Sorting our quilting fabrics can be a challenge. Sometimes it's good to sort by color, but other times it's best to sort by fabric type -- like batiks, because I want them all in the same place. There are other kinds of fabrics that I like to group together, but sometimes group members are overlooked when I'm searching for a certain color. I don't think there's any single best way to sort a stash - the best way is what works for you -- and nothing is truly ideal.
As I've sorted, I've learned a few things about my fabric tastes. I bought a whole lot more florals in the past than I do now. I still like florals, but I'm better at filling in my stash with a much wider variety of fabric. I've also discovered that I might possibly have every paisley fabric that's been made in the past decade. And that, even though blues and greens seem to be most abundant, I'm pretty well covered on most colors. So I'm curious, do you buy more of one color family than another? Which one?
POLL: Which color is most abundant in your fabric stash? Choose one from the list.
Comments
I didn’t include pinks, so leave a comment if they’re your favorite.
Purples and blues I have the most of. My two fav colors. Also a lot of greens. I tend to like nature colors.
I buy for projects since I don’t have room for a stash- if I can’t think of a project that I am working on or will be in the near future it stays on the bolt! (I do make exceptions sometimes! But that stash is only one dresser drawer!)
Anyway, my stash is mostly left over yardage from projects and its mostly earthy toned fabric: greens, blues, browns and neutrals. I love hot, bright colors, but I must use all of them up!
It’s a tough call between blues and greens for me. Blues have a slight edge, which puts me in very good company, judging from the results so far
Reds, oranges, fire tones, sunsets, yellow oranges – They are everywhere in Batiks, in 30′s, in solids, in asians, in stripes and dots and plaids. How did this happen when GREEN is my favorite color?
I’m not sure my stash is well organized enough to tell, but I have a lot of hot red, orange & yellow, although if you ask me, I’ll tell you orange & yellow are my LEAST favorite colors. And I have a huge stash of black in it’s many forms because I love black backgrounds.
I think I have a well balanced mix. I do sort by color, but also have grouped separately ,all flower prints, batiks, william morris, fun prints and any groupings I purchased together that go with a main fabric.
Our Guild recently hosted Gyleen X. Fitzgerald of Colourful Stitches and I have gone into the ‘Box’ and randomly sorted my fabrics.Quilt colors are determined by what colour is in the box or boxes.
I am a new quilter so my stash is not huge. Green is probably my largest stash and as I learn about value, I realize I do not have a variety in value–I must change that.
I have a huge stash and I try and sort by colors but also sort by projects. I seem to have a well balanced color assortment in my stash.
I’m all about the purples — lavendars, eggplants, and everything in between. I also have a lot of yellows as they are a great complement to purples.
More than anything else, I have novelties. I started with the I Spy quilts years ago (have probably made over 20) and I just can’t stop collecting those picture prints, especially cats and dogs. Some of these fabrics are like little works of art!
I have sorted & refolded my stash recently, something I’ve planned to do for the past year. I have mostly greens. At one point I was going to do a NYBeauty in all greens, so I collected them everywhere. Haven’t made the quilt yet, so green is plentiful! I also have a lot of patriotic. I started quilting June 2001, left for a trip to Canada on 9/15/2001. We stopped at every quilt shop we could (27 I think) between IL and Toronto so I could get 1 patriotic fat quarter at each stop. I made that quilt when we got back home. Lest we forget, I think about 9/11 whenever I’m under that quilt.
I love my stash. I’m definitely bonded with it. I think yellows are the tallest stacks, then blues and greens. I want to live long enough so no other woman inherits my stash!
I make a lot of quilts for breast cancer patients and use a lot of pinks. So my stash is mostly in the pink family
I LOVE purples, the deep purples. Hardly any of my fabric is loud. I tend to make traditional blocks and do use stash fabric. I only go to the LQS when I have to buy something light to frame my purples. Although I do like batiks, I buy them as blender fabric as needed.
I also don’t have room for a stash and buy by project leaving me a drawer in my rolling cart for left overs and last year turned what was into it into a scrap quilt for a wedding gift. Maybe a stash will happen when the children all leave home and I have a place and money for one
I just recently sorted my stash as I’m loosing my sewing room to my first Grandbaby.
Her Daddy is going to Iraq and she and her Mommy will be living with us after she is born. I discoverd my biggest stash is reds, all shades and styles. I have for the longest time wanted to make a red and white quilt. Guess I’d better start buying white. My next biggest stash are shades of blue.
