Fabric prices seem to be keeping up with inflation. Unfortunately wages are not, so our real costs of buying are exceeding inflation. I never pay full price for anything. I refuse to buy $12-14/yard fabric. Whether or not that price is justifiable, it's not worth it to me. The fabric manufacturers want to stay in business so pricing pressures will cause them to lower their prices. They are, IMHO, where the problem lies. They take orders ahead of time and for the most part, only order what they've presold. The quilt shops have to double the wholesale because they may or may not sell everything they order.
I thankfully have a ridiculously large stash, but it gets 'stale' to me sometimes so I have to have a few new things once in awhile. I allow myself one yard of local fabric, under $10 a month. That's it, and I often don't buy anything! I can also buy online and meet minimums for shipping, but only if I get things I love. I can't just buy something because it's cheap.
I also have taken to hand dying, both because of the price and because I can't seem to get what I want from fabric stores. Everything seems to be either "modern," novelty, or batik. Where are the good, soft, tone on tones? Batiks are like my hand dyes, but I don't like to quilt the greige they're printed on. I can use soft Kona cottons for my own dyes.
What kills me is the price people are willing to pay for THREAD. ($25 for a 2000 yard spool of cotton?) This is something new since I stopped quilting in 1999. I know someone wrote an article justifying it, but they used full retail, rather than the discounted prices people typically pay at places like Joann's when they did their comparison.