My question is about how to quilt on a shoe-string budget.

Does anyone have any ideas? What about recycling

material from used clothing?

I like to check my local goodwill and other second hand stores as well as garage sales and auctions. I also subscribe to joann fabrics online and mail coupons. They do run great sales. Also look for after holiday sales on holiday themed fabrics. My SIL also keeps her eyes open for me. I tell her anything cotton will work for me. Hope this helps!

Least expensive ways to obtain fabric:
Walmart (tends to have the lowest prices in my experience and some of the same fabrics as more expensive stores)
Estate/Garage Sales
Consignment shops
Using old clothes (everything from t-shirts to flannel or workshirts to blue jeans and more!)
Doing simpler patterns that require no fancy rulers, patterns or tools
Using a zigzag stitch to piece extra pieces of batting together so there is no waste.
Holding onto scraps

Right now, I am putting aside my husband's ripped (in the elbows!) workshirts and will make a quilt from them.

Hope this helps

Clothing is fine to use for quilting. Some prefer to just use cotton clothing. Many use sheets, dust ruffles , where ever they can find useable fabric. One note just make sure they all play well together in the washer... in other words all have the same washing instructions.
Sometimes just letting people know you are looking for fabric can help. I have plenty of my own fabric but people often give me fabric they have no use for .
One of my first quilts was old blue jeans .. cut up into squares... it was before rotary cutters ... and local quilt shops.

Ask friends for old shirts. 100% cotton if possible. YOu can use an old sheet for backing, and a flannel sheet or thin used blanket for batting. If you don't have a machine, you can hand piece & hand quilt or just tie. This site has a lot of free quilt patterns made from scraps:

http://www.quiltville.com/

Sound like a good idea to me. I do minor alterations for people to buy fabric. Also, my dad and cousin brought me fabric because I crochet afghans for them. The yarn was given to me by a supervisor who passed away two days before Thanksgiving. Check to see if you have a freecycle.com or a craigslist in your area. A member from this board sent me some of her scraps. Good Luck.

I find that doing SID for the quilting saves me a lot of money. I did invest in a walking foot, so it is a lot easier now. Just another suggestion.

I am not on a shoestring budget but that does not keep me from being frugal. Goodwill and Salvation Army stores are great places to find fabric, old blankets to use for batting (picked up a wool army blanket for $5!) and I have a complete stash of 100% cotton shirts destined to become a quilt, will more than likely get more than one out of them.

I find fabric deals on line as well and budget accordingly for my quilting expenses. I buy a lot now so when I am on a fixed income I will have a stash of all I need, except thread which I don't like to bulk up on ahead of time too much.

I barter with a friend. I babysit her dogs when she needs me to. In return, she long-arm quilts for me. Also, let everyone you know that you would like fabric. You would be amazed at how many people are cleaning out someone's house and finds fabric.

I do a lot of work by hand so it takes me longer to finish a quilt. Since I only work on one at a time, and I'm only able to finish a handful per year, it comes out to just a few hundred dollars a year. I'm buying middle-of-the-road fabric (Joann's and Hobby Lobby, mostly), good batting, and good thread, and I try to buy all of those on sale or with a coupon.