Actually the price of cotton has gone up because it is a commodity! There are less cotton fields in the US today, and less all around the world. The cheap labor used to pick cotton went many years ago, now it is machines and big industry. They are the ones controling the prices. My husband watches the stock market closely and told me this would happen. Now it has!
I was in a quilt shop the other day and they told me to take advantage of buying NOW while the prices were still low in that shop. They told me by the end of August they would be jumping the price, because that is what they now have to pay for the fabric.
Last night I needed some floral fabric for a quilt. I shopped on line at Hancock of Paducah........because thay had what I wanted. All new fabric is $5.49 a HALF yard!
Fabric here in the North East US stores is now about $12.00 a yard, and may go higher soon, because of what has happened in the stock market in the past few days.
I'm not getting rid of ANY of my stash.....I may have to work on using it for the rest of my life! NO JOKE!