I have used my husbands discarded shirts, my family member's old jeans, thrift store finds, garage and estate sales, Joann's and Hancock coupons. I have traded notions for fabric and traded fabric for notion, have done baby sitting for fabric. I have posted on Freecycle for fabric. I hit the $1.00 per yard fabric at Walmart and hit a goldmine. I tell everyone that I know that I will take any fabric that they don't want. My unemployment has almost run out and I have to really scrounge to get fabric. When you have Quilt Pox you become very creative.

RECYCLE, RECYCLE, RECYCLE! I recycle everything possible, when i hear of someone who just cleaned out the kids closet (or their own) and have a garbage bag or more they want to get rid of i always ask if i can have it first...i go through it, and first off pick out anything in great shape that would be a shame to dispose of that i know someone would love and i set that aside for the person, then i pick through it for any and all fabrics i can salvage. i save all the buttons, zippers if they still work, cut out cute trims, ect. what ever is left i donate to which ever thrift store i am going past.
thrift stores are a great place to get wools! you can literally save thousands of dollars purchasing your wools in the form of mens old dress coats. cut them apart, wash and dry the wool, it is wonderful to work with, and to buy it off the bolt can cost you anywhere between $20 & $60 a yard.

The babysitting part was really funny. I just posted this as my FB status, "Will babysit for fabric." :lol:

I just sorted a laundry basket of scraps by color and got interested in trying something new.

join the local guilds.

guilds typically have a library of books and patterns that you can borrow.

they also do charity work with donated fabric and you can get experience and scraps by sewing and quilting the charity quilts.

all the non-scrappy quilters of the guild bring in their scraps for the scrap bin and any of the members are welcome to take as much as they want. i just dropped off 2 tubs of scraps at this weeks meeting.


members routinely trade fabrics with each other so that's another way to acquire some fabric that you need for a project.

Get on the email lists of your LQS's. One of my local stores has really good sales ($4.50 per yd) several times a year, with an extra discount for early birds. Others have weekly coupons, like JoAnns, that are good for 40% off one cut of fabric.

Have your pattern in hand. Check your stash 1st and checkout the "sale" isles if you really have to purchase more fabric.

ditto

I also go to thrift stores and garage sales to look for unusual fabric and buttons.

I bought some blenders this morning from MarshallsDryGoods. They are a wholesaler in fabrics - cost was $2.99 a yard plus shipping. 4 yards for under $20, not bad considering quilt shops are almost $10 a yard along with Joanns (unless they are having a sale on certain fabrics).