Hi Folks, Welcome to the Stop Scrolling, Start Sewing podcast! In this episode, I'm chatting how to take your fabric collection from a dirty little secret stash to a wonderfully useful stock.
Quilt On the Wall: Ophelia Quilt designed by Pieced Just Sew
You can find the pattern here
Maywood Studios Gelato Ombre
Sampler Spree Slow Along: http://nicolegilbertquilts.com/sampler-spree-slow-along/
Hi Folks, Welcome to the Stop Scrolling, Start Sewing podcast! In this episode, I'm chatting how to take your fabric collection from a dirty little secret stash to a wonderfully useful stock.
Quilt On the Wall: Ophelia Quilt designed by Pieced Just Sew
You can find the pattern here
Maywood Studios Gelato Ombre
Sampler Spree Slow Along: http://nicolegilbertquilts.com/sampler-spree-slow-along/
Hi, folks. I'm Nicole Gilbert and this is the stop scrolling start sewing podcast. Join me each Wednesday as I chat about the ins and outs of that quilt life. If you don't have a sewing machine, you can bust out a pretty fly by seam. Or you're just looking for the latest and greatest quilting news. This is the podcast for you. Hey, folks, Nicole here. Welcome to season three, Episode Five. I am so glad that you chose to join me today. On this week's episode, we are talking about going from stashed to stocked if you joined me in last week's episode, you heard me talk all about cutting into your beautiful fabric stash. And that's great. But let's talk about going from stashed to stocked. But before we dive into all of that, let's talk about the quilts on the wall. So this is the Ophelia quilt designed by piece just so and it finishes at 71 inches by 85 inches. Don't quote me on that, but it's a pretty healthy sized throw quotes. And I actually created this quilt on September 17. National so Jelly Roll day. And that is because this quilt is jelly jelly roll friendly. So in this actual one that's behind me, I used the gelato own Bray fabric by Maywood studios, and it is oh my gosh, it's delicious. I mean, they call gelato for a reason, because it is just it's yummy fabric, the color gradients that you get on each strip, especially those you know, 44 inch long strips, you're getting beautiful gradation. Some are staying like in the family. It's kind of hard to see in the middle here, but like, you know, light light purple to super dark purple. And then some are going across a really bright spectrum, like pale yellow to hot pink. I mean, it's pretty, it's pretty cool. It's a beautiful, beautiful set of fabric. And I thought this was a wonderful way to use it via Jelly Rolls. Because it really gave you the full spectrum of the gradiation which I absolutely adored. If you are watching this on YouTube, the link so that you can check out this pattern is in the video description. If you're watching this or listening to this on your favorite podcast subscriber, it will be in the show notes. Okay, so that's the quote on the wall. And I've got lots of quotes coming your way like lots of stuff. If you could see my studio right now there's like this guy hanging behind me there's something on the design wall just ready for the blocks to get sewn into rows and into the actual quilt top. There is a quilt on the long arm machine. Things are crazy around here. Not to mention, I know that you guys are super, super excited about those New Baby Lock machines that got released at the end of the summer. Guess what? One of them just arrived in my studio. Yay. I'm so excited. So what that means is that I actually will be doing an unboxing video of the Baby Lock Allegro. I know the Baby Lock Allegro on the YouTube channel. So if you don't subscribe to the YouTube channel, I highly suggest going over there so that you can learn all about this highly anticipated machine because it is flippin awesome. And I cannot wait to unload it. It's actually all sealed up right next to me on the floor and I just can't wait. I'm super excited. Okay. So let's dive in. stashed not stocked. What am I talking about? Okay, so when we talk about our fabric, and I mean, it's like laughable because I'm like this quilt if I move this quilt out of the way, you just see these cabinets full and full of fabric and bundles and all sorts of nonsense. So I mean, I am a fabric person, I collect fabric. I fall in love with fabric, which I know many of you do as well. And so sometimes I buy fabric having no idea what I'm going to do with it, but it's just so pretty. I need to have it which is totally fine. Zero judgment because I'm that person too. But we have sews and This has become such a generic term in the cruelty world that I don't even know if we necessarily think about the real root and meaning of it. But we use the phrase fabric stash, to refer to all of the fabric that we have in our home stash. Like, if you really break down that word, we're saying that it's like a dirty little secret. It's like an episode of Hoarders. fat quarter shop edition. You know what I mean? Like? It's almost like, it's something to be hidden away, which is not true. We buy it because we love it. We buy it because we plan on using it, we buy it because it's beautiful. So is it really a stash? I'm gonna go ahead and say no. And I'm gonna like draw a line in the sand, like right here, right now. I'm not using the word stash anymore for my fabric stock. Using their stock. You see? Here's why. It's, I'm going to use it. For