Be Happy you have a good stash.
 

Dharma sent me an email that the 10% tariff on Chinese textiles started today. It also mentioned the possibility of it going to 25% in January...but talks are in the works.

**************Please No political comments***************

....just letting you know to be aware of price rises in the textile industry.

Wow, I will count my blessings..I do have a stash of good quality fabric. I just hope I don't have to buy very many to complete a project.

You are so right. I have been shopping my stash for the last 5 years -- fabric has gotten quite expensive without the tariff. I was blessed to buy fabric I liked when I had an income so now I have a bunch.

thankfully many batiks come from Pakistan and Japan produces many fabrics too--but a 25% increase is a real hit on the bank account.

Here in the UK fabrics are already at least 1/3 higher than US so looks like we may end up more in line! That’s why our stash’s aren’t as big lol

And I've been worrying that I have way too much stash!! Lucky me!! :)

Maybe, just maybe, our textile industry will be revived!

Wouldn’t that be a dream come true?

Fabric is the one thing I don't think I'll ever run out of :D

I had a feeling. A while ago Joanne Fabric sent an email petition to sign regarding the tariffs so you know they are Very concerned.

If you need 108" backing fabric, now is the time to buy. Prices will go up, and, as we all know, rarely go down.

I don't have a stash but I have four big containers of scraps. So I guess I'm set for a long time.

I have a bunch of fabric and just bought some colors I had already used. Now I will have enough, just need to live another 2-3 years so I can use it all.

actually rather frustrating cause I'm actually working very hard on using up 80 percent of my stash and switching to project based fabric buying. my tastes change too much to maintain the large stash anymore.

I hope so too!

Its such a trickle down thing. I have a large stash and didn't really appreciate it that much until this past winter. With all the rising prices of fabrics in the past and future, have a new mind set of using it up, making do/substituting, gifting or trading with others. Do feel bad for the small brick and mortar stores trying to keep their heads above water. At $15 or more per yard currently, I'd have to find a new pastime.

Sorry, I meant 200-300 years.

Since fabrics have been steadily rising something besides tariffs must be causing it.

I tried to find a list of NA textile manufactures, but only found articles about the NA garment industry in general....not specific manufacturers for quilting cotton.

I know there was one that was US comapny producing cotton solids, but I cannot remember the name. I've heard there are other small companies in the process of setting up shop.

Can anyone help here?

Once we have that information we can begin to diligently support the manufacturers by contacting them with our needs and support and by requesting shop owners (local and online) to supply these fabrics.

A little off topic, but I thought I'd share......

I was at a guild meeting the other day where a new quilt was displayed from using a dated stash. The quilter was very adept at fabric placement. Some pieces were used on a smaller scale to help hide the fact they were dated. After the event we had a fabric exchange of pieces we "just had to have" at one time, but our tastes had changed. I found a few pieces I could use.

There were also suggestions to use the fabrics for learning new techniques and making donation quilts.

I have started using my stash up that is the oldest. Many calicos in mostly floral prints. Many are fat quarters and less in size. I have bought three new style patterns that I think will work great with this type of stash busting. I think as you look at your stash in the new way, it becomes fun to work with. The only fabric I will have to buy is the backgrounds for three of them and of course the backings.

I have a stash that will last me two lifetimes. Matter of fact I’ve got to edit it down.

That would be awesome! More jobs!

That's a good point, Phyllis. I remember when I had to really think before paying $10 a yard for fabric. Now that's more the norm when I'm fabric shopping.

Even when I arrived in the USA, about 10 years ago, I remember walking into a local quilting store and the fabric was $8 per yard. Last year I went into the same store, after not being in for three years, and they are now pricing the average bolt at $15 per yard. Yikes!

JoAnn Fabrics carries a line of American produced solid color quilting cotton. It is a little lighter weight than Kona solids. I prefer the weight as it holds a very crisp fold when pressing, which works well for paper piecing and blocks that have very small pieces. The color shades offered are lovely. I bought a light brown carmel color and needed to go back for more, but the next bolt was not exactly the same shade. I also bought a wonderful coral a couple of years ago, but JoAnn doesn't carry that shade any more. So-- if you want enough for a project, buy enough at the start or you might not be able to match your earlier purchase.

So glad I have mine. Started when I was working and now retired. Had a friend tell me she felt like she was in JoAnns.

Do not feel a bit bad about that.

Another note from my friend in Texas...their cotton crop has failed this year, so that might send the cotton fabric to a higher price. We have found gas prices already raising fast since the last tropical storms.

I will continue to buy just what I need to complete quilts, not really picking up 'new' ideas and purchasing for that. Local shops have continued their trend of $7-$8 dollars a yard. Or so my friend who drives distances for me to go places has said. I know Cantril, Iowa, Dutchman's Store has a big tent sale coming up Sep 26-29, 2018, from their free emails. They serve a large Amish settlement in the area and are unique place to see. Someday I hope to travel to the middle of Indiana, and see the fabric shops there.

