Originally Posted by rb.

Just like gas, and wheat a few years ago (remember when the cost of a bag of flour tripled?), cotton will go up and down. For the Americans on the forum, I don't think you realize how very inexpensive your consumer goods have been for decades, as compared to other countries. You are now beginning to catch up to the rest of us. In Canada, I've been paying $16-$22 a metre (about a yard) for batiks for years, and a metre of batting at a national fabric store has run between $20-$30.