Where do you find member's fabrics for sale?
Thanks

Very thankful that I have a "stash" that I purchased years ago at much lower prices. It is incredible how much prices have risen, especially in the last few years.

Generosity, kindness and sacrifice have a way of being rewarded. You will be blessed because of this. Also someone is going to be beyond thrilled to receive such an awesome quilt. I haven't seen that fabric, but I'm sure it's wonderful- can't go wrong with Snoopy and the Peanuts Gang!

When I was at a Walmart store in NoLRock, I found fabric at $2.00/yd, it was fair quality but the two other prints I found were $.86/yd and much nicer quality. Dumb me, I just bought 2 yds of one and one yard of the other at 86 cents. Oh well, maybe I'll go back. I'm 79 yrs old and will never use up all my fabric! Can't resist a bargain. I am donating fabric and helping make charity quilts but concerned my health (arthritis) will allow me many more years of sewing.

Fabric prices
 

Be blessed, as in Australia we pay for good quality fabric, anything from $20 to $30 per metre if lucky we can get it half price on sale or less40%

That's cheap compared to prices here in Australia

Some of the LQS are charging $14 a yard, I choose not to spend that much. I will order from web sites that are much cheaper.. connecting threads has good fabric lots cheaper.. Marshall's Dry Goods in Batesville AR is way cheaper... I know there are still some folks that will pay that, but not me.

I have a 'game' I play. I plan my grocery shopping carefully and use the store coupons, online sites to sign up such as just4you specials at Safeway. Kroger stores also have this service. I only buy basic foods we use, (around the outside of the store) never mixes, boxed or frozen dinners, etc. I cook everything from scratch. I stock up on special items when on sale. My reward? I count the money saved as my quilting kitty. Had I shopped differently I would have spent lots more money in the grocery store. I keep an accounting record of my 'savings' and my quilting expenditures. Last year I broke even. There is only so much income and only so much of the costs of living is under my control. I want to quilt so I need to carve out the cost some way. As mentioned before other hobbies and activities are also expensive.

Fabric prices seem to be keeping up with inflation. Unfortunately wages are not, so our real costs of buying are exceeding inflation. I never pay full price for anything. I refuse to buy $12-14/yard fabric. Whether or not that price is justifiable, it's not worth it to me. The fabric manufacturers want to stay in business so pricing pressures will cause them to lower their prices. They are, IMHO, where the problem lies. They take orders ahead of time and for the most part, only order what they've presold. The quilt shops have to double the wholesale because they may or may not sell everything they order.

I thankfully have a ridiculously large stash, but it gets 'stale' to me sometimes so I have to have a few new things once in awhile. I allow myself one yard of local fabric, under $10 a month. That's it, and I often don't buy anything! I can also buy online and meet minimums for shipping, but only if I get things I love. I can't just buy something because it's cheap.

I also have taken to hand dying, both because of the price and because I can't seem to get what I want from fabric stores. Everything seems to be either "modern," novelty, or batik. Where are the good, soft, tone on tones? Batiks are like my hand dyes, but I don't like to quilt the greige they're printed on. I can use soft Kona cottons for my own dyes.

What kills me is the price people are willing to pay for THREAD. ($25 for a 2000 yard spool of cotton?) This is something new since I stopped quilting in 1999. I know someone wrote an article justifying it, but they used full retail, rather than the discounted prices people typically pay at places like Joann's when they did their comparison.

It was not only labor costs that ran the manufacturing overseas. The process of making fabrics and especially dyeing fabrics is highly caustic with the chemicals that are used. Our OSHA requirements made the manufacturing process very very expensive. But it is true that the overseas wages are so disgustingly low, I'm sure the raise in prices to us do not hit the pocketbooks of the people doing the labor! Not sure this problem will ever be corrected!!

The economic issue goes back to the closing of the textile mills and garment factories in the US. Manufacturers need to show short-term profits to the shareholders or they will be out on their fat behinds. They were able to circumvent federal safety regulations, union living-wage requirements, and federal and state taxes, and make a pile of money for the shareholders, by going off-shore. Works for them.

For me, I'm glad to have affordable clothes, and enough disposable income to spend cutting perfectly good cotton fabric which cost $10-12/yard in to little bits and then spend countless hours sewing it back together in clever ways.

Go in piece!

Horsefeathers! You are right that this is not the proper place for either a political or economic opinion, especially one that is absolutely without merit! froggyintexas

$9-$15 A yard. I usually shop at Joanne's with a coupon, but I have found that even at the LQS prices it really is not that expensive if I'm just buying enough fabric for my current project.

Go to the home board and scroll down to "Items for Sell or Trade" section. There will be postings of members who sell their stash.

