By the pound??
 

I am clearing out my best friend's stash after her death. There are lots of fabrics, patterns, etc. Her husband wants to have a sale. Have any of you sold fabric by the pound? I think I came across an estimate that 3 yds equal one pound. Does that sound right? It is almost all quilt shop quality, so My thought was $12 per pound.

I guess that would,work...maybe easier than measuring...if you have a good scale

Thought about splitting it up into lots and selling on EBay? I often buy LQS quality fabric there, always looking for a bargain. I personally like lots that are coordinated (like several greens, all neutrals, etc). You could probably make more that way, but it will take longer. If you have a garage sale, put it on Craig's list and put some pictures in the ad. I'd love to see what you have and would be willing to pay for good fabric and shipping��

I went to an estate sale where the deceased had more fabric than our local quilt shop. She had donated it to the local guild. The guild had a huge sale and sold everything by the pound, including rulers, kits, etc. The fabric was a steal, but the weight of the rulers made them not such a great deal. So many people showed up that they had to limit how many of us could be in the house at a time. There was a line out the door and down the street. Glad I made it early to that one.

Let the local guilds know about the sale, and good luck.

I am so sorry about your losing your quilter friend. Clearing out her stash must be really hard. I wish you well.

Fabricland, our Canadian general sewing supply store, is having inventory in July...they weigh the fabric, rather than measure. So yes, l' m sure it would work. Can you get hold of one of those scales that hang, like in produce dept. at grocers?

I went to an estate sale once where fabric was sold by the quarter pound. Talk about confusing. You had to read the small print, and everybody thought it was by the full pound until they got to the scale. People were removing half of their selection or more once they got to the scale and understood the terms. I will say though that the people operating the scale and adding machine did a good job. There was no cutting -- you took the whole piece or none of it.

Weighing the fabric makes total sense to me for a stash-sale.
No need to separate or have different prices for thin cottons or thick; other fabrics such as fleece, minkee, upholstery, corduroy, etc.

So much quicker and easier at the check out! :)
And would make for a lot less stress on the day-of!

Should be no problem, so long as you are clear on the "rules" ... and comfortable with the price.
Perhaps a good big sign or two at the sale stating the price/rules!
Might even include it in the advertising/promotion you do.

Buyer has the responsibility to measure themselves or guesstimate. Whatever works for them!
Let's them amass a whole bunch of stuff and you don't have to go through it when they go to pay.

You're not a quilt store, so don't even consider cutting.
They like it and want it ALL, or they leave it for another person .... or find a friend themselves to split it with after they leave.

Look for other ways to simplify your pricing .... eg. all patterns are the same price.
I've been to too many sales where it becomes too frustrating as everything is a different price and those helping can't keep it straight what the price is!

Good Luck!

You might consider having a two or three day sale - because the "better" stuff will probably go first.

Then you might consider selling the rest of the stuff at a less price on the second or third day.

I know that seems like a reasonable price but I recently saw a shop advertising for $6/lb Cdn and yes I also saw approx 3 1/2 - 4 yards = 1 pound. I suppose it depends on the area and how willing people are to purchase misc. sized pieces of fabric. Hope it works out well for you!

I agree you would make more on Ebay with coordinated lots. It would take more work but you would not have the issue of crowd control etc!

I don't think you want to go the ebay route. It gets really complicated. You have to photograph, post, package, ship, open a "vendor" paypal account, etc. You're talking weeks of work to get all that done.

I'd start at maybe $10.00 per pound and go to half price at a certain time or when the line to pay disappears. If you do it all in one day, either don't tell anyone you're going to 1/2 price before you do it (just walk in and tape a 1/2 price sign on the wall), or close for lunch and go to 1/2 price after lunch. Otherwise, people will mill around, hold their fabric and wait for 1/2 price time. (It will get crowded.) Or, if you have enough for 2 days, do full price the first day and 1/2 price the second day.

If, toward the end of the sale period, you still have lots of stuff left over, go to $5.00 per bag (you provide the bag).

bkay

I think whether or not you do eBay depends on the quality of the fabric and whether you will have any help. It does take time to photograph, measure, package and mail, but you usually get substantially more than the garage sale prices that you'll get at a sale. If you have coordinated groups of fabrics or collections of name brand fabrics, you'll probably do well. If, however, you just have a lot of random Joann's and Walmart fabrics, you'll most likely be better off to just have a sale.

I would just drive by a $12.00 pound sale
I've been to a lot of these and never seen the price over $4.00 a pound.
Automobiles and fabric take a big drop in value the minute they leave the showroom ;)
Don't kid yourself about the perceived value, just use up what you have.

