I'm NEVAH going back to Corporate America especially since I love my day job and hope to retire from this amazing workplace.
So while I only donated 45.5 yards to Baltimore Destash, I made arrangements with someone from a local high school to donate 150 yards of my "corporate fabrics." I did make sure to include some knits, poly blends and shirtings, fabrics young people would like to sew.
The bags sitting in the dining room waiting to leave!
One of the fabric shelves rearranged and with room on them!
First bag of donated fabrics
Now I know some of you have never understood the collection and why it was necessary to my creative well-being. I'm sure you're also thinking you were right about me having too much but in all honesty, the bulk of the collection is going nowhere. I'm just pruning and making it more usable for me and future sews, sorta like what a good plant owner does to their plants. I'm also determined that I can access all of the fabric that presently lives here which I was unable to do before losing the 200+ yards from the collection. As I type that I totally understand that this is the amount of fabric in some sewists stashes.
Second bag of donated fabrics - including some
beige/brown fabrics not shown
While I was determined to get some of my fabric piles from behind the cutting table onto the shelves that didn't happen. I did gain a lot of space on the shelves but not an entire shelf as I had envisioned. I've had denim sitting in a corner on a box that I would rather have shelved, so I know what I have. While that didn't happen, I think I've found another portion of the cave that I can clean up and move the denim. Now to take some precious sewing time to make it happen.
Last pile of fabrics before bagging
I wanted a shirting space since I'm inspired to sew more shirts and shirtdresses now. I would like those pieces to be more visible and not scattered across the shelves. I did manage to accomplish that!
Included in the donation bags are some ITY knits because I'm admitting that I truly hate ITY knits on my plus size body and am donating quite a bit of them. See this is about knowing who I am at this stage of my life and doing something about it...hahahahaha!
My challenge going forward is not to add huge amounts of fabric to the collection. I need to seriously use what I have on hand because there is some beautiful fabric on the shelves. Now I'm not saying that I won't buy pieces, I'm just not buying because it's pretty, because I'm emotional (mad, sad, stressed out), because there's space on the shelves for more or just because.
I want my fabric buying to be as strategic as it's been in the last 18 months, things that I want in my wardrobe now...not in the future. So not only am I pruning the collection but I'm changing my buying habits too. My goal is for the collection to be a third to half less of it's present size by the time I retire. Long term goals yes but still in line with this post I wrote several years ago.
Here are my monthly fabric in/out totals for June and July:
June:
Fabric in 35 yards
Fabric out 53.5 yards
As of June I had 16 more yards out than in
July:
Fabric in 13 yards
Fabric out 169.5 yards (153 yds donated + 16.5 yds sewn)
Total yards out for July = 156.5
Finally I'm 172.5 yards more out than in for the year - thank goodness for that donation! I've given away 200 yards of fabric this year and am looking at another local high school to make another donation too. One of the things I loved in high school was the fabric pile that was donated for when I didn't have money to buy fabric. Hopefully I can provide that for another budding sewist.
Now I just need a couple months of no fabric in with only fabric out stats and I will feel like I'm truly accomplishing my goal of sewing down the collection. Here's hoping I can accomplish that since I truly love fabric sooooooooo much!
BTW, I'm also letting go of about 30 pairs of heels that I couldn't release earlier too. I wear heels to church only so I just need some basic pairs. Plus my sneaker collection needs somewhere to rest besides my bedroom floor...life changes, y'know.
So how about you? As your life changes does your fabric or pattern collection? Do you hold onto fabric or patterns that you're no longer sewing? Have you thought about donating these to others? This is my Question of the Day...so talk back to me and tell me your thoughts!
...as always more later!
My life is changing from SAHM (lots of washable fabrics, very hourglass lines) to potentially corporate (going back to work soon), and that means my fabrics need to upgrade and my lines need to become more classic/structured. I splurged on some divine Italian linen from Mood a couple of weeks ago - it needs to become a long-sleeved blouse post haste.
ReplyDeleteHearth - hit me up (email in profile) if you want a couple of yards of corporate type fabric. I would be happy to send some to you.