I store my fabric on one wall of my family room. I fold the smaller pieces and place them on a double row of shelves. The longer pieces are hung on pants-type hangers underneath. The colors are arranged by the color wheel. This arrangement is so inspiring that I’m always finding really great combinations and I can easily see what I’ve got that goes with the piece I’ve decided to work with. It also helps me keep some balance in my stash as I can see what is color is really low and look for those colors as I’m visiting fabric stores.
Blues, Greens, Shades of Rose, and mixed florals. I like Dark green for framing.
Pinks and roses have been my heavy favorite recently, but other years it has been blues and greens.
Blues and greens have always been my favorite. But hot pink has my eye this spring.
my largest stash is made up of kids fabrics – brights – all different colors. I definitely need help in sorting. I am always 2nd guessing whether I should use something up or save it for another project, yet cannot visualize ever using everything up. Quilting and simplifying my life are currently at odds.
It was ironic to read my mail today and see the topic of conversation is fabric stacks. I am in the middle of cleaning and sorting mine this week.
I acquire a lot of fabric as “gifts” from people cleaning out their basements (or the basement of a deceased relative). None-the-less, I seem to have more blues than anything else. From the results of your poll, it would seem that my stash and the ones I have inherited are consistent with the norm.
I sort by color and sometimes by theme (baby fabrics, novelty, flowered, stripes). I use plastic bins, old shoe boxes and plastic bags to contain all of this. (of course I allow for air circulation in my bags etc.) Inevitably I have shopping bags (and the wonderful zippered bags from sheet sets etc.) of “current” projects stacked everywhere in the house.Space is at a premium in an apartment so I have to be creative finding places to hide my treasures.
I cut a fat quarter from every fabric I purchase and arrange my fats by the colors of the rainbow. I use large under bed storage boxes to host the fats. When I open the box, I am so inspired and it’s easy to see if I am low in a certain color family. I keep my larger pieces of fabric by color in clear containers so I can see the fabrics and colors at a glance. It also discourages pests and dust from getting into the fabrics. I save the little packets of silica from shoes and purses and place 1 in each container to absorb any moisture. I lean more toward the jewel tones in nature. I am not a blue person-red is my favorite color.
I don’t have a stash, just the leftovers from projects. At this time I seem to go for purples in various shades. Have been making squares using Janet’s idea of scrap strips on muslin, now a quilt is in progress.
I have a bunch of big florals, lots of reds and purples, blues and teals. I try to force myself to buy yellow and orange to balance my stash. I’ve even used a bit of yellow once or twice.
My stash is mostly balanced and this is because I LOVE FLORALS! I’ve discovered if you lean towards florals a balanced stash helps a lot. My most single color weakness is Country Reds and that is definitely unbalanced.
I have lots of cut material to make quilts. I sort bye color.
Most of the quilts I have made have been for myself and my family or friends. With such a variety of tastes and decor, my stash is large and pretty well balanced. However,since I am collecting fabrics for a double wedding ring quilt in blues and white, the stack of blues is growing and probably towers over the others.
I tend to buy by the project. I just love fabric and shopping for it. I think I enjoy this part more than actually sewing. I find one fabric that I just have to have in a quilt and then start searching the store for mates. So my stash is grouped by “want to be quilts” and leftovers. The problem with this is if you don’t have a particular pattern in mind it is hard to judge how much of one fabric to buy. I like jewel tones and reds. Blue is my least favorite. Everything looks good with white and black.
Blues are my biggest. Love them greens too.
What is ironic about my stash is that I’m also drawn to all kinds of bright red and orange fabrics — even though I swear I don’t like the color orange and don’t want a bright quilt. Yet somehow I can’t stop buying them! Same with some largish prints — how on earth will I use this in a patter? Oh, but I simply must have it!!!!
Yes, you left out pink – I have way more pink than any other color!!! Blue would be second. The remainder of my stash is balanced.
Pinks for sure!
My fav color is purple and I tend to buy that even though I really don’t have a project in mind. I also have a lot of greens which I don’t really like. What’s with that?
In years past I went from a definitely blue period, to a yellow period, and am currently in a pink period. My new shirts are pink, too. I buy by the project, but always seem to have lots of ‘leftovers’. I don’t have much storage room, so need to get some scrappy quilts ready for church auctions, gifts, etc.
I admire those 15% whose stashes are balanced. How wonderful that would be. Mine is okay and when I need something I can go to the store and buy what I lack to finish a project, but darn it I don’t come back with some green every time. What is wrong with me?! I guess the color is trying to tell me something.