I think we all watch our fabric budgets, but we all love to quilt and will continue to do so; some of us on a smaller scale due to life that we live.

American Made Brand by Clothworks. http://www.clothworks.com/AMB It is a line of solids, no prints.

Many retailers carry it. Fat Quarter Shop, Hancocks of Paducah, Fabric.com

Quilting may end up as a hobby for the wealthy.

My husband was just saying that I can't keep buying fabric without buying a new house to house it. Fabric being priced out of my financial grasp will make him very happy.

I'm predicting that since I mostly purchase fabric that is on sale, soon even the sale priced fabrics will be out my financial grasp, too.

I've been a thrifty quilter for a long time, for me that's part of the attraction. Sure... I'd love to be able to pay for a class and buy a couple hundred dollars worth of exactly the fabric I want at a time, but that's just not my reality.

I'm really lucky that I live in the relatively wealthy Seattle area and I have lots of time available to me. Most of the fabric I buy is through luck at the thrift stores, letting other people pay the high prices. The problem is that you have to be open to what is there and you have to go regularly, but I've bought every brand name possible (from Makower to Hoffman to South Seas), most in yardage, sometimes I take a risk on a bag of scraps and find treasures within. For me part of the thrill of design is that I only have a whatever size piece of what I want to use, so how to use it to its best effect.

My two recent best buys (both since August) is a hand pieced grandmother's flower garden top from the Goodwill, the hexes finish 3/4" a side. The thing is huge, really about king sized and I think just got too big for the original maker to handle. It was only $6.00. The other buy is a very nice crib sized top I got for $2.00 at St Vincent's. It was pieced in large pieces, not a style I would do using some Suzy's Zoo (by Hoffman) cute as heck duck fabric and some obviously high quality tone on tone light colors. Even though it's not my style, someone will love it and I can do a nice quilting job on it. The original maker had pinned it together with a much-too-thick double thick batting and a piece of flannel that did not go well with the top and was really too narrow as well as being an inch or two short. I am saving the batting for a different project as I will be quilting this down on a long arm. One of the ladies at my Tuesday small group makes premie blankets and part of their rules is to use flannel on the back, so she gladly grabbed the flannel -- all in all, 3 quilts is a pretty good deal for $2.00.

For those of us that like vintage fabric or don't really mind working with those peach and soft tones of the early 80s, or the posies of the late 60s/70s, estate sales are a great place to find fabric. Sadly, often the families toss out the scrap bags thinking no one would want them -- but if you see an ad and there is a sewing machine listed and a contact number, check if they also have fabric. I've often had bags given to me for the asking, true -- a lot of it was not quilting suitable but I would go through and throw out the trash and give the leftovers to the goodwill, or for awhile I had a lady friend that made rag rugs out of the doubleknit polyester.

I had collected several hundred yards of vintage fabrics that I always meant to sell via ebay, but I never did. My original ebay handle of "Fabstasher" got hacked and I closed it down, but I loved the name. If it was 36" wide I pretty much bought everything I could find for a couple of decades. I did find a local person who was glad to buy (at wholesale prices) my boxes of vintage as I reduced my stash. She now makes a tidy little profit on them selling them at quilt shows. I have to admit that I still can't resist the true vintage but I'm just not seeing much of it any more.

where are these shops?? here fabric runs 10-13 a yard. if you are lucky they have a clearance area that is 10 maybe 25% off

I only know of one shop here that has fabric under $10 a yard. Some even $6 or $7, but you have to watch their fabrics, they're not always the best quality and I never buy their whites/creams because they are so thin. Other shops are considerably higher, but mostly have higher quality fabrics, too.

Don't count on that. Setting up a fabric manufacturing factory is expensive. Haven't done research, but I don't think much cotton is grown in the US now, so cotton fabric might have to be imported as well.

My over large stash looks good now.

You sound just like me, Iceblossom! I shop at thrift store and even men's 100's cotton shirts for fabric. We quilters don't need to worry about taxes!

I went to a blowout sale at an LQS this morning and they had many many bolts on tables that were $6/yd... very lovely and maybe only last year's lines.

Me too. The only fabric I buy now is from garage sales, thrift stores, and estate sales. The challenge comes with using what I have, instead of just going to buy more. I have discovered that I never bought enough solid colors....

Dang, you need more stash. I will have to live at least 20 more years to use up all mine I think. :)

I was recently gifted 2 boxes of fabrics from the 80's. Lots of pinks, peachy tones and blues. It will be my challenge to fine ways to work these into quilts that people will love now and into the 20s.