DeleteI wash my wools and put them in a low dryer for a minute to get rid of wrinkles. That way I can have wool pants without messing around with dry cleaning and can make some great casual tops and jackets. Since you're on a shirt making roll, maybe you could try this with a thin wool. It would be great for winter! It's worth a shot - I've never had it backfire on me. Obviously you wouldn't do this with tailored garments but we don't make/need tailored garments any more.
ReplyDeleteAdded - Machine wash on cold gentle! No way would I hand wash...
ReplyDeleteHi Carolyn,
ReplyDeleteI love your blog and really appreciated this post!
I’ve been sewing since I was a child and seeing as I’m now 43, I’ve accumulated some extra fabric. I also inherited some from my Gramma and Mum.
We move so often that I can’t keep **too** much extra, but I love my collection and will be keeping it! I do try to only acquire new fabrics that I’ll use but sometimes lovely fabric just wins out ;)
I liked the discussion on the “Love to Sew” podcast about thinking of it as a collection instead of a “stash”. My goal is to arrange it so I can see it all. I love your fabric shelves!
There is nothing better than going to a fabric store and touching all the things. Why wouldn’t I want some of these lovelies at home?
I also loved your idea of donating to a high school - I hadn’t thought of that!
Anyways, a long rambling comment, mostly to say “thanks for writing”.
ErinH
I hope to start making my work clothes. I want to challenge myself.
ReplyDeleteThis post resonates with me in a big way. This January my dear sister passed away at 59. Like me, she was a sewer, quilter and knitter and had left her "stash" to me. That was 2 rooms of fabric, patterns, notions and yarn. The last 7 months I have culled my own stash to make room and seriously curated her things as well. Not to mention finishing some of her UFO's to pass back to her family. I have donated a ton of stuff- patterns, notions and fabric to my sister-in-law, quilting fabric to my other sister, yarn to a friend of a friend, bags of quilt fabric to two different groups that make quilts for charity, and a huge amount to the local theatre group for costumes and their summer sewing lessons that they teach. My next stop will be the local high school home ec dept. My daughter sews a little, but she will not want to deal with a massive quantity of fabric either, so I will do as much as I can with it.
ReplyDeleteBarb from Canada
bbarna - this is why your sister left her collection with you. She knew you would dispose of it the way she would have wanted. It's a wonderful thing you've done for her memory!
DeleteThanks Carolyn. My only problem was she was going to get mine if I went first...now who knows? So far nothing has gone in the garbage, so I think she would be happy with me so far.
DeleteBarb
Bbarna, I am so sad for your loss. My sister keeps her stash at my house, which is kinda my excuse for the overflow (and it would break my heart to lose her).
DeleteI have my own hoard, and decided for space reasons last year to clear half out. High schools still teach 'adult living skills' or sewing as we call it, so do community centers and such. It's sooo easy to call them and ask if they need and what they need. And NEED is the word; if you want your Precious to go to someone who will love it (and who doesn't?), this is the way to go.
Carolyn, inspirational as ever. If we do good with what we have acquired, the acquisition was worth it.
Boy do I hear you on this. My collection is quite small in comparison to yours but I'm being more mindful of what I buy. I am retired; have been for many years now, and have a casual lifestyle. I am trying to limit what comes in but for fabric I might not see again, I buy. I just splurged on some college team themed fabric but it's already earmarked for shirt and when it's gone, there ain't no more. You no longer need "fabric as therapy" so enjoy your purchases and the resulting clothes that you make.
ReplyDeleteTheresa in Tucson
I sure could stand to get rid of fabric for clothing but some of it was purchased by my father in Japan in the 50's and inherited from my mother. Red and gold lame anyone? I mostly have quilting fabrics now and try to "shop from my stash" but every now and then something jumps out and says take me home. Those usually end up on the back of quilts. Last time I pruned the collection, I got rid of yards and yards since I knew I'd never use them.
