Fabric!
It is our weakness, those of us who sew, the desire to fondle, admire, own and use fabric. No, that doesn't sound right. It's not a weakness. We can sew with most anything. Many among us will go to Goodwill and find old sheets, softened to a delightful patina by years of use, and make them into quilts, or use them for muslins, and kids clothes. Quilts came about as a way to both keep you warm at night and use up any scraps of fabric left around for other sewing. I am enough of a regular at my local fabric store (the beautiful Z Fabrics) that I am on first name basis with the owner. I believe in supporting my local businesses. Those of us who live in, or close to, Maine also have Marden's, a discount chain that has a remarkable selection of designer fabrics (mostly quilting) for very inexpensive prices. But we are like Magpies, whenever we spy something sparkly, something colorful or textural, we will swoop down to see what it is. And then usually we will buy it. It comes home and gets added to the rest of our stash of fabrics. Some use them on a regular basis. Some just collect and admire. Most will eventually use them, or trade them away to others. And then buy more....
I am very lucky that my husband is a great collector of books. That means that our home is full of them, on every flat surface. I love books too, as I have said here previously, so it is no hardship for me that he is constantly bringing them into the house. The beautiful balance to this equation is that I am never, NEVER, criticized for the fabric and yarn that I bring into the house. I am allowed to collect with abandon, only limited by my own conscience, and my wallet. Those two factors can be limiting, so I feel that when they are not intruding on my actions, I will purchase with gusto, knowing full well that they will impede my purchases at another moment. I allow my psyche (and my wallet) to be self-limiting....
Consequently, I own some fabric.... What you see above are my in-circulation stashes for Quilting (on the left) and Garments (on the right). I also own some yarn, ahem, but at this moment it all lives at home, separately from the fabric so that both collections appear smaller in scope. Here in my studio I can display my fabric openly with no worries of fading from the sunshine, or fur from a nesting cat. This has made me reach in to my stash more than previously. Accessibility will do that. I have made two baby quilts entirely from stash in the past month. And I've got ideas for more quilts floating in the noggin, inspired by what I look at daily. The garment production is a hair slower than I would like, but again, from absorbing the instigation of their constant presence, I have plans...
This weekend my friend Peg from Sew Fresh Fabrics is coming to A Gathering of Stitches with piles of fabric for a pop-up store experience. Click on the logo at right to go to her website and see her selection of beautiful fabrics. She'll be here at AGOS from 10:00am to 3:00pm, set up in our space, for your fondling, admiring and buying pleasure. Come out and visit us, say hello, and, what the hell, buy some fabric! The Holidays are coming, you can add to the stash to get the juices flowing for all that making you're going to do for the Holidays! (which we can help you with with our Holidays by Hand program, details about which are coming very soon...)
