If you are in the Facebook sewing community or on TikTok or Instagram I'm sure you've seen me around! I'm Kieara, a self taught sewist who's always sewing up the newest patterns! Well I have some exciting news to share with you all.
My husband and I have decided to do something REALLY FUN. We are selling our house, and almost all of our belongings and buying a 5th wheel!
We are both active duty military, and I’ve just gotten accepted to a school that is a year long that has us relocating to California. We all know how expensive and stressful it is to dive into the housing market currently, so after talking we decided to become debt free and jump into a minimal lifestyle instead! I had one demand, and one demand only. I’M KEEPING MY MACHINES AND FABRIC. 
With this in mind, I did understand that our space would be much more limited than it is now and I wouldn’t have a whole room to store my fabric in. I have been due for a fabric destash and reorganizing for quite some time now, and if I’m being honest I could say it’s gotten a bit out of hand.
How many of you can say the same?
Whether you are still Spring cleaning, moving, nesting, or beginning a new life adventure in a 5th wheel; a good fabric destash could benefit us all!
Okay, I know this can feel overwhelming. Where do you start? How do you get rid of your beautiful fabric without losing a ton of money? How do you stay more organized moving forward?
Let’s talk about it!
Step 1 - Figure out what you have
In this step begin by sorting your fabric. If you sew with multiple bases, I like to separate in accordance to that and by prints or solids. Then with solids I further separate by color/tone. Another option is to separate by fabric shop.
Once you’ve done this you can jump right into step 2!
Step 2 - Join Fabric Destashing Groups
If you aren’t already in them join some of the fabric destashing groups on Facebook! There are several but I will link a few below. Be sure to read the rules and make sure you have photos and measurements of your fabric or another option is to do mystery boxes if you don’t have the time or energy to list everything separately.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/268513639876061
https://www.facebook.com/groups/702352793263828
https://www.facebook.com/groups/949133678488755
https://www.facebook.com/groups/324576837669154
If you’ve purchased a lot from a specific fabric company or supplier then look on Facebook for their B/S/T group or see if they allow resale in their main group! This way you will likely make most of your money back on the fabric. 
Step 3 - Find the fabric that you don't need
This is the hard part, but you’ve gotten this far already! In this step, you have already begun it without knowing it in step 1. You’ve gone through and sorted all of your fabric in your preferred way, and have likely seen fabric you haven’t seen in awhile and maybe even forgot that you had. You have also seen fabric that you have made a mental note that you no longer need it. Start there. Take all the fabric that is the easiest to determine you don’t need it. I find it easiest to take pictures and measure if necessary as I go through it. After you have done that, I like to challenge myself further and really look at the rest of the fabric I have asking myself these questions.
- Have I had it longer than 6 months?
- Do I have something very similar to it that I am already keeping?
- Do I have a project in mind for it?
If my answer is yes to either of the first 2 questions or no to the last then it goes as well!
Step 4 - Post Pictures & Sell Fabric
Use those resources from step 2 to destash your fabric! Shipping priority is usually the most convenient and cost friendly way to ship the fabric. You can order priority mailers and boxes to come directly to your house if you are in the U.S on the post office website if they aren’t readily available to you.
Step 5 - Time to Organize & Enjoy
You made it! This is the step that makes it all worth it and when I personally feel renewed and a big spike in my sewjo! Time to put it all away and attempt to stay more organized. There are several apps available that help with organizing your fabric. Some of those are: Cora- Sew Your Fabric Stash and Stash Star Fabric. Using an app is super helpful because you annotate where it is, how much yardage you have ect. For whatever project you are working on!
A major goal for me personally is to sew through my entire stash before buying more, and then only buying for a specific project.
Good luck to you my friends!
- And wish me luck on narrowing down my stash to a tote or two! -
(Written by: Kieara Donohue)
