Quilting on the cheap?
 

What is the most inexpensive type of quilt to make, that would be good for either straight line quilting or a FMQ newb? I just finished my second quilt; I have gotten good at piecing, but need a lot more practice before my FMQ is any good.

My mother was asking me about making a quilt for her last night, but the fabric is too expensive for her. Her bed is an extended queen, so it would require close to a king size amount of fabric. I am wondering if you guys know a secret to making inexpensive quilts. I am just starting out, so I don't have a big stash yet, nor enough scraps for a big scrap quilt.

Yard sales, thrift shops, friends - check out gently used shirts, skirts, sheets, etc. Ask friends who sew for scraps they might want to get rid of. Offer to swap something you have for what you are looking for. Check out the for sale or trade section on this board. Lots of good buys there!!!

Men's cotton shirts make lovely quilts with useful pockets in. Cotten skirts and dresses, also cotton sheets. In UK we have shops which sell cheap fabric in cut lengths .

I saw lots of nice men's dress type shirts - stripes and plaids - at garage sales this summer.
I saw very little 'quilter's cottons'
I did not find even one cotton chamois flannel shirt this summer. In fact, I did not see many flannel shirts at all.
I did not see many adult garments - besides jeans - that had fabric I would use in quilts.

I did see lots of baby and toddler clothes, dressy garments. And knit garments.

L

Look for sheets at thrift stores or new on sale for backing. You can also use a blanket, mattress cover or maybe flannel for the middle (who is going to see the middle). You can look for clothing at thrift stores or yard sales. I made a Hawaiian themed quilt from men's Hawaiian shirts, they seem to be abundant at a thrift store near me. Look for 100% cotton material, with used clothing you know how the material will wash up. Just make sure you wash anything used as soon as you get home. If you live in an area that has freecycle you can ask for scraps from other quilters. A DP9 is easy and the squares can be turned many different ways for different looks. There are lots of other ones that I'm sure others will suggest but the DP9 patch is the best one I can think of right now. Hope some of these ideas help, remember quilts were originally made from scraps out of necessity, so whatever works for you is the right way. There are no quilt police only quilt inspectors and they are easy to please.

Old clothing, sheets,check thrift stores they will have a lot that can be used.

Check the internet for when shops have sales for 2 a yd. Ditto on the thrift shops.

Whittles fabrics has lots of fabrics for under $5/ yard and the postage is reasonable too. I have always been happy with their service and their fabrics.
http://www.whittlesfabrics.com/cgi-bin/Store/store.cgi

See if there is a "recycle" or "scrap exchange" type store in your area. They take donations from both individuals and companies to keep things out of the landfill. There's two in my area. Recently I bought a wonderfully soft piece of flannel, eight feet long. It looked like it had just come off the bolt at a fabric store. It was only a few dollars. Once I bought twenty-four quilt blocks from the same store. I sewed them together to make two lap quilts. The blocks were 75 cents each and I was given a little more off because I bought them all.

I've noticed that some thrift stores will carry fabric (I mean like the flannel above, not just sheets), while others never do.

If you are in an area with a Craigslist, search there. You can do a search under "Arts and Crafts" but sometimes fabric will be under "Garage Sales" too.

Tate