Fabric

[kate_schaefer]

 I have far, far, far too much really awesome black fabric. Silk, rayon, tencel. Brocade, velvet, twill, plain weave, weird springy puckered stuff, heat-pleated. Am I ever going to make the garments I had in mind when I bought this stuff, or (in some cases) inherited from my deceased friends?

Well, some of those garments, yep. Which ones is a different question altogether, and one that I can't exactly answer just now.

Dang. I am determined not to die with this much fabric still in my stash.

Comments

[voidampersand]

Darkness covered the land, like many bolts of black cloth, because indeed, that is what it was.

[kate_schaefer]

Bolts! Bolts would be even more oppressive.

That is, I have on occasion bought fabric by the bolt, but those occasions have thankfully been rare.

[replyhazy]

And the black fabric gets harder and harder to sew, the lights need to be brighter and brighter!

(A friend told me that she resorted to sewing a black costume with navy blue thread because there was just enough contrast to actually see what she was doing.)

mmmm.... brocade....

[kate_schaefer]

Now, that's a reasonable idea. Wouldn't work for topstitching, but it would be fine for seams.

[athenais]

I salute your determination to not die with that much fabric in your stash. Maybe pick out the 10-15 things you absolutely are sure you'll want to make with the appropriate fabric and donate the rest. Swedish Death Cleaning with fabric!

[kate_schaefer]

Yes, that's basically what I've been doing for a few years, though the scale on which I work is more like 20-30 projects I'm sure I'll want to sew. This calendar year, I've made three pairs of pants, two jackets, one dress, half a dozen napkins, and a tote bag, plus alterations on four garments and a few other repairs. That is, I really do sew a lot, just not as much as I thought I would back when I planned to make it a business.

I do want to make sure that I deal with anything someone else would just throw away, since I know of useful destinations for most of this stuff.