I know prices at LQS may seem high but we actually pay very high prices for the goods. In the 15 yrs I've worked in the industry I've seen our costs rise to higher prices than what fabric used to be at retail. Trust me, no one is trying to rip anyone off. Good quality Fabric is expensive. Fabric is really not the source of most stores' profits.

$10 to $12 here. Which is why I shop yard sales, Goodwill, Craigslist, etc. I just picked up 8 yards of fabric for $2 per yard, and its lovely. I am also keeping an eye on XL & XXL cotton shirts -- I'm going to start buying some of those on sale and take the shirts apart to make quilts with, like Bonnie Hunter does. We all need to do what we can to get our fabric for our art -- I refuse to pay $10 to $12 per yard! I'd love to support my LQS, but I refuse to pay those prices....too many other things I can use that money for.

saw a response in my email:
Where do you find member's fabrics for sale?
Thanks
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Go to the hoe board and scroll down to "Ites for Sell or Trade" section. There will be postings of members who sell their stash.
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Didn't know ho's could trade or sell on this board! lol

Could you share a little more of what you know about fabric production. I can google it but you seem to have personal knowledge. It saddens me that fabric production hurts the environment when so many of us love it. Is there a bright side to your comments?
JudyB

Ladies, you are very lucky to get it so cheaply in the US. A Moda fabric in the UK will cost you £14.99 which equates to approximately $25. It is a misconception that crafts are a cheap hobby, however I look at this in the same way I look at my knitting... I have the fun of making it up and then I get a secondary pleasure from giving it to someone or using it myself :)

Reading all of the comments makes me glad that I have a very large stash and have no need to shop the stores with the very high prices. I still buy from connecting threads when they have a sale to purchase backing.

After reading so many of your comments, I feel very fortunate to have a wonderful fabric shop almost in my back door. Over two yrs ago a lovely couple (86 & 85 yrs young) Mr. and Mrs. Porter started a fabric shop in Thayer Mo. They carry quite a large supply of name brand fabric for $3.99 & $4.99 a yd. Henry Glass, Studio One, Benatrex, JP on and on. I can go there and get lovely fabrics and he also carries alot of co-ordinates. A week ago he had Buggy Barn just cream with small design ( good background ) for $1.99. yd. His theory is he doesn't have to make a bundle on one piece of fabric. His profit is marginal but he is paying his bills. I applaud them one for being of their age and going into business ( he also had colon cancer this past yr) and for giving us quilters the opportunity to build our stash. If you ever make a trip to So. Mo you must visit them. Wonderful people and wonderful fabric. The name of their shop is Thayer Fabric , very original. As he says just say what it is. If any of you need info and want to make a trip, I can give you more info.

Here in the UK prices vary greatly. We have a store 50 miles away who sell most of their fabric for around £5.00 per metre and also several good market stalls in various locations who sell for the same price. Our quilt stores are much more expensive ranging from £10 per metre to £20 per metre. I presume the cheaper fabrics are older designs but the quality is good. Purchasing by post can be very expensive here. By the way, love this board and all the very useful information and tips I have picked up. Anne

Just one more little bit of food for thought.....where else in the world can you "buy" a one of a kind, made by hand piece of art that you can snuggle under with the one(s) you love. No two quilts can ever be EXACTLY the same - so you are giving something to someone that has no duplicate in the entire universe....something that most of us put a little bit of ourselves into each time. Maybe you spent 50 - 100 - 150 on the fabrics... what is "one of a kind in all the universe" worth??

When i buy fabric i usually buy from JoAnn's and it has to be on sale before i buy anything i cant see paying so much for fabrics unless its a spiecal reason they always have a 40% of coupon on their web app and i get texted coupons also

I have a couple quilt shops that price theirs around 12-14 bucks per yard, which I think is insane since I can't find the same fabric at another quilt shop for around ten. Then you go online and can get it much cheaper...I literally put fabric down today because I knew I could get it three bucks cheaper a yard somewhere else. I understand there are issues as far as production and such, but when you're so far out priced from your local competitors I, as a consumer, feel like I'm being gouged.

Anniehug is lucky to live in an area in the UK where there is a great choice and cheaper options, I live in Scotland and fabric shops are charging £10.00 ($16.50) upwards, the lqs shops are more expensive and we don't really have markets. I'm coming to US in August and I'm planning on using my luggage allowance to stock up with quilting goodies.

If you want to be able to shop brick & mortar shops stocked with the latest fabric collections, store samples. Classes,..... you pay more. Expenses are higher. Rent, utilities, salaries, location, upkeep, etc.

