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What is a good price?

What is a good price?

Old 11-23-2010, 02:42 AM
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It seems there has been alot of talk lately about getting shirts at thrift shops to use in quilts. I decided to visit the thrift shops in town the other day and was a little shocked at the prices. :shock:

Perhaps I'm out of touch or naive about this since I don't regularly shop thrift stores but wanted your input on: 1. How much fabric do you get from a shirt? and 2. What price do you pay?

I visited three thrift stores. Goodwill had all their men's shirts at $3.99 and there were some very nice 100% cotton shirts. A local church sponsored thrift store - shirts were $3.00 to $7.00 with not much selection. A third store (I think it's some kind of chain like Goodwill) had shirts starting at $1.99 to (!!!!)$19.99, with no reason I could see why one shirt was $1.99 while another was $9.99.

:?: :-( :hunf:
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Old 11-23-2010, 02:47 AM
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Originally Posted by glenda5253
It seems there has been alot of talk lately about getting shirts at thrift shops to use in quilts. I decided to visit the thrift shops in town the other day and was a little shocked at the prices. :shock:

Perhaps I'm out of touch or naive about this since I don't regularly shop thrift stores but wanted your input on: 1. How much fabric do you get from a shirt? and 2. What price do you pay?

I visited three thrift stores. Goodwill had all their men's shirts at $3.99 and there were some very nice 100% cotton shirts. A local church sponsored thrift store - shirts were $3.00 to $7.00 with not much selection. A third store (I think it's some kind of chain like Goodwill) had shirts starting at $1.99 to (!!!!)$19.99, with no reason I could see why one shirt was $1.99 while another was $9.99.

:?: :-( :hunf:
We have a local place where they get a lot of clothing donated from yard sales and well to do people. On certain days you can get a 30 gallon garbage bag for $1. I am thinking of checking it out. I know people who actually get nice clothing there.
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Old 11-23-2010, 02:57 AM
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In the 1970s I lived near 3 large cities, several smaller ones and a few rural towns. They all had Goodwill stores. I noticed price differences too and asked about it. They said the policy is to price according to location. So if the store is in a well-to-do part of town, the prices are higher.
I can understand this since they are trying to raise money for the disabled.
When I shopped in the well-to-do locations I found NICE clothes with the tags still on them for $10 or less. So I really couldn't complain.
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Old 11-23-2010, 03:20 AM
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They also have sale days..usually they have a list up front in the store.."tuesdays- red tags are 50% off" etc..
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Old 11-23-2010, 03:40 AM
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I made a list of all the thrift shops within a 20 mile radius one day and visited them all. Stuff was definitely priced based on location. I live in what is considered a high end area and stuff was priced here $3.99-$5.99 for a shirt, compared to other areas 99 cents to $1.99 for a shirt and it was the same stuff.
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Old 11-23-2010, 04:24 AM
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Our local Humane Society (I work there one day a week) has men's shirts for $1.00. If I buy a shirt there, it's 50 cents for me. I'll have to go looking at the shirts.
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Old 11-23-2010, 04:29 AM
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The local thrift store I usually shop at has shirts from 70 cents on up. The used ones are usually $3 or less, they also get new ones donated from stores and those are sold at the price on the tag from the store (usually $15 or more). The tags on the used items are different colors, based on the day they are put out. Each day two colors are half price. I haven't used shirts for fabric so I'm not sure how much you get.
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Old 11-23-2010, 04:57 AM
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Check with your local Goodwill. I think that they are having a 50% off everything in the store sale on December 4th.
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Old 11-23-2010, 05:05 AM
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In my area it's not worth it to buy shirts at thrift shops. Poor community but the shops can be a little high on the price of used clothing, for me anyway. I can go to wm and buy a yard of cotton fabric priced from $2.97 to $4.44 and that can be cheaper than the thrift shops most time especially if your not getting a yard of fabric out of a shirt. I go to our thrift shops for fabric, I have gotten some pretty nice cotton fabrics there.
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Old 11-23-2010, 05:34 AM
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Sounds to me like you should move to Illinois. LOL

Goodwill here has color sales each week. This week if the item has a black tag it's 50% off. Every Wednesday people 55 and older get 25% off.
We also have a Humane Society thrift store that clothing sells Everything-in-the-bag for $2. And it's a large paper grocery bag. There's also a church sponsored one that is totally free although if and when I go there I make a donation for each item I get.

Depending on the size of the shirt you can get about 2/3yd out of a long-sleeved 2x or bigger shirt. I cut the seams out, cut off the cuffs, yoke, collar, button and button hole strips. If the cuffs are large enough to get a 2-2 1/2" piece of fabric from and are in good condition, I save it. Same with the yoke. When cutting them up I don't remove the pocket because I might decide to leave them on when I make the quilt. The process is time consuming but it's something that I've challenged myself to do. If I had to spend the amount of money that you're talking about I wouldn't do it at all.
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