An acquaintance sold her stash for $7/lb before moving. I suggest that you have a cheat sheet with the price of weight increments (1.5 lbs = $, etc.) It will make it easier for the weigher and the cashier.

I agree with this. I've been to several sales of quilt fabric by the pound. I usually carry all the pieces around with me and when it's weighed, add in or subtract as needed depending upon how much money I have to spend. Having some idea of what to expect for size/price would be helpful for everyone.

I seem to recall the fabric sold for about $5 a pound. Yes, it was a steal for LQS fabric, but it was usually a mix of that and Joann's fabrics, and some that was very old, so there's that. It was always a great treasure hunt, though!

I thought I'd add my 2 cents here. 1 1/2 yrs ago I was asked to help the daughter of a quilter to help sell her mother's stash. Because a lot of it was already in gallon size bags or project bags it was easier to sell. She decided on a 3 day open house and we let the 3 neighboring quilt guilds know when and where. We set out large bins and labeled them from $1 to $15. Small sandwich baggies stuffed full were $1; quart size $5. Groups of fat quarters stuffed gallon size bags for $15. There were 2 gallon project baggies with everything needed to complete it for $20-35 and some that even had the backing for $40. Finished quilts were sold from $35 to $100 based on the design and complexity. Rulers, patterns and books priced from 25 Cents to $2. So many other quilt related items. What didn't sell for full asking price on day 1 was reduced and anything left over was donated to the local guilds for their charity quilts. Everyone was happy. The daughter was able to clean out her mother's house knowing her mother's quilt stuff was appreciated, the buyers all got bargains and the guilds got donations. Good luck with your friend's stash. Sometimes it's not so much about the money as it is about the process of letting go. For me personally, I've let my
husband know which of my quilting friends are willing to take over this process and they are to get first dibs with the stipulation that each much make one nice quilt for a charity of their choice...vets, cancer survivors, humane society, etc. I do agree that $12 a pound is too much and I would pass that by.

I've been to estate sales in Florida and Michigan and the going rate has been $2/yard which would make a pound more in the $6 range. I'm talking about a variety of quality of fabric but I felt it was up to me to determine that if it was a quality I felt was worth purchasing.
I have seen it sold by the pound as well. I would suggest you round down to the nearest half pound when figuring final price. For example if something weighed up at 1# 3oz it would go for 1#. Something that weighed in a 1# 10 oz would go for 1.5# It makes things easier for the seller and also leaves the buyer feeling they got extra in the deal.
I have bought "grab bags" of quilting supplies that included a variety of things. Much easier for the seller to price the bag than individual spools of thread, little rulers and such. Larger ticket items such as large cutting mats, expensive rulers and such could be individually priced.
I like the idea if you know of other friends who are quilters or guilds in the area let them know of the sale before you advertise to the general public. One of my friends went into assisted living and sold her quilting things and let her friends know of the sale first. I treasure the things I bought from that sale as some of them have her name on them and she has now passed away. Before she died I made some things from some of her fabric and was able to take and show her. She got so much delight from that.
Be careful about pricing things too high even though initially they were pricey.

I think pricing by the pound is the way to go. But I had the thought of, Do you want to make a profit or do you want to get rid of it? If the goal is to earn money, you can try it at your price and see what works. If the goal is to get rid of it in one time, price it low so it will go.

Some further thoughts since my earlier comments ...
... Some of the suggestions we have all made are somewhat dependent on what "lots of" really means? What is lots to one, is a mere pittance to another! That true quantity should temper your decisions as to what would be best.

... What are her husband's expectations? Is there enough for a sale? You want to be sure he is in the real world, as to what the outcome may be. After all your work you do not want him to be disappointed, and risk a friendship, all because he expected more! Better that he be shockingly and pleasantly surprised with the success!

... What is the norm in the community where you will be hosting the sale? I'm all for going your own independent way on the how to, but you need to make sure that others understand what will be happening, and not stay away, just because they don't think it is their sort of a thing.

... Whatever pricing you go with, keeping it to $5-$10-$20 per, sure makes for easier mathematics on the spot, as well as easier requirements in making change for the purchases.

I vote on weighing by the pound. The price is very reasonable.

Thanks for your input. The sale will not be until the end of July, I'm hoping her husband is more ready to let things go at that point. I agree that $12 per pound is high, but he keeps saying "look at how much money, she has tied up in all of this." We do plan to control # of people, letting them sign up ahead of time for a slot, because this will be in the lower level of their house, there is not room for a lot of people at one time.

If I remember correctly, "regular" quilting cotton weighs between 3.5 to 4.5 ounces per yard.

You could try selling the fabric at $3 to $4 per yard - which does not seem as "expensive" as $12 a pound.