we don't really have yard sales in the same way. Some parts do (they are called garage safaris) but closest I'd probably a car boot sale and never seen fabric at one.sometimes charity shops (thrift stores) do but rarely.

Generally Ijust shop around and/or wait for sales. I mange to get some bargains and just don't have the huge stash many of you seem to have

One quilt store 60 miles away is trying to hold price to $11/yd. Local store has some new fabric in at $14/yd. I’m buying blenders if I need really need it (not just want it) as I have a lot of focus fabrics. I look in the discount bin also. I’m not buying any new books or patterns either. I would feel sorryfor the local store owners as they are struggling but they doubled the size of their store without increasing their product or getting more variety. The store is run by the daughter who buys products she likes and doesn’t take suggestions from her more experienced staff. Less people are going to events and classes at the store.

and I was making .90 an hour then. Bread was .10 a loaf.
Today the minimum wage here is 11.00 an hour, and fabric is 11.00 a yard. :) It is all relative. Use the stash

although my stash fabrics may be 'out of date', i'm glad i acquired them while i was still working... wow, on the sticker shock

There only “out of date” for a while and then they become “retro” and “vintage” and are desirable again. I still marvel when my kids find 80’s looking clothes and get all excited about how wonderfully stylish it is.

I bought many yards of fabrics years ago. I am now retired and very glad to have it. I make quilts for kids in foster homes and have used a whole bunch for sashes, bindings and backings.

If I would happen to need some for certain quilts I would go to Hobby Lobby or Wal Mart. I know what quality fabrics feel like. Both have lots of it. Good quality is all I buy.

I can't remember when I last bought any fabric at full retail - I shop sales and rarely pay more than $7.50 - on line usually. Sad state of affairs but I can't make myself pay double to support local LQS. I don't shop yard or estate sales because I don't want to buy fabric I don't love - keeps the stash under control to not buy stuff I don't really want anyway. I do shop thrift stores for great cotton sheets - get lucky sometimes. Somehow I still have plenty to work with. The big box stores play a coupon game that annoys the heck out of me, and they rarely have anything I want, so although I go in them from time to time, more often than not I leave empty handed.

I too stocked up for retirement. Although some of my older finds at store closings etc. are cotton / poly blend, most are very quilt worthy, and l get complements on my unique colourways ( they're really just outdated,lol).

I think the least I paid for fabric was $0.10 a yard, back in 1980. I had toddlers and I wanted to make sundresses for them. So I saw this fabric "Wow, only $0.10 a yard?!" It was red with little white figures on it; remember in those days fabric was rolled wrong side out on the bolt to keep it from fading? So I didn't look at it any closer than that, and I bought I think 2 or 3 yards of it. I got it home and laid it out to cut out the sundresses and it was Christmas fabric! Well I had it, and the kids still needed sundresses, so I used it anyway. They wore those Christmas sundresses for a couple of years. And then the fabric became Christmas bags and quilts and all sorts of other things.

DH still thinks that fabric is $2/yard, and expensive fabric is $4 or $5/yard. He looked at the Great Wall of Boxes in my sewing room and said indignantly "You must have two hundred dollars in fabric here!" I have not disabused him of this opinion. ;)

Ha ha ha..... how naive they are!