Best place to buy fabrics
 

New to quilting/sewing and have never purchased fabrics before. My end game goal will to do only a few craft shows per year, so I was wondering where is the optimal place to buy fabrics? Is it JAF or similar stores, or if I want to keep costs down do you folks buy fabrics online?

Just looking for the best routs to take on fabrics. I do know that I will be buying some specialty prints I cant find locally, so where is a more reputable place to purchase prints online as well?

TIA

Missouri Star Quilt Company
Keepsakes Quilting
Connecting Threads
Fat Quarter Shop
Quilt in a Day
Any quilt shop

I kinda buy everywhere. I do shop at JAF occasionally but with my work schedule it's hard to get over there since my closest one is over 10 miles from my house. I've had good and bad luck with fabric.com, they take forever to ship which annoys me plus Amazon owns them (disclaimer I love Amazon and shop there all the time but I like giving them competition) my favs places online are on Etsy, they're all mom&pop shops just not in my town. Stitch Stash Diva is one of my favorites, amazing selection and super fast shipping. I also love Sew Crazy Austin which is local to me and she's on Etsy as well. AnnadaisyFabrics has flat rate shipping, many others do too. LlamaFabrics on Etsy is good, many great fabric shops on there. Connecting Threads is good, Green Fairy is good, Equilters, I've heard Keepsakes is good too,

I also have a weakness for Japanese fabric, there's a great SAHM who runs SewingdoingShop on Etsy in South Korea, she has some really cute stuff and very good quality, ordered from her several times

Marshall's Dry goods. Batesville, Arkansas

If you use JAF coupons you can score some really good deals in the store. What kind of items will you be making for your craft shows?

Here's another vote for Connecting Threads. They always have a great selection on clearance and their regular prices are good too. At $50 you get free shipping. We have bought and used a lot of fabric from them and have always been happy.

Fabric is not cheaper online... plus you will be paying for shipping. I'd check out all your local sources first. Quilt shops have clearance sections, and JoAnn's has 'red tag' clearance fabrics that they sell at 50% off about once a month.

Marshall's Dry Goods is the best place for selection and price, but you have to go there. They sell online, but they have too much to list on a website and it changes over pretty fast. They tend to advertise only their own lines of fabric on their website, which is not the best stuff they carry. If you are able, go to the store in person. I do that about twice a year, tho it's about 7 hours away from me.

A friend is a died in the wool thrift store fabric shopper as well as craigslist and freecycle. She's gotten a boatload of LQS quality fabric for dirt cheap. If you don't care about the 'latest & greatest' fabric designs, it's certainly a very affordable option as well.

I'm also new to sewing, but I've had great luck with

Joann Fabrics (I love to look through the remnants section-- a couple small bins full of fabric 50% off, and if it's on sale, you get 50% off the sale price). I also use their coupons, often have a 20-25% off coupon (even off sale stuff), 40-60% off, 75% off sometimes (specific items like buttons or thread). I think I've only paid full price for an item once. My mom works there, so she also gives me a heads up on in-store coupons and will grab a remant fabric for me if she thinks I'll like it. It's a blessing and a curse to have an insider!

Connect the blocks (online)
Keepsake quilting (online)
A notion to quilt (online)--shipping was pretty high, but they had a fabric I was looking for that I was having a really hard time finding in anything larger than a fat quarter. Even with the shipping, they beat the prices of the few other places I could find the fabric
Fabric Depot (when I'm in the big city)--they are expensive, but have some good sales sometimes
Thrift stores/second hand stores-- I've scored some good deals, even with a very limited selection