A Stash Confessional, part 2

Or, in which I try to figure out some options for some of the more difficult fabrics that I've had laying around for awhile! And update on another.

Some time ago, I posted a picture of this silky print that I've had for ages, in hopes that some other sewists could offer some good ideas for what to do with it. And I did get some great ideas--several people mentioned sheath or maxi dresses, one person mentioned a kimono wrap top, and someone else mentioned a flowing cardigan or vest. I personally love the maxi dress idea, but I don't think 2 yards of fabric is quite enough! And since I bought this ages ago, I obviously can't get more. Of course, one project got in the way of another and I never got to it, but the good thing is that letting it sit longer means that I actually now have two options of what to do with it! I'm thinking either McCall's 6510, since it wouldn't break up the print much at all, or using it as a jacket lining for one of the pieces in the last stash confessional post.
I'm looking at this blue-striped brown on the right, because the brown is darker than what this picture shows, and with the touch of blue, it might be a perfect match! Then it's just a case of deciding which jacket--one from a Burda magazine, maybe? Or perhaps I should be the last sewcialist to jump on the Victoria Blazer bandwagon? I mean, I'm so late that the train has probably left the station and is halfway to Dublin by now, but still. I'm usually not into the slouchy boxy jackets, but that looks like it could be a great casual layering piece for t-shirts. And I do love my geeky t-shirts.

Yeah, this might take a little more thought. Good thing I have such a long list of things to sew already, right?

Anyway, here's a few other things I've had hiding in the stash for awhile that haven't told me what they want to be yet. And I'm not mentally ready to just dump them on Freecycle, so I figure I'll give them a little more time in the stash. After all, several of the things I picked for FESA, and the brown fabric for my Thurlows, have been sitting around for awhile, too. I've learned that sometimes it just needs a little time (and sewalong inspiration!)

1. A crinkle poly paisley something or other, probably from late college. I bought it because I like paisley and swirly things, and I was thinking I should try to branch out from my usual tendency to wear all the blues and greens. Color-wise, this actually isn't too far out of the box for me after all, especially since this time of year I want to wear more browns and earthtones. (And yes, still green. Olive is totally a fall neutral.) So even though this was a potential swap-ee, I think I'd still wear this one. I'm thinking it might make a good Sewaholic Alma. Perhaps of the notched-neckline and definitely of the long-sleeved variety. (Yes, this is one of the pieces from the Swap My Stash earlier this year, but there weren't any takers. But I'm willing to keep it around a bit longer.)

2. A red organic cotton twill that I bought somewhere in the 2007-2008 vicinity, from Mood. For some reason, when I bought it, I was thinking I needed a red skirt in my life. I don't know why, because I hardly ever wear red, or even prints with red in it, despite the paisley I just posted. But I still had that idea in mind for some time. I even went ahead and bought a bunch of cute sparkly red buttons, thinking to make it into a Beignet. 


And then I found this red strapless dress at a thrift store, which makes a pretty decent skirt when worn as a layering piece (as seen from the last time I did Me-Made-May). And it also makes a pretty decent dress for knocking my husband's socks off--I brought it on the honeymoon, and he reeeeeeally liked it! So as long as this thing fits, I don't really need a red skirt in my life after all. But it's still a really nice quality fabric, and I'd hate to waste it. I've been toying with the idea of dyeing it and still making it into the Beignet, but I'm not sure what colors would work well when overdyeing red. Should I take it darker and see if I can get it to a navy/deep purple or black (as if I need another black skirt)? Can I nudge it more towards a coral or a rust, both of which I'd probably be more likely to wear? Would putting dye on this completely ruin it? Should I just make the Beignet in red anyway, since I already have the buttons? What to do?



And I think I'm going to stop there, since I still have a bunch more fabric on my list and this post would be huge! I think this will have to be an ongoing series.

As for actual sewing....it's getting there. I have basically the waistband, buttonholes, and hem to go, and then I will have my first completed Thurlows! But progress has been slow this week, since I've had very little sewing time. I'm sincerely hoping that I will have these pants done by the end of the weekend, but I guess only time will tell. So much sewing I want to do, so little free time...