Since I live in Vanuatu where I cannot buy any quilting supplies or fabric, I load up while on my annual vacation in the States. I have quite a large stash well-balanced and sorted by color and size of piece, but my fat quarters seem to be heavy on the blues and greens. I tend to buy theme fabrics (ie hearts, xmas, kids) incase I find the perfect pattern from my wide variety of books and magazines I subscribe to. I can’t just pop down to the shop to buy so I use my stash as my fabric shop. I also have several bolts of backing and many rolls of batting in different sizes plus nearly every color hand quilting thread and gadgets galore!
I sort my stash by color,and I definitely have an over-abundance of dark blues, especially with stars. Also stars on other background colors. I must really like stars! I also sort some fabrics into “I’ll make something with this assortment one day” piles. I buy for projects, but usually buy a bit more than I need—just to be sure—and so I have lots of leftovers. I also get ‘a bit’ of something I just can’t leave behind in the store. Too bad I’m not really into scrappy quilts.
Purple abounds and I have made so many scrap quilts with my left overs, I would think that my purple stash would eventually deplete itself but it seems the more quilts I make the more scraps I make and then I buy to “supplement” the scraps adding a new fabric or two to the mix! One thing this does for me is I am always co-ordinated! I will mix my purples with blues & greens or with pinks and blues so I have alot of those too. Lately though I have been focusing on reds, whites, blacks and yellows…I haven’t figured out why since I don’t have even have a pattern in mind!
I have been in love with blue all my life, but my purples are growing fast,especially in clothing. I get many compliments when I wear purples.
My stash is pretty well even although I just bought a large supply of purples for my granddaughter to learn to quilt when she comes for the summer. Love scrappy quilts so I usually make good use of all my fabrics.
I have a lot of purples and flowers, but find that many of my older fabrics are not getting used. So I’m now making rag rugs and knitting with these fabrics.
My most popular flavor is green with red
a close second, but I kinda love all my
stash {can never have enough}
I have a moderately large stash stored in large plastic, see through bins along one wall of my quilting room. I store by size. Large yardages down to fat quarters. I have small bins for smaller sizes, and I keep “strings” and small pieces for 2″ blocks in large plastic baggies. A quick look at my wall shows bright colors far outweigh quieter tones. Oranges and reds seem to prevail, although I have a lot of greens and golds, too. All in all though I think I’m fairly well balanced.
I shop for fabrics way too often. That’s my biggest fault and weakness!
I like blues and greens but have an assortment of colours from different projects still to use. Can’t help buying more when I see nice designs.
definitely BLUE and all kinds of PRINTS I would say that neutral/flower print would run 2nd.
Blue then green but enough of most colours to make something at any time, I try to sort by colour then size.
I am a new quilter. I am blessed to live in an area where fabric is abundant. There are about 30 quilt shops my area alone (within 40 miles roughly). So I am always looking for new fabric. What amazes me is that each and every store is totally different and has completely different fabric. It is awesome! Of course my husband is not nearly as excited by all of this as I am! So my stash is always growing. I lean toward deep rich colors..right now I love purples and greens. Although I have plenty of every color. I must say that shopping for the fabric is indeed my favorite part of quilting. That and seeing all of the blocks coming together.
You forgot the pinks, hot pinks, and fusias!!
My stash is quite varied as I have left-overs from 9 years of making scrubtops for myself and many others. Just finished washing, ironing, and sorting all that stash today!
I sort my fabric by color on shelves, EXCEPT for groupings that I have bought for a specal quilt. Those go in a plastic container. Batiks go in a specail container too. I have so much fabric that it scares me. My sewing room is stacked like a Collier Brothers room.. Scarey!
Mine is pinks. It’s been my favorite color all my life. So I couldn’t vote in the poll.
I have all colors in my stash. I love hot colors and flowers. I would like more yellows but they are hard to find here. I would also like to find more small prints. I am a bargin shopper and small prints and neutrals are hardly ever on sale. I envy Jennifer with her large number of Quilt shops to search in. I only have three so choice is limited. I buy a lot of my notions online.
My fabrics are in a dozen large clear plastic bins – one for blues, Christmas and flannel, juvenile and conversation, backings, black and white and grey, orange and red, green and purple and yellow, neutrals and browns, old feedsacks, sets of fabrics already pulled for a quilt. I’ve got smaller plastic bins too with fabrics for blocks in progress, other fabrics pulled for a quilt, charm squares, etc. I can open my guest room closet and see everything in one place.
