1CharmShort

Quilt Addicts Anonymous
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhRCd6sNzfU

I'm sad
An expensive hobby is getting even more so

My scraps are looking pretty good

Quiltah Mama

That is so sad. I'm watching the prices increase at the local shops I frequent in my area too. It unfortunately does also affect online retailers also. But when people get real and raw with their lives and emotions, it really hits home and you can relate because we all have (well most of us anyway) have had to adjust our spending to keep up with inflation.

Snooze2978

I quite buying fabric back in Nov 2018 after going to my 1st quilt bus tour. I'd gone nuts and bought lots of fabrics, end of bolts...all on sale. When I got home I didn't have anywhere to put all these 63+ partial bolts so told myself....okay girl, suck it up and start using what you've got now. So far I've purchased fabric only occasionally and I mean only a few times from my thrift shop. Thread I have tons of so no thread purchases. The only things I've ordered in the past couple years is batting and I've gone from a roll of batting to just king size indiviual or 4 in a box and only when on sale with free shipping. I counted how many quilts I have that need to be quilted plus those on my list and I have should have enough batting once I cut off the excess and piece them together to make larger battings for the smaller quilts on the list. My quilts are gifts to others. I may need to order a backing or two but otherwise I'll look to see what I have on hand and maybe even go to piecing them together to make a large enough backing. The prices have actually shocked me when I see them online for the sites I've looked at. I don't know how those of us that make donation quilts, gifts, etc can continue to keep giving. I've seen a couple of our local fabric stores closed down already since I moved here or they moved to larger towns hoping it would help their sales. So many stores have closed down for one reason or another and it's sad to see America closing up.

sewingpup

I often kicked myself for not saving more for retirement but instead bought fabric so I have a good stash and many planned quilts. Now that I went nuts for a few years and now have 3 less then three year old Bernina. I do think I am good. Yep, probably should have saved more for retirement and also learned about more about investing rather than sticking what I did save in to pretty safe places but do I regret my stash now? Nope! not one bit.

Onebyone

Of course the first thing I would not buy if money was short was the subscription box and certainly the one that was $60 a month. When Aurifil thread went to $15.99 a spool over night I said NOPE, not paying that. I have a quilting budget and so far I have stayed in that budget but it doesn't buy as much as it use to. One thing I have heard and read is quilt shop theft has become a big problem.

sewingpup

I know stores have been locking up rotary cutter blades for years.

lindaschipper

I'm also forcing myself to use up what I have because of the prices in quilt shops. Probably will continue to order large pieces (3 or more yards) from Facebook as those will be my backings if found at a reasonable price. To me, reasonable means less than $6 a yard because postage must be added on. Have seriously thought about giving up quilting and selling off what i have stock piled because of the rising prices, but then charity quilts are always in demand. I have enough fabric to make one quilt a week for the next year, even if they are scrap quilts!

1CharmShort

when quilt shops go away, so do their classes, their BOMs, their sew days get togethers & contests, their shop hops and their ability to bring a community of sewists together

Onebyone

The quilt shops in my area are thriving. One is expanding adding a bigger class room and one is enclosing the open area for a larger store. The fabric sales are not the bread and butter sales,mostly machine/LA sales, and embroidery supplies, keep the shop open. C]asses and vendor/rep presentations always draw a big crowd. One has a clothing sewing area that includes heirloom sewing for babies. That is a big money maker. A quilt shop has to stay active and keep current, always providing more then just buy your fabric here store.

LI_diva

I’ve enjoyed watching Stephanie’s videos over the years, and I really like her, but I never thought the ‘stashing with Stephanie’ programme was a good business model.

You had to commit to purchasing a collection of fat quarters each month, without knowing if you would like them, or if you would have time to sew any given month. I can’t even imagine finishing 12 quilts in a year! And if you DID like the collection, and DID have time to work on it, you had to supplement by purchasing a finishing kit, which may or may not be in stock when you went to order it!

I like Stephanie, and may yet make one of her patterns, but I knew that subscribing to this programme would result in lots of wasted money and lots of unused fabric for me.

I am truely sad that things are not going well for her, but can’t say I’m that surprised.