Thursday, November 12, 2020

Using up stash

When I start a new quilt the hardest part, at times, is finding the fabrics for it. I like to use up fabrics that are in my stash, especially if I am not all that keen on the pattern or I don't know what I will do with it once it's finished. I have been working on a quilt for the past couple of weeks and I have been using up some older fabrics that I found. 

This is part of the quilt I am working on. It's actually the outer four corners and that middle fabric is a gray/blue that I found. It just so happened that I had enough of a piece to use for that L-shape.

This is the fabric I found. After cutting what I needed, I don't think there's much left.

I was surprised at this, though. It seems that this fabric has been in my stash for almost 40 years. I started quilting in 1980 and these are the kinds of fabrics that were available at that time. Cottons with small prints. A lot of the fabrics had small flowers on them. I wasn't all that keen on the prints and preferred solids to work with but cotton broadcloth was very expensive and the variety of colours was very limited. I used a lot of polycotton broadcloth and I still have an extensive supply of many different colours and shades. The quilt I am working on has a bit of polycotton broadcloth in it along with another really old bit of fabric - the navy print in the first photo.

4 comments:

  1. Great blocks Dolores. I also like to use stuff from my stash. It's a good feeling when you find fabrics, no matter how old, that will work in a project.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I use stash all the time and for the US block tour blocks, that are 6.5 inches, small scraps have all been used.Ditto for most of the Quilt along by the sea blocks. Grey is a great colour, I did have to buy some a while ago and now have light and darker pieces.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Stash is a wonderful thing! Especially now that fabric stores have vanished from the nearby towns, it is good tomknow that I only need to find the cardboard box where my this or that colour fabrics are, or the prints or solid or plaids ...

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's always a winner when you can use up stash. Mine never ceases to amaze me with what I can manage to unearth that works for what I'm wanting to do.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for commenting. I appreciate your thoughts.