Prices of fabric

It looks like we are going back to history, using those scraps "make do
and mend".

What would our ancestors think, buying new fabric to make quilts, not
recycling worn out clothes, etc?

Funny how histroy repeats itself, now all we need are some feedsacks and
we'll be there!

I have lots of fabric, but can't remember the last time I went shopping
in a quilt shop, as we seem to have had one bill after another here, for
way too long! One car broke down last week and the other has to be
booked in for a service next week, but can't be without them and after
living in the countryside for about 10 years with no car and no public
transport, for me it is worth the sacrifice.

Hey, there is a lot of fun searching through old scraps to make a quilt,
lets us stretch our imaginations maybe?

Janner
France


On 22/01/13 16:29, Susan Laity Price wrote:
Will the price of fabric mean the end of the quilting industry or just
the local quilt shop. Fabric purchasing is my one vise. I don't buy
designer clothes or drink or gamble. I buy lots of fabric. But at
$12.00 to $15.00 a yard I am thinking twice before purchasing.
Recently our local quilt store had a 50% off sale on much of the
inventory. Normally I would have bought yards and yards knowing that I
would eventually find a use for it. But that was when half price meant
$3 a yard. This sale was $6 to $7 a yard for half price. It made me
stop and think before I bought.

Scrap quilts are becoming increasingly popular. With a scrap quilt at
the most you should only have to purchase the sashing or borders. I
prefer to make scrap quilts without borders when possible. Of course
last week I started a Red, White and Blue scrap quilt but didn't feel
I had quite enough scraps in those colors so bought fat quarters at
two shops. Spent $95 for additional "scraps"! Must rethink that
attitude.

My bee has started a scrap quilt using the Snowball block. Anything
works. To each bee meeting we are to bring our finished light and dark
Snowballs and swap. If you bring 12 blocks you take home 12 blocks of
12 different colors. There is no pressure to make a certain number of
blocks. No one is to purchase new fabric. Just use what is on hand of
quilt shop quality. At least this should make a dent in the stash. We
did this last year with a different pattern and I had enough blocks
for two twin size charity quilts.

The fabric price increase was blamed on a failed crop last year. When
the price of raw cotton goes down will the fabric companies drop their
prices? There are additional reasons for the increase. Countries where
many people are moving from the farm to the city are using more
cotton. Those moving to the city want several pairs of blue jeans and
more t-shirts than they wore on the farm thus using more cotton.
American farmers are switching from growing cotton to a more lucrative
corn crop. Our world is changing. Maybe the quilting industry will
have to change with it.

I could sew the rest of my life without purchasing any fabric but
could my nerves stand it? The withdrawal would be difficult. Our local
quilt shop has a new owner. Hope she is able to make it. Gone are the
days when customers purchase at least a fat quarter of any new fabric
available from their favorite designer. Think I will go sew on a few
UFO's.

Susan

Di Maloney wrote:
Ditto to what she says.

I now spend a lot of time going through pillowcases, tablecloths, old
dresses and sheets -only looking for cotton - at op shops (thrift shops) and
have been reasonably successful.

I also look at what's available in the USA when browsing quilty websites
'cos it is much cheaper to buy from there.

Di
Vic Aus

Well, I've made a start on a thrifty project. I've cut up all my
husband's cast-off cotton twill shorts into 4" strips. One of these
days, I'll piece them into a picnic blanket.

LOL! I've gotta *big* hubby, so there's lots of fabric.

--
Trish Brown {|:-}

Newcastle, NSW, Australia

That's a vice we all share! And we probably all own too much, whatever
"too much" is. But then we all own too much of everything, and we
expect shops to always be full of more at the cheapest possible price.
We are unreasonable. So much for my soapbox.

