BellaBoo, ours is bad too. I dont think really poor people can afford to shop at our Goodwill store. Jeans are 8.00 and 9.00 for used!

That is depressing news! :cry:

And that is only if they can beat the people who feel they are doing good and recycling by buying out all the wool and cotton clothes to cut up for crafting!
Sorry, this is a sore point for me. If a person wants to recycle clothing into crafting of any sort, I have no problem with that... IF they are using clothing from their own household. If you can afford new cloth, don't use the wool suit that might have helped a poor person get a job, or keep them from being quite as cold...
(OK off my soapbox... sorry for the rant)

Maybe where you live it is that way - but I don't think that everyone who makes recycled clothing projects is beating some poor(er) person out of clothing. I know that where I live, there is a place that gives away clothing and food to people with low income who are having trouble making ends meet. I've volunteered there, and they have WAY more clothes than they can get rid of (except mens and kids jeans). They keep very few suits, because there just isn't any demand.

There are also several consignement stores i visit, and get clothing at, both to wear and to make into other things, and I'm not seeing a shortage of available clothes. I usually just buy off of the sale racks what they haven't been able to get rid of an have marked down. The goodwill has more clothes than anything else, no shortage of anything that I can see, but their prices are generally higher than the privately run consignment stores. The only thing is, I wouldn't buy coats in the wintertime to cut up, because it does seem like there is a shortage of good coats.

I hear ya, hubby works for the goverment, and they put a freeze on his wages..

and he only makes about 35,000 a year...

Wouldnt it be great if the goverment would take a pay cut down to that and try to live on it....

I bet the debt would have a decrease after that...

Yes, crashquilt - and what about Fabric Depot? His prices was always good - don't know if they are "holding"..hope so, but he was saying shipping is TERRIBLE - like doubled in price.

hmmmmmm maybe all those clothes I have in the back of the closet and in bins, I should cut up - heck - 'can't wear that small size any more, so I just MIGHT 'repurpose it!!

I cringe at some of the prices I see, but it just makes me be a more creative and smarter shopper and quilter. You can still find lots of bargains, sales, good priced websites, ebay, craigslist, this board, and sales at quilt shops. Plus garage sales, resale shops, etc. I'm very lucky that there are two quilt shops nearby with fabric priced at $4, $5 and $6 a yard! I just won't pay higher than that. Well, I have, but it's rare and only for something I HAD to have! LOL

Hold on! Help's coming! In our local newspaper last week's headline was that our farmers are planting more cotton this year because of the shortage. so ... just wait a bit. :) That will mean a rice, corn, or
maize shortage though cause that's what they had been planting more of.

I have stopped taking my clothes to our local thrift shop. I had over 20 coats I had collected over the years - mine, my kids, husband, even some from my mother-in-law. They had me drive around to the gargage-type door to meet a worker there to unload them. When that door rolled up and I saw a MOUNTAIN of black trash bags that people had put their donations in - this mountain had to be 12 feet high - I was so depressed. I know they need workers to sort it and space to put it, but it will be YEARS before what I take there will be availalbe for anyone to use. So .. I'm seeking other places to take my things. Wish I could volunteer there to help them, but work two jobs and just can't fit it in. Some of our churches have drop boxes and there's a smaller place in town I can take things to.

Here's what our local paper had to say:
Cotton prices higher than ever before and double those a year ago are expected to cause row crop farmers, who portion out their acreage among three or four different crops to reduce risk, to perhaps skew a bit toward more cotton acres, McGuill said.

“Our number of acres planted I anticipate will stay relatively level, but what’s going to be planted in those acres is going to change,” he said. “I think we’re going to see a marked increase in our cotton acres and level or down in our corn acres – cotton will take some of that away.


AND... given the life and luck of the farmers I know that means that something will happen that will cause the cost of cotton to fall, fall, fall before the crop is ready to harvest. :(