The Fabric Stash, refined

Thanks everyone for the great tips on pants fitting - it's all very useful which I will have to try out. I shouldn't be surprised that my pants had such huge fitting issues since I've never really put any effort into sorting them out and I don't have a particularly easy body shape to fit. I have watched others blogged their slow and steady progress towards pants fitting nirvana, now I guess I need to find the energy to do the same.

Not this week though, I've come down with the 'flu and have taken up a position on the lounge under a fluffy blanket drinking lemon and ginger tea. But last weekend before getting sick I started dismantling my sewing room so we can move the kids playroom into it and then the playroom will revert back to being a bedroom when we sell the house.

Some of you may remember when I posted a picture of my fabric stash - some people IRL still mention it to me so I know it was memorable! This is how it looked a few months back before I started the Great Fabric Stash Refinement (aka a massive cull):

On Sunday I took this photo:

Look Jane - there's that red and white cotton sateen from Spotlight from the New Look 6968 pattern cover peeking out!

Astonishing, right? I managed to further cull fabrics by holding each piece trying to visualise it made up into something and being honest with myself as to whether I would ever wear something made from it. And the answer to a lot of the prints and colours in my stash was a surprising no, and so a third big bag which has some really nice, quality fabrics will also go out to the Fabric Cave shortly:

So what has happened to the rest? You didn't think I had gotten rid of all that fabric did you? The answer is that 24 jumbo size vacuum space saver bags later, my stash is now packed and ready to go into storage before our upcoming house sale:

Even when I've vacuumed all the air out and shrunk those bags down as much as possible, it's still an impressive pile (which of course fell over a few seconds before I took this photo):

To be totally honest though, this isn't my full stash in those space saver bags. There is still a big bag of fabric scraps to deal with, two boxes of UFOs/refashions, lengths of curtain lining and these rolls of fabric too:

Those fabrics still left on the shelving I've kept out with the intentions of sewing them in the next 6 months or so. No particular projects in mind, just a general desire to use the fabric - sort of sewing with half a plan I guess! I can still access the fabrics in storage but it will take some pre-planning since my parents live over an hour away. And yes, I'm aware that the small amount of fabric I've kept out is actually larger than some people's entire stashes!

But overall my stash is now greatly reduced and I'm actually feeling good about that. I've never really felt any guilt about my fabric stash, mainly because I had the space to store it, I had the money to purchase it, and I do use stash fabrics frequently. Plus I really liked being able to find an appropriate fabric in my stash no matter the project, and I cannot recall the last time I had to purchase fabric particularly for a project for myself. But I must admit that while I was packing this all up I was feeling slightly overwhelmed and a little bit disgusted at my greedy hoard of fabrics! And questioning whether we really should sell our house and move.....

Anyway I've shared this with you all as a public service - for those of you with a small but growing stash you can take comfort that you're not as bad as me yet! And for those of you with a sizeable stash too, well at least you know you're not alone.