I took four quilt tops to a shop in a town about 60 miles from here (nice shop, new, very nice folks running it, etc) to get them quilted - these are some of the tops I did YEARS ago...
There are the very first ones I've ever 'taken out'...... if I like what I see, I'll take more over there. Told her no hurry.

anyway we stopped at walmart on the way home and one of the ladies was working with the fabric and I asked, "oh are you marking some down?" and she said, "No, marking UP"

She said the price of the fabric is going up...

so I got a few that WERE on the markdown and figure there's going to be less spending on fabric at walmart...

hmmmmm I wonder if they'll use this in their plot to get rid of the fabric section - less sales (because of higher prices) so they use that to justify closing out the department...

Just a heads up if you were eyeing something and want to grab it before the price increases...

Good to know.

Now I'm sure people would argue this logic with me but here's how I see it. Walmart buys "x" bolts of fabrics and sends one to each store (we're pretending that's how it works). Now those are BOUGHT AND PAID FOR. The next batch is bought and the same thing happens again. Why can't the price be the price they put on it from the beginning, until they sell that bolt? Fabric might cost more, but that original bolt has been "purchased" before the increase.

I know I know it doesn't work that way. Out local pet store owner explained something to me once. Each fish he has in his store is a libility until it's purchased. The money spent is hanging out there until someone buys said little fish and takes it home. The entire time it is at the store it is a risk that it might die and become a loss instead of a gain. That price stays the price he puts on it until it's sold unless something ELSE happens. The electric bill goes up, taxes, insurance ect. in which case prices go up to make ends met.

So is it really about fabric or is it about Walmart's bottom line. Gee, I think it's the bottome line.

Janeen I'm glad you got what I'm sure is lovely fabric before the price hike, though I'm sorry you're getting the hike at all. I hope both of your quilt tops are finsihed as well as you hope. What is your expected turn around time?

I do have a problem with them raising the price on the stuff that's been sitting in the store forever.... new stuff coming in at new price is one thing - raising the price of the old stuff is something else.... saying 'transportation costs' made it go up doesn't wash because it's BEEN in the store....

There's been a bolt of LA Dodgers material at the one store on 'the markdown' at $3 a yard for something like two YEARS... it will really be suspicious if the next time I go in that store that bolt is now marked something like $3.50 or $4 and still on the markdown :roll:
material doesn't die... but it sure might dry rot :lol:

I told the ladies at the quilt shop that there's no hurry on the quilts - we are going to be very busy the next three/four weeks and probably won't even have time to run over and get them anyway.

She showed me all her patterns and I picked four and told her to choose which one for which quilt (took 4 tops)... as I said, this is my first time to take a quilt out for finishing...
their prices are VERY reasonable but they are not fancy - none of the computer guided stuff or anything like that - just the 'generic' long arm patterns...

ps, I see you are in the 'central Fla gulf coast'.. anywhere near Bradenton? which is where I grew up - yea rah Manatee :!:

dry rot! Oh yes! :lol: They should be careful. Oh I'm sure that fabric will be marked up. Stupid, if you couldn't sell it at $3 how can you sell it for more?

I know Bradenton. But I'm North of Tampa. In my foot loose and fancy free days I drove there for a blind date. :lol:

I have two quilt tops that I've planned from day one (about 3 months ago) to "send out", now that it's time, I'm finding it hard to find anyone who makes me "warm and fuzzy".

I don't have a deadline either, I'd really just like to have them back by the time it starts getting cool here, say November. A handful of times my mom has mentioned paying someone to handquilt them, so I've sent off an email for a quote.

Thanks for the heads up.

I do not want to offend anyone but I only use Wal=mart fabric for things I am trying out and not sure I can accomplish and things like charity quilts.
I was so shocked when I picked up identical quilts made from the same pattern (same size) and the walmart fabric quilt weighed so much less than the Moda fabric. I did some research after that and found out that the fabric manufactues do 3 runs when printing a new line. The first run is on the loosest weave (what wal mart gets)to check the placement of designs and color. The second run (flat fold)and they use it for about the same thing. The third run goes to the fabric stores.
I have had trouble with the fabric shrinking REAL bad and also bleeding.
I hope this helps. I am still using alot of walmart christmas and other holiday fabric, but I never use it for an "Heirloom" or something that I am wanting to pass down to family members.

