Stash busting gets interesting when you have a limited amount of textured yarn. In this case, I had exactly enough lavender bouclé yarn to make this child's jacket (size 8-ish).
The yarn is chunky and the needles were 8mm, so the knitting was mostly straightforward. Because bouclé lacks stitch definition (duh), I tended to only work on it when I knew I could have a good session of it and wouldn't have to make detailed "where was I again?" notes.
Alteration: the only I changed (besides not using the called-for smooth yarn) was to add a narrow garter-stitch edge to the fronts instead of adding a row of single crochet during finishing. And, um, I'm pretty sure I changed the collar too, but at that point I was trying to get the thing done with the yarn I had left and not following the pattern so much.
In the end I had a ball of yarn the size of a tennis ball, which of course at this thickness yarn is not a lot.
The original pattern called for the jacket to be closed with a kilt pin. Yeahhhh, giving a kid a giant sharp pin is maybe not such a good idea in today's parenting climate. Instead I improvised an I-cord button and frog closure, which should please most health-and-safety concerns. Besides, it used up a few more metres of that stash white acrylic worsted I can never quite free myself of.
I was going to donate the jacket to a charity shop, because the nieces are just growing out of this size (and I'm not sure they'd like it anyhow) but then Bonnie at Beaches Wellness Centre said her niece would like it. Works for me! I have many, many items slated for making and donating in the near- to mid-future.
Overall I'd say this counts as a positive stash-busting experience. Just as well, because I have the same amount of white bouclé with which to make another jacket!