ReplyDeleteOh, Carolyn, such a timely post for me. My collection includes tons of vintage and current patterns as well as fabrics. Over the past year I've reduced my pattern buying because I finally realized that I really have examples of so many patterns styles from the '30s 'til now—and when I sew it's pretty much from many, many fewer styles. But now I really need to come to some sort of resolution about my fabric stash. Many years ago when we moved, I recycled almost all of what I had and I began to regret it not long after. My current collection is probably 20 times bigger. I can never use all that I have—I just can't—but I love all of it. It makes me so happy to look at it, touch it, and imagine what it wants to be. But this can't continue. I really need to do what you are doing. Thanks for blogging about this subject!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post! You are truly an inspiration to me and I am sure to many others! Now to start the tallying process..... (It will take a while!)
ReplyDeleteAs you know I retired and moved. The hardest part of moving was destashing fabric as well as patterns.The next hardest thing I have and still am dealing with is that I know longer need corporate clothing. I find that I still drool over dresses, jackets and skirts for business attire; thank goodness have not pushed the buy button. Where I live now, everyone is casual and partly the reason I wanted to live close to a coastal area. I finding my way toward casual clothing and really need to stop procrastinating about sewing shorts and pants. I keep throwing a road block up for those items and it is what I need more of. I donated a lot of fabric(suiting, wool and some knits) and patterns to Goodwill. I think I probably donated about 75 yards of fabric and gosh knows the number of patterns. I sold some fabric to ASG members. I say all of this as I do identify with your destashing; we all have our reasons to do so. I just need to do what you have accomplished and recognize what my clothing needs are now and sew for that. As always I enjoy reading your blog.
ReplyDeleteMe again. I also donated a ton of fabric to a young sewist who had just started sewing and the thrill of see her eyes light up and the smile for getting a lot of fabric was so worth giving the gift of fabric. I also gave her my Janome 300E so she could embroider as well.
DeleteLinda - I think it's so cool that you gave your embroidery machine away to another sewist! As for determining what to wear now, it takes a minute. This is my 4th summer and my third year with this job and I've just now gotten a handle on what I want to look like. It took way longer to lose that corporate mindset than I thought it would...but when you've dressed that way since you left college it's kinda embedded into your creative brain. So I totally understand how you feel about the corporate clothing. I know you'll work it out and you probably will be a little more casually "dressed" than the people around you but you will get used to that and so will they.
DeleteWell done! I'm still corporate but am seriously thinking of retiring in about 3 years. So I had better get my skates on if I want to ever wear my suiting fabrics. Good idea to donate the fabric to a high school. I also want to reduce my shoes. I tend only to wear flats now even to work. I have a stand up desk (which I alternate between standing and sitting) so find heals not comfortable. Hard to give them away but really I don't need them.
ReplyDeleteVicki - the heels have been one of the hardest things to get rid of...and as far as the suiting fabrics are concerned I would save my faves and donate the rest of them. High school students need quality fabric because they either don't have the funds to purchase or they don't know enough to realize they shouldn't be sewing with quilting cottons! I try to donate to the local high schools often. I just remember what it was like not to have fabric and want to sew that donation pile made it so that I could!
DeleteDonating 200 yards is fantastic!!! I know just what you mean about loving the stash and not feeling bad about it but also realizing when it’s time to let parts go.
ReplyDeleteI culled A LOT of fabric in the move and will probably let more go once my shelving unit is assembled again. I didn’t measure but I’d assume it’s at least 75 yds, maybe more. I culled about 75 patterns but that’s only 10% of my collection. For that, as long as they fit in my filing cabinets they’re okay with me.
That was my goal for this year; more mindful purchases. There are some fabric types I will stash a bit - shirting, nicer ponte, wool jersey (mmmm!) but I’ve done well to quit the giant FM orders just because the price is good.
The trip still has me lopsided :) I’m 200 in and about 100 out. I could POSSIBLY break even if I sew the outerwear I have planned. :)
I'm not doing large orders from ANYWHERE anymore. I don't need the fabric. I need to sew what I have...though I held onto almost all of my wool crepe. Why? But I'm so emotionally attached to it that I don't wanna let it go so we'll see. As for the trip, that was a special thing. You will sew most of that fabric sooner rather than later because it was all so carefully chosen.
