I don't know how many of you use fabric other than "quilting cotton", but I often do. I use good condition thrift store garments, new dressmaker blend fabrics and anything that is a color or pattern that I love. Something that came to me this morning when I started sewing was the fabric I was using for the foundation. I acquired several new bed skirts. They had never been used and were great colors and patterns, I cut the skirts off, washed and ironed them and was getting ready to throw the center part away when it occurred to me that it would be good for the scrappy crazy quilts I like to make. It does great. There are always many of these at the thrift store. Maybe you can use this idea too.

Thanks good tip!

Great idea. The way the economy is right now we need to be more like our foremothers in quilting and you have already done so. The only exception for me is I only like to use cotton fabric. Thanks for the tip :D

What a great tip. Thanks for sharing.

I have a feeling as time goes on that many of us who are currently "fabric snobs" :) are going to have to bite
the bullet and put our money where are mouths are. Quilting is our hobby and some may be willing to put out the extra for the fabric we enjoy sewing with. Many though are going to have to downgrade the fabric used to continue enjoying the hobby we love. I do realize that our grandmothers before us was using anything on hand for quilts that were necessities and not a hobby but did that make their quilts any less beautiful??? Why is it we all love to see the heirloom quilts and feel honored to have them? I guarantee there was no Moda, Hoffman etc fabrics being used. LOL I too like using a good cotton fabric that has a good "hand". I have recently just learned to quilt and I started out as a spoiled fabric snob. BUT...I am new and don't have a big stash yet. I love quilting enough already to say if I was given a choice between quilting or not quilting.....I'll go with the cheaper fabric to continue my growth as a quilter. Just my two cents worth.....and then some. LOL

Polly, great tip! I can usually findold white sheets at the thrift store, too, for not much money.
Lori, I agree with you! Look at all the beautiful Depression era quilts........still here and they used whatever they could!

I wish people would say "less expensive" instead of "cheaper"

One can still find nice/decent/good fabrics at comparatively "reasonable" prices if one knows what one is looking for and where to look.

"cheaper", to me, implies inferior quality.

Well said, Lori !! And I am one of those, I admit it. And I'm a huge fan of antique quilts ! :D I can't imagine life w/o Moda lol :mrgreen: But other than fabric I'm not a snob hehe

What a great tip! A crazy quilt is on my to do list!! Thanks!

I have been using the center part of bedskirts along with leftover batting or fleece to make "quilt sandwiches" to practice free motion quilting.

I will have to remember your idea, too! Thanks for sharing.

I agree with Lori L and Sueisallaboutquilts. I also love the antique quilts, but that was then, and now is now. What would I do without Moda, Batiks, bright and beautiful colors? :|

I just have to comment on the use of the word cheaper. Since your posting was about higher price or lower price fabric, the use of cheaper was very appropriate. But, maybe this makes me a fabric snob, but buying cheaper fabric does not only mean less expensive, but in many cases it is less inferior.

I don't much like wordsmitting other peoples comments. :)

I'm sorry..... I was trying to say "less money" by using the word cheaper. You're right......there are better words to use which don't sound sooo.......cheap?????

Polly, I just loved your idea!!!! :thumbup: :thumbup:

Boy, I wish you posted this earlier. I took apart my old eyelet lace bedskirt and THREW the top part away! :shock:

No criticism intended to any of the posts -

It's just when I was growing up, if anything/anyone was referred to as "cheap" - it was not meant as a compliment - old conditioning/associations are hard for me to outgrow.

So - if I've offended anyone, please accept my apologies.

I save the term "sleazy" for the truly inferior ones!

"Cheap" can go either way! LOL!

Absolutely no offense taken!!!! I can understand why you feel that way. This is what I like about this board (for the majority of the time) we can voice our differing opinions, and agree to disagree without hard feelings, or feeling offended. :)

Great idea, thanks for sharing :D:D:D

Bear is gray, I am very FRUGAL! Always have been. My dad always used to tease me....What do the birds say when they fly over your house????????? Cheep, cheep, lol! He hates that I dumpster dive, collect cans, pick, whatever, but I am in no debt, so he is proud of that!
Cheap got my bills paid off, and I only owe on my house now. Sometimes being cheap isnt bad, of course I do try to GIVE as well!

My DD brought over two sheet sets she didn't want and said maybe I could find some use for them. In the past I would have taken them to the Salvation Army but not now. They make great backing for pot holders, place mats, table toppers, pincushions, and any other quilting project. I don't use sheets for quilt backing, yet. I have dozens of quilt backs in my stash. Cheap and Free, referring to cost, are two of my favorite words.

In the world I grew up in, almost everyone was "frugal" - because we had to be.

