Although this may not be everyone's idea of a good time, I wanted to track incoming and outgoing fabric, with the goal of not increasing my current stash. Whether or not I have "a lot" of fabric depends on who you ask. Certainly there are folks with far more than me who find my paltry stash not enough to work with, but my daughter insists that I am a hoarder. All in the eye of the beholder.
Don't get me wrong, I like to buy fabric. I like looking at the tiny pretty squares of fabric swatches on my phone when fabric shop newsletters come in my inbox. I do not wish to deny anyone that pleasure! But I overheard someone in line at PIQF a while back saying she had more fabric than she could possibly use in her lifetime. And I just didn't want that to be me. I want to use what I have, and use it while I still love it. And then I want to buy more of it to continue the process. Fabric that excites us is what keeps the creative process going, amiright?
Jeni Baker of In Color Order has a post talking about her process, which is similar to mine. She tracks her use of specific fabric by projects, which I don't do. I have a simple IN (by shop) and OUT (by project) spreadsheet that tracks by month and adds everything up for a final tally. I was really just interested in a total number. I guesstimated yardage for projects and tried to be conservative about it. A finished baby quilt was 4 yards, for example. I did not worry too much about exact numbers just tried to get it close. Another bonus to this spreadsheet is it tracks what you make in a year.
Final tally for 2016: 116 yards of fabric purchased; 121 yards of fabric used.
So I did use more than I bought-which was a goal- no net increase! Hooray! I admit to making lots and lots of gift bags in December, both to boost my out-yardage and to make reusable gift bags for future use. It was eye-opening to me to see how much fabric I purchased (and won, and got for free, I counted it all) and also how much I used. If anyone had told me I bought and used over 100 yards of fabric in a year I would not have believed it.
One thing this process has led me to is less buying of fabric just because it is on sale or just because I am trolling around for interesting stuff on the internet. I know have another filter to run any purchase through: IS IT SPREADSHEET WORTHY?
Here is my spreadsheet, in case anyone is dying to see it. I can share the google spreadsheet if you really want it. Just let me know!
| IN YARDS | January | feb | march | april | may | june | july | august | sept | oct | nov | dec | YEAR IN TOTAL (should be negative!) | |
| difference | -6 | 0.25 | 7.25 | 1.5 | 18.2 | 4.5 | -5.5 | -11 | 1.45 | 0.25 | -6.25 | -9.75 | -5.1 | |
| in | 0 | 9.25 | 11 | 12 | 23 | 22.5 | 2 | 7 | 10.25 | 14.5 | 4.5 | 0 | 116 | |
| bloomerie | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||||
| hawthorne | 3 | 7 | 7 | 17 | ||||||||||
| fabricworm/fabric dot com | 5.25 | 6 | 2 | 13.25 | ||||||||||
| fat quarter shop | 9 | 3 | 12 | |||||||||||
| intrepid thread | 3 | 7.25 | 10.25 | |||||||||||
| stone mtn | 8 | 8 | ||||||||||||
| OR/HI | 8 | 2 | 10 | |||||||||||
| restash (free!) | 2 | 2 | 4 | |||||||||||
| fabric depot | 10 | 10 | ||||||||||||
| birthday+prize; retreat, BAM free table, prize | 5 | 7 | 12 | |||||||||||
| PIQF, japanese fabrics | 3.5 | 3.5 | ||||||||||||
| ilovefabric | 4.5 | 4.5 | ||||||||||||
| moona (etsy)/cia's palette/nimble thimble | 5 | 3.5 | 2 | 10.5 | ||||||||||
| out | 6 | 9 | 3.75 | 10.5 | 4.8 | 18 | 7.5 | 18 | 8.8 | 14.25 | 10.75 | 9.75 | 121.1 | |
| 2.5 inch purple | 4 | |||||||||||||
| 21 12.5" squares | 7 | |||||||||||||
| rainbow top | 1.25 | |||||||||||||
| wheelchair top | 0.5 | |||||||||||||
| seal bag | 1 | |||||||||||||
| gift & zipper bags | 1.5 | 0.25 | 1 | |||||||||||
| stash bee block | 0.25 | 0.25 | 0.25 | 0.25 | 0.3 | 0.25 | 0.25 | 0.25 | 0.3 | 0.25 | 0.25 | 0.25 | ||
| D2 donation quilt | 8 | |||||||||||||
| Harper's window seat | 2.5 | |||||||||||||
| slabs | 0.5 | |||||||||||||
| charity binding | 0.5 | 0.5 | ||||||||||||
| CH for Aja | 4.5 | |||||||||||||
| Alison- bag | 0.25 | |||||||||||||
| Kath- +2 pixie baskets | 0.5 | |||||||||||||
| 13 12.5" squares | 4 | |||||||||||||
| photo mini for BAM | 0.5 | |||||||||||||
| Eric and erin | 5 | |||||||||||||
| blue ombre charms | 4.5 | |||||||||||||
| destash | 5 | |||||||||||||
| MLQG | 0.25 | 0.5 | 0.25 | 0.25 | ||||||||||
| wine/gift bags | 0.5 | 2 | ||||||||||||
| DT bag | 1.5 | |||||||||||||
| charity red and white, top plus binding | 7 | |||||||||||||
| Steam punk | 10 | |||||||||||||
| cargo duffle | 3 | |||||||||||||
| pot holders | 0.5 | 1 | 5 | |||||||||||
| housetop-Gavin | 4 | |||||||||||||
| Amanda | 3.5 | |||||||||||||
| Steve and margaret | 6 | 0.5 | ||||||||||||
| sew together bag | 1.5 | |||||||||||||
| pillow case, harper | ||||||||||||||
| scrappy 9 patch top to BAM | 3 | |||||||||||||
| grey strippy scrappy top | 5 | |||||||||||||
| 8 zipper bags | 4 | |||||||||||||
| 5 for Xmas | 5 | |||||||||||||
| fmq practice | 1 |
3 comments:
Thanks for sharing! I just finished a sitting down trying to finish up gift bags for this Christmas. It is a tradition for me to make a few new ones each year to spread around to the family.
Thanks for the GREAT post, Cheryl! I also keep a spreadsheet. I know I owe you a copy! You are braver than I am in posting your net and gross. Perhaps you have given me courage. Thanks for posting!
Ok, I think I * might * be interested in a google sheets version of this spreadsheet. And Cheryl and Erin, do you have a pattern for any sort of special fabric gift bags, or do you sew up 2 sides of a rectangle and hem the top?
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