I have found that if I buy large boxes of different colors that I know exactly where to find the wanted fabric. Also they are covered so the light does not get in. If I label each box I know what is in them. Please share with others.
I have mostly blues and greens in my sewing room. They are all in color coded boxes.
I love floral applique so have lots of greens for stems and leaves
I used to arrange my fabrics according to color. However, lately, I’ve been reorganizing them into large/medium prints and blenders. It’s really worked better for me, especially since you see combinations you might not have thought of with the color-related organization.
star619
If it’s pink and green I’m automatically hooked!
It’s pinks for me! Combined pink and greens even more so. But, in my defense, I do make a lot of Awareness Ribbon quilts for breast cancer awareness. LOL
For some reason, even tho I don’t have pink in my home decorating scheme, I am drawn to that color in fabrics.
Since I make many baby and children’s quilts for a crisis pregnancy center, my stash has lots of light blues and pinks, and thousands of those cute dog, cat, other animal, cartoon, prints.
My overlowing and out-of=control stash also includes every other color created… including loud, ugly florals.
my stash is fairly balanced colour ways…open wire drawers so I can see with out much hassle
I really have two stashes. The one with the most fabrics is for making Quilts of Valor, so I have stacks and bolts of red, blue, gold, and neutral backgrounds. This stash includes combinations of those colors in lights, mediums and darks as well.
My other stash is pretty well balanced. I love color.
Love any tone or shade of pink! My stash is kind-of-sort-of balanced…
in a strange sort of way!!!
Lots of cat fabrics!
And kid print flannels for quilts for the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario.
Pinks are my second favorite, after blues. I’d have a lot more of both if I could find fabric choices that were more to my tastes. Since I’m not a fan of batiks I don’t have any.
Reds, rich and vibrant, scarlet, crimson, strawberry – not the hot or luminous ones, these are the ones I love
I’m not a batik fan, so I have none of those. I love blues from medium all the way through navy, but my second favorite is pinks and dusty rose. I also have a good supply of greens, including teal, but have not been able to replace some of those with the fabric stores having fewer teals and more of the yellowish greens. As yellows and oranges are my least favorite colors, I have virtually none of these, but do have a good stash in Christmas prints. My teenage daughter’s favorite color is purple so we have an abundance of purple as well. Then there are the whites and off whites. Recently I switched my preference from off-white to pure white so I’m using all the off whites as backings until I run out.
Interesting that so many quilters love the mini prints and pinks-roses but they are so hard to find here. We have Joanns, no small quilt shops . There used to be three or four small shops, but all have gone out of business. I buy mostly online now, I rarely find anything that is compatible at Joann’s.
Even though blue is most popular in the poll, that is the color that I have the least of. That and browns. I am not a brown person, so when I have a need for brown, I usually have to buy some!
I have a big stash. I sort by theme (babies, ocean & boats, trains, travel & maps, music, horses, asian, space & planets, Irish, animals, food, wood and bricks). If I’ve found solids and textures that enhance these prints, I group them together. All other fabric is sorted by color. I find that it’s easier to find a color amongst the themes if I need it, but the themes are multi-color and are easier to find when they are grouped by topic.
I buy clear boxes, 101/2 x 14 x 4 inches for projects, and when I find fabric that would look fabulous in a quilt, I put those fabrics in a project box in darks, mediums, and lights. I ordinarily purchase fabric in two to three yard pieces then cut my own fat quarters from each which I store in clear plastic drawers for fat quarter projects. I tend to like purples, but I make it a point to buy tans and creams whenever I see one I like. Recently, a friend of mine who wanted to downsize sold me her big tub of Kansas Troubles fabrics for $25. Wow!!! None were smaller than 1/2 yard. Backings! Now all those are in their own tub. I love KT. I also have all my William Morris fabrics in one tub. I try to buy WM whenever I see it. Those clear boxes make me feel uber organized.
My stash is pretty balanced across the spectrum. It’s stored in two bookcases with frosted glass-fronted doors (Ikea, btw) so the dust doesn’t get in. The fabric is sorted by color family, lightest to brightest to darkest within each color, with multi-colored prints and full bolts on their own shelves. FQs and similar-sized scraps are in small bins, sorted by color. Really small scraps get tossed into the scrap box, so every year I make one truly scrappy quilt in hopes (ha ha ha) that someday, the scrap box will be empty! And I’ll admit: sometimes I just open the bookcase doors and gaze lovingly at the fabric….
The colors I have most of are purple and blue. Even though purple is my favorite color, I have more blues in my stash.