Reuse, recycle, don't waste food, pay cash for, or do without were the mantras I heard growing up.

My Mom made hundreds of lap quilts for nursing homes, and she usually used old sheets for the liners. Also for "summer quilts"

Price of cotton fabric is going up. I think it's a great idea to recycle rather than go out and pay the outrageous prices. We can speak with our wallets. Besides, isn't the origin of patwork recycle of the good parts of worn clothing/ The gals on the prairie didn't have the luxury of the LQS. They were limited to the bolt choices at the general store and what their budget allowed.

Most of my backing fabric is actually from the discount rack at the LQS.

You are so right....I have!!! :thumbup:

I was just reading the comments, (don't you just love going back to see what everyone is saying) and a question popped into my head. I stopped at a garage sale an hour or so ago on my way to see a friend and picked up a Ralph Lauren large mans shirt. It is 100% cotton and is an absolutely beautiful navy blue plaid (the cost was $1.00). Just down the rack a short distance I found another Ralph Lauren ladies XXL shirt, it is also $100% cotton. They both feel wonderful, almost silky. My question is how is this 100% cotton fabric different from the 100% quilting cotton? I will be watching for replies.

I was just reading the comments, (don't you just love going back to see what everyone is saying) and a question popped into my head. I stopped at a garage sale an hour or so ago on my way to see a friend and picked up a Ralph Lauren large mans shirt. It is 100% cotton and is an absolutely beautiful navy blue plaid (the cost was $1.00). Just down the rack a short distance I found another Ralph Lauren ladies XXL shirt, it is also $100% cotton. They both feel wonderful, almost silky. My question is how is this 100% cotton fabric different from the 100% quilting cotton? I will be watching for replies.

Sorry some kind of glitch in my computer. It froze up and of course I kept hitting the send button!

Great tip.

Might be a tighter weave with finer threads. Sort of like the differences in thread counts of sheets.

By the way, on the shirts, Good Score!

Men's shirts are great for quilting. The fabric is called shirting. Check out the queen of men's shirt recycled into quilt fabric:

http://quiltville.com/

She has a book all about using them: Scraps and Shirttails

She recycles every tiny bit of fabric into quilts.

The Frugal Gourmet used to say FRUGAL...the ability to save money on things you could in order to splurge on things you want. Like making your own stock and spending $15.00 a pound for fancy mushrooms!

I LOVE FRUGAL!!! Use up those scraps, buy at the resale shop, scrap that mayo and ketsup jar, turn down the heat, etc.!
Put me near a vintage machine and I'm ALL IN!!!!!

That shirt buying bug got me - :) :oops:

I'm now band from buying any more shirts! ;-)

I have seen the quilts made form shirts, love them!

This is how the pioneers got their fabrics. The very first quilters of America.

i bought size 2x blouse at thrift yesterday and am using it for my bowtucks purse, has purple backgound , blue flowers reallynice material, have some left over for stash too. do it all time. I always get nice material though, dont go fo r inferior fabric. Impovise lke my mom and gramma did.

I, too, have used the center from bedskirts as foundation fabric for crumb or string blocks. I also use used dryer sheets as foundations. The drawback for dryer sheets is that they are not that big. The largest block that I've been able to get from them is 6 inches square. Finished blocks will be only 5 1/2 inches square, due to the seam allowance, but I just finished a string quilt (throw size) using the 6 inch dryer sheet foundations.

thanks for the tip

In this economy it's very hard to be a fabric "purist". I take pride in being able to repurpose fabric I've found in thrift stores or from yard sales in whatever original form it may have come in. If you know fabric you can tell by the tightness of the weave and the feel of it if it's cheap or not.

Great tip! I have clothing in my closet that I no longer wear so these will come in handy one day!!! :)

When I get read to do a crazy quilt, I usually go to the Salvation Army or Goodwill store and look at the clothing. Our Salvation Army and Goodwill Stores have a "color tag" of the day. If you buy clothing and it has a color tag that was designated color of the day, you get the item for 49 cents. That goes a long way on fabric if they carry the larger sizes.

I might have to start to looking there for other times also. Also their sheets are usually only $2.

There was not a thing wrong with your request for us to use a different adjective beside "cheap". LOL. There are thousands of words out there which can get the point across. My grandmother, who was raised during the Depression use to say "I'm thrifty." She had the same roll of tinfoil for as long as I remember and just wiped it off, folded it up and put it in the drawer like it was reuseable. Same with baggies. I still have some of her freezer baggies marked "Fiddleheads 1962". I won't let anyone throw them away. They're my heirlooms, haha. Anyway.....don't be concerned with your request/post. There was absolutely no offense taken. Take care, Lori