It happens nearly every time. I need (or want) fabric, probably a particular color for a particular project. I walk into the store and I'm suddenly on color overload. I love nearly every fabric, nearly every color, nearly every print or plaid or plain. I forget the color I came into the store to find because, well, the exact color just isn't there and there are all these other beautiful fabrics.
I look and look and look. I pull bolts off the shelf and carry them around, trying to decide which fabrics to buy, what my budget will allow, how much of each I can buy, how I might use it. Then I remember the color I was searching for and realize that none of the bolts I'm holding is exactly the color or pattern I came into the store to buy, nor even a good substitute. One by one, I eliminate bolts of fabric putting them back in their places until I'm carrying nothing.
I walk out of the store empty-handed.
I'm a scrap quilter. I do better when I have to use what's already available at home. My shelves are stocked with spur-of-the-moment purchases because I was in the store for some notion or other. But I can rarely go to the store shopping for fabric and come home with just what I was hoping to find. There are just too many choices.
How about you? Are you stronger than me? Can you make quick, easy decisions about your fabric purchases? Or are you, too, seduced by color?
I'm linking to Really Random Thursday at Live a Colorful Life.
--Nancy.
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I get completely distracted when I walk into a fabric store. I want to look at everything even though the purpose of the visit might have been something very basic. And so, I also have a collection of fabrics, all of which were bought because I loved them, but sometimes they don't all seem to go with each other!
ReplyDeleteYep, I'm definitely seduced by color, but unlike you, I usually walk out of the store with a lot of half-yards of fabrics for the stash - which I really don't need! My stash is already overflowing! But I console myself with the thought that they are not big pieces and I have them when I need them. They are usually bought on sale too, which helps not having buy later for full price when I discover I need it :*)
ReplyDeleteI can never make quick decisions about fabric but have been able to restrain myself most times in a fabric store. But I think it is good to have a 1/4 or 1/2 yd of a variety of fabrics if one wants to be creative. Otherwise that's another trip to the fabric store to find just the right piece!
ReplyDeleteKaren
Hi, Karen. I agree that it's good have have quarter or half yard pieces of fabric. I think they fuel my creativity. It's just that when I purposefully go to buy fabric, I come away empty-handed. Maybe for me the difference is whether I'm shopping purposefully (at which I fail) or just casually looking (in which case I may buy too much). And I usually fail if I need a very specific color or fabric - because the store rarely has it!
DeleteThanks for visiting and leaving a comment. I appreciate it.
You sound like me, with one exception: I rarely leave empty handed. :)It's rare that I get to a quilt shop and I am too weak to ignore all of those 'come hither' fabrics. I try to approach the shop with a plan in mind and even take a list, but rarely do I leave with the items on that list because I am unable to find what I am looking for. I have a difficult time staying focused with so many choices.
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