That's good info. I'll keep that in mind when I'm buying fabric for a quilt I'm making for someone that will get alot of use and washings.

Deb

I hope it helps. Most people have no idea and I have really made some people angry. I just dont want them to make the same mistake I did. I have also found fabric that I considered thin at the quilt store and good fabric at walmart. I guess you just have to pay attention. One of the ways I can tell if I will have trouble with the walmart fabric is if it is "hard" It is some kind of starch or sizing they use. If it is something I have had in my stash from before I stopped buying very much walmart fabric I will wash it in hot water 2 times and use retayne on it.
Like I said earlier, I love the holiday fabric and just wash it twice

Thanks for the information Tricia (I admit I had to look up retayne :wink: ) I've had problems with fabric I bought from Wal-Mart - it would skew when I tried to sew with it, and being new to sewing I thought it was me until I bought a wall hanging kit from a quilt store. That's when I decided to start building my stash with better fabric.

I used to think that I could only afford Wal-Mart fabric. At my Wal-Mart, the price of quilting cottons was in the $4/yd range the last time I looked, so I keep that number in my head when shopping sales and online. I've found I can get really nice fabric for very close to that price if I stick to sales, etc. for my quilting fabric. If I didn't have plastic to use for online shopping, I could always get a prepaid Visa from Walgreens. If they are raising their prices, then there went the last reason I had to even consider buying their fabric. JMHO :D

WalMart Fabric

I've gotten some very nice fabrics at WalMart for reasonable prices - that I think is comparable to some of the quilt shop fabrics. Although I think they may be discontinued from some of the "better" lines.

And there is some very flimsy stuff available that isn't much denser than cheesecloth/gauze. (Well, I'm exaggerating a little, here)

There is a huge difference in the weights of different fabrics - I bought a postal scale that will weigh in two gram increments - and I started weighing strips that were the same width and length. I thought that would be one way to keep all the fabrics more or less the same in a quilt I was making.

A personal challenge to me was to make a "satisfactory" quilt using only fabrics purchased from Wal-Mart. the pattern calls for 42 different ones. I think I have purchased the 42 different ones, but I've only used about 21 of them - sometimes it was because I chose the wrong color/design, sometimes the fabric was either too heavy or too light to go with the majority of the fabrics I was already using for this project.

Bottom line - if you know your fabrics, one can be selective and get decent stuff. I've noticed that WalMart also has some more spendy cotton prints that are quite nice. (Around $6.00/yard)



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One of the reasons items in stores are re-priced upwards has to do with how much it is going to cost the retailer to replace that item (either with the same or with another) after it sells.

If retailers didn't do this, their inventory would just keep getting smaller and smaller as everything costs more to replace.

I don't know about Walmart, but the retailer I work for also lowers regular, everyday prices when our costs to replace go down.

Gas stations do the same thing. Drives me batty.

I don't know about where you all are from (I'm in N.C.), but our old Walmart closed here and we got a Super Walmart. The old Walmart had a MUCH better craft/sewing section than this new one. I went there this week to buy material to make a baby dress for a shower. I also wanted a pretty lace or trim, but they had nothing tiny enough to use on baby clothes. Their selection of fabric was really slim too. I also noticed that when I was tearing out a seam on the dress that I wasn't happy with, the material tore a lot easier than those from a fabric shop. I do believe you get what you pay for, but depending on the use, Walmart can be a great buy (my material for the dress was only $2.28.)

I agree with you here the price of gas to bring that load of merchandise has been from the past shipment and the increase on an old bolt of fabric makes no sense so it has to be the bottom line...now if it were newer fabrics then I would say ok but for an older bolt nah....