Your happiness shines thru the post. Instead of a 8" sheet sewn to one end what about four inch added to each end?

Ironically I just cut up a 1960's twin sheet in great condition to construct a dress.

I've been doing the same thing. I gave to a friend several large boxes of patterns. I suspect he sold them on Ebay. Well, I guess good for him, I couldn't be bothered.

I had a lot of different craft stuff. Sadly, I didn't get the gene that imbues one with talent for watercolors, Fimo clay, basket weaving, beading, using dried flowers, or decorating dance costumes. I sold two boxes for 20 or 25 dollars apiece. To toot my own horn, when I saw a 'mystery box' of craft materials at the odd lots store, I did NOT restock the craft closet.

Earlier this year, I was making swags for a friend. I needed something for a sort of 'first draft' of the swag. I hauled out some wool I had stored away, knowing it was a similar width to the decorator fabric. As I draped it across the wood frame that would eventually hold the swag, I could see moth holes. Fine - now I could do more than drape; I could cut it and really get an idea of how it would go, and throw out the rest..

My sister gave me a boatload of fleece. I took a piece, and made a pillow sham. In order to divest the home of more excess stuff, I took the logos from the man-friend's old t-shirts and jackets that were stained, no long fit, logos from a half dozen caps he never wore, and stitched them to the pillow sham; now a memory pillow. He never looks at it, but it takes up waaaaay less room than all the clothes he no longer wears.

Because I sew, people at various times gifted me with fabric and thread. I had years' worth of Threads magazine - gave away some and simply threw out what no one wanted.

I also threw out several unfinished objects - fabric that I no longer found attractive, or projects that were going poorly and were not going to be salvaged. They were just mocking me from the sewing room!

How freeing it is to not have those things calling out to you about your sewing missteps and crazy ideas. How much fabric has been wasted over the decades!

One difference between sewing a garment and buying a garment is that you can try on the ready made garment and reject it if it doesnt fit right . We make so many trial garments often before we get the right fit and sometimes it just never happens. But that is still good fabric and you think that maybe you can put it aside and morph it in to something desirable someday in the future. Most often that doesnt happen.

I have gotten down to just a few patterns that I use anymore. I have perfected the fit of these few garments and the success rate of good fit is much higher.

I wont even buy any new patterns and have eliminated most of what I had.

I made tshirt quilts for both of my now grown kids and also for hubs. I am really liking how all three of them turned out. The kids ones I did maybe 15 or 20 years ago and they are still going strong. Hubs I just got finished sometime since covid. I dont have one as I never did like tshirts and wont wear them.

I am still working on paring down and it is amazing how it seems to be never ending. I can see the differences now in my house. Some things I do regret getting rid of, but the regret may be more a result of the fact that I am getting older and that may be what am regretting, rather than the stuff. I just regret the fact that I no longer have life left to use it.

But the pleasure of having a nice cleaned space is great.

I have several bolts of velvet in the closet in what used to be my sewing room in L.A. that I am not willing to get rid of yet. I gave one bolt of red velvet to a cousin who said she would use it to make a dress for a Renaissance Faire, and that is why I was willing to let it go, although reluctantly. However, I realized that I was never going to make anything huge (like drapes or a bedspread) out of red velvet. In the past, I have made items for Hollywood set designs, but I am not doing that anymore. I do, however, have bolts of damask, velvet, and brocades that I plan to use for bedspreads and possibly drapes, and since I have adequate space to store them, I am holding onto them for now.

What I need to get rid of is remnants or smaller pieces of fabrics, as I have accumulated massive amounts of those. Very frequently I find uses for them, and so I am not very motivated at this time.

Lars, you can donate your fabric pieces to thrift stores. The ones here sell all kinds of things like that. I've gotten some very nice remnants that way.

And a couple of other simple ways to use up lengths of fabric are scarves, tablecloths and wraps. I've done that a number of times.