Stash confessions of a fabriholic

As you know, I've been taking part in the Swap Your Stash, hosted by Kat and Anne, this month. As of now, I have four pieces of my stash that will be making their way to their new homes, where hopefully they'll find some better use than sitting around in mine! They've also been doing a series of interviews to show our stashes, and with Kat's permission, I'm borrowing the questions to do a little reveal of my own. (Plus a very first sneak peek of my future sewing room! Which is absolutely nowhere close to set up.)

How long have you been sewing and stashing? How big is your stash?
I started learning to sew when I was about 7 years old. Thankfully, I have no stash that dates back to that time, but given that I'm in my early 30s now *cough*, I've been stashing for awhile. As for the size, it's still hovering somewhere at 200+ yards of fabric!

Where do you keep your stash? How do you store it?
My stash is so big that it's in two different towns, haha! Just kidding--the real story is that even though I'm not moving in with my fiance until after the wedding, I am in the process of moving what I can down to his place now. So getting my future sewing/craft room set up was a logical place to start, since I do have this somewhat all-consuming dress project going on right now. So I'm in the process of moving things from the wall of shame (which refuses to post vertically for some reason--I guess it's appropriate, since it's rather precarious of a setup to begin with), where they are folded into plastic bins, or unceremoniously stuffed in wherever they will fit....


....to the new space. I haven't gotten a lot of fabric moved down there yet, it's been more scrapbooking/jewelry stuff/yarn so far, but I did at least get this one bin down. The plan for the new space is to fold the pieces around these letter-paper-sized comic book boards, so they're all nice and neat like this, and put them on shelving, kind of like this. 




(Second shelf down.) Except not in the closet, because the mostly wire shelves that Doug so kindly put up for me wouldn't hold it all. I'm thinking of getting something more along the lines of an Ikea Expedit. 
 
What is the oldest piece in your stash? What was your original plan for this piece and why hasn’t it happened?
Chronologically, the oldest things I have are a brown twill-type fabric and a tan stretchy also possibly twill-type fabric. Both of these were given to me for free by my mother, who in turn was given these for free by someone connected to someone at my church who was destashing. (She randomly gets given fabric sometimes by people who don't understand that not all fabrics are good for quilts, and I often get to paw through those leftovers.) I have no idea how old they actually are, and I obviously had no original plan for them but I'm thinking they will get turned into wearable muslins for the Thurlow and Clover pants patterns, respectively.  Also, I didn't take pictures of them because they're just solid colors and therefore not very interesting to look at.

The oldest things I bought myself are these two printed polyesters, both of which date back to my college years. I honestly can't remember if I even had a plan for the floral, I think I just liked it. I was thinking more of a 60s-style tunic top for the paisley, but I didn't have a ton of time to sew when I was still in school, and somewhere along the line, I realized that boxy 60s tunic tops are really not flattering on me at all. So neither of them have gotten used yet. I did have a thought of making the floral into a Burda pattern, but I'm thinking now that I might be better off using this one for some kind of summer PJs, since this really doesn't go with anything else I own.   

What’s your favourite piece in your stash? Where did you get it, what do you love about it, what do you think you might do with it?
 I have this lightweight floral knit print that my mom gave me for Christmas a few years ago. I love the colors and the kind of old-world European look of it. And I keep going back and forth as to what to do with it--sometimes I think it wants to be a knit dress, sometimes I think I should make it into a top because I do wear separates more, but then I'll probably have a bunch left over, and therefore it hasn't gotten cut into yet.

Does the fabric you buy go straight into hiding or do you wash it first?

 I definitely wash it first. Ironing is another story.

How do you add to your stash? Do you buy with a purpose in mind, or is it fabric lust?
I've gotten better over the last several years about buying purposefully, and the majority of the fabric I've bought over the last year in particular were for specific projects that I had nothing on hand that would work otherwise--fabrics for curtains, waterproof fabric for a raincoat, and of course, the 20+ yards I had to buy for all the various layers of the wedding dress I'm currently sewing! Sometimes I'm given things, particularly by my mom, who likes to give me fabric for Christmas. (We have similar taste in prints, so this is not a problem.) Aside from that, it's generally fabric lust, because I am most definitely a printoholic, and have to force myself to buy solids that actually work with those fabrics.   
 
