Yes I said wading. Mom, her sister, and I spent a half day doing that one day last week.
Someone passed along her sewing stash to my aunt and suddenly it was too full for her to cook in there, so auntie called us over to sort through it all. There were about 6 boxes and even more trash bags, all full of various fabrics. Some of it was quilt usable, and some was totally useless but it was all mixed together so we just had to dump out the bags and boxes and have a good sort.
Mom is never timid or shy when it comes to an event like this so she grabbed the first bag, dumped it, and dug right in. With a hand shooting past a large swath of slick bright pink polyester, she plucked out a stack of pre-cut quilting cottons in 4 inch squares, and began searching for more. Then Auntie and I waded in too. There was fabric to make sheers, jacket lining material, a lot of lightweight polyester, some jersey knit, sweatshirt fleece, a little bit of old double knit, some almost finished curtains, half finished garments, and something pink with sequins that looked a little like a tutu. All of that went into the discard pile right off the bat. Once we had been through it all we were left with some denim, corduroy, and various weights of cotton and poly-cotton blends. We divvied up this fabric loot into several piles until it was all gone.
There was one box of various ribbon and lace trims. Both of them elected me as the one to go through the box and salvage the good stuff out of it at a later date. There were two boxes of 3 inch wide fabric wound on rolls, some was thin poly but most was quilting weight cotton, with enough on each of the rolls to use as sashing or binding on several quilts, or use it in a strip or brick quilt or two. I've got one box and mom has another.
Mom has a load of floral and fruit prints, with a smattering of polka dots and stars. The sizes of her fabric range from 4 inch squares to big enough for a quilt backing. I've got loads of corduroy in various shades of pink and blue, some bright florals, some novelties and critters including a zebra print, and various dots and other geometric prints, nothing big enough for a backing but I can raid Mom's stash if I have a need. I've now got two 13 gallon trash bags full of new to me fabric.
I wonder how nice it would be to have a corduroy quilt. It's nice soft cord that will probably be softer after I wash it. Might have to use big seam allowances though. Debra in VA See my quilts at