$3 for fat quarter ?
#111
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Norfolk, VA
Posts: 5,397
Originally Posted by MYWR
Originally Posted by katier825
That's what it is around here too. Batiks are $12.75/yd and about $3.25/FQ. Regular cottons are a little less, but not by much.
Depressing, isn't it?
Depressing, isn't it?
#112
I was just wondering about this last week when I was at my LQS. Their FQ are $3 also & I was shocked. Since I rarely buy less than a yard I never looked at FQ until I decided to make a jar quilt. Sadly this LQS just moved into a dark, cramped old house. They were never friendly to begin with but I still went because it was well lit & easy to find what I needed. I have 2 other shops who need business enough to be friendly so I'll travel a bit farther to buy from them. LOL, now I am not asking to be anyone's BFF but I don't like feeling like I'm bothering them if I ask questions either.
#113
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: New Milford, CT
Posts: 501
Originally Posted by SherriB
I am glad that I don't like fat quarters. I love fabric to much and a fat quarter just wouldn't fill me up. LOL!! I am also used to buying yardage from years of sewing clothes and home dec projects also.
#114
Originally Posted by QuilterChick
Fabric has gone up in price by at least $1.00 a yard; and the sad part is, all of it is made in China, even the "high end" brands. When I lived in NC, I used to buy at Mary Jo's all the time, and Mary Jo herself told me about the price increases. So when a shop owner buys a bolt, they have to reprice by the yard.
Fat quarters at $2.50 were too much to begin with imho; they are basically scraps and on many you have to cut off the selvage.
Remember when fabric was actually made in the USA?
Fat quarters at $2.50 were too much to begin with imho; they are basically scraps and on many you have to cut off the selvage.
Remember when fabric was actually made in the USA?
Most top-end printed fabric is printed and finished in Japan and So. Korea.
Some of the more mid-low end fabrics, like David Textiles, Springs Creative, lower-end Cranston, and most of the the stuff you buy in Wally World, are also printed and finished in China.
Connecting Threads has their fabric printed and finished in Mexico.
Batiks and hand-dyes are mostly dyed, stamped and finished in Indonesia and India.
There are many reasons fabric isn't made in the USA anymore. If fabric were in fact made in the USA today, with all the government regulations and union labor, fabric would probably cost about 25 dollars a yard, and you'd be talking about FQ's at 8 or 9 dollars each.
FQ's aren't scraps, or made from scraps in any shop I've ever been in. FQ's are made in most shops by cutting a half-yard off the bolt, then cutting the half-yard in half lengthwise. In more careful shops this often involves starting with an oversized half-yard cut which is then re-folded, trimmed and straightened before cutting, so that you get a true FQ that is straight to the pattern. There is a lot of time involved and some trimming loss to making a perfect FQ, thus the increased price. Labor might be free in some places, but it isn't in most shops. Personally, as a shop owner I'd just as soon not cut FQ's because there is waste involved, but you're almost forced to offer them because so many patterns are based on FQ's.
If you do find a FQ pattern you like, it probably is worth your time, and you may save some money, by seeing if you can easily adapt that pattern to long quarters. I'd be willing to bet that many FQ patterns can use long quarters, which typically cost less than fats.
#117
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Norfolk, VA
Posts: 5,397
Originally Posted by TexasGurl
If the FQ are all older fabrics, then yes it sounds like they're taking advantage of today's price increases ... if they are from brand new lines, then I'd say no :roll:
#118
Originally Posted by wvdek
It does sound expensive until you figure in the labor to cut it.
Personally, unless there was no yardage available to purchase, and I not only liked it really well but had a specific project I would reallly use it on, I would probably buy it.
Personally, unless there was no yardage available to purchase, and I not only liked it really well but had a specific project I would reallly use it on, I would probably buy it.
When I worked at 2 LQS before, we cut FQs when we weren't BUSY, and we also cut them for customers ... and we didn't get Gatorade or get to put our feet up afterwards !! LOL :roll:
#119
Junior Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: North Dakota
Posts: 116
at our LQS FQ's are $3.00 also. You have to consider that it is a 18x22 piece of fabric and that it has been cut for you. Most of the new cottons are now priced at nearly $12.00 to $13.00 a yard - and it a quarter yard would only be 9 inches x WOF.
I know that fabric is getting more expensive and the cost of making quilts is going up. Guess my thinking is that IF I am going to make a special quilt....put all my time and work in it....I want to make sure it is quality fabric and thread that I am using. Please don't think I am a fabric snob....LOL.... because I use fabric from other stores too....just depends on what I am making and how it will be used and saved.
I have to save up to buy quilt shop quality fabrics and I treasure those fabrics.
Happy Quilting.
I know that fabric is getting more expensive and the cost of making quilts is going up. Guess my thinking is that IF I am going to make a special quilt....put all my time and work in it....I want to make sure it is quality fabric and thread that I am using. Please don't think I am a fabric snob....LOL.... because I use fabric from other stores too....just depends on what I am making and how it will be used and saved.
I have to save up to buy quilt shop quality fabrics and I treasure those fabrics.
Happy Quilting.
#120
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Oceanside, CA
Posts: 847
I only buy FQs bundles. If I really love a fabric line and cannot afford to buy several yards of each, this fits the bill for me. It's like I really love an expensive, delicious red wine. Cannot afford the whole bottle but when my wine shop has tastings I jump on a glass for $10. Kind of the same situation for me.
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