Is there such a thing as too much fabric?

Today is my birthday and my sister got me the lovely sign above. She understands my quilting addiction. My husband, however, doesn’t get it. When he read the sign he said, “I disagree.” My family laughed. They probably disagree too.

I have been trying to cut back on my fabric shopping in the last year. For the most part, I’ve just bought fabric to finish projects I already have started or to serve as a neutral fabric when I’m working with fat quarters from my stash.

But I still have a wardrobe and an entire closet full of fabric, unfinished projects and other quilting supplies. I’ve got a pretty big stash, but I know quilters that have even more than I do. So here’s the question: Can one really have too much fabric? And if the answer is yes, how do you know you’ve crossed the line?

Right now my sewing room is a mess because it also doubles as the laundry room and the place where items that don’t have a place of their own get tossed until a home can be found for them. It’s so full of crap that I can’t actually sew in there right now. It’s so embarrassing I’m not even going to post a photo.

But when it is cleaned out, almost all my fabric has a place to be stored until I get around to working it into a quilt, so I think I have not crossed the too much fabric line yet. But I once saw a reality TV show when a quilter was featured as a hoarder. Her entire living room was filled with piles of fabric and supplies. There wasn’t even anywhere to sit and her grandchildren weren’t allowed to visit because her children didn’t think the home was safe. Once they cleaned out the house and donated gobs of fabric, they still managed to fill up three walls of her two-car garage with storage shelves stacked floor to ceiling with tubs of fabric. I think she may have crossed the too much fabric line.

How big is your stash? How do you keep it under control, and do you think there is such a thing as too much fabric?

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Comment (7)

  1. My own personal definition of ‘too much’ is when I can no longer access my fabric when I need/want to use it. I think, just because I’m sooooo disorganized, that I’ve long ago passed the ‘too much fabric’ point. 😛 When you have to buy a new tool because you are too disrupted to be able to find the one you know you already own, it is past the line. LOL!

    🙂 Linda

    1. I’ve had to buy new tools for home improvement projects because I couldn’t find the one I needed. I have no less than a dozen putty knives. But I’ve never had that problem with quilting notions.

  2. I am usually in the minority about the subject of a fabric stash. I feel bad for fabric that is not being used. I do have a small stash composed of FQ bundles mostly, but I try to only buy with a specific project in mind.
    I know some people who say that they will leave their fabric to a friend or family member who sews or quilts

  3. Ooops sorry I presses post. Here’s the rest of my comment

    But that’s not for me. I’m not a flea market, garage sale person and would worry about how long the fabric was sitting there and in what condition it’s in…I know I’m weird lol.
    So i guess I can’t answer how much is too much because I don’t see a reason for a stash. If I need background or backing or bindings get some when I need it.

  4. I don’ t think one can have too much fabric. Thanks to your challenge, I am trying to use up things that I already have, Today I finished 2 small, quilts that I had kits for. One was called Scrap Squares that used Civil War reproduction fabric. the other was a wool appliqué flowers with a bird with small blocks around the outside, called A Summer Flower.

    Someday, when you can get off work you will have to come up with me to Door County and have our own Quilt Retreat.

    Hope you had a wonderful Birthday!

    Aunt Carol

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