Do you have something in your stash that you cannot bear to cut into? Why?
 I have this suedecloth, which is from the same Christmas gift stash as the knit I mentioned earlier. I think this print is so fun, even though the colors are way more neutral than I usually go for--and I have absolutely no idea what it wants to be yet. So I don't want to waste it, you know?

Do you just stash fabric, or does the problem include patterns and notions?
I'm actually not much of a notions buyer--most of my excess buttons and such have come from intended planned projects that never happened for one reason or another, or were salvaged from old clothes that I was getting rid of. And I've seriously cut back on pattern buying. Most of the patterns I buy now are from independent designers, and those are way more expensive than the $.99 sales at Joanns, so that curbs my acquisition a lot!  (Plus I did a pretty major pattern clean-out a year or so ago.) What I do tend to also stash is non-sewing things, like yarn--it's hard for me to resist colorful yarns that are wool-free, since that's all I can use--or patterned scrapbook paper. Yes, I'm still a printoholic there too. 

I also have a large bin of clothes that need mending or refashioning, since I just haven't had time to get to it. I am guilty of thrifting clothes solely because I like the fabric and want to make something else with it, though I've managed to keep myself from doing that for the last several Goodwill runs. 

Have you decided to do a “stash-busting” resolution this year? If so, what have you decided to do?       
As regular readers of this blog know, I've been trying to do stash-busting resolutions for at least the last 3 years! I've even been tracking the yardage numbers, mostly--I do have a few pieces that I think I forgot to add. (I was doing pretty well with seeing the numbers go down, at least until I got engaged and decided to be insane and make my own wedding dress and a bunch of curtains!) As far as this year goes, I am taking part in the Stashbusting Challenge from Cation Designs, though I'm unable to be an active participant in the challenges right now. And I did already have to break my no-buying-fabric pledge, but those were extenuating circumstances.


So there's my stash! And a look in the new craft room closet, at least. Yes, the inside of the closet is painted--the room itself is turquoise. I hope you enjoyed taking a look--and I am definitely open to suggestions for how to use those fabrics that I showed!

So who wants to help me bust some stash?

If you're anywhere near the east coast of the US right now, you know the big story is Hurricane Irene, which is currently heading north and right towards my little corner of the world. My tiny little Mid-atlantic state is under a state of emergency right now, though I'm far enough inland that I don't need to evacuate or anything. But we're still supposed to get a lot of rain and possible flooding and stuff, so part of my preparations was to make sure things like a few piles of fabric, the foot pedals to my sewing machine and serger, and the hanging file folder holding the majority of my scrapbook paper were safely off the basement ground. (Which means I'm going to be having a knitting day instead of a sewing day, since I don't want to forget and leave my foot pedals down again, and I can't cut out my next project due to the table I use for that being piled up with some small bins of patterns and said scrapbook paper.)

Since I had some fabric bins out to move leftovers from my summer projects around anyway, I went ahead and pulled out a couple of things in preparation for fall sewing! I left the fabric for the last of the blouses I had planned for the summer, since I think it'll still work as a transitional piece. But aside from that, I pulled out some denim to (hopefully) make a pair of jeans that actually works, some corduroy for a jacket, the knit I had in mind for that Vogue pattern, and a couple of other pieces for some quicker projects when the mood strikes me. In looking through the fabrics, though, I realized that there's still quite a few pieces in there that I love the prints, but I've been kind of stumped on what to actually use them for. Since I like getting comments anyway (who doesnt?), I was thinking it might be fun to make this a little more interactive. So the picture up top is the first piece that's been sitting around for awhile that I'd like to actually turn into something. Here's the details:

It's a silky fabric, I'm pretty sure it's 100% polyester. 46" wide and I have 2 yards. It's a little hard to tell from the picture, but the background is a deep chocolate brown, and the purple has more of a red tone to it. The rest of the colors look to be pretty accurate. As you can see, it's a pretty big print, with the larger flowers being around 4". I've had this one around for probably about 5 years--didn't get it with anything particular in mind, I just liked the print and the colors.

So, what should I make out of this? I'll gladly take any and all suggestions, and hopefully have something to show later on in the season!

Signing off for now, and I may not be able to come back for a bit depending on the power situation--hope that all of the rest of you in the path of Irene stay safe!