My Stash

I am very excited to report that many fantastic sewer/bloggers have already agreed to join me in the Stash Bustin' campaign! Hopefully many more will follow as the word spreads about our pledge to work through our existing fabric collections and avoid heading to the fabric shop where possible.

Some Stash Busters (including EmilyKate and Welmode) have sighted the desire to save some pennies as their principle motivation, others ( like Amy and Cisa) fear drowning in a sea of fabric as their stash grows increasingly unwieldy. The desire to refrain from unnecessary consumption of new stuff is certainly felt by some sewers also. However, I felt it necessary to explain a little further my personal reasons for Stash Bustin' at this time, aside from those listed above.

For some reason that I am unable to define, I have been holding back on discussing openly my plans for this year. Ok, I'm just going to say it. I am moving back to UK in August. There. Said it. Perhaps it is the admission that this chapter in my life will soon be drawing to a close, perhaps it's not wanting to field any more 'but why?!' enquiries than I already have done (I'm pretty over justifying my decisions on this). Well, anyhow, whittling down my possessions AND saving money are efforts I must firmly keep in my eyeline from now until August.

So, as Minnado has acknowledged, the process of Stash Bustin' is probably best initiated by uncovering the stash itself. A couple of days ago, I did the very same. I dragged out my fabric from it's various hiding places, then folded and organised it into sections:

This is my heavy-medium weight pile. It doesn't look very big in this pic, but trust me it's HUGE. There is masses of navy stretch twill and black stretch sateen in particular. Coats, jackets, trousers and skirts will hopefully worm their way out of this pile of potential.

This is the light-medium weight pile. These pieces are destined for light dresses and tops. Some of these bits are pretty small, so I'm going to have to apply some cunning and genius to 'make it work'!

The stretch and knit section!

There is also a section of clothes to be altered or picked apart for the fabric, but I'm pretty sure you can imagine what a messy pile of badly folded clothes looks like if you really put your mind to it! Of course, as soon as I'd put the stash all away neatly, I uncovered a heap more fabric that didn't make it into the photo shoot! I've got a lot of work to do to make my wardrobe ready for my Me-Made-March challenge, so it's good to see what I've actually got to work with. In fact, I'm not sure I really needed another challenge on top of the Me-Made-March one, but hell, let's go balls deep! (as my boy would say). Happy Bustin' peops!