Betty Ruth

Fifty cents a yard is a garage sale price. Our Walmart still has fabric, but good cotton is at least $2.00 per yard, on sale. I still watch garage sales and rummage sales for fabrics, but rarely find any worth bringing home. So, I check the clothing racks for anything made of 100% cotton. Men's long sleeve shirts, large women's tunics, and misses skirts or dresses frequently yield large pieces of fabric from which to cut blocks and small pieces to replenish the bin in which I keep fabric pieces that are used for crazy quilts. Of course, those discarded garments have to be washed, ripped apart and ironed before they can be turned into quilts.

c2cd2008

I use old clothing all the time myself. I am a member of our local FreeCyle group and people are forever posting ads giving away old clothes and when no one comes to claim them I end up with them most of the time. Sometimes I have to work around some stains but I dont mind and I love getting denim. People have tons of denin that has holes in the knees and such but there is still a lot of good material left to them and I take it and cut it up and use it! I also make sure and pass some on too that I have prepped to the local guilds and Home Maker Clubs that use fabrics.

Betty Ruth

Our across the street neighbor is the only person that I know besides myself that will rip up a garment for quilt fabric. You are lucky to inherit all those garments to turn into quilts.

I was taught at an early age to use every scrap of fabric for some purpose. My mother's 7 sisters handed down the dresses they could or would no longer wear to me. If I didn't like them or they didn't fit, they would be worked over until Mother or I one could wear them. I remember my mother working over one of her sister's coats for me. It was black wool with a black fur collar, not the most appropriate style or color for a 9 year old country girl, but I wore it. I was glad when I had a growth spurt and outgrew that black coat. My parents somehow managed to get the money to buy me a pretty pink coat, which I loved.

Feathers

Hi Betty Ruth:
Your story about growing up and using every single thing is EXACTLY how I was raised. My dad worked all the time but with 4 kids there wasn't much money. I wore hand-me-downs all my life and when I was through with them, my sister wore them then when she outgrew them mom put them in a box and sent them to her sister's in another state for her kids. I buy alot of fabric but I also check out St.VdeP weekly. Haven't had much luck at garage sales but then, I don't go to many garage sales. I love scrap quilts, too. Have 3 that my mom made when I was little that have fabric squares of clothes we wore that were too "worn" in places to send on to my aunt so mom cut out the "good parts" and made quilts. I recognize lots of the fabric and remember when I or my siblings wore the garment. Great memories.

Izy

It makes you wonder why the spanish like man made....in this hot climate, you would think they would prefer more breathable fabrics, but no, everything is polyester and boy does it create static!!!! (They even wear nylon panties :? !! :lol:

Betty Ruth

Yes, Feathers, they were great memories, but I'm glad they are just memories. I wouldn't want to live through those times again. With constantly rising prices, I'm glad that I had that early training. I'm afraid that many of this nation's young folk are going to be in deep trouble.