Ahhhh, personal weakness! Remember the post I wrote at the end of the year where I laid out a few quilting goals for the upcoming year? My second goal on the list was to sew from my stash and avoid buying any new fabric for a while. Hmmm…. how does one really define “a while”? For me, I am thinking that means a week. That is exactly how long my “fabric fast” lasted. Ugh!! Where is my will power? Ok, it isn’t that bad. Totally explainable and I hardly spent any money.
There is a local shop called Humble Fabric and Crafts located in Grass Valley. A very sweet woman owns it and she specializes in “pre-owned” fabric. She scours estate sales and sometimes people will bring in pieces they no longer want and receive credit for their fabric to be spent on others’ fabric. Another example of recycling that makes total sense. Really it is a great idea and helps contain the cost of sewing. I usually go to this shop for smaller pieces or just to look for unusual fabric. You won’t find a collection or a new release here. But, it is a mecca for the bargain hunting seamstress (which would be me). Roxy sells the smaller pieces (less than a yard) by the ounce. The price ranges from 30 to 60 cents per ounce. Weighing one yard of quilting cotton I usually end up with 4 or 5 ounces. Do the math and you’ll see this is a steal. I am on her email list and she sent out a note saying that she is moving the shop to a bigger location and was going to have a sale. What? A sale on fabric that is already a total bargain? All of the ‘pre-owned’ fabric was 1/2 off. Crazy. How could I resist? I didn’t even try to talk myself out of it. I did think to myself, be reasonable, you don’t even need anything, etc. I was pretty restrained, if I do say so myself! Here are some of the pieces I picked up.
Some were tiny and others were multiple yards.
The fabric on the far left features a tropical floral, including Birds of Paradise. It is a home dec cotton and I will use it for the Chemex Warmers that I sell in my Etsy shop.
This is a Marimekko print that I think will end up as the back of a child’s quilt. I love the bold colors. The large scale print will be fun to use as a backing. It will need to be framed with another fabric as this piece isn’t quite large enough. I think I will use a green polka dot that I already have. The dots are really big so it should work well with this.
Finally I also grabbed a large piece of cotton batting that was 36″ by 108″. Perfect for the Etsy projects that I make.
OK, so I didn’t last but a week. That doesn’t mean that I am going to drop the goal that I had set. Kind of like when you start a diet and then have dessert the next day? I wouldn’t know, but you hear of that sort of thing happening…. Just have to re-focus and start over. So, I haven’t bought any fabric since January 8th. Now how long can I last? Hoping for more than a week!
Linking to Sunday Stash at Molli Sparkles as well as Let’s Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts
When you retired, what three years ago ?, Did you have any idea that you would be doing what you do
Now ? ?
Good golly Girl, what else do you do ?
When I was your neighbor, you had a wonderful veggie garden, you walked Lady to meet Julia
at the bus stop and pick up the mail,
Your family volunteered at the Food Bank . . . . .
You are my inspiration . . .
You should move back here – I miss you!! I still do all of those things… well I don’t meet Julia at the bus anymore because that isn’t cool when you are in junior high! But we still have veggies. Right now we have cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower. Everything is always changing and evolving. For now, I am loving all of the sewing I do.
Thanks Reta. Miss you!
You showed much greater restraint than I could have! That’s not even a grocery bag full of fabric, so it’s more like a piece of chocolate than a whole dessert.
Have a great day!
Hmmmm…. I like your thinking. It’s all about perspective, right?
Well, I think buying pre-owned fabric fits into a fabric fast just fine. (Or maybe it’s a fabric diet or fabric lite) Although I suppose if you feel guilty, you could bring her some of your fabric that no longer thrills you. Sort of like evening up your carbon footprint. Does that make any sense at all? Enjoy! Those look like fun fabrics. I especially like the Marimekko.
I’m not feeling too guilty. I was just amused by the fact that it was hardly a week before I bought fabric! It was very little money tho do not a big deal. I like the term fabric diet…. Less severe than fabric fast! Hope all is well with you Janine!
I am convinced that this purchase doesn’t count since it was a sale 🙂
I agree! I feel much better now! Confession is good for the soul.
Hi Bernie,
I feel much better after reading your post. One of my New Year resolutions was less quilting stuff shopping, because I spent a lot last year. But I already bought five quilt books. phew. Thank you.
You are in good company!! I bet you’ll love the books and find lots of inspiration in them. Thanks for stopping over.
Take care,
Bernie
What a neat shop! That fabric was such a great deal it hardly counts for breaking your fabric fast! I didn’t even pretend that I’d be able to fast… cause I won’t. I will, however, work harder to shop my stash and make it work with what I’ve got when possible. Just this morning I baked with the kids and it drove home the fact that my daughter needs an apron (she usually uses big brother’s when he’s at school). So I promptly brought her to my stash to choose from my available mini-bolts. (She settled on some monster fabric with some dots and stripes to coordinate.) Now to get sewing on that… just gotta finish my January goals first. 😉
Love sewing for little kids. That is so fun. Post a pic of the apron when it is done. I need to get quilting on my one January ALYOF – January is more than 1/2 over!!