The fabric prices have gone up because of greed. Most price increases are because of greed. Have you noticed that when they say there is a frost in Florida and the oranges might not be so good--the stores raise their prices on their present stock of OJ. Most of the fabrics are coming from China and China is looking to grab as much money from the Americans as possible.
You can't really blame the fabric stores for raising their prices because they are paying more for the same fabric. It is when you find the same fabric in 3 stores and one is 11.00 yd and one is 9.50 yd and one is 5.00 yard. Sorry, I do not have any love for a store that is going to overcharge me. I will take my business online.