Momsmurf

Exactly,Lilrain!
I was just in Fabric Depot yesterday, used my 40% off coupon on a two yard cut of $10.49/yard fabric and got 35% off the other two fabrics that I got 1 yard of each.
Before discount total = $41.46
With discount total = $25.88
Saving = $15.58
I can live with that.

For those who have never been there, there's 1.5 acres of floor space under roof. If nothing else, I would go there for walking exercise and socialization with the wonderful family of employees. They will do whatever they can to help get you what you want...as do the on line people.
I can't say enough positive things about them.

They do know that if they ever thought of closing the business there would literally be many of us demonstrating in their parking lot! (I was actually told that by an employee yesterday!)

mommafank

Got so lucky today....found a lovely piece of cotton at Thrift store. Paid 50 cents and it is 3 yards on the dot. So keep looking in those thrift stores.

shazza

lucky you i wish i lived in America

Sewingyankee

I also noticed the new fabric coming in is not 44 inches wide but 41 - 42 inches.

cooper

Sorry, I informed the list of this in August. And you MUST use your coupons and sales wisely. Happy Holidays

Tussymussy

Wish I could fabric at that price

QKO

I don't know what you're buying, but all of the new fabrics we've ordered for the next 6 months are still 44/45" wide, except of course for batiks, which have been an inch or so narrower for years.

But the prices continue to rise, a result of the shortages of cotton, the cornering of the greige goods market by the Chinese, rising shipping costs, increasing demand, increasing wages in third world countries, etc.

Our wholesale prices have gone up, on average, by 50 cents a yard in the last year, and our shipping costs, to get the fabric in here, have gone up by about 10 cents a yard on average. The price increases for the next 6 months stuff coming are going up another 50 cents or so.

Most LQS's and online shops are being forced to raise prices or go out of business. One can't continue to lose money indefinitely. We try our best to hold down prices because we're trying to compete with big chain stores and big online entities like fabric.com (a subsidiary of Amazon) that have tremendous advantages in purchasing and shipping discounts, and also the big chain stores and their online divisions. When they finish running all the independents out of business, they'll be free to raise prices as much as they want to.

So basically, it turns out that many of us are running hobby businesses out here, if we didn't have other income we couldn't sell fabric. We certainly can't make a living at it.

With the US government drastically raising taxes on small businesses next year along with all the other price increases, look for thousands of LQS's and online shops to either raise prices, a lot, or go out of business next year or the year after, as well. And look for fabrics to increase in price exponentially starting in 2012 as the tax increases hit all levels of the supply chain.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the fact is, shoppers in the USA ain't seen nothing yet...

garysgal

While we are stocking up on quilting fabric, it might be a good idea to buy extra cotton clothing-undershirts,briefs,sox, etc. According to one news article I read, cotton is going up 36% which means our undies will cost more.

RkayD

I have been dismayed at the prices of fabrics for years. When i first started getting interested in fabrics it was just a couple dollars a yard...now...?? Outrageous with no end in site! I started looking through the clothes that my kids outgrow. Since most of my stuff is for function and not show quality~ I've been able to salvage quite a bit. Not only do I have memories but am adding to my already out of control stash.

Borgie3

A friend of mine has decided to switch to a new hobby because, since retiring, she can't afford to make quilts. She's now gonna learn to play the piano. Yes, she already has a piano & a friend who teaches.