The Challenge...Progress

A few weeks ago I set myself a challenge. Long story short, I decided it was time to use all of the fabric I had in my rather impressive, and somewhat embarrassing stash. I thought it was about time to share my progress with you.

I'll admit, the challenge has been difficult. Here's what a typical trip to the local craft store used to be:

Situation
Read pattern carefully...0.5m of fabric required.

Old-Me
Well, I'll need at have at least 0.75m to account for error...so I might as well buy the full metre. Of course, this is going to look fantastic, so I'll buy a few metres and make a couple of outfits.  Oooooo look, they have the same design in pink, blue and orange....totally need those too.  Plus elastic and pins and chalk and velcro and, wow...what's that?....I dunno, but I clearly need two of them.....

...and then I'd get home, stuff it in a drawer and forget all about it. Sound familiar?

Now, I have finally developed a little self restraint. I will admit, I've slipped up on the odd occasion and perhaps bought something that wasn't immediately required, but all in all, I'm really happy with how I'm going.  Now my experience is more like this:

The pattern said 0.5m so that's all I'll get. Oh wait, I actually have something similar at home that'll look equally cute. I'll just use that.  Hmmm....do I really need any of these other things in my basket? I might just put it all back, check at home first and then come back with a list.

While it's a bit frustrating not just buying everything I see, I'm actually enjoying having to use my creativity a little more. Matching existing fabrics, using zips instead of buttons and generally just finding ways to make my current hoard fit with my projects.

Here are just a few results:

A nifty little robot book cover to help Pepper carry her art book (my own pattern).

And no book cover is complete without a matching robot pencil case (my own pattern).

Finally, my beautiful angel showing off her brand new hat.
This was made using the Peek-a-Boo Reversible Bucket Hat pattern.

I'm very excited to see how much of a dent I can make in my stash over the Christmas holidays.

Rachael xx