I have accumulated 5 large totes of quilting fabric, mostly at estate sales. I started quilting about a year ago. I live in a large city (Dallas), so there are lots of estate sales. I'm on an email list for one very busy company. There is also a company that catalogs estate sales
https://www.estatesales.net/ by zip code. They post photos and lists of what is in the sales. I only go to those that have sewing machines, fabric or quilts. If I have time, I go to any estate sale I pass, because many are not advertised. I go straight to the bedrooms, looking for the fabric. A couple of weeks ago, I bought 36 completed squares of a Dresden plate. It will make a beautiful full size quilt. I paid $15.00 for it. I bought a huge basket of fabric for $10.00, but not all was quilting fabric.
I went to an estate sale yesterday. The lady had been a seamstress. They had a bunch of fabric, plus patterns, sewing machines and trim. The pricing was $6.00 for large, $4.00 for medium and $2.00 for small. I went up front and asked what constituted large, medium and small. I had a two or three yard piece in my hand, and she said that looks like small to me. After looking at the fabric, a sale lady came in there. We were alone in the room and I asked something to the effect, of this is a lot of fabric, you've done it before, when will you start selling for $25.00 per box. She asked what size box, which we talked about and she brought me a box about 18X12X12 and I filled it up and paid $25.00. I got a huge amount of gingham in all sizes and colors + lots of other stuff, including a world map. I think the gingham will make a great card trick quilt by just adding some white and a little solid color.
A few months ago, I bought a quilt kit for a Dresden plate for $5.00. I've bought bags of quilting scraps for $2.00. I bought a quilt kit for a baby quilt yesterday for $4.00.
So that's how I've built my stash inexpensively in a short time.
bkay