I cannot afford to pay those prices for fabric. I feel sorry for the local quilt shops, and I don't believe they are ripping us off; they have higher wholesale costs and overhead to pay as well. I've learned to shop online for all of my fabric. If I am looking for a specific fabric for a focus fabric, I use
www.quiltshops.com to find the lowest price on it. I buy frequently from
www.quiltrfabriccloseouts.com because they carry name brand quality fabrics by the yard at decent prices. I also shop at
www.overtherainbow.com and
www.whittles.com. When I retired, my income reduced by about 50%, so there's no choice here. I would love to support local shops, but I simply cannot afford those prices. By the time I pay to have someone long arm my larger quilts, it's many hundreds of dollars invested for quilts I give away to friends and family members. Someone mentioned the prices skyrocketing a few years ago, and I do remember that. They claimed we had a cotton shortage so prices would be high for awhile. However, that cotton shortage is long over and the prices never did come back down; they just continue to rise. In my opinion, what we will see is fewer and fewer locally owned shops because of this. The manufacturers had better stop being so greedy and see the writing on the wall. They're cutting their own throats!