How much do you buy? Your perfect amount.

How much of each fabric do you purchase if you are buying for your #fabricstash? A perennial question, and only you have the right answer for you. So – what questions do you need to ask to get to the right answer for your perfect amount?

What kinds of quilts do you make? Bed quilts, baby quilts, art quilts, wall hangings, table runners, bags? All of the above?
Have you been quilting for a while? Do you already have a stash from scraps and leftovers and buying what you like?
Are you closer to the beginning of being a quilter? Then it is good that you are asking these questions!
Do you have certain styles of fabrics that you use constantly? Or wish you did?
How much room do you have to store your fabric stash? (Ah, reality…)

Here are my answers – yours will be different:

For me, I last made a bed quilt well over 20 years ago. I use it ¾ of the year, and it still doesn’t have a binding on it! So, I don’t need to keep a stash of yards of the same fabric. This does mean that I’ll have to piece a back from time to time.
I’ve been quilting for a very long time. I have my stash of “I used to like these and still use them upon occasion” fabrics and a separate stash of my batiks.
Batiks are my favorite fabrics to work with. I have LOTS of them.
My quilt studio is in what would have been the master bedroom’s en suite bathroom if it had ever been built out. Small, but mighty, and it has a window, which makes me happy. I do have room for four sets of plastic drawers on the floor, two with only batiks under the cutting table and two with everything else.

My perfect amount? I buy half yards, as I don’t like dealing with quarter yards that are all twisted up coming out of the dryer (I always wash my fabrics before I use them), and I’ll often have some leftover to put back in my stash. If I am buying a fabric that I am using right away and I really like it, I'll buy a yard to make sure there is some for my stash. I like using the width of a fabric when I quilt, so fat quarters are OK, but I’m much happier working with a half yard and having leftovers.

What is your perfect amount? What other questions should you ask? I look forward to your answers in the comments here on the blog or over on Facebook.