Economical foundation fabric

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07-03-2010, 01:14 PM

#31

quiltinghere

Super Member

Join Date: Mar 2010

Location: PROFESSIONAL Longarm Quilter NW Indiana

Posts: 3,400

Quote:

Originally Posted by BellaBoo

Men's shirts are great for quilting. The fabric is called shirting. Check out the queen of men's shirt recycled into quilt fabric:

http://quiltville.com/

She has a book all about using them: Scraps and Shirttails

She recycles every tiny bit of fabric into quilts.

That shirt buying bug got me - :) :oops:

I'm now band from buying any more shirts! ;-)

07-03-2010, 02:05 PM

#32

CarrieAnne

Power Poster

Join Date: Apr 2010

Location: Whitewater, WI

Posts: 24,528

I have seen the quilts made form shirts, love them!

07-03-2010, 02:11 PM

#33

Lizzytish

Senior Member

Join Date: Jul 2009

Location: Eastern USA

Posts: 663

This is how the pioneers got their fabrics. The very first quilters of America.

07-03-2010, 02:23 PM

#34

topper1

Super Member

Join Date: Jan 2007

Location: near Richmond ,Virginia

Posts: 1,315

i bought size 2x blouse at thrift yesterday and am using it for my bowtucks purse, has purple backgound , blue flowers reallynice material, have some left over for stash too. do it all time. I always get nice material though, dont go fo r inferior fabric. Impovise lke my mom and gramma did.

07-03-2010, 06:17 PM

#35

Betty Ruth

Senior Member

Join Date: May 2007

Posts: 397

I, too, have used the center from bedskirts as foundation fabric for crumb or string blocks. I also use used dryer sheets as foundations. The drawback for dryer sheets is that they are not that big. The largest block that I've been able to get from them is 6 inches square. Finished blocks will be only 5 1/2 inches square, due to the seam allowance, but I just finished a string quilt (throw size) using the 6 inch dryer sheet foundations.

07-03-2010, 06:53 PM

#36

craftybear

Google Goddess

Join Date: May 2009

Location: Central Indiana (USA)

Posts: 30,181

thanks for the tip

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pollyv9

I don't know how many of you use fabric other than "quilting cotton", but I often do. I use good condition thrift store garments, new dressmaker blend fabrics and anything that is a color or pattern that I love. Something that came to me this morning when I started sewing was the fabric I was using for the foundation. I acquired several new bed skirts. They had never been used and were great colors and patterns, I cut the skirts off, washed and ironed them and was getting ready to throw the center part away when it occurred to me that it would be good for the scrappy crazy quilts I like to make. It does great. There are always many of these at the thrift store. Maybe you can use this idea too.

07-04-2010, 04:11 AM

#37

lindagor

Senior Member

Join Date: May 2010

Location: Charleston, MS

Posts: 315

In this economy it's very hard to be a fabric "purist". I take pride in being able to repurpose fabric I've found in thrift stores or from yard sales in whatever original form it may have come in. If you know fabric you can tell by the tightness of the weave and the feel of it if it's cheap or not.

07-04-2010, 04:15 AM

#38

Crafty1

Super Member

Join Date: Oct 2008

Location: FL

Posts: 1,266

Great tip! I have clothing in my closet that I no longer wear so these will come in handy one day!!! :)

07-04-2010, 04:22 AM

#39

BonniFeltz

Super Member

Join Date: May 2010

Location: Trumann, Arkansas

Posts: 1,873

When I get read to do a crazy quilt, I usually go to the Salvation Army or Goodwill store and look at the clothing. Our Salvation Army and Goodwill Stores have a "color tag" of the day. If you buy clothing and it has a color tag that was designated color of the day, you get the item for 49 cents. That goes a long way on fabric if they carry the larger sizes.

I might have to start to looking there for other times also. Also their sheets are usually only $2.

07-04-2010, 05:51 AM

#40

Lori L

Senior Member

Join Date: May 2010

Location: The woods of Northern Maine

Posts: 816

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rural City Girl

Quote:

Originally Posted by bearisgray

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lori L

Quote:

Originally Posted by bearisgray

I wish people would say "less expensive" instead of "cheaper"

One can still find nice/decent/good fabrics at comparatively "reasonable" prices if one knows what one is looking for and where to look.

"cheaper", to me, implies inferior quality.

I'm sorry..... I was trying to say "less money" by using the word cheaper. You're right......there are better words to use which don't sound sooo.......cheap?????

No criticism intended to any of the posts -

It's just when I was growing up, if anything/anyone was referred to as "cheap" - it was not meant as a compliment - old conditioning/associations are hard for me to outgrow.

So - if I've offended anyone, please accept my apologies.

Absolutely no offense taken!!!! I can understand why you feel that way. This is what I like about this board (for the majority of the time) we can voice our differing opinions, and agree to disagree without hard feelings, or feeling offended. :)

There was not a thing wrong with your request for us to use a different adjective beside "cheap". LOL. There are thousands of words out there which can get the point across. My grandmother, who was raised during the Depression use to say "I'm thrifty." She had the same roll of tinfoil for as long as I remember and just wiped it off, folded it up and put it in the drawer like it was reuseable. Same with baggies. I still have some of her freezer baggies marked "Fiddleheads 1962". I won't let anyone throw them away. They're my heirlooms, haha. Anyway.....don't be concerned with your request/post. There was absolutely no offense taken. Take care, Lori