sure. I'm 100% gonna use it? Am I gonna use it today? No, am I gonna use it tomorrow? Probably not. But I will use it at some point. So it is really important to me that I show it the respect that it deserves. Do does a painter look at all of their paint and say, Oh, look at this dirty little secret that I have to have, right? No, it's a tool. It's a tool. And our fabric is a tool. It's part of our arsenal. It's what makes us such amazing quilters is having this diversity and these stores of fabric. How did I get to the word stock? And I will say, this was not 100% out of the blue, like I didn't just genius this up. I heard this in reference to something else. And I was like, oh, oh, that's a good concept. So when we are and I'm not a theatre person, don't ask me to act. Don't ask me to sing. It's terrible. But if you're in work in the theater, you have a whole supply closet of costumes, the customer has a whole supply, costume costume, supply closet of costumes. And it's referred to back stock, retail stores, you know, they've got all the stuff that they're going to use and sell on the shelves. But there's back stock. In the stock room, you see, you hear this word stock coming up over and over again, these are all useful, usable materials that you are going to use that these people are planning on using the customer in the play is going to use that backstock of costumes at some point, maybe not in this play, because it doesn't make sense. But maybe a Fiddler on the Roof that newsboy hat makes sense. You know what I mean? Same thing with the store. You don't need to have 5770 inch flat screen TVs, you're not selling that many today. But five makes sense. We want to start thinking about our fabric not as a dirty little secret or a stash but as a useful stock that we are going to use now. Did you did you hear how redundant That statement was useful use I'm using that word use over and over and over again. Because the biggest part of this is that our fabric is a tool. There could be fabric out there fabric collections out there that I would call a stash over stock. Now why would I do that? Well, if you buy fabric that you never plan on using so I have to the pink fabric coming out of the beginning and I used to love pink in a lot of things like every third quilt will have some Tula Pink in it one way or another. It's just It's my colors. It's my vibe. It's it brings me joy. I love looking at it while I'm sewing. I love cracking up at it. Well I'm like cuddled under it like it's my jam. I'm going to use it. Okay. I just listed several different ways it brings me joy. That being said, Tula Pink is probably one of the largest if not the largest name, brand designer of fabric out there. And some people might buy those fabric stacks because everybody's buying those fabric stacks and then it sits on their shelf and they haven't no intention of using it because they're like, I'm a grown up and I don't need hot pink fabric everywhere. I don't understand you, but I understand you, you know what I mean? Like, don't buy fabric that you don't intend on using. Same thing like, for me it I have a very specific vibe in my fabric if you looked at it, not all of my fabric in this cabinet is too pink. But at first glance you might think it is because I love specific colors in specific tones and specific types of prints. I love a William Morris look, which is another reason why I love to love pink. She has a William Morris vibe going with her fabric designs love it. I love to love pink because of the clarity of the color. And the fact that all of her colors are like tertiary colors. She's not using straight up red, she's using like a tomato. So it's kind of red kind of orange. You know, I have over the years really honed in on what I like about fabric, and I only buy fabrics that fit that vibe, so that I can go to my stock and pull colors off the shelves and know that I'm going to love the vibe I get. That being said, another really big thing right now is Art Gallery fabrics. People love art gallery fabrics. They're beautiful fabrics. I'm not going to use art gallery fabrics. I have made one quilt with Art Gallery fabrics, and it ended up being Art Gallery pure solids, first of all, and it was a quilt kit that I made that somebody kind of put together for me to to make and it's a beautiful quilt. I can look at it. And I can understand it's a beautiful quilt. My mom came over and was walking through my Sewing Studio and she saw that quote and she like died. She was like this is the most beautiful thing I've seen in a really long time. It just doesn't get me in the feels. It's not my vibe. That being said, Art Gallery is having a moment. I mean, I think they've been very popular for very long. But in this last year or two, they are having a moment. They use plums and mustards and creams and cocoa and I mean, it's like a fall quilt love, like somehow, they made kind of similar color palettes as like Kansas troubles, which I think of as like so super traditional, like whoa. And they made it modern, which is, which is really cool. When you really think of it like I can appreciate them. I don't like them. I'm not going to use it. It's not my style. It's not my jam. So I don't have any of that in my stash stock. I caught myself. I don't have any of that in my stock. where I'm going with this basically is what I'm trying to get you to think