I've just been reading about someone picking up some fabrics for $3 a yard.

I nearly fell off my chair! We can only dream of those sorts of prices here.

Good quality quilting fabric costs anywhere between $24 - $28 a metre (which is only a fraction longer than a yard).

We have a bargain / bulk fabric store, but the material is generally of lesser quality, and often not worth it. Every now and then there is good quality fabric at a bargain price, but they're few and far between.

I have bought online, and off ebay, but once the exchange rate and postage is added in, it's only slightly cheaper.

I have heard that in other countries fabric is prohibitively expensive. I live fairly close to the Canadian border- and was surprised recently to hear that quilters cross the border to buy fabric in the States because it's half the price here.

Wow! And I thought $9 a yard was bad.

lol

We'd explode with excitment at $9!

It can be a very expensive hobby here. There are always ways to keep costs low if you have to, but if you want really good quality, you've got to pay for it.

I guess I'd be cutting up shirts and stuff at that point. A whole quilt would cost a couple hundred bucks! Is batting/wadding more also?

Yep... for a large quilt you're looking at several hundred dollars worth of fabric. And the more complex the design obviously the more fabric required.

Backing is slightly cheaper, although I use a lot of polar fleece and faux fur throws as backing because the kids love the feel of it.

I've never really paid much attention to the price, just bought what I wanted (gotta love that credit card! lol) but things are getting tight over here too, so I'm starting to pay more attention to what I buy.

Luckily I have a rather lovely big stash so the weeks where money is tight, I can still sew.

I thought I had a pretty big stash too, but then I started seeing these ROOMS on Flickr and blogs, and I realized I got nothin'! LOL! There are some stashes out there that make me just green. I can't complain though. I could make 20 quilts with my stash I bet.

(But I don't think I will ever have "enough" fabric.)

You know, this gets me wondering how much it really costs to make a quilt. I am going to have to start keeping track better. I do buy some fabric at thrift stores, but also do buy some of the nicer stuff. The last one that I went to Joann's and just flat out bought everything I needed, my total was about $120. I did have some fabric left over, but not all that much.

I have a lot of people ask for quilts as gifts. It's getting to the point where I think I will start buying the cheap ones at Walmart and saying I made them. LOL!

LOL

Yeah... I've seen some rooms posted on here and nearly died. Maybe one day! :-)

I read somewhere once of a group of older women sitting around at a quilt class one day, chatting as you do, and several were saying how they had to stop spending so much on their stashes. The oldest piped up and said something along the lines of she wish she'd never slowed down on buying fabrics. That since she'd been retired money had been tight and she was unable to buy as she used to. She wished she had built a bigger stash as her "retirement fund", and that these women shouldn't be thinking of their stash as a guilty secret, that it was an investment in their retirement.

I susbcribe to that theory, and at this rate, I'll need to live till I'm 112. ;-)

I have issues with the 9 $ a yard fabric, I can't spend that much on fabric :roll: I don't make hardly anything from my parents, so I go to thrift stores.....

Quilter101-there's not a thing wrong with getting your fabric from thrift stores, I have been known to do that, not because I couldn't afford the fabric but because I love the dress/skirt/whatever fabric and bought to take it apart.

quilter101, the most wonderful quilts i have ever snuggled with were scrappies made with cut up clothes. such a wonderful selection of fabrics. thrift stores, garage sales. many times when i tell the garage sale proprietor that i am making a quilt and including their skirt in the fabrics they will throw in a bunch more stuff. especially on the last day of the sale. it's great!!!!! quilters are champion recyclers. :wink:

Tell your parents you need a raise!!!

And there is nothing at all wrong with going to thrift shops, yard sales, etc. I probably have enough fabric to least two lifetimes BUT there is always some fabric that I find that I just can't live without.... :roll: :roll:

Bluechicken, I TOTALLY feel your pain. I LOVE this board but am green with envy every time I read a post about how cheap someone got their fabric.

