Connecting threads has great prices, fabrics and they are 100% cotton and made in the U.S.A.
I really don't need anymore fabric.

Hello. I think there are quite a few still selling their stashes. I have to resist looking too. Quiltforme...soon..soon. LOL. Maybe they are telling us this so we will all go and stock up and bring the market back up(?). Who knows. It's like the priceof cigarettes and beer, it goes sky high and it is still sold. Fabric will go up and still be bought. Remember when it was 75 cents a yard etc. I do. Oh man. Long time ago. Let's hope the market changes before more price increases.

ACCCCK oh noo
I cant use mine as * **** ****** TMI

Regarding the question about boxers----someone on this board made a quilt out of boxers. Just type in "underwear quilt" under Search and you can find pictures from start to finish of a great looking quilt made from boxers!

Maybe you could use your shirts! When I was making flannel and blue jean quilts, I kept telling everyone to watch out, or there would be a square cut from the back of their shirts! You could find GREAT colors in shirts, not so much on the bolts!

As someone who deals with the clothing industry, the problem is the cost of raw cotton has taken a big jump this year. Between 15% - 25%. I am sure the factories will try and eat some themselves but with the costs of doing business, they can not absorb it all!

I hearya on the boxers. I'm not planning on buying any fabric at all for a very long time now.

Unless, of course,..... I might need that certain cyan or that certain brown or pink, ...............

Looked at some in town a few weeks ago, and it was $35 per metre!! needles to say, it stayed there.

I read in the newspaper yesterday that the cost of cotton (just the raw cotton) went up 86% over the last year. I'm still trying to find someone in the fabric industry who can tell me what percent of the price of finished fabric is just the raw materials cost. (Guess I haven't found the right person to ask yet!)

Anyway... I would think that even the lower-priced merchants like Connecting Threads are going to have to raise their prices too, eventually. The increases can't all be absorbed by the makers.

From what I've read, it's all driven by supply (cotton harvest was low) and demand (we all like cotton T-shirts and towels, along with our fabric).

For the curious reader, you may be interested in knowing that the wholesale cost of the new lines is $4.75 - $4.90 / yard now, and you have to add about 25 - 30 cents shipping charges on top of that, to get the price that it really costs when it comes through the door at your LQS. That's up from $4.00 - $4.40 a year or two ago. All the makers are watching each other closely, to see who raises their prices and how much.

Blank has gone up rather a lot, and Kaufman too, as they have raised prices across-the-board, both on old stock and new. Other makers such as Moda and South Sea Imports generally only raise the prices on new collections, though they are inching up the prices on their basic groups too.

I'd say... buy basics and blenders when they're on sale, and use the savings toward buying pieces of the newer "focus fabrics" that you've just GOT to have to make your special quilts.

Just a note about Connecting Threads fabrics - (they are great - I've used them) but they are NOT made in the US. They use "USA GROWN" cotton - but the fabrics are not manuf. here. Very few fabric makers are manuf. in the US, sadly :(