GailG

I second the motion on this. I loved the tutorials (the free classes for the BOM) I printed out all of the patterns, directions, etc. for the year. The last month was only great tutorials with Amy showing the assembly and finishing process. And she had a great surprise!!

Knitette

I feel for you with the fabric prices. The best I've ever found in a sale is 6 for £10 ($16) and tends to be stuff no one else wants, lol.
I do however use eBay US a lot. Most shops will post 8-9 yards in an envelope for around £10. Expect to pay about 1/3 per yard of what we pay here.

Anael

TinaRibena, I never use FQ, I always use what I have. Mostly yardage, sometimes FQ's. I buy a lot of fabric online in the US, mostly from fabricshack. They have great prices, good customer service and reduced international shipping costs. They ship up to 9 yards in a flat rate envelope for $ 8.50!
BOM's from a LQS are very expensive, I look for free ones too. Here on the board are great BOM's and as said before, you can google for free BOM's.

tutt

The Craftsy BOM doesn't use near as much fabric as it says it does. I bought some fat quarters and would have plenty left over after cutting the pieces, so I wound up using a lot of fabric scraps. The background material used the most and I think I bought 2 or 3 yards and had some left of that as well. Here's my blocks before I sashed and bordered. You can see that you don't use a lot of any one fabric except for the background.

TinaRibena

Ah, never thought of Ebay US, looked at UK one but not much there. Wil definitely check out Fabricshack too, thank you!

TinaRibena

That's useful too, thank you; it did seem like a heck of a lot of fabric to get started!

Cherylsea

If you go to the Craftsy BOM class - there are pages and pages of samples of what people have done - some used just two or three fabrics and their quilts came out to be quite lovely. You could definitely use fabric from a thrift store - a dress, couple of shirts and backing ... sometimes less is more!
Do you know about www.quilter'scache.com - all her blocks are free. You can scroll through pages and pages, find a block that you like each month and do your own BOM. Also Bonnie Hunter at quiltville.com has just started a Block of the Week that will run for 6 weeks - you don't have to do it that quickly just copy the info and work at your own pace.

TinaRibena

I didn't. but I do now; that's why this forum is so great!!

Knitette

Tina - for eBay shops try Jordans of Oregon; Phillyfabrics, Twin Orchard Textiles and la Chakra. Quilter Alice has really cheap patterns. If I think of any more I'll post.
A lot of the big US online shops will send international, but can be a bit of a faff as sometimes you have to buy the goods first, they calculate the shipping, email you back and if you don't like the shipping charges you have to then cancel the order.
Also, a word of warning - you can sometimes get hit with Customs, which charge you VAT on the price of the goods including postage and a handling fee. I've only been hit a couple of times and it's still shed loads cheaper even if you have to pay a fee.

Knitette

Nearly forgot - US shops sell by the yard, not metre. Shouldn't be a problem as most of the sites you are visiting will be giving you sizes in yardage anyway.