What’s this? I have a secondary and slowly expanding fabric collection of a non-quilting nature. There. I confessed. I get a HUGE thrill buying LOUD jeans at thrift stores. One day I’m going to make something with them, possibly a garment of some kind. Trouble is you need at least three pair really close in color to make a jacket, for instance, which is what I might be collecting for. I’m not sure. Stop laughing. I once made a jacket out of four pair of men’s pants. I found them at the Dollar Store and they were hot pink Hypercolor. Now think about it. Hypercolor clothing was the stuff that changes colors with your body heat. What moron thought making men’s pants that change color with a rise in temperature would be a good idea?! (You can start laughing now.) Anyway, finding more than one pair the same make and model is more difficult that you might think, especially when you’re not dealing with ordinary boring colors like blue or black denim. You just never know when you’re going to find a match. So when I find one that calls to me, and believe me some of these will open their mouths and shout, I need to buy them. At least this has been my philosophy, which is why my collection is growing at an alarming rate and yet appears to be so incomplete. I need to buy more. I have already picked my local Goodwill clean, plus St. Vincent de Paul and the Salvation Army. I’m branching out to neighboring cities. And, if I come and teach for your guild and you’re toting me around I’ll be happy as a pig in slop if you’d just swing by the local thrift shop after the workshop. After I welcome each new purchase to my stash with a bath, I used to “fillet” them. I’d carefully take them all apart with a seam ripper to save every square inch of fabric. Thankfully I’ve gotten so far behind in the ripping department I had to give up that part. When and if I come up with a really good reason to cut them up and sew them into something else, THEN I can cut them apart. But aren't they beautiful?!