Please share your best money-saving tips for quilters on a budget
#21
Originally Posted by bearisgray
stay out of the fabric stores
let it be known that you LOVE donations (the down side is that you will also get totally unsuitable stuff, too)
let it be known that you LOVE donations (the down side is that you will also get totally unsuitable stuff, too)
#22
Power Poster
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 15,639
Challenge yourself to use your stash and try different color combinations from what you have WITHOUT going out to buy more. (A lot harder to do than it sounds.)
Or find a pattern that uses the amount of colors you have to work with.
Or find a pattern that uses the amount of colors you have to work with.
#23
I use Warm and Natural batting. I save the left over pieces and then I cut the edges straight and butt them together and use the three step zig zag stitch to stitch them together. The three step zig zag is a stitch the looks like a zig zag but has three stitches one way and then three stitches the other way. The edges lay flat without a "ridge" that a regular zigzag leaves. Once the item is quited. you can't tell it it was joined together or not. Why wast good batting?
#24
Originally Posted by DebsShelties
Originally Posted by akrogirl
Get on the email lists of your LQS's. One of my local stores has really good sales ($4.50 per yd) several times a year, with an extra discount for early birds. Others have weekly coupons, like JoAnns, that are good for 40% off one cut of fabric.
#25
This past weekend a friend and I attended a guild quilt show and purchased several bags of "scraps" for $3.00 to 4.00 per bag. It was a good deal--good quality and some of the strips were at least two yards long.
#26
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Michigan's Upper Peninsula
Posts: 857
Chain stitch whenever possible so you save thread and do not have threads all over yourself or the workroom.
Share or trade quilting books with friends, use the library to check out books, and use the internet to get patterns without charge. Save pattern ideas in folders while browsing on your computer. You don't have to print out everything you see. When printing, use black only and be sure to preview the item in case you only want to print part of an article.
Have fun and go with the idea of being resourceful and inventive, rather than feeling sorry for yourself. Attitude is important and when in the right frame of mind, anything is possible. Hugs to you:-)
Share or trade quilting books with friends, use the library to check out books, and use the internet to get patterns without charge. Save pattern ideas in folders while browsing on your computer. You don't have to print out everything you see. When printing, use black only and be sure to preview the item in case you only want to print part of an article.
Have fun and go with the idea of being resourceful and inventive, rather than feeling sorry for yourself. Attitude is important and when in the right frame of mind, anything is possible. Hugs to you:-)
#28
Use any leftover thread from the bobbin for hand sewing.
Buy concentrated liquid starch and mix your own spray starch.
For lightweight quilts - use flannel purchased on sale instead of full-priced batting.
The best money saving tip I can share is ------ know what you need ----- make a list and stick to it! Know what you already have and where it can be found! It is a waste to buy the same thing twice.
Buy concentrated liquid starch and mix your own spray starch.
For lightweight quilts - use flannel purchased on sale instead of full-priced batting.
The best money saving tip I can share is ------ know what you need ----- make a list and stick to it! Know what you already have and where it can be found! It is a waste to buy the same thing twice.
#29
Super Member
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Merced, CA
Posts: 4,188
Yard sales and thrift stores are good, but I've discovered that church groups really do clean out their closets and seem to really give till it hurts. I don't want to ever make them feel unloved, so I do get lots of lovely fabric from them, in one shape or other.
#30
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Fl.
Posts: 4,079
When making my hexagons, I use the small amounts of thread on my bobbins and spools to baste them...never my better thread...I also use sheets for backing...when doing a scrappy quilt I will sew up all leftover fabrics and use that for my backing also...for string quilts I use fabrics I don`t really like as my foundation... I will also trade or borrow patterns when I can...
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