My Fabric Stash: The Whole Truth

Oh my goodness. I barely know where to start. Ok, no I do know where to start: by explaining what is happening in these pictures. This week Patty and I moved into a lovely bigger flat that has, wait for it..., a small sewing room! If I were the type to 'squee', I would be 'squee-ing' now. But because the new flat is also more expensive, I have sadly had to leave my lovely desk space at Super+Super HQ. Fear not, I'm still firmly up in their business, they can't shake me that easily. 

But what these things have led to, is the regrouping of all my sewing and pattern cutting equipment, including sewing patterns, notions and fabric all in one place for the first time since, umm, 2007 or something. Jeez there's a lot of it. AND I had a big clear out recently. Anyways. Whilst the rest of the room isn't quite sorted yet or ready for photos, my fabric stash has been collated and organised. Fancy a look? Firstly, for some reference, I must explain that this set of shelves is the same height as me. 

Starting from the bottom shelf (pictured above), on the left there we have all the double-knit, most of which is synthetic. The majority of it consists of solid shade pieces: navy, black, red and maroon. There's also some navy/white and black/white striped pieces. On the right there is a pile of garments which are lined up either for refashioning or for the fabric to be harvested. 

Second from the bottom (pictured above) is the jersey shelf! Oh my there's a lot there isn't there?! LOTS of lovely prints (including anchors, birds, floral and leopard), lots of stripes and a few bits of solid shades. There's quite a mixture of qualities too, from weighty pieces with heavy elastane content, to lighter more drapey pieces probably destined for batwing tops.

Next up is the most over-populated shelf (pictured above): wovens. There are a few pieces of trouser-weigth pieces on here, but most of it is lighter top and blouse weight pieces. Very few of them are big enough to get a dress out of, unfortunately, and as you can see there are SO. MANY. PRINTS. This shelf kind of gives me a headache to look at!

Last but not least is the 'top shelf material'! Hahahaha! I'm so funny. The above picture is my vintage fabric stash. This section has been curated pretty carefully, it's all thriller no filler. There are a few curtains plus some nice bits of cotton big enough for blouses, but also lots of smaller pieces that are perhaps destined to be bags or cushion covers. The lace on the right isn't vintage, but I ran out of space on the other shelves. 

'Very nice, Zoe', you may be thinking, 'Looks pretty neat and tidy, if a bit excessive'. But wait, I did promise the whole truth: 

This is what currently lurks round the corner behind the door! The bit of the lovely workroom that never gets on Pinterest! Yep, these bags contain more garments for refashioning, old knitwear for making into mittens, scraps of jersey only big enough for making pants, scraps of pretty woven stuff too small for garment projects, interfacing and Craftaganza supplies. AGH! Tell me everyone has a corner like this? Tell me this is the reality of craft!

It is frustrating that a lot of my fabric (having been sourced second hand) is in smaller pieces, thus limiting it's use. But seriously, I clearly have A LOT of it, in fact I have all the damn fabric I should ever need! Now I can see it all in one place together, I am more committed than ever to my Stash Bustin' pledge. How many years do you think it would take to sew through all this? And what about YOU? How does the size of your stash compare?