ROFL! You can never have enough good ol' cotton undies! ha!Ha!

Joann's here in Chicago already has there Legacy Studio Batiks at $12.99! Which is more than the LQS, unless you use the coupons.

tha makes pre-cut fabrics US$16 a yard, )one third MORE expensive!!

Joann's here in Chicago already has there Legacy Studio Batiks at $12.99! Which is more than the LQS, unless you use the coupons.[/quote]

I think Joann's COUNTS on their customers using coupons, and takes that into consideration when they set their prices.

After all, wh wouldn't you use a coupon?

You pretty much can get most of their items for 25% off if you just wait a bit. So I think they set their regular price that much higher than it ought to be, just so they can run it on sale and make you feel better for buying it at a discount.

That's exactly what I plan to do. I can see it now - I'll have 100 quilt tops but no finished quilts - I'd laugh if I weren't serious. :roll:

It's INSANE! And it's not just with quilt fabric. It's everything. The last pack of Scotch brand packing tape I bought isn't even sticky! They slacked on the stickiness to save money and now i have to use even more not to mention having to press it over and over and over to get it to stick. Don't get me started on toilet paper and paper towels..... :evil:

Soon??? They already do.

While I agree that it's wise to buy what you need for a project, as opposed to endless stash-building (like the lady who died with the huge hoard of fabrics), it is NOT true that if quilters stop buying, the price will come down. Quilting fabric is such a teeny tiny portion of the global market for cotton, we would likely have no impact at all on the prices. What would happen is that a number of fabric manufacturers would likely go out of business, or they would reduce the quality of the goods to get back to a price point that people would tolerate. (Think chain store quality.)

Somehow I just don't think that is the outcome we want.

To frame it differently: who do you think has more economic power, quilters worldwide, or the large numbers of people in China, who with their growing economy, desire to have more consumer goods (probably including clothing, towels, and sheets)?

I agree completely ... remember in the 70's when there where very few quilters , the selection of "quilters cottons" was very very poor. There was no local quilt shop , the only selection was at stores that carried a variety of all types of fabrics. The local quilt shop came into existance because of demand. If there is a falling demand there will be a domino effect encompassing manufactures to the local quiltshop and beyond.

And I, for one, do NOT want to lose my LQS!!!

Ditto.