I could tell you what fabric costs over here (where the sales tax is
19%, on top of import tax because most of it comes from the US), but
I'll just say that $15 seems very cheap to me. Fortunately I adore
scrap quilts, and I have several quilting buddies whose definition of
scrap is lots larger than mine. I tell them often that I'm there for
them whenever they want to clean out, and sometimes it works!
Roberta in D

On Tue, 22 Jan 2013 09:29:22 -0600, Susan Laity Price
wrote:

Will the price of fabric mean the end of the quilting industry or just
the local quilt shop. Fabric purchasing is my one vise. I don't buy
designer clothes or drink or gamble. I buy lots of fabric. But at
$12.00 to $15.00 a yard I am thinking twice before purchasing.
Recently our local quilt store had a 50% off sale on much of the
inventory. Normally I would have bought yards and yards knowing that I
would eventually find a use for it. But that was when half price meant
$3 a yard. This sale was $6 to $7 a yard for half price. It made me
stop and think before I bought.

Scrap quilts are becoming increasingly popular. With a scrap quilt at
the most you should only have to purchase the sashing or borders. I
prefer to make scrap quilts without borders when possible. Of course
last week I started a Red, White and Blue scrap quilt but didn't feel
I had quite enough scraps in those colors so bought fat quarters at
two shops. Spent $95 for additional "scraps"! Must rethink that
attitude.

My bee has started a scrap quilt using the Snowball block. Anything
works. To each bee meeting we are to bring our finished light and dark
Snowballs and swap. If you bring 12 blocks you take home 12 blocks of
12 different colors. There is no pressure to make a certain number of
blocks. No one is to purchase new fabric. Just use what is on hand of
quilt shop quality. At least this should make a dent in the stash. We
did this last year with a different pattern and I had enough blocks
for two twin size charity quilts.

The fabric price increase was blamed on a failed crop last year. When
the price of raw cotton goes down will the fabric companies drop their
prices? There are additional reasons for the increase. Countries where
many people are moving from the farm to the city are using more
cotton. Those moving to the city want several pairs of blue jeans and
more t-shirts than they wore on the farm thus using more cotton.
American farmers are switching from growing cotton to a more lucrative
corn crop. Our world is changing. Maybe the quilting industry will
have to change with it.

I could sew the rest of my life without purchasing any fabric but
could my nerves stand it? The withdrawal would be difficult. Our local
quilt shop has a new owner. Hope she is able to make it. Gone are the
days when customers purchase at least a fat quarter of any new fabric
available from their favorite designer. Think I will go sew on a few
UFO's.

Susan

On Tue, 22 Jan 2013 09:29:22 -0600, Susan Laity Price wrote
(in article ):

Will the price of fabric mean the end of the quilting industry or just
the local quilt shop. Fabric purchasing is my one vise. I don't buy
designer clothes or drink or gamble. I buy lots of fabric. But at
$12.00 to $15.00 a yard I am thinking twice before purchasing.
Recently our local quilt store had a 50% off sale on much of the
inventory. Normally I would have bought yards and yards knowing that I
would eventually find a use for it. But that was when half price meant
$3 a yard. This sale was $6 to $7 a yard for half price. It made me
stop and think before I bought.

Scrap quilts are becoming increasingly popular. With a scrap quilt at
the most you should only have to purchase the sashing or borders. I
prefer to make scrap quilts without borders when possible. Of course
last week I started a Red, White and Blue scrap quilt but didn't feel
I had quite enough scraps in those colors so bought fat quarters at
two shops. Spent $95 for additional "scraps"! Must rethink that
attitude.

My bee has started a scrap quilt using the Snowball block. Anything
works. To each bee meeting we are to bring our finished light and dark
Snowballs and swap. If you bring 12 blocks you take home 12 blocks of
12 different colors. There is no pressure to make a certain number of
blocks. No one is to purchase new fabric. Just use what is on hand of
quilt shop quality. At least this should make a dent in the stash. We
did this last year with a different pattern and I had enough blocks
for two twin size charity quilts.

