That's MS. You-Have-Too-Much-Fabric to YOU, buster!

Can one have too much fabric?

Well, I think maybe one can. More specifically, yes, I think maybe I do.

I'm feeling buried alive by the fabric in my sewing room. I've been quilting for more than 30 years (OMG!), sewing for longer than that. I'm not sure when I began collecting/amassing fabric, but it has been accumulating for a long, long time.

Pretty fabric, on sale fabric, on a whim fabric, thrifted fabric, inherited fabric -- it's all there on my shelves. Big yardages for clothing, small cuts for a specific project (did I finish that project? did I even *begin* it?) Fabric bought on trips, fabric given as a souvenir of some else's trip. More & more & more.

The quilt shops were smart when they started cutting fat quarters -- just a sweet, inexpensive taste, like the little spoons at the ice cream shop -- perfect for a small gift, a little pick-me-up. Then the manufacturers began selling pre-cuts -- the beginning of *my* undoing. At first I thought, what can you do with a stack of 5 inch squares!?! Then I began to enjoy the restrictions of the 5 & 10 inch squares, the 2.5 inch strips -- I often cut my yardage into these dimensions. I found working within the structure a bit like haiku, kind of fun & freeing once you get into it.

For the last several years, when my Mom was in nursing care & I was spending 2 to 3 months of the year away from home visiting her, fabric shopping -- especially e-fabric shopping -- was my self-medication. I think most of us have seen those hoarding shows on television & know that the shopping isn't about the things being bought, it's about filling a hole, healing a hurt. Is it better or worse if you know what you are doing & do it anyway? I don't know, but it gave me something to look forward to when I got home from a sad & stressful trip. And an e-cart is so benign. Your purchases have no volume, just electrons, so it seems like nothing & so easy to "Proceed to Checkout". Then the giant box arrives at my door, like a present -- that is, until the bill comes.

The thing that is overwhelming me now is all the stuff I've been bringing back from my parents' home. A lifetime of things saved & things never gotten rid of -- clothing from nearly every stage of life of each member of my family, yard goods never used, scraps from dressmaking, hankies, linens -- there's even a silk parachute! -- etc, etc, etc. Baskets & bins & bags of it (oh, my).

I'm making a serious effort to realistically look over this new-to-me stuff & the stuff I already had, evaluate what I can use, what I will use, what I don't like or want anymore, what there just isn't enough hours in the day to get to.

 
But will I stop buying fabric? Not likely. Over the years I've learned that, for me, fasting leads to over-doing. Moderation works best, so I'll try to cut back.

I am really trying to cut back.