about. If it's always something that you're going to use, and it's always something that you love, you've no longer become a staff person, you've become a stock person. I want you to know that following trends is fun, like I made an art gallery quilt I gotta say it's a beautiful quilt not my jam. I've done it. It was also kitted so I have like zero to none leftover in my sat in my sock right now. I want you to be very intentional. So how do we get to be that intentional? I know I kind of talked a little bit about you know my love of Tula Pink while of Tula Pink. I want you to start thinking about that. What is your favorite designer? What designer Do you not miss a collection whether it's a full fat quarter stack a tower or it is just you know, you go and you buy you know our yard or to have their focal print or big floral or or whatever it is, what does that designer It could be anybody could be anybody. But you will notice over time that you have brands of fabric so like not even like designers but actual brands of fabric so free spirit moda art gallery, you will have a brand that you buy more than any other. I tend to be a 5050 split between Free Spirit and moda. I don't love all Mota. Some Mota is a little bit too traditional for me. That's okay. But I do like a lot of them like Bonnie and Camille Love me some Bonnie and Camille Sherry and Chelsea love Michelle cheerio Chelsea Lella boutique, not really ever gonna buy it. Beautiful fabric, not my thing. It is what it is free spirit, the home of Tula Pink so obviously I'm buying a lot of free spirit. Anna Maria Horner also has a lot of great fabric collections. I don't love every one of her collections. But in every collection, there's at least one or two prints that I adore. Not really a cave person. Just not my thing. I like some some I like the colors of free spirit with some of the more traditional artwork of moda is basically what I'm saying. But I want you to start thinking like that. Really look at what you have in your collection. What are you drawn to the most Who are you drawn to the most? Once you figured out what and who you're drawn to the most? I want you to really look at what colors and so it can be really difficult to it can be really difficult to just look at something and be like well this is it. This is who I am. I get that. Okay, I totally get that. What I think is a great place to start is look at a collection that you've purchased and which is your favorite print, describe one print. That's it just one piece of fabric. What is your favorite print in that collection? Okay, what is your favorite thing about the print in that collection? Is it the artwork? Is it the color is it the groupings of color and I noticed that color and then groupings of color. I love turquoise. I love turquoise with every ounce of my Bosch I adore it and maybe not gonna lie this could be a reason why I love to pink as well because Tula has said like Aqua turquoise she thinks of like as a neutral so she puts it in everything. I think of it the same way but I love turquoise and so I will gravitate towards a fabric collection that has turquoise in it in a large fashion like doesn't even have to be like the background of a fabric is turquoise even though like I just bought Anna Maria Horner Welcome Home collection because she has this one fabric in it that like I truly think like is my soul. Not gonna lie. It's like this teal. So it's like a dark Turquoise is like teal background fabric with purple, magenta Florida Lee and like neon pink. Like little accents around it. It's just it's so my jam. I don't even know what to do with myself. It's so my jam. But I stared at that fabric and I was like, What is this? Why is this my thing? And it was the turquoise. It was the neon pink. It was those magenta flowers. And so that Florida li very traditional artwork. Very traditional artwork. Okay, that's who that's who I am. That's what I love. I love traditional artwork. In 14 year old girl colors like a Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper meets traditional artwork is like everything to me. I want you to start to really think about that. So you take that one print out and you say what is it? What is it that I love about it? Is it the artwork? Is it the color? Is it the groupings of color together? Then I want you to look at the rest of your collection. What in your collection is the antithesis? What in your collection is the exact opposite of what you just said is your favorite thing in the world? Kind of kind of gets you in the gut a little you're like oh, I can almost guarantee that every single one of you has maybe one for at least one fabric that is the exact opposite of what you just pulled out and said is your favorite thing in your stock. Now by Unless of that, if you go to your guild meeting, take that fabric and put it on the freebie table. Let it live on because what is not your jam is somebody else's jam and guarantee it. It is somebody else's jam. I have come to the conclusion that I'm not always in think God Tula Pink is popular because I am not always in Art Gallery is in right now. And that's going to be some of your jams. Some of you are like, oh my goodness, give me all of the mustard. That's awesome. If that's who you are, then let go of the hot pink. Because the hot pink and the mustard they don't live in the same world. But what you're going