Sandy

My problem is when I can take a two mile drive and find the exact same bolt of fabric for two to three bucks cheaper. I have two stores that have insane pricing compared to the other local competition. One of my lower cost stores even expanded recently and their prices stayed the same though we all expected them to go up. I know I pay more in a local store, and I'm ok with that since I save shipping, handling and I can have it right now. Plus being able to wander a fabric store is one of my favorite things. I just don't like the two stores who keep raising their prices thinking it's going to make us all want to shop there more.

JoAnn's has recently announced they have a line of fabric made entirely in the US. The fabrics costs $8 - $12, but the choice of pattern is very limited. I usually go on eBay to look for fabrics that are pre-1990, since the fabrics are still most likely manufactured in the US.

If someone is selling fabric for $1.99, they are likely getting either second quality or deeply discounted fabric. I can tell you from my experience in fabric retail in the late nineties, quilt shops are likely paying at least $5.50 wholesale plus shipping for most of their quilt shop quality fabrics. On top of that cost, they have to pay employees, exorbitant taxes (you really get reamed as a small business), rent or mortgage on the store, the costs of items that they have to sell below cost because they aren't moving, liability insurance, etc.

I suspect the difference in fabric prices is due to differing rent? It's possible that some gouging is going on, but not as much as you think.

If anyone is seriously gouging, it's probably the wholesalers. Fabric printing processes could only have improved and gotten less expensive over time. Also, the fabric is ordered before it prints, so most of it is sold before a printing, meaning they don't have the cost of carrying signficant inventory. Wages have not kept up with inflation. Very little reason for prices to have gone up so much.

That said, I don't buy fabric anymore. I can't afford it. I'm hoping that what I have can get me through until I "retire" from quilting. And I think the only way to get prices down is to vote with our pocketbooks. Don't buy and the wholesalers will do something to fix the problem.

When I made my first quilt 30+ years ago, fabric was around $5/yard. Yes, fabric prices have gone up, but it has been a gradual thing, not a sudden jump. People who are smokers pay well over $5/pack, and I can remember when they cost 25 cents/pack. In 1970, gas was 33 cents/gallon, and look where it is now.
The point of my ramblings is, if you really want it, you'll get it no matter what it costs. If you are on a fixed budget, you can still get fabric by going to thrift stores/auctions, estate sales, yard sales, etc/ or you can ask family members to gift you with fabrics or notions for birthdays or holidays, or, only buy the fabric when you have a coupon or really good sale. You can also make scrappy quilts out of leftovers from other projects, so you can get "double duty" out of your fabric. Or, you can plan ahead for your project and buy items in stages - fabric on one trip to the store, then batting on another trip, then backing, binding, thread, etc
If you figure a quilt would last for only just 1 year, the cost of that quilt is about 38 cents/day. Most quilts are around for many years. The cost of the materials may seem expensive when you pay for it all at once, but the return on the investment is pretty darned worth it.

I used to feel a little guilty about my fabric purchases, but my gut told me 2 things:
1-retirement is not going to buy much fabric
2-fabric prices are not going to come down, but eventually go up!
So glad I have more than an adequate stash and don't even look at the fabrics when I go in a store. I can shop in my own sewing room :D

Wal mart has a collection that I loved and it was $4.97, well no one else like it so they reduced it to $2.00 a yard and I had a field day. But the bad thing about the fabric dept most of the time no one is in there working and you have to go find someone to page a worker and then wait for the worker to come I can cut the fabric but can't work the scanner. Maybe I need to learn.

I never buy fabric from a LQS or online unless it is on sale. I buy my thread and ALL of my solids from Connecting Threads. I use my stash for the focus fabric and use muslin for the quilt backs. I quilt for the enjoyment and it is pretty darned hard to find enjoyment in $12 per yard fabric.

I thank my lucky stars that I have much cheaper local options. LQS stores average the same $12-13/yd, but we have Mill End Fabrics, though not always current, I can get top quality cottons for $3.60-$5.80/yd and 108" backer fabric for $7/yd. Online from Connecting Threads and Thousands of Bolts helps too.

Agreed. Fabric is horribly expensive here and like you most of mine comes from the US though I do get from a couple of places in the UK during sales.

The prices keep going up because the cost of the raw material, cotton, keeps going up.

Is there an environmentally safe way of making fabric as opposed to the " horrific" way it is made today?

Yes, the good old days of reasonably priced fabric are gone. You have to be selective in thread count, designer, and
which stores are consistently offering "fair" priced fabric. Then again, once in a while you will stumble on exceptional
cotton pieces at your Goodwill, Salvation Army, or other re-sale shops. They sometimes get fabric from elderly
ladies who no longer sew.

This is true, we see it here at Ladyfingers. Our regular price for 100% high quality fabrics are around $8-$9/yard.
Batiks and Flannel, we try to keep it around $10-11/yard