The fabric price increase was blamed on a failed crop last year. When
the price of raw cotton goes down will the fabric companies drop their
prices? There are additional reasons for the increase. Countries where
many people are moving from the farm to the city are using more
cotton. Those moving to the city want several pairs of blue jeans and
more t-shirts than they wore on the farm thus using more cotton.
American farmers are switching from growing cotton to a more lucrative
corn crop. Our world is changing. Maybe the quilting industry will
have to change with it.

I could sew the rest of my life without purchasing any fabric but
could my nerves stand it? The withdrawal would be difficult. Our local
quilt shop has a new owner. Hope she is able to make it. Gone are the
days when customers purchase at least a fat quarter of any new fabric
available from their favorite designer. Think I will go sew on a few
UFO's.

Susan

I hope it doesn't mean the end of either LQS or quilting. But I think, with
the price the way it is, we will see LQS go out of business as quilters buy
less fabric. I know I'm trying to cut back and use up stash and scraps. Who
knows, maybe my quilts will get more creative. And of course, for borders
and backs that I don't want to piece, I'll still be buying fabric.

But I'm not going into the LQS very much any more, and I'm trying to be a lot
more choosy when I do buy.

Maureen

I can't tell you the last time I went to a proper LQS. The nearest one is far away and I don't have a vehicle right now. The bus would take 2 1/2 hrs to get there....not worth it. I do, on occasion, hop a ride with my DD and SonIL to the mall to TSWLTH and try to pick out some decent 1/2 yds. I did stumble upon some good deals on backing fabric at Wally World last week. $2/yd. But only good for backings. {{{sigh}}} My stash is(IMO) too small. 2 bins, one of FQ's and the other yardage. I can remember the old days when Mom and I would jump in the car at random and go fabric shopping....I miss that.

There's a Yahoo group called SewIt'sForSale, and there's always fabric
for sale on there. Of course, you'd have to pay postage, but there's
good deals frequently. I've bought a lot of things from there.
Gen

On Tuesday, January 22, 2013 10:29:22 AM UTC-5, Susan Laity Price wrote:
Will the price of fabric mean the end of the quilting industry or just

the local quilt shop. Fabric purchasing is my one vise. I don't buy

designer clothes or drink or gamble. I buy lots of fabric. But at

$12.00 to $15.00 a yard I am thinking twice before purchasing.

Recently our local quilt store had a 50% off sale on much of the

inventory. Normally I would have bought yards and yards knowing that I

would eventually find a use for it. But that was when half price meant

$3 a yard. This sale was $6 to $7 a yard for half price. It made me

stop and think before I bought.



Scrap quilts are becoming increasingly popular. With a scrap quilt at

the most you should only have to purchase the sashing or borders. I

prefer to make scrap quilts without borders when possible. Of course

last week I started a Red, White and Blue scrap quilt but didn't feel

I had quite enough scraps in those colors so bought fat quarters at

two shops. Spent $95 for additional "scraps"! Must rethink that

attitude.



My bee has started a scrap quilt using the Snowball block. Anything

works.
snip
I could sew the rest of my life without purchasing any fabric but

could my nerves stand it? The withdrawal would be difficult.
Susan


------------
Another way of seeing fabric to recycle:.
I've been eyeing all of the too-small cotton shirts in my closet, which take 2 & 1/2 yards to make, and am always on the lookout what I go to thrift shops. Half-price items yield a lot of fabric, especially summer skirts. Bag sales are even better, when you can fill a grocery sack with garments, cheaply.
Last week I passed-up two beautiful Scottish wool kilt skirts, because I couldn't immediately call to mind a project. I did get a nice linen skirt (2 yards of fabric) for another project, though.
Cea (mostly eavesdropping)

I did finally get to go to an LQS last saturday! yay! The girls were wonderful and I purchased some beautiful RedRooster fabric and some notions. My poor SonIL had to wait for me for 2 hours, but he said it was worth it as I bought lunch!!
G Can't wait to finish the WUH i'm doing so I can make a quilt for myself!
{{{Happy Dancing}}}