Originally Posted by
Onebyone
I stopped in today at my favorite LQS. New fabric was being put on the shelf. All of it was $15.99 to $16.99 a yard. Layer cakes were $48.99. I looked at the new fabric, beautiful, but I got to thinking. Is a quilt really worth the price of this fabric for me to buy it? My answer was No it is not.
As an exercise, you can use the CPI (consumer price index) and calculate relative dollar value going back and forth between years. I started quilting in 2013, so I compared your $15.99 per yard today to 2013 - it would have been $12.25 per yard back then. Looking at some of the fabrics I purchased in early 2013 from a LQS, they were in the $9.99 to $12.99 range. So fabric prices have slightly outpaced inflation, but not significantly.