Today I thought I would share my recent fabric purchase and talk a bit about how I decide what cuts of fabric to buy.
Because I mostly make quilts from scraps nowadays, I rarely buy fabric for general piecing. When I do, it is usually half yard cuts of a specific color I am low on or staples like low volume or black/whites.
So nowadays, when I see a good sale, it is backing and background pieces I am in the market for.
I keep all of my backing fabrics (anything larger than about 2.5 yards) in a dresser separate from my other stash. I also keep it organized by color like I do all of my fabric. When I am getting ready to make a purchase, I look through my stash and make note of which colors I am low on. Above are some great stash pieces I have now. You can see I focus on more tonal fabrics and stay away from the more multi color prints.
For this last purchase I made to Connecting Threads, I identified I needed yellow, orange and red. I have purchased the sketch fabric before and love it. And I can ALWAYS use navy so the dots went into my shopping cart too. Because most of my quilts are lap size, (approx. 60 x 72), I buy 4 yard cuts. This puts the seam horizontally on the quilt. If I need a bigger backing, I usually end up piecing different fabrics together to make the size I need.
In my last purchase, I also included some textured tonal prints to use as background fabrics. I prefer these over solids so I like to have them on hand. I usually buy 2.5 yard pieces for my stash. I really fell for the soft sherbet orange chambray piece and have been day dreaming about how to use it.
And because most of my backing fabric stash are more tonal prints, most of the time I can also use those for background fabrics if there is one that is perfect for my project.
Keeping my stash stocked with fabric that can be used in lots of ways helps to ensure I can always find something in my stash when I am ready to sew. Also, being able to pick them up when they are on sale, keeps me sewing without hurting my pocketbook!
It is time for me to get sewing!
So many possibilities...
If you prefer to use solids for your background fabrics, did you see that the Fat Quarter Shop have their Kona solids on sale? They are one of July's Basic of the Month.
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11 comments:
Beautiful finds! That's pretty much what I do these days. I'll get 2-3 yards of a neutral that will be a good background to bring my disparate collection of colorful fabrics together. Otherwise, it's FQs and half-yards of almost-solids.
Ooooh...such great fabrics. I wish the Canadian dollar was a little more closer to the American....I'd buy more often from Connecting Threads.
It's hard to pass up a good sale! Most of my big purchases are yardage for backing and background as well. Great idea buying tone on tone. It's so much easier to work into a quilt!
I got happy at the last Connecting Threads sale too, and they too were mostly good background and backing fabrics. Background players that will let the stars shine. I think it will be a long time before I run out fabric!
Looks like a healthy stash enhancement! You hit all the components for a well rounds fabric collection. Smart choices and a SALE, too!!!
Such good advice for everyone, especially those of us an a tight fabric budget. Find that often, if I see a quilt pattern that truly calls my name, the yardage requirements for background fabric is always more than I’ve purchased, so I’ve increased the amount I buy on sale to have on hand 3.5 or 4 yards.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on fabric purchases. I have been buying solids but I am getting a little impatient for Connecting Threads to put them on sale. I should venture out a bit and buy tonals. Thanks.
Thanks for sharing your thought process for fabric purchases. Connecting Threads has some really good sales, too good sometimes!
I follow your method, I mainly use scraps for piecing and buy yardage for backing or binding when I need it.
I did splurge on a Palm Canyon fabric collection for an atomic starburst quilt. Now, when I will get to that project, I don't know, but hoping to make progress on it by year's end.
Your fabrics are beautiful, and your buying process is very interesting, thanks for sharing!
I like to keep my backs ( larger) pieces separate as well. If I am not in love with a fabric anymore, it spends time there as well. If I still don't want to use it, it needs to leave.
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