Mona Marie

I am also on a fixed budget. I have 2 fabric warehouses near me and use them. The fabric needs to be watched so don't get thin material but the prices are anywhere from $3.65 and up per yard.

GrammaNancy

There are shops in our area where it is $12.00 for quilting cottons................. :roll:

sewjean

I'm with you the prices are sky-high! I went to LQS and paid 14.99 per yd for backing for GS quilt.It easa 105 wide that is why I think it was more expensive. I told her I didn't want to spen that much and she gave me 10% off. I bought 2 1/2 yds. It is nice but not that nice, and I have leftover for the binding. But I llove to make the quilts so I sve where /when I can then it isn't so bad once in a while

bearhugs

I feel the same way. Always when a good craft becomes popular the prices always goes up. Just glad I have a very good stash. Here I thought this was a sickness, now it was worth every yard I bought.

emptymail

Hi,
I've just returned from a trip to the US, by bags absolutely brimming with fabric. Here is Australia we pay $24 per metre (which is a about four inches longer than a yard) for fabric. Given that when I was in the US the exchange rate was almost dollar-for-dollar, I went on a fabric rampage! :)

mar32428

Gosh, someone finally figured out JoAnn's percentage off coupons. 30% off prices the fabric back to it's regular retail price. Rarely do you get a real bargain. 40% or 50% off may help at times on fabric and often on notions or thread. Now days it's not only know you fabrics but know your prices.

I will go online before my shopping trips and check the price on most of my needed items. Then I know if I'm really getting a bargain.

As for fabric, because of fixed income and a huge stash collected over many years, I only buy if I need a particular color I don't have. Today, my stash dictates my quilts, not the other way around. It's amazing what you come up with when you think "outside the store".

Pam B

One thing my LQS does is always have a rack of $5 fabric...the owner understands that not everyone can afford the $10 fabric all the time. And, it is not bad fabric...just a little lesser quality. She also always has a couple racks of clearance fabrics generally over 50% off (sometimes marked $2-4) and there is always something on it that I can find. One probably would not find enough coordinating fabrics on it for a quilt top, but there are often bolts that are fabrics I have used and wished I had made pillow shams, or something from...so I am able to do that cheaply. She also has good sales every couple of months.

Lizzytish

Yes prices are going up.

When the gas prices go up everything goes up, everything is deliver by gas.

The LQS has to pay for the rent/loan, employee's and their benefits if any, utility bills, all kinds of insurance and of course don't forget those lovely quarterly TAXES.

These are all going up so it is passed on to the consumer like it or not.

granny18

I know fabric is expensive....I have a very small fabric shop, which I will be closing at the end of July. I do live in a small town, but I am the only place outside of WM that sells fabric, thread, etc. WM says they are closing there fabrics and notions soon (whatever that means)

I mostly carry Moda fabrics. Since I opened last Sept. my wholesale prices have increased by $.50 per yard, but I have not gone up on my prices. This lowers my "profit" to $3.00 a yard. From that $3.00 I must pay $800 a month rent, four months of winter weather sent my electric bill to $500 per month, add on insurance, a little advertising, city charges for water, trash and sewage is $50. a month, credit card machine charges, internet ad charges, maintance fees, repayment of start up financing, and on and on.

I need to sell about $3000 a month before I can even buy a Coke. I am my stores only employee, and I work for free. Lately, I have even been paying for the right to work all day.lol

So this is why the retailers have had to go up on their prices and this is one the reason why I will be closing in about 4 weeks.

It has been a very hard lesson. I still don't understand my town. The citizens here would rather drive 60+ miles into San Antonio to maybe find what they are looking for at Joann's or Hancocks, then to support their local, hometown merchants.

Ok....got that off my chest. lol
Virginia, soon to be a 71 year old ex-shop owner.

k3n

I've been living in France for 6 years where fabric is very expensive and am soon moving back to the UK. While I will then buy online from the States, because I believe that import duty is differnt to the UK than France, read it somewhere recently, can't remember where. I still plan to support the English LQS of which there are several within an hour's drive of my new home in rural Somerset. Try www.cosman.nl to locate them, UK members. If we don't give the local shops our business, we'll lose them. As someone else said, this is a luxury not a necessity and I'd rather have less and quality than quantity. Also, I'm really looking forward to being able to see and stroke before I buy.

PS Didn't mean to imply that US fabric and/or online stores are lesser quality than LQS, just that in person, I can judge that better. :-D