My Aunt is an all round sewer, she says that the price of Fabric in the UK reflects

A) the people who buy it - tends to be more 'mature' women who are usually retired and have a comfortable income of life savings + pension, kids have left home, mortgage is paid off, not a lot of financial outgoings. I.E They can afford it!!

B) Popularity: fabric shops and haberdasheries used to be commonplace, as it used to be cheaper to make your own clothes. Now clothes are made in Asia and cost next to nothing, no one needs to buy fabric any more.

I wish I lived about 30 years ago!

Bluechicken, Prettykitty and others--I feel so sad for you :cry:

I have at least a dozen quilt shops within an hour or so drive from my house-each having their own "style". I am able to shop their sales and check out their bargain rooms. I would LOVE to shop for you and help you out in any way I can. Just ask Quilter1962--she will tell you that I purchased fabric at a great price and shipped it to the UK for her. (My LQS was having a $1 fat quarter sale!!) PLEASE-PM me if you would like to take me up on my offer-it is sincere.

When I see good fabric on sale I buy it. I have reason to think the price of good cotton fabric will reach $15 and more a yard in a couple of years. And then production will come to a standstill, no demand for it at that price which means no selection to pick from. Remember when cotton fabric was all calico? Any hobby you have, I think it would be a good idea to stock up on basic supplies you need to enjoy it while they are available and affordable. Just my opinion. :?

BellaBoo, I think you are right in thinking prices will only go up! When is the last time you saw something decrease in price!
The biggest problem is that I ALWAYS see something gorgeous in the stores, and NEED (?) it! Then I Have to have the right fabrics to go with it! It is a compulsion. I could sew all day everyday for a year and not use up what I already have! :?
I DO like good feeling nice fabrics, and don't want to waste my time with starched muslin or cheesecloth for my quilts. Even for charity quilts I feel bad if I don't think they are going to hold up to much abuse.

When I buy expensive fabric, I usually buy it because of the design as opposed to just the quality. I would be so upset if I couldn't get the "good" stuff anymore. I wouldn't be able to afford much at $15 a yard. Yikes!

I already try to stretch my dollar by buying a small amount of the expensive ones and then mixing it with a sheet from Goodwill, or some less expensive mixers.

I guess we don't know how lucky we have it sometimes until we hear how much some of you have to pay for fabric....WOW :(
We are so big on yard sales / garage sales / rummage sales here do you do that in New Zealand or other countries?? I know some people made out like bandits at my sale last fall...got rid of all kinds of craft supplies that I am no longer interested in, since becoming so interested in quilting. Had to clear out my space for a material stash :D

I am SO lucky that my WalMart still carries fabric. I got several pieces at $2 a yard and 1 piece at $1.50!! All are 100% cotton and feels like the more expensive stuff....

oh lucky you! None of the Walmarts around me carry material anymore :(

I think cotton fabrics have always been cheaper in the U.S. because we have the land and climate to grow cotton on a large scale, plus the mills for manufacturing thread and fabric. I think the U.K. has to import most of its cotton. I would imagine places like Australia and New Zealand have the land and climate to grow cotton, but maybe not the mills, so they end up exporting a lot of raw cotton.

Didn't cotton prices go up dramatically in England during the revolutionary war with the states? I think that was because England lacked raw cotton.

My friend took a Quilting 101 class this fall and several young women signed up, then nearly went broke buying all the necessaries. At their age, I too would have been hard put to buy all the rulers, scissors, rotary cutter and mat etc. and I won't even go there on the subject of machine costs! I think by the time I totted up the cost of the Q101 course I took last year, I had spent $200, and that was using 50% off coupons at Micheal's whenever I could for notions. Fabric here is CAN$12-17 per metre. And by the end of the course I realized my gorgeous sewing machine was bad at one thing...sewing 1/4" seams. I was able to find a nice used Bernina I could afford, just for the way it pieces so nicely.

My feeling with fabric is: get what you want. You are going to put so much labour into the piece, you should not waste your time with poor quality fabric or ugly fabric.

