thanks. i bookmarked the site.

do you also know the site for marsden? i never even heard of it.

Marden's doesn't sell online. :cry:

AHA!!!!!

It is a junk store. I emailed them to see if they had fabric on line as I could not find any and if they did where was it. Will post if they answer me.

I am going to consider myself pretty lucky as we have some great quilt shops around the 20 min mark from my house. One of them has a bargain room with the fabrics at $4.98/metre, I found fabric to do a backing on a queen size quilt & bought extra to keep in my stash because it was so cheap. When I left the store I went to another quilt shop & the same fabric was there for $16.98/metre. So what a deal I have been getting.

There are many reasons for the increased prices, I think. Not in any order! Here goes: We pay 15% Value Added tax ( recently reduced fron 17.5%) on fabric, wadding , thread etc. Many fabrics are imported from the US. The costs of importation have all rocketed in recent years as oil prices etc have gone through the roof. Our local taxes have also been going up and I guess that our store owner also need to make a profit! Our housing costs have always been much higher than yours too. In the south of England, (and I know that prices have escalted in other regions too, )you would be very hard pressed to buy an English sized 3 bed, 1 bath family house ( tiny by US standards) for much less than £250,000. ! Many Americans do not travel outside of the US and dont see how it is relatively much less expensive to live- and quilt- in the US. Your food, gas and utilities costs, though rising in recent years, have always been significantly lower than Europe, and maybe OZ and NZ before that.

i never realized the great difference in prices all around. americans really are very lucky.

could you please explain Value Added Tax?

Sorry it did come out as a bit of a lesson didnt it?? Ok Value added tax is a bit like US sales tax I guess but it is usually included in the total cost. When I am in the US, I always forget that the tax is added on at the till! Here, it is part of the quoted amount. On utility bills, it is quoted separately as some businesses, charities etc have special arrangements with the INland Revenue (Our IRS). Its known as V.A.T. and is Europe wide but at different amounts in each country. I think that France pays 19% but the basic price, before tax , used to be lower.
I think that the US is catching up with everyone else now so it means that we all feel the pinch! We will have to return to making quilta s our Grandmas did.

Yes, our TVA in France is 19.6% on most things. When I ordered fabric from the USA, not only was it held by Customs here for over 6 weeks but I was charged the TVA, plus Customs handling, plus a set charge. It 's no use ordering fabric on special offer as the retailer has to put on the "real" value and the TVA is charged on that figure.
Together with the shipping it was an expensive purchase. But I know Kathryn (k3n) has bought from USA and it just came straight through - just luck I suppose.
All quilt fabric in France is imported and it's around an average of 20 Euros/metre.
Since Christmas I have bought online from various UK suppliers over 50 metres at between £2 and £5/metre - very pleased.

I guess our advantage in the US is the large number of shops available usually where we live and the many sources on the internet. I shop both places but the prices are going up by leaps and bounds. Even Walmart's $1.00 a yard has gone to $1.50 a yard.