I was shocked to see batting had raised by $2.00 per yard at Hancocks, today. How are we going to keep this hobby if prices keep increasing so much? Maybe we will have to grow our own cotton and weave it!

We may have to revert back to what our ancestors did and Recycle clothing....
Old blankets can be used as batting....
etc....

LOL, Debbie, you are A BRAT! I am trying to save my money, and NOW I HAVE TO GO LOOK, lol!

Then we make "summer quilts" - no batting, just tops and backs 8-)

Dh read that yesterday. When I got home from sewing he said, "You'd better quit giving fabric away and hang onto to it." He saw me walk out the door with one of those huge Aldi reusable bags crammed full of fabric. BUT..... I was on my way to a ladies house to sew Christmas stockings for the troops. The stores will no longer donate fabric. Since I have 5 LARGE storage tubs full of Christmas fabric I felt that I could donate some. I told him that we only have 4 beds in the house and have Christmas quilts for 3 of them, this is DD's last year for school class parties so no more goodie bags. I just don't need quite all that I had.

Did anyone else hear the story on NPR this morning about cotton? Apparently farmers decided to switch away from growing cotton to produce more corn and soy. Since these are used for energy, they bring in a higher return. There are 40% less acres of cotton grown now than in the past. That's why the price is going up - less supply drives prices up.

The cotton doesn't look too good here this year - not that I'm an expert on cotton crops but it doesn't look like they are getting that much out of the fields this year..
first it was too wet and then it's been too dry..

When is the price increase coming?

by January 2011. Natural disasters which occured this year in Pakistan and China are causing huge demands for simple cotton clothing. Combined with what another member said about cotton farms planting soy for energy and higher profits instead of cotton makes the supply lower.

I've been on a self-imposed fabric buying 'fast' to help offset the cost of my Pfaff Creative Vision. But I may have to rethink this if prices are going up a bunch. The problem is I'm always seeing new collections I want, even without knowing what I'll do with them! And of course, I've learned the hard way if you wait for sales, you may have trouble getting the whole colelction or enough yardage!