I like to go junk shopping and you can find second hand clothing with recycle appeal! I look for dresses or skirts that are made from 100% cotton. I prefer small to tiny print for what I do but there is alot of yardage in a larger size dress!! :)

I check out my local Salvation Army etc and you can spend about $3-$4 on a larger size dress or skirt and end up with a yard or more of usable fabric after you take the garment apart.
Yard sales are an obvious choice but if you are not a yard saler it may not have crossed your mind.
I also tell everyone I know that I am open to handme downs of anything cotton. Fabric or clothes etc. Aprons are a resource in junk shops and
I sometimes find cotton sheets or other bedding that is 100% cotton that I can use in my quilting. I once found a lap size throw that was made out of one of my favorite fabrics. There was at least 3 yds of fabric there for about $5


If you are wanting to make a jeans quilt I looked for jeans at yard sales and I gave 50 cents for most of my jeans and I found a jean dress and a nice jean skirt with lots of fabric in it. I never gave more than a dollar for any of it.

Try recycling from these sources and save MONEY! :) :)

Remember you can get a deal on items that show damage but if you are going to cut it up you won't care about the damage!! Just use the parts of the item that isn't damaged!

Lots of good ideas here! Thanks! :lol: :lol:

My favorite is old blankets at garage sales to use in place of batting and towels are great for the layers in your potholders.... :D

Thanks for the great ideas. In this economy we need to save wherever we can.

I shop for old ties for crazy quilts, old hankies, flannel shirts, sheets, bath robes for inside mittens, wool sweaters for the mittens, walk in and let your mind go! :lol:

Lots of great ideas ladies!! It's always good to recycle a little bit. Saves money, saves the planet. Save your money for special material-awesome!!

One time a friend of mine offered me some fabric. She had bought several boxes of fabric at an auction for $2 a box. So if you lilke auctions it is an idea to check out.

Last weekend I went to a church yard sale and found several small overstuffed zippered bags of quilting scraps. Cannon Mills had been a prosperous business back in the 1990s in this area. Much of this fabric had sample tags on them for sheet and pillow case sets with dates from the mid 90s. I paid $2.00 for each zippered bag. Many quilt backings I am thinking. I do need to check for the cotton/poly mix content on these items. Not sure it's all cotton. I am still wonderfully blessed.

Deara

The thrift store prices here for a shirt or skirt are about the same price as a yard of fabric. I use to find gathered skirts that had yards of cotton fabric in it but of course no one is wearing them anymore so no donations. Goodwill and Salvation Army stores here have very few cotton shirts or dresses all are poly or knit or formal wear. I can't find 100% wool clothes there anymore, all are a wool blend. :(

OMG... a lightbulb just went on in my head!! A few years back we moved into a house that couple of guys had renovated.. there were a BUNCH of old suits and shirts, etc hanging in the closet. They said that they were going to toss them out, so I took them. I've lugged them around for 2 moves.. and they're hanging in the garage storage room!!!