I have a real problem with creating stock, I'm perfectly fine with custom orders, love them, but creating stock for my Etsy store or for craft fairs is a different matter and I've realised why. I don't like to use fabric! Its completely crazy to try and run a craft business if you don't like to use fabric and of course I DO like to use it, I love to make things, the problem is that once you have used that fabric to make something you cant use it again to make something else. Take for example the piece of Alexander Henry Futue-ella! I bought on Ebay well over three years ago, it was rare find at the time and I bought it to make a skirt, but what type of skirt, first I thought a straight skirt but then if I gained or lost weight I wouldn't be able to wear it, plus I have a tiny amount so I would probably have to find another coordinating fabric to go with it. Now I'm thinking something similar to the skirts made by
Rooby using it as a contrasting band and then with an elasticated waist I wont have the fit issues, again I'm going to need a contrasting fabric.
It is super rare, once its cut its cut so there is some logic there but what about the fabric I bought from hobby craft? I can go back for more or find it on line! I have 3 meters of Amy Butler hidden on top of a wardrobe, it was on sale.....in 2009.
I've been making patchwork cushions, I bought a pack of charm squares which are lovely to work with but I realised they would be cheaper if I cut them myself but I couldn't, I couldn't get a yard of fabric and start cutting it into squares because what if I then thought of something that needed the full yard?
I know plenty of people who have huge fabric hoards and honestly I'm not like that (its not huge!) but Im sure those people just buy more than they use but they do use it. Or do they? is it actually a common problem to have fabric that you just cant bear to use? I feel kind of sad about it, I feel I'm refusing to give it the chance to become something, to release its true potential....perhaps I will make that skirt.
