tlpa

Ditto here. I paid $10/yard once from eBay because I was looking for a particular fabric (and once you figure in the postage it was probably $13/yard). Otherwise I am pretty frugal and use methods already mentioned. Can't see ever spending $50/yd.

Frances41

I use orange sticks instead of stiletto. Buy them at beauty supply store . work great

QuiltingBear

If you're in New Hampshire, come on over to Maine. Mardens (a local discount store) has a huge fabric department with most quilting cottons at 4.99 or less per yard. Show a quilting guild card and save an additional 10%. They are not really the spot for notions but they do have some. Remnants are a steal!

Peckish

Why oh why do we feel that we have to justify what we spend on things that make us happy???? It's not like if we splurged a little on a lovely piece of fabric our families will starve, or we won't be able to pay the electric bill that month. I'm absolutely certain we are all responsible adults and manage our money wisely. I have NEVER seen a husband try to justify his hobby the way we do; in fact, most husbands go the other way and try to justify why they DO need something! So why do we turn into martyrs and deny ourselves the pleasure of splurging a little on some yardage, or buying a new book or new tool?

mac

Back in the 70's when fabric was as cheap as it was ever going to be, I still repurposed fabric for my quilts. As I recall, fabric wasn't that interesting and pretty as it is now. It was mainly all calicos and I can't say or maybe never noticed when 30's reproduction fabrics came out. Fabric clothing had much more interesting fabric.

Since I have never had a lot of disposable income, I have always shopped the sale tables and fabric sales. I also use Harbor Freight as my go-to-store for some of the tools that I need. In some cases, they are actually more sturdily made and therefore longer lasting. And if you lose something and have to replace it, they don't cost an arm and a leg.

I also belonged to a quilt guild for about 22 years and they had a table where quilters would put things that they don't want anymore like fabric, tools, notions, UFO's and you could pick up some supplies that way, too. It was a fun exchange and we all have things that we can put out.

The guild would also have a garage sale once in a while where everyone donated used items and then they would sell them at very, very reasonable prices and the guild would keep the money to use as they needed.

A couple of times they also set up a time where we would rent a table for a reasonable price and we could sell our extras and recoup some of the money for all those things we just had to buy, but never used or used only once and we realized, "what were we thinking?"

You can even get a nice, no frills sewing machine from a thrift store for very reasonable prices. EBay sometimes has people selling really, really nice sewing machines at very reasonable prices from people who were intimidated by their expensive sewing machines and never learned to use them. My friend bought a 1530 Bernina from a woman who just couldn't handle the sewing machine. In her listing she spelled Bernina wrong and I guess as such it didn't come up in the listings for sewing machines and no one bid on it except my friend. She got a great deal. This doesn't happen often, but if you keep your eye out you never know what you are going to find.

If you are careful, you can find a lot of ways to save money on quilting. But, I have to say, that once I started quilting, I was hooked and could never afford another hobby.

diamondee

I spent more than that to get into a quilt show and they had less than 3 dozen quilts, the rest was venders, fun to watch demos, but nothing I couldn't get at the store. Best one there was Missouri Star, Nice and not too pushy. One guy was extremely unpleasant.

Irishrose2

IMO, there are fabrics worth every penny of that price, but not quilting fabric. The bodice of my youngest daughter's wedding dress was re embroidered Alecon lace with ribbon outline and many iridescent beads. I couldn't have done it for that if you consider the time.
Batiks are up to $13 here, so I am using my stash.

Notwendy

Was it perhaps Keepsake Quilting? They list pre-cut lengths of yardage for backing some of their quilt kits. So while it might show $59 it is for the 4 or more yards total called for in the pattern.

Just a thought - because wow, $59 for a yard? It better be extraordinary.

Onebyone

And so many wives think if their DH spend the money it's fine but if they do it's a guilt trip. That is sad.

SewingSew

Notwendy, It was Keepsake Quilting. I just went back there this afternoon and looked at the fabric again, and you are right--it was a pre-cut piece of fabric and more than a yard. So I felt dumb when I realized my mistake, but better about their prices. But hey, this thread has been interesting. I have seen some very expensive fabrics before, but never quilting material.