shipping fabric
#33
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the guy told me it was for all over and he gave me the customs forms to fill out and went over them with me. it's really ALL you can smush in there for a flat rate. they don't care what you put in there as long as it's not over 20 pounds. it would have to be lead to weigh that much. think of potatoes!
#35
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Originally Posted by butterflywing
okay....one box 12 x 8 x 4 (approximate) from the post office, is allowed to take 20 pounds. if you stuff, stuff, stuff as much fabric as you can, you can get 33 yards and 21 inches. that's with a LOT of stuffing.
flat rate overseas priority 6 - 10 delivery days, $41.95.
you're allowed 20 pounds. this much weighs less than half that. oh, plus the weight of the box.
that makes this $1.23 per pound to ship overseas. more or less. my math has never been that great.
flat rate overseas priority 6 - 10 delivery days, $41.95.
you're allowed 20 pounds. this much weighs less than half that. oh, plus the weight of the box.
that makes this $1.23 per pound to ship overseas. more or less. my math has never been that great.
The small box would hold (theoretically, at least) 4.5 yards of fabric, which would be just a little over one lb. The weight limit on this box is 4 lbs, so there's no way you could overstuff it with fabric.
International postage for the small box is $12.95, so shipping cost per yard is $2.87. Although the shipping cost per yard is higher than for the large box, I'm thinking that customs is more likely to believe a gift of 4 yards of fabric over a gift of 33 yards of fabric. That much fabric, especially since it costs so much in the receiving country, would look more like a commercial venture.
I am wondering if we can set up some kind of buddy system for our quilters overseas who have difficulty finding reasonably priced fabric. I'm about an hour's drive away from a cut-your-own fabric warehouse. Most of the batiks there are Timeless Treasures, which has a slightly thinner hand than Bali/Hoffman/etc., but there must be a couple of hundred different ones and they are *gorgeous*. I bought 10 yards for myself last time I was there, and it would be fun to shop for someone else. The hardest part, I think, would be trying to specify colors and print types. I could cut off pieces of my yardage to send in an envelope for samples, but I couldn't send 200 samples!
#36
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i am near a fabric clearance center where you don't cut your own. but 2x a year they sell their stuff for $2.00 a yard. usually it's $.400. the way i figure it, the big box costs about $1.23 per yard to ship to new zealand (that's where i would be shipping). that includes the weight of the box. plus of course the cost of the fabric.
they have a lot of timeless treasures as well as the occasional red rooster, rj fabrics, etc. at the quilt show today, saturday, i saw cutesy fabric of half-naked construction workers for $9.95 that i saw two weeks ago for $4.00 reduced to $2.00. no ladies, i did not buy any. sorry.
so there is a big selection.
33 yards counts as a gift to a country where fabric is expensive. they don't know if this your sil, after all. how can they know what's a gift?
they have a lot of timeless treasures as well as the occasional red rooster, rj fabrics, etc. at the quilt show today, saturday, i saw cutesy fabric of half-naked construction workers for $9.95 that i saw two weeks ago for $4.00 reduced to $2.00. no ladies, i did not buy any. sorry.
so there is a big selection.
33 yards counts as a gift to a country where fabric is expensive. they don't know if this your sil, after all. how can they know what's a gift?
#38
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fedex and ups are the most expensive way to sent internationally. they laughed at me in the post office. the package that you can send for $41.95 via usps costs $111.23 by fedex and $114.29 via ups. do you believe that? i couldn't either. also, canada is not overseas. once it crosses an ocean, forget it. :shock: :shock:
#39
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Originally Posted by butterflywing
i am near a fabric clearance center where you don't cut your own. but 2x a year they sell their stuff for $2.00 a yard. usually it's $.400.
#40
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there's no free lunch, of course. when my place has it's semi-annual, the place is like a sardine can and you have to pick through. but patience is rewarded, and most of the sewers are not quilters, so they don't choose the same fabrics.
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