granniebj

Your not cheap...prices are ridiculous! I was so frustrated on my last trip to a quilt shop that I decided to give up quilting! That lasted till I got home and saw my current project sitting there. I do hit the garage sales just hoping for a find.

MistyMarie

Thanks for the tip. I am on her site right now.

I have to admit that I buy way too much fabric on speculation of a future project. As prices go up, I am thankful that I have a large enough stash that I will have many future projects to do. However, I have to agree with an earlier post about limiting what I give away because it is too expensive to buy more, so I am going to have to make do with what I have.

We are very blessed here in America with our prices (and spoiled :wink: )

Favorite Fabrics

And bear in mind... the LQS owner is probably also getting squeezed from the government in terms of taxes; rent and utilities are probably also increasing. If (s)he has valued employees, (s)he also will want to thank them by giving them a little bit of a raise each year... and it all has to come from somewhere.

CorgiNole

I am pretty frugal, but unfortunately, the price isn't completely out of line - about a dollar more than I'm seeing on average here. It does make me choose carefully which fabrics are added to my stash - and I make a point of hitting my LQS's monthly end of bolt sale.

Cheers, K

k3n

There's probably VAT, I'm not sure. Overheads and taxes, don't really know either I'm afraid. Not much use am I? :lol:

Katrine

There are differing levels of TVA here - and some goods regarded as non-necessities carry the very high rates. I find it strange that even the British produced fabric is so much cheaper in the US than in Britain also. The prices for fabric here are pretty uniform and you never see any quilt fabric or other quilt supplies reduced so the quilt shops obviously have to buy at top whack anyway.
I buy everything online from UK - but have to stick with the suppliers who will post to Europe, and at sensible cost.

Late Bloomer

I am fortunate to live in PA where there are lots of fabric stores so if you find a store that sells good stuff at a lower price, just go there. I usually get stuff on sale except when I just really, really have to have that fabric! As for Joanne's, you have to look hard to find the good fabrics as a lot of them are kind of flimsy. For some quilts I had to go online as no one carried the fabrics I was looking for. Padukas of Kentucky is a good store and they do have good sales and the price of shipping is not too bad if you consider the gas you would have used looking all over for that fabric which no one had anyway.

BellaBoo

I started trimming from my budget last year when all the economic indicators showed higher prices were coming and coming fast. I stocked up all the non food basics we used while they were at the lower prices. Simple things like razors, soap, laundry detergent, paper products, shampoo, make up, deodorant, trash bags, ziplock bags, foil, cleaning products, etc. I bought cases of most items and put in the garage. I haven't had to cut my grocery budget now that the food prices are so high by not having to buy all the non food items. If prices stay high I'll start restocking at sales and clearances from the food budget. We can eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a few meals to pay for the cases to stock. The more I save on what I have to buy the more I have to spend on what I want to buy is my way of thinking. I hate spending good money on needed items like toilet paper! LOL

tracylester

I buy my fabrics in discounted remnants at craft, fabric, and stores like Walmart. I make alot of strip quilts and eclectic quilts and interestingly enough they seem to be what my family prefers when given a choice for gifts. I buy fabric, table cloths, sheets, even interesting clothing at thrift stores and yard sales for quilts. I just made a quilt for my 11 year old daughter out of all the jeans she's outgrown and it's her favorite. I used the pockets and all the little embellishments that were on the jeans originally. This made it not just a quilt, but a memory. Isn't this what quilting really is? Isn't this how quilting came to be? Our grandmothers and their grandmothers had little scraps of fabric that they made into something beautiful--nothing was wasted. Quilting is the ultimate in repurposing, recycling, and being thrifty.

MistyMarie

That is so true. My sister and I each have a quilt that obviously was made out of our great grandmother's clothing. Both the quilts have the same fabrics and they are utilitarian quilts. When I was first learning how to quilt, I cut up some old cotton shirts of mine that I wore in junior high. Somehow they hadn't made it to the Goodwill bin, so they became blocks. I still have one of those original blocks I made when I was a teenager. (My mom only bought fabric at the store that she was making into clothes, so I didn't even think about buying yardage for quilting, I just used the scraps left over from her sewing projects to "play" with. I still have the scraps from the cotton dresses my mom made me when I was a preteen that I am saving to put into a memory quilt for her.)

I think I might make a wild and crazy quilt out of some of my dh's old western shirts from the 80s. Thank GOD those went out of style. He loved them so much they are still hanging in our closet. Maybe when he is deployed I can surprise him with a special quilt made out of all those crazy shirts. (Save me a bundle on fabric!!!)