That said, I have real sympathy for quilters on a budget because increasingly it is getting to be a really expensive hobby. When people say "Wow, what a beautiful quilt! Would you make one for me?" I wince, because they don't know even a lap quilt takes me hours and hours, and the materials are expensive. They all seem to think we get our fabrics for free! Grandma may have had a scrap bag, I do not!

I am glad I spent some time building my stash this winter as it looks like my husband's company is going down thanks to the economy. Like the lady who said build it for retirement...buy when you can, and try to choose coordinates that won't date too much.

May I ask a dumb question?? I was always told that you get what you pay for in regards to fabric. I was told to stay away from cheap fabric because " you do not want to make this beautiful quilt that took so much time and then have it start fraying and not holding its stitch or fading". Ever since then I have saved and bought in QS mostly.

What puzzles me is all the quilts that our grandmas made where certainly not QS quality fabric and they have lasted a century in some cases. Made of skirts, shirts and old dresses and bulk fabric from the merchantile. What's up?????

I get most of my fabric from Walmart(as long as it holds out) and have taken critisism for using "inferior" fabric. Too bad! I cant afford to be a fabric snob.People on fixed incomes like good stuff as much as anyone else,but you get what you can afford. I see a lot of gals on here that get theirs at Walmart too,and Im glad!! I feel more at ease !!

First, you only see the quilts now that DID last! All the ones made badly or from bad fabric are long gone.

I think the quilts that lasted were made from great fabric. And my sense is, the base level of fabric available to them was better than some of the really shoddy goods we find now...why? I think it was much harder in that smaller, more personal world to remain anonymous as a manufacturer, and I think your average housewife was quite knowledgeable about fabric and fabric quality, since most people made at least some of their own clothes and household goods.

Now, any shyster can get a run done in China and flog it to the bargain wholesalers. There is much less feedback from the end consumer.

I did have a very pretty quilt given to me when I was in my 20's, made by a local lady. My mom bought it for my birthday, and the thing totally self destructed. The cottons used were cheap, very low density and they frayed and fell apart. It was the classic example of poor materials and probably poor workmanship as well.

I've always been taught "you get what you pay for" too.

I have used the cheaper fabrics on quick lap quilts for the couch (for kids and dogs) where I know it's going to be thrashed, it needs to go through the washing machine, and it doesn't have to last a million years.

But for something special, with an intricate design, I'm going for the absolute best fabric there is, even if it takes me a while to save.

The blue and white star exchange cost me just under $80 for the fabrics, $48 for the postage, and turned into rather an expensive undertaking. BUT, it will be worth it.

Since my budget is tight, I watch for sales at my LQS' and I ebay... I find a lot of good quality fabric there at prices I can afford...

I went into my LQS last Friday because they had a by 4 FQ, get one free but there was also a bin with $1 FQ's - $54 later I was home and happily fondling my splurge. But I hardly ever pay full price, money is just too tight...

blue chicken,
there are a couple of sites that have low-priced, good-quality fabrics.

try these:

http://www.craftconn.com

http://www.nixiechicks.com

http://www.thousandsofbolts.com

follow the links. if you can make up a really big order (maybe with a friend) it may be worth the shipping.

there is also hancocks of paducah, marshalls dry goods, on the qt,.... like that.

I think a lot of those older quilts were handled more gently on a daily basis and washed by hand infrequently. The agitator-type washing machines that most of us still have are really hard on fabric, IMO. Many times the "best" quilts were stored on a bed in the spare room, covered with a sheet, and brought out to see the light of day only when a guest came to visit.

in the back of my mind, I know this is what I did. Was afraid of being on a fixed income. It takes me a long time to get my projects/fabrics-4 "just right". I change my mind like crazy!!! sorry, your fabs cost so much. I just paid 9.00 a yard, for the very first time for one of those, love-at-first-sight fabrics...and not sure if I will do it again, but I do looooove it!! ooooh, lisa...it is pink with white polka dots and cherries!!! and it's gorgeousamondo!!! :D

Wah! I want a link!!!! Pink with polka dots AND cherries!!?? I'd pay for THAT!

