The Myth of Fabric Storage

I never set out to accumulate countless yards of fabric, but here we are. For a while, I was designing quilting patterns so for that I bought A LOT more fabric than any mere mortal should have. Not only does quilt pattern development require experimenting with the design, but in order to create a pattern that is likely to sell, you also need to replicate the quilt in a variety of colorways. Even more fabric! I’ve since migrated away from quilt designing because creating this comic about quilting takes up so much time, but I’m left with all those skeletons of partially completely or somewhat abandoned quilting efforts.

If Pinterest had its way, I’d build an entire wall of storage for that. I’m not saying that I haven’t sort of done that already but allow me to venture the opinion that if you aren’t using something then you shouldn’t hang on to it for an eternity in the off chance you might use it someday. Don’t throw it away but find someone else who will use it because storing something in a pretty cabinet isn’t going to increase the odds of you using it.

Fortunately for me, a family friend has just taken up quilting and, behold, she lives in an area where quilt shops are scarce. I packed up an entire USPS Large Flat Rate box for her, as much as the box could hold. I was sure to send her The Best Stuff. If I’m not going to get around to using some of my favorite fabrics, then someone else will! I also sent her a sewing machine. The 23 vintage sewing machines I still have is a story for another day.

Another friend has a particular interest in landscape quilts. Years ago, I designed a “Row by Row” block for my local quilt shop and went with a covered bridge theme, homage to my New England heritage. I bought all kinds of “rock” fabrics to get just the right look. Plus, water, wood, etc. Due to a happy conversation about all the fabric I had, I’ve re-homed another pile to someone who I know is going to use it.

I still have a long way to go, but I feel like finding people and organizations that can use this fabric is a better use of time, space and resources than creating even more storage solutions, no matter how cool they may be.

This is the Year!

This is the year: the year you are finally going to clean up your quilting space. That’s what you said last year, too, but you didn’t quite hit the mark. You said you’d reward yourself with making that new quilt – once you cleaned up your space. Now it’s the end of January and you still haven’t cleaned up but you really want to start that new quilt. What should you do?

You should start that new quilt anyway. I know, that sounds like giving in, but it’s not really. You can start your new quilt, but you don’t have to literally clean up your entire sewing space beforehand. Start small. Start by cleaning off your cutting table so that you can cut. That is a start. Don’t just move the stuff aside… actually fold up fabrics and put them away. Re-stow escaped notions. Hang up your rulers.

Now, your sewing machine table. How about just putting away past projects, either complete or not, that are sitting right on the sewing machine table? Not next to it. Not under it. Just right on top of it. I bet there are at least 3 or 4 (or more?) of those. You are making good progress now!

Now let’s move on to pressing. Again, you don’t have to organize your entre stash first, but how about putting away everything that is laying on the ironing board. I know you – that’s a lot of stuff!  That will make another huge dent.

Finally, how about you fold up all of the leftover fabrics from just this project and put them neatly on a shelf or in your stash? Now there is less mess for next time!

So, we didn’t clean your entire space, but we made it better than it was. Before you embark on your next project, tackle one small area. Wash, rinse, repeat. If you can follow this process, your sewing space will get clean before the end of the year and there will be no need for any grand declarations come the New Year!

Old Sewing Machines are Best

My everyday sewing machine is Singer 301A. It’s a vintage machine built in 1957, that is 11 years before I was even born. This is my workhorse machine that I use for everything… projects ranging from clothing repair to beautiful quilts for my family. There have obviously been a lot of advances in sewing machine technology since then. We are living in the age of the fancy embroidery machines that can do all kinds of stitches and even embroider full images. Modern machines can cut the thread for you, thread the needle, make sure the needle is in the up position when you stop and probably 100 other things that I don’t even know about because I use a sewing machine older than myself.

From time to time, I think about modernizing. I wonder what I’m missing out on, and could my sewing be faster, more efficient or fancier if I upgraded? I recall one time I was at a sewing expo and I decided to try out some new machines with a good mind to buy one. The first thing the salesperson did was hand me a small scrap of fabric. It was about a 2” square. I said, “What’s this for?” He said it was a “leader”. Again, I asked, “What is it for?”. He explained it was a small scrap of fabric used to start out a seam, it was supposed to eliminate thread nests, keep the fabric from being drawn into the needle hole, prevent the machine needle from becoming unthreaded when a new seam is started, etc. I looked at him with incredulity. “None of those things have ever happened to me.”, I explained. He scowled back at me in disbelief.

I tried the new machine anyway. I was put off by the fact that I needed this little scrap of fabric to help the machine behave itself when starting a new seam. It worked just fine, so I decide to try it without the little scrap of fabric “leader”. The fabric was immediately sucked into the needle hole; a giant snarl ensued. The machine could not move forward. It was awful. I cringed and ceded the $2000+ machine to the now annoyed salesperson.

My vintage machine never did any of these things. What good is a machine that will cut the thread for you and always leave the needle in the up position if you can’t just start out a new seam on the very edge of the fabric? I thanked him for his time and went back to browsing for fabric.

When I got home, I was more grateful than ever to have my old machine that had its own process. It simply worked in its own way. Sure, it doesn’t thread itself. It only has “forward” and “reverse”. It can’t make even a simple zigzag let alone any fancy edges. The foot pedal overheats if you use it too long. It doent cut the thread and the manual thread cutter on the back is so dull it doesn’t work anymore. Despite all of these perceived inadequacies, it makes a perfect seam: totally straight, perfectly even stitches, every single time and has been doing so for more than fifty years. For me, you can’t ask for anything more than that.