OmaForFour

I am on a fixed income and cannot afford the prices that are being shown out there in the fabric shops either. I don't know why the price has to be DOUBLED from the wholesale price. I am sure that profit can be made on less.

I have been buying online lately because there are many places that have excellent fabric for much less. I just bought a bunch of Kona fabric for $4.79/yd for example. I also know that Thousands of Bolts has prices in that range or below and there are some good brands there.

I spend time searching around online. If you are careful about the brands select you should not have any trouble.

I am blessed in that I also have a dear friend in Georgia who is an experienced quilter and guides me in the right direction also. That is how I found Kona fabric.

BE appalled and DON'T consider yourself cheap! We CANNOT be paying these high prices and we MUST NOT stop quilting. I apologize if this offends anyone on the board who has a shop, but this is how life is for some of us.

Grandma Phyl

I'm with you the LQS are just to high I would love to take a class but then you also have to buy their fabric and I just cannot afford that along with the high price they ask for their classes, its upsetting because I really like the people at the shop.

QKO

Are you? Have you run a shop? Would you be willing to work all day, 6 days a week, 12 hours a day and pay to be there? See my first post. The cost of the fabric at the wholesale level is only one factor in getting it into the hands of the customer...

There are many good deals to be had online. Bear in mind though that what you are buying when you get that fabric for below what the shops have to pay for it, is manufacturers seconds, overstocks and lower quality goods. If this works for you, cool! Not everyone has to have the latest issues from the designers to be happy.

Keep in mind that many manufacturers, including most of the huge ones, manufacture two different levels of quality, one for the quilt shops and one for the mass merchandisers. Buying by brand isn't always a good indicator of what you're going to get. They also have seconds on premium goods, that they'll wholesale out at lower prices. BTW, the online shop that is selling at $4.99/yd is probably buying it for $1.75/yd as a second or closeout, or the fabric didn't meet the manufacturers quality standards. So they're more than doubling their markup. I don't know anyone who is buying first-line fabric for $5/yd and selling it for $4.99.

No offense taken by this online shop owner. :-D Everyone needs to do what they have to do to keep on doing this great hobby.

But please don't accuse shop owners of gouging. We're not.

Most of us are barely keeping our heads above water, and many of us have invested our life savings into this effort. If we can't charge what it takes to keep ahead of the bill collectors, we'll have to go out of business. If enough of us go out of business, who will buy the first-run fabrics that drive the market and make it possible for people to buy seconds, overstocks and old goods?

DebraB

Try Connecting Threads. First class quilt fabric at $5.96 a yard. They have their own fabric manufactured so you are not paying much above wholesale. The fabric collections change several times a year. The thread is a total bargain at $1.99 for a small cone.

stitchinwitch

Some of the classes from well known quilters charge around $350 per class. Congrats if you can AFFORD that! I can't! I can't even afford the BOM's that are offered everywhere - at least $25 per month PLUS everything else?? Myyyy I really think there are less $$$ ways of doing it. How many are subscribed to BOM's??

ProudGranny5

okay give UP the website please LOL :)

quilter41

I was told at a shop yesterday that prices could reach $15 yd by the end of the year. The floods in China have affected the cotton supply. I won't by the cheaper grades at Wally World, Joann's, or Hancocks. If I am spending my time I want the nicer fabrics. I guess this is when we use our stash.

Quilter2B

When I went to my first quilt show in Pomona a few years ago I was literally floored at the charges to participate in a BOM from some of the vendors. Yes I know it takes the vendor time to put together a curriculum but my goodness are they truly worth that much????

I wouldn't bunch ALL shop owners in such a general statement - I'm sure some do and some don't. I know it would take many years to enforce the rule of supply and demand in the fabric industry but if people stopped paying the high prices eventually they would come down because the manufacturers would have an over abdundance of high quality product that no one will pay their ransom for.

Everyone has to work within the budget they have. Congratulations that you have the ability to be the boss and work in an industry you obviously have such a passion for. Been there, done that. Many of us only dream of experiencing that reality.

Personally I can't afford to shop at a LQS. I've sewn for over 40+ years and even if I had a $100,000 fabric budget I really don't think I would change the way I shop.

rhueluna

Seems to me that if they cut the price and took less than 50% up from their wholesale they would get more customers because of the lower prices and then would make more in the long run. Just how it seems to me. I also think they know that people that go to the quilt shops expect to pay more than Joann's.

Lockeb

Are our LQS's, there's not a lot worth buying under the $15-18.00/Meter..and that's only 3in more than the yard :-)

I took a course at a LQS a few years ago - for a Table runner...doesn't require a lot of fabric..but the course and the materials (that we had to buy at the store) was almost $125.00.....

I've paid as high as $10.95 + tax for 1 spool of cotton thread (and I'm not talking cones)... :-)

I have purhased some fabrics from Connecting Threads...whom I love....

I am checking out some on-line stores from the U.S. - have to be careful because as some stated - the shipping costs are so high that it can cost more than the order just to have it shipped and then we need to pay duty when it crosses the border...(Connecting Threads takes are of that and shiped via the Canada Post System which is wonderful).

I have even started to look for books and patterns from on line stores...actually, now purchasing books out of England....and having them mailed to me in Canada...especially sewing books printed there because the books are costing a lot less that way - even considering the postage.....

I am amongst the quilters who believe that the American Quilters and sewing are so fortunate to have so many shops and so many avenues to shop......I would love to have the opportunity - I did get to a Jo-Anns yesterday to pick up some Calico's that I needed for a project - it was almost 2 hours each way just to get there (upstate NY)....the prices were great - and a there was a sale there on the Calicos yesterday.....but even with the travel - the extra expenses for gas, meals and whatever,,it's still worth it and costs a ton less - and the variety in the U.S. stores is just so wonderful....