That is so true. Having owned a small business several times, I understand the cost of employees and overhead, but it is also hard on the people that quilt, sew or craft. Then when you try to sell the finished product, it is hard to make any money at it.

I like the suggestion that we stop buying for a week but, truthfully, I think it would be more like at least 2-3 months to be noticed and effective. None the less, I would be more than willing to do this but it would only be effective if we all did it. Maybe it would be a great time to follow in the footsteps of those from the past and make do with what we have (already purchased fabric, scraps, used shirts, blouses, skirts, etc). We're so used to using others patterns we've forgotten how to let our own creative juices flow. Would be a terrific idea for a contest.

I love this idea! Id totally do it!

I don't think it's such a terrific idea... If you were able to get the word out to ever single fabric customer in America and they 100% agreed on the boycott (which won't happen), think of what the impact would be on the fabric industry and who it would ultimately hurt. Factories would fold, businesses go belly up, shops close, people would lose jobs and we would lose our choice in goods to buy. Haven't we experienced enough of this in America already?

It's not like some meanie is sitting in an ivory tower office somewhere, deciding how much they can jack up the prices. They WANT to make sales and have happy repeat customers. Holding our breaths til we turn blue isn't going to change the economic factors that go into pricing of the goods we buy.

That being said, it's always good to use your stash and recycle old clothes whenever possible. And buy new fabric....

Because they can!

I bet in Thailand an extra suitcase isn't $100. We paid about $75 for a set of 3 of them at Meijer (in the US).

I can tell you the price of getting the fabric from Thailand to the USA is expensive. My Foreign Exchange Daughter from several years ago, was going to send me some great Thai fabrics. When she took it to the post office, it cost over several hundred dollars to mail it to me. She did send me one box of fabric but it cost her over $100 US Dollars to send it. I really love all of the fabric (cottons and silks) she sent. Besides you have to also pay the customs for coming into the country. As a gift, I did not pay any customs, but the value is controlled.

Because the cost of living in Thailand is a lot less than in the US and even if the cotton is made in Thailand, their production costs are lower. It's not the cotton farmer who is making a lot of money, it's everyone in between the farm and the final quilt product in the store. I wish we didn't have to pay so much either, but before you come back from Thailand, I would purchase as much cotton fabric as you can, shipping it home if necessary; then you would have a nice cotton fabric "nest egg" when you come back. I just noticed that you were living in Alaska before Thailand, and I've heard from people who have lived in Alaska that things cost more there than they do in the rest of the US.

You know, I have read this whole thread, and the one thing no one ever asks, is how much do each of us pay when shopping online. I wonder, if when we shop online, at major suppliers, are we all seeing the same prices, or are we charged what our neighborhood will tolerate? I do know that you can go to certain chain stores in different areas, and you will find the prices are different, lower in depressed areas, higher in affluent areas. In grocery stores, these prices are called "manager's specials". Does the same thing happen online? Do we see prices according to where we live? I wonder...

I don't know how it is now but when we lived in the Far East many years ago the fabrics I bought on the local market's were only sold over there. I never saw any like it for sale in the States. It was so beautiful I brought back as much as I could.