The Great Untouchable Stash (and my plans to touch it)

So I am moving cross country in a matter of months to an entirely new and exciting place! I couldn't be happier as I count the days - BUT - every move I have made in the past has been in-state and each time I have had to go up a size in Uhaul to make it happen. This time I simply can't afford to take everything and some tough choices are going to have to be made to make it happen. 

You see, I have  two rather large (and annoying to move) collections. My books and my sewing stash.  In an effort to move lighter this time around, I am going to need to cut down a little on both. They have taken over one bedroom that serves as my sewing room/office/sanctuary - BUT - because I can't seem to let anything go from either collection........I decided that I could do a selfish destash. 

 I have been building my stash for over a decade and I have a nasty habit of holding onto the things I love the most and not putting them to use. I tend to save them for a special occasion.......and then no occasion seems special enough to use them. 

An example of this horrible hording behavior is the patterns in these pictures. I managed to score them at a thrift store a few years ago. They were half off of 70 cents! I paid .35 cents a piece for them. I KNOW! I was so excited. I was so nervous! I remember feeling like someone was going to steal them out of my cart as I walked quickly to the register. Maybe there was a mistake.........maybe they meant 70 dollars......(Which wouldn't have been unreasonable since I have seen these same patterns for sale for around a hundred each online and these were factory folded, uncut, and even have the vogue sew-in tag that came original in them!) I was in no dream.......they were three for a dollar and they were MINE!

Back to reality.....I have now had them for years. They have their own drawer in my sewing desk. They are kept separate from the other patterns I own. It's not that they are too stuck up to mingle, it's that the other patterns aren't cool enough to hang out with them. I occasionally pull them out and run my hands over them. I dream of the places I would go in them if they were already made. I think of the colors I would make them in and the joy I would feel at their completion. Yet, I haven't ever unfolded a single one. I live in fear of messing them up. I couldn't cut them..I'd have to trace them and carefully refold them. I tell myself that I really don't have anywhere to wear them anyway. In reality, this is totally foolish behavior. I only personally invested .35 cents in them. (Far less then I have in other patterns I own and cut into without guilt) So what is my problem? No really, what is my problem? I am really asking.........

BUT - that was yesterday.......and today I have made up my mind that it's time to use them. I am moving to a whole new climate, a new start in life and a new me. I will be returning to work and school after years of being a stay at home mom and will need a new wardrobe that is appropriate for both the new city and the new job. 

So here is my selfish destash plan. I am planning on working through as many of my patterns as I can in an effort to use up as much of my fabric stash as I can prior to the move. The catch is that I am going to replace an old existing store-bought item in my wardrobe with a new one as I go. That way I am cutting down by getting rid of older less appropriate wardrobe items, building a me-made wardrobe, and using up otherwise dormant items in my stash. 

I will admit that I am having anxiety over using these particular patterns and I am sure that I will start with some of my other patterns and work my nerve up to touch these. .........Do any of you ever feel this way about certain things? Do you hold onto the really special fabric, pattern, stationary, beads, lace, etc.....for some special project and then it never seems to be the right time to let it go?