When supplying your fabric stash, I'm curious, when you see a fabric that you have to have for some future project how much do you buy? Do you buy a three or more yards? My stash consists of leftover odds and ends. Interested in hearing what you do. Thanks, Miriam
I buy as much as I can afford, or whatever the fabric tells me! Thus my lilac silk and cotton satin (which spoke volumes on wanting to be an Elizabethan court dress!) came out at 12m, but the amazing brocade I wanted was £17 a metre, so I only bought enough to make a forepart for a gown, and do a little trimming. There's a metre and a half of that...
£1 a yard special offers that I can use for toiles tends to land in 10m chunks...Lining fabrics I use often come home in 25m rolls, as does interfacing. Quilting cottons flutter in by the fat quarter, and occasionally by the 1 or 2 metre piece if I want them for borders...
See, it just depends! Garment fabrics I usually try to get between 3 and 5 metres.
G'day Miriam
Usually I buy fabric with a particular garment in mind.....for instance, today I stubled across a ribbed acrylic that will be perfect for a jumper, so because it's 150cm wide I bought 1.5 metres and at $4 a metre it's a cheap jumper for winter.
At the end of last summer I found synthetic suedes marked down to $2 per metre when it had been $18.95 during winter.....because I wasn't sure if I'd make pants and vest or pants and jacket I bought 4 metres. Sometimes price governs how much I buy? Then again if it's a fabric that I can make something for myself and get a small garment for one of my DGD's then I'll buy an extra metre.
Bronwyn ;-)
nobodyhome1 wrote:
It does vary according to how I'll use it. Men's shirtings I buy in 2.5 yd increments, for instance, since I know I can get a shirt out of that. If I know my DH will really like a certain fabric (he loves blue windowpanes for instance), I might get 10 yards and make him 4 shirts. I get interfacings, muslin and a few other things by the bolt. I keep a mental list of how much fabric it usually takes to make a certain type of garment--- blazers, suits, dresses, etc. So when I see fabric that I like and I'm not buying for a pattern, I know how much I will likely need. Other than that, I tend to buy at least 5 yards of interlocks, cotton prints, other cottons, lightweight rayons, That's because I can usually get a lot out of a 5 yard length and have a bit left over to add to the quilt stash. I sew mainly for the family.
Phae
On Wed, 10 May 2006 0:07:05 -0400, nobodyhome1 wrote (in message ):
well, if I have a type in garment in mind - which I usually do - then I buy an appropriate amount for that garment, say for a dress or a short sleeve or long sleeve top. I'm usually getting somewhere between 2.5 and 5 yards. If it's something I really like, I'll often buy as much as I (think I) can justify. If I really like it and it's on a really good sale, I'll finish off the bolt. My husband grumbles sometimes, but he's also been known to fall in love with somethingg in my stash and insist on a shirt out of it.
Of course, none of this means I end up using the fabric for its original intent, or even that I remember the original idea, but I start off with some idea of what type garment I might make.
If I'm buying because it's incredibly cheap, I get twenty dollars worth.
If it's pants fabric, I buy enough to make two pairs. If it's a posh pants fabric, I buy enough to make two pairs and an overshirt.
Plus a little to allow for shrinkage and crooked cuts.
Joy Beeson
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