Do You Shop for Fabric, or Fabric Shop?

It's an interesting question when you really think about it. Not everyone has the luxury of living near a huge metropolitan fashion center like New York City or Los Angeles where the sky’s the limit when it comes to shopping for fabric.  Many cities, like where I live, offer few options for buying fabric beyond the local Joann’s or Hobby Lobby stores. For buying really good fabric, well, that almost doesn’t exist.  I can’t tell you how many times I have an image and/or a pattern of something I am dying to make and can’t come close to finding the right fabric to satisfy that craving. It’s extremely frustrating and I have to believe I am not alone. 

My latest 50% off purchases

As a result, I rarely shop for fabric. Instead, I fabric shop. What's the difference? Think of it as the way Europeans are known to shop for food. Their meal of the day is based on what they find at the open market that morning.  So rather than shop for items to fit a predetermined menu, the food they create from their purchases becomes the menu.

I find this method is sometimes a better approach when it comes to shopping for fabric as well. When I find a beautiful piece of fabric I buy 2, sometimes 2 ½ yards or more of it even if I have no specific pattern or garment in mind. I do, however, contemplate what type of garment is best suited to the fabric, which helps determine the amount of fabric I buy. When material goes on sale 50% off, I stock up.  What I make from my purchases comes later. It has become easier these days to match a pattern to the fabric than to match the fabric to a pattern. 

While this may not always be the most economical way to shop for fabric, it keeps things real. Real, in the sense that this is what’s available for me to work with.  There have been many instances when I have passed up an opportunity to buy a beautiful piece of fabric because I had no specific pattern in mind and later regretted that decision when it was no longer available.

As you can see, this is a recipe for accumulating lots of fabric and I admit, I do.  To keep  track of what I've purchased, I document my finds before I stash them away in bins in my studio.  I pin a pre-designed label to the fabric which identifies what kind of fabric it is, fiber content, care instructions, and the fabric width and yardage.  Not too long ago I wrote a post  on the subject -- see my post on Fabric Stash Organization: http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2240031731523458318#editor/target=post;postID=3196290962237856201;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=24;src=postname 

So, do you shop for fabric or  fabric shop?  

Fabric Stash Organization

Wednesday Tip of the Week

If you are anything like me you take advantage of fabric sales. I'm a sucker for them and like to stock up when fabric goes on sale at 50% off. As a sewing instructor I get an additional 15% so when fabric is on sale it's an extremely good buy indeed.

As a consequence, I now have a pretty hefty supply of fabric waiting in bins - that's bins in the plural sense. Yes, I have a lot of fabric. And, clearly I am not alone. Having a stash of fabric is a sewing kind of thing. 

Whenever I buy a piece of fabric, or in this case, pieces of fabric, I make a point of labeling them before I stuff them into there proper bins. I usually mark what kind of fabric it is noting fiber content and care (well, that is if I have remembered to write it done while at the store), when I purchased it, how large a piece it is and the fabric width. To make the task simple, I created a form that I fill out and simply pin to the piece. 

Now when I am perusing through my stash I know immediately what I have to work with. I now longer have to pull out the piece and measure it to see if it will be adequate for the project I have in mind. So simple.