Have you seen the Swell line by Moda? There is one print in there that has huge roses and polka dots on it and I love love love it! I saw an entire bolt of it on e-bay for $150, and I seriously thought about it. Then I thought again and didn't get it. :-(

I did get a jelly roll of the Swell, though and made a king size quilt top out of that with some vintage fabric I had been hoarding. Someday it will be an actual quilt for our bed.

Oh, I just realized maybe you got it at an actual store. LOL!

your right, I got it at Joann's, but boy is it ever beeeutiful! :D I associate different things with different ppl, and your the cherry lover, Lisa lol! I know, you love many more things than just cherry....cause you mentioned one of my other loves....ROSES!!!...i AM A FOOL FOR ROSES!!! pink ones, red ones,...have this delicious fabric that's pastel green with yellow, pink, orchid colored....maybe more...roses on it. saving it for something special I guess. Probably waiting till I feel more confident in my quilting abilities.
Is it awful to feel I am practicing up as I go along? I want all my quilts to be good, but boy, I am learning with each one.
I promised myself, no more fabrics till middle of april, but I will have to go look at this Moda fabric and may have to extend my date. LOL!!! you tempted me! I dangled fabric in front of you, and now I am getting it back. What goes around, comes around, Lol. woo hoo!...roses!!!!!! with polka dots, can't wait. ttfn (ta ta for now! :D )

The WalMart here has fabric and it's pretty varied. The quilting cotton section has quilt shop quality fabric mixed in with the lesser cottons and it's all $4.99 a yard. The clerk told me it was going up in price any time now. One way to tell if a fabric will last in a quilt is to check the back. If the back of the fabric is plain, no color or print at all , then it will not hold up in a quilt that is used a lot. The fabric color and design is only on the surface. I would use better quality fabric in a quilt that will be used and the lesser quality fabric in my for looks quilt.
I believe there is only one fabric mill in the US. Cranston is the only working one that I know of.

HI lADIES! if any of you are close to a WalMart that still sells fbric go check it out I worked there for the last seven years. Their fabric is really reasonable and contrairy to popular rumurs, it is very good quality. Of course where else in the store would a quilter work, than in the fabric Dept lol! I had many gals make trips to our store from Canada and several customers who purchased fabric to send abroad to friends and family Connecting threads has reasonable fabric prices, but their colors don't do any thing for me, 5.96 YARD,

I'm on my way to my Walmart so I won't have buyers regret later on. :lol:

I too live in an area where I can get nice fabric still at reasonable prices. I don't know what shipping costs are to NZ but would be happy to "go shopping" for you or anyone else that would like for me too. Just contact me with a PM and we can work out something.

When I saw a beautiful quilt pattern made with 9 graduated shades of a single color, I knew it was the ideal quilt for our daughter and son-in-law's 25th wedding anniversary. My first thought was using hand dyes but in enlarging the pattern from a lap size to a queen, I discovered I would need 14 yds. for the top alone. And with hand dyes $16 a yd. or more that was out of the question. So I searched the web and found 9 graduated shades of blue (our daughter's favorite color) batiks on sale for half the price. I love the way the batiks seem to flow and am so glad that I decided to go with them. I'm quilting it now on my short arm setup and just love the way it's turning out. Even my husband thinks it's pretty and most of the time his comments are only on how much fabric I've bought --not the final results!

Pattysue

these are great sites... one with free shipping for only a $25 order. unbelieveable. Thanks quilter1234

I retired 5 years ago. I would buy fabric, thread, batting, buttons and stuff everyweek for several years before I retired. I was afraid I would not be able to afford my sewing and quilting habit. I also bought extra paint, canvas and brushes.
Well now I have so much stuff I don't know where it all is. I have been working on sorting and labeling everythin for a while now and it seems endless. I am not complaining I am glad I have all this stuff because I don't think I could afford it now. I think if someone knows they are going to retire they need to stock up ahead of time. :)