DeleteA subject that I don't want to think about. I have about eight thirty gallon Rubbermaid tubs of fabric. I did downsize when we moved to the desert. I have the old Threads magazines on disk, so I got rid of those. I got rid of some of the books and some fabric that I will never use. There is still a lot. I have some nice fabric, but my lifestyle is too low key to use it. I never dress up any more. But I can't bring myself to get rid of the good stuff.
ReplyDeleteWhen Hancock died I lost my main fabric resource as was the case for many other sewists. So I haven't brought much fabric in in the past couple of years because try as I may I can't make Joann's my cup to tea. I have always admired your fabric stash and your generosity having been a recipient of some it myself - thanks again by the way!
ReplyDeleteI donated about 100 patterns to the Baltimore Destash and I haven't missed one of them. Today I donated a bag of shoes to a church for a fundraiser. I will wait until it is cooler and start pulling fabric. I think that I will donate most of it to a high school and the rest to the ASG stash sale. I remember being a teen and touching all of the fabric that we couldn't afford at the fabric store.
ReplyDeleteI've sewn at least 100 yards this year and most of it has come from my collection. I spend today pre-washing fabric and most of it has been on the shelves for a few years. I'm being more mindful when I purchase anything sewing related. My favorite fabric store was having a 40% off sale this week. I only bought fabric for my fall sewing.
I have been listening to a series of podcasts by Clear the Decks about cleaning sewing spaces .It is professionally and clearly presented.she discusses the different factors that leads to people having more stuff than they need. It has been most interesting and helpful so I have been able to clear out a few bits and pieces. However I am hanging on to the vast majority of my fabric which at 162 metres is only a little bit more than you have given away and my patterns while I have room. I think the donations will be greatly appreciated and a wonderful idea.
ReplyDeleteWow!! You were very disciplined about all of this and I must say also an inspiration! I am recently retired and ready to be serious about my sewing room and sewing in general. I want to be judicious in my buying and sewing habits. I don’t want a lot of UFO’s around stressing me out and making me feel guilty. I am ready to begin a new chapter!! Thanks for your blog!!
ReplyDeleteWOW!!! Destashing is a emotional subject for many ... ENJOY - FIESTA :)
ReplyDeleteI praise your determination, clear goals and generous heart. I have done some whittling of my stash, off for donation but my purchases need a home. Time for me to drink your kool aid.
ReplyDeleteI'm repeating myself here: high schools. Call one. I got started with them when my eldest son was taking 'apparel' and brought in some fabric from home. And that first time, the LOOK on those kids faces was pure LOVE for that skimpy stack. I bring bigger stacks now, because who doesn't want to be loved?
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post! I am in the same boat with LOTS of creative materials in addition to my sewing. One of the reasons I want to destash is so I can buy more of what is current. Now I have to tell myself " no" because I have so many projects lined up. I teach sewing at my church and we often have donations given so I understand how much it means to new sewists. It is also good to list on Nextdoor or Facebook so that people who want and can use the items can receive them. I gave away my corporate clothing this way and a young girl who was just starting out was the excited recipient. Made it a lot easier to do!
ReplyDeleteYES!!!! Just yesterday I passed some deep stash fabrics to fell sewists (and ended up bringing some of it back home again, too, which is ok!) It's not that I felt I had too much fabric, but the stuff I wasn't really going to use was starting to fill up the spots for stuff I adore! I bet there will be some really thrilled highschool sewists when school starts up again, and they have goodies to chose from! Great way to destash!
ReplyDeleteSo proud of you. We all choose our fabrics with care and invest some dream time. My daughter has put me on fabric restriction. New fabric must be used within 6 months. Sigh!
ReplyDeleteYou always inspire me, Carolyn! I love reading your posts - they not only entertain me, but they also teach me a lot about sewing and sewing for who I am.
