Very interesting essay.

I went through a period when I didn't think my quilting skills were worthy of beautiful fabric. I bought it to cherish, but didn't dare cut it. Maybe someday... You see, I thought I'd waste it, somehow.

What cured me? I got some fabrics that I didn't particularly care for. I had always preferred clear colors, and these were relatively muddy. It was a fabric line by Cranston. Now that I look back on it, they are all too matchy/matchy for my taste, as all the tones were medium with very little dark or light. They just blend together like mush.

It was a stressful time of my life. I needed quilt therapy. I picked a pattern from a magazine and made a quilt, from start to finish, with no dawdling.

The quilt is "mushy," like I said, but I love it anyway. It is on our bed.

The big surprise is that I now LOVE the colors in those muddy, blendy fabrics, and have collected more that go with the first group. The quilt I make from these will have more depth, because of greater differences between the darks and lights, slightly mismatched hues, larger and smaller scale prints, and some stripes to lead the eye from one block to another.

So, by making the quilt using fabrics I didn't particularly like, the desired outcome was attained. I am no longer afraid to "waste" fabrics by cutting into them. With my penchant for the scrappy look, I can always sprinkle my precious favorites into a quilt, and fill it out with other fabric that have similar characteristics. I can stretch a little bit of a scarce favorite quite a long way.

Of course, I wish I could still get more of certain fabrics. Don't we all?

I am starting to be able to recognize those special, "gotta have" fabrics the instant I see them in the store. I am sure to get plenty. Lots better than only realizing it long after they're gone.

I certainly understand that feeling. I have a piece I have been so hesitant to cut into although I bought it for that. Then I walked into my quilt show this last weekend and there it was - left whole as a center panel and quilted around all the flowers like a whole cloth quilt. So, I think I can have my cake and eat it too.
Linda

When I find a fabric I really love, I love just looking at the yardage. When you cut it up into smaller pieces, it's not the same! But I never use my "special" fabrics to make backings - I think of that as "wasting" the fabric. I also love the feel and smell of new fabric.

I don't know...I guess we quilters are just a little weird...but at least we're not alone! :)

Donna

A very thought-provoking essay. Is it ok to just own the fabric and not cut into it? I hope so. So much new, beautiful stuff coming out each year, it's overwhelming. I'm really trying to use more of my stash, but there are some pieces I just want to keep intact just to admire. However, I had a friend who, years and years ago as a newlywed, carefully kept all her brand-new linens acquired as wedding gifts, unused and folded in a closet, until one day she pulled some sheets out to use, and the fabric along the fold lines had disintegrated, rotted away, leaving those precious "new" best sheets worthless.

That was very interesting. I have resisted using fabric for the very reason that I fear I cannot get more of it. And that's because usually I can't! I have also bought fabric I don't need because I fear I'll never see it again. And I am certain that is a marketing strategy -- put it out there for a limited time only and people will feel the need to snap it up.

I've gotten better about this as time has gone by and I've realized a couple things:

1) There will always be OTHER beautiful fabric, even if not this one.
2) I end up with a lot of JUNK in my stash too if I buy everything I see that seems like a deal for fear it will never come around again.
3) I try to "just not look" if I'm not in the market for fabric. Because otherwise I always end up buying something that I "must have."

BTW: Regarding the "matchy-matchy-muddy colors" -- interesting that this was a difficult time in your life and you still love the quilt. Those colors may not be the more striking/eye catching -- but they are VERY comforting. I love being surrounded by toned down, muted colors. Very COZY/HOMEY to me!!!!

I do believe the fabric companies are applauding us for keeping yardage just to admire.

I found this an interesting perspective as well. I do it too, for 2 main reasons I think. The first being, like most of you, I'm afraid I'll never see the fabric again. I'll think of or find a perfect place to use it, and then not be able to find it (or more of it) again. The second reason is another one that someone has already mentioned. I'm new at quilting, and I am hesitant to use fabrics that I think are really beautiful for fear that I'll mess it up somehow. If I ruin the project, or even just a block, it is wasting the fabric. I thought (and still think) that I should save the fabrics that I really like for those really special projects, and then only use them in small amounts :) Almost like I don't deserve to use special fabrics (or even expensive ones) until I get much better at what I'm doing.

Hopefully I will move beyond this phase as I get more comfortable in my own abilities . . . but it is both interesting and comforting that there are a lot of other people out there who share similar fears and hesitations.

Very interesting essay....and now I must go pull out my silk I bought in Malaysia, handle it, and fold it differently so it won't fall apart at the creases......Teresa

lol @ Teresa

I did that too, with a beautiful set of pillow cases that were handed down to me in my family. Original Italian fabric and embroidery. I almost never use them as they are family heirlooms, but I did go pull them out, smooth them out, let them sit out for a while, and then refold them differently :)

Laurainsdca wrote:
"I have resisted using fabric for the very reason that I fear I cannot get more of it. And that's because usually I can't! I have also bought fabric I don't need because I fear I'll never see it again."

Oh, yeah! That's me, too. However, I have been making myself use, or even give away part of, some of the fabrics I love, if I think I might not end up using them in the proper setting they deserve. Recently, I bought some turquoise muslin (by request) to use as one of the 3 main colors in a quilt, but then the friend it is destined for let it be known that she loved the robin's egg blue in another thing I made, so I am using the latter fabric in her quilt, instead. This is a softer turquoise that I really prefer to the brighter one, but then I thought, why hold onto a fabric that is perfect for a particular quilt now, when I don't know when or how I might use it in the distant future. Still, if I ever find that particular robin's egg blue at Rosie's again, I know I'll buy 3~4 yards of it! (Tell me, why is it that every time I go, there are different shades in the muslin solids, so that I can't count on finding more of the same one again?)

I'm guilty of the same thing. I collect a beautiful fabric and then hesitate to use part of it for fear that i'll want it for something else later and there won't be enough..and of course, I won't be able to get any more. I'm also guilty of sometimes buying extra yardage of a fabric so that if I need a lot for a border or something, I won't run out. I think I got the fear bug back when I discovered that many of these fabrics just aren't available for very long at all.

This is particularly ironic given that I tell people who bring their antique jewelry pieces to me to look at that if they lock them away and don't wear them for fear of loosing them or getting them stolen it's the same as if they never owned them at all. I tell them that jewels were made to be worn, not shut away in a safety deposit box - no matter how beautiful they are or how much they are worth. Hmm..seems like I need to follow some of my own advice when it comes to my fabric! LOL
Clara

I am also very guilty of hording special fabrics just so I can touch them and enjoy them. It's difficult to cut them up.

I once bought fabric for a quilt I was making for a gift. I fell in love with a few of the pieces. I made the quilt and it was so beautiful and perfect in the beautiful fabrics I bought. My heart ached to part with it, but I did, and the recepient was thrilled with it. Then I read an article on this same topic. It said to make something out of the leftovers for yourself and then you would still keep your cherished fabrics. I did this, making a tote bag and it worked. I use the bag all the time, and when I see my beautiful fabrics it brings back the memmories of making the quilt and how much joy I felt giving it as a gift.

So now I have less fear about making something out of any of my fabrics and I will continue to make my "me" keepsakes.
Jean

Another reason I have trouble cutting into "beautiful" fabric is because sometimes the most beautiful fabric that I simply must have is a larger print that won't really look good cut up! I guess I can use it in a border. Hate to "waste" it on the back... But maybe I need to rethink that whole "quilt back should be cheap" theory.

No boring or cheap backs for me. I piece my backs, but more simply than the front, so that the quilt is reversible.