to do then, is now you've you've gotten that stuff out of your studio. Next time you go fabric shopping. You buy what speaks to you. What you cannot wait to sew with what you cannot wait to use. Does that mean you're going to use it the next day? It might. I mean, I've gotten some fabric that I'm like oh man, I cannot wait that Anna Maria Horner welcome home. Literally I've had it for less than a week it is already completely sewn up and on my design wall and ready to be have the rows piece together because it's just that good. That being said that is how you want all that that visceral reaction. That's how you want all of your fabric to make you feel. And when you're doing that, and you're only buying those fabrics that speak to you in that manner. All of a sudden, your stash isn't something to stash away. It's your stock. It's your tools. And you know you can walk over to those shelves, open those bins, climb under that bed and grab that fabric out wherever you keep your fabric and know that you will be able to put together a beautiful quilt that you adore. Now I will say going the color route can be a little tricky. There are times when I look at my fabric stock and I'm like that is a lot of turquoise. Like a lot of turquoise. And so you do want to be well rounded. But that's why I say you know find the color that you love. But then also find the group of colors that you love. So for me myself, turquoise is is my jam. I could probably make anything with turquoise in it work. But if I'm looking at my group of colors, my group of colors are hot pink, turquoise, like a really rich cobalt blue. Like a magenta like a raspberry like a lime green. These are like those are like my five things. Okay? You ever noticed I didn't say yellow. I didn't say orange. This is like one of the yummiest quilts this quilt behind me this may would fabrics gelato or raise, and there's yellow and there's orange. But you'll also see that there's a lot of turquoise and lime green and raspberry. Those colors that I said are my colors. So we do want to be well rounded. I'm not saying don't buy anything outside of the spectrum. But make sure it goes make sure it works. That's where earlier I mentioned tone. That's where tone comes in. Now some I personally like a very clear tone, like crystal clear, pure colors, tones. That's what I like. Tone is going to refer to how gray a fabric is for lack of a better term. So you know you can have a pale pink like a baby girl, quilt pale pink. But if you add some gray to that pink all of a sudden now you have dusty rose. Do you see and that's like the same they're the same color. One has gray added to it. And that dusty rose thing is like it's a thing and it's beautiful. You may also hear it referred to as muted. There are more muted tones. Beautiful. So if that's your jam, go with it. But that's another thing that you could do. Maybe you're not ready to work on. Okay, these are my colors. I only want these colors, I'm only going to use this vibe. Maybe it's just the tone. If you decide on a tone that you like, whether it's muted, it's clear, it's dark, totally fine. But pick one and stick with it. The reason why is that mixing tones is very hard to do. So if you have some fabrics that are super clear, and you have some fabrics that are muted, they more likely than not, will not play well together in your quilt tops. They probably will not even play well together in your fabric poll. And you won't even get to the quilt top part because you'll be like, What is going on here? It doesn't work? Well. If you can pick the tone that you like, then at least all of your fabrics have a fighting chance of going together. Maybe you don't want a Technicolor Dreamcoat. Again, I do. But maybe you don't. And that's totally fine. But then, if you have a tone, you have an idea, you have a direction that you're going with your quotes. And that is how you get your stash from a stash to a stock. Your collection goes from being stashed to being a useful working log that you can go into, pull from and use on your quilts day in and day out. Okay, your fabric collection is not a dirty little secret. What you spent on your fabric collection might be a dirty little secret. But your actual collection itself is not a dirty little secret. It is the tools it is the backbone. I mean, it's as important as the sewing machine is to your quilting goals. It really is. So, I would love if you would drop in the comments if you're on YouTube. Or send me an email if you're listening on your favorite podcast subscriber and Nicole at Nicole Gilbert quotes.com. I would love to hear from you. What is your jam? What is your color that you are obsessed with? What is your tone that you are obsessed with? Who is your favorite designer? Who can you buy day in and day out and know that you're going to make a beautiful quote from I would love to seek to hear from it. Okay. Deal. All right. So we all know I am Tula Pink super clear and turquoise is my jam. I can't wait to hear where you're going to start taking your collection from a stash to a stock. All right, folks. You have just watched or listened to another episode of the stop scrolling start sewing podcast. Thank you so much for spending some time with me today. And be sure to hit subscribe wherever you watch or listen to this podcast. Alright folks, stop scrolling and start selling. Bye for now.