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The Art of Stash-Busting

For more than four years I have been focused on finding, creating and developing quilt designs that will make some inroads into the piles of fabric that have accumulated relentlessly over the years – fabric on shelves, in drawers, in boxes and in piles on the floor. But I don't need to tell you about all that. If you have been a quilter for more than a year you know exactly what I am describing. To the uninitiated eye this represents the mindless accumulation of useless stuff (we won't even touch on the capital outlay involved). But what they need to understand is that when we buy fabric we are building and maintaining a collection. Collecting is just as much a creative activity as painting, writing novels or making quilts.

Everyone's collection is different. I don't feel a compulsion to buy autumn shades or really bright fabric. Soft shades and subtle tones of blues/greys/mauves/pinks are my areas of addiction. Our fabric choices are personal and probably colour co-ordinated and it is that element of a collection that appeals. Nevertheless, what we have to realize is that the longer a piece of fabric stays in a stash, the more it loses its power and attraction. It needs to be taken out, shaken, grouped with others that give it new life, as it gives new life to them. In other words we have to use some of our collection or it cannot grow and continue to give pleasure.

Don't be afraid to use the stuff: it justifies your collecting habit and after all, that's what it was made for. Reviewing my fabrics both for this book and my previous one, Making Scrap Quilts to Use It Up, proved to be an unexpected pleasure, like going to a family wedding or college reunion and meeting up again with people you had almost forgotten. Not only had I renewed my relationship with some lovely pieces of fabric but in using them in a quilt I have introduced them to other people who now also get a chance to enjoy seeing them.

The more I worked on quilt designs with a view to using lots of fabrics in whatever amounts I happened to have, the more ideas seemed to appear. My students, too, were hungry for more and by the time Making Scrap Quilts to Use It Up had been published there were enough additional quilt designs already underway for this book. This time I have focused on techniques that are high on efficiency and time-saving features to move the design along. Not exactly ‘quilt in a day’ but certainly aiming at keeping the ideas bubbling and the quilt growing speedily so that the fabric stashes don't get too dusty.

I have to confess that after a long spell of controlled abstinence I have weakened several times in the past three months and bought new fabric, the designs and colours of which I couldn't resist. I've no plans to use them yet, but they are arranged artfully in a shallow basket in my workroom and I see them every day as I move about the room. All quilters will understand the pleasure that gives me. So, do not stop buying fabric – it is a part of the collecting process. Don't put your new acquisitions away or hide them from a disapproving family. You bought them to enjoy, so do just that, even if that means just stroking them occasionally. After a while, move them along and mix them with your established collections. Start cooking a new quilt project by auditioning new groupings of fabrics from your stash. A static collection grows stale: it needs to be constantly reassessed, used and replenished.

In this latest book you will find 20 projects, both large and small, to use with all that fabric. Some of the quilts have been made by me, others by my students, and the range of fabrics varied to suit the taste of each maker. We all have a little less in our stashes now – but not for long, I'm sure. The important thing is that we have enjoyed ourselves. Reading through this introduction I see I have used the word ‘pleasure’ three times plus ‘enjoy’ and ‘delight’. Isn't that what we all feel about this craft and about all that lovely fabric waiting to be used?