ReplyDeleteYou are a very wise Sewing Fanatic. I did a similar sorting/re-organizing task recently and donated two huge bags of fabrics to a refugee center, where women come to sew together. It felt odd to realize that there were fabrics in there that I will never use and don't even like any more and can't remember buying. . . Time to lighten the load!
ReplyDeleteGood for you! Now take all those stats and write up what you donated for a deduction on your income taxes. You can ask the school for a letter. But you can also just keep track yourself.
ReplyDeleteI am always surprised when I see what the high school students have done with the fabric I donate. They look at it differently and always come up with something outside the box.
OMG - I so needed to see this post. Thank you because it is confirmation of what I already knew.
ReplyDeleteCarolyn, you are inspiring me to cull my stash. I think it's time!
ReplyDeleteYou are such an inspiration! In the past, I've donated fabric from my vast (and, honestly, probably reaching hoarder levels) stash, but I really need to sit down and do this again. Along the way I know I've collected things I'll never use, even though I sew for others more often than I do myself and my family. They should be put to good use, not sitting in bins in my sewing area.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a wonderful post! You are amazing to donate so much fabric, and recognize that your needs are changing. My own space for fabric/patterns is relatively small, so it has kept my stashes smaller respectively. As soon as I get close to capacity, I tend to evaluate what I have and throw out what I no longer use. It works for now, yet I don't know what I will do if I ever have more space in the future, lol!
ReplyDeleteI've now been gone from the corporate world for 16 years.....but have a cedar chest packed full of nice expensive fabric. A year ago I moved to NE Colo to live with my daughter on a ranch. I know that I should do 'something' with the chest of fabric but no one around here sews. I wanted to teach a sewing class for 4H - no takers. I also have a horrendous amount of fabric. I've been doing fairly well using it. Tired of 'saving'. But the chest of fabric ..... that's another matter.
ReplyDeleteMarcia
I stopped and calculated the other day that if I use one piece of fabric a month, it will take me 67 years to sew it all up. I am trying to be mindful of my purchases now.
ReplyDeleteSewing Geek - that's an interesting stat because I typically use three pieces a month! Though I have NOT counted how many pieces of fabric I have and have NO intention of doing so! LOL!
DeleteFrom someone who needs to do the same but is so not ready...
ReplyDeleteWow!
You may also want to check out donating to a women's shelter, multiservice organization, immigrant assistance organization which helps families move out of poverty...
como hago para descargar los patrones de cualquier moda les agradezco su ayuda
ReplyDeleteHere's Jaime's translation to english: "as I do to download the patterns of any fashion I thank you for your help" and no problem!
DeleteI'm on this band wagon also, too much fabric that is corporate and I'm in a casual office now. I did take quite of bit of never used patterns and some fabric to Goodwill when I down sized and moved - trying to build my TNT pattern collection so I can grab and make.
ReplyDeletewowowowow! I too destashed this year - northern weight fabrics that I will not need, corporate type fabrics that I too loved but honestly have no use for anymore, and some more of those black/grey/silver and pinks that I amn't ever going to want to wear again. So winnowing down, but also acquiring fabrics more appropriate to this climate and todays needs. Good to see you're there too. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteMy pattern buying has changed and honestly so has my fabric. I love ITY! I didn't know that didn't make the cut. I gave away about 75 yards of fabric to the Baltimore Destash - I just need more time to sew. Glad you are finding some relief.
ReplyDeleteg
Hubby and I just moved to another city so I understand the destashing issue quite well. Like you I wanted to donate fabric to young people that needed it. So I also donated to our local high school which made me feel much better than donating to Goodwill, etc. I still ended up moving 15 boxes of quilting cottons and 20 boxes of fashion fabric. My husband was astonished at the amount of boxes. I guess he didn't realize just how much I had in my collection of 35 years in the same house. "But honey, it is my creative passion", I said. That ended the conversation. I don't do much quilting but my new area has charity groups for children in hospital and former military women who have issues that make lap quilts for them so my cottons will have a new purpose. I commend you for your donations. Karen
ReplyDelete