Jackie Spencer

I use to work for a QS. She always put the date on the end of the bolt when it came in. After so long it went to the clearance section. Nothing lasted very long back there!

Jan in VA

To you, what is older fabric? 5 years? 8 years? 15 years?

I have lots of each in my stash, and I consider each of them "classics" and go withs!

Jan in VA

Holice

difficult to give location not know where you are located

GrannieAnnie

LOL, my definition would be older than my youngest kid who's turning 29 very shortly.

Weezy Rider

I just manage to match some 8 year old fabric this year. The colors came back. I can't remember why I bought so much of the original.

I like southwestern earth tones. It isn't always easy to find them. I figured there must be some kind of clearance outlet. The factories or importers must still have bolts. It's like fleece. Come July, it's nothing but fleece, fleece, fleece in most of the stores like Joannes. End of season, store will sell some at $1.00 per yard and it still doesn't sell. I know a lot of sheeple that feel you have to always use the same fabric a pattern calls for. So there's a demand for that fabric.
Since patterns change rapidly, there must be an excess somewhere. I'm not especially looking for a bargain. I have an idea in mind for a project and can't find the fabric I want.

Has anyone dealt with the aforementioned outlets? Thousands of Bolts was one.

luvstoquilt

Also look at church sales and garage sales...since I love scrappy and "30's" this has been a source of supply for my addiction...when I lived in NJ I was close to a fabric warehouse and got great deals there...thus my enormous stash!

sweetana3

When a manufacturer wants to dump a lot of fabric due to lagging sales or issues, they sell it to wholesalers. The wholesalers normally sell to other business owners some LQS and some who manufacture other products. I visited one in Tennessee and was floored by the low prices and the quality. South Sea Imports, Judy Rothermal, Andover, Thimbleberries, etc. It was all over 6 months old but a warehouse full that constantly changed and was selling by the 5 yard piece, bolt and skid load.

Before the prices went up it was around $1.85 or lower per yard.

Choice Fabrics in Tennessee.

For retail, it helps to get to know all your LQS's in driving distance and get on all the email lists. We have one that sells the whole store once per year at 50% off, others at 30 and 40%. You will find out what stores go out of business and what email only sales there are. Recently we found one of my stores which is a distance away had clearance fabric for $2 per yard but only those on the email list found out. She did not update the website. It was a very good sale for backing material and I even found one that will make coordinating pillowcases for a quilt in process.

Weezy Rider

The trouble with sales - the deals are good, but the fabric isn't what I want. I've looked in most of the local shops already - and if it's on the shelf now and I don't want it, a sale won't help. I never have bought what's "in"

I went through that thousands of bolts site earlier, and that color checker is the handiest thing I've seen. If I could get the pantone numbers I wouldn't have a doubt. They probably will have things I can use as I design stuff in my mind.

One baby quilt - I wanted pastels - only one local had pastels. The others had sorts of pastels with goopy 1930 kids prints. I don't like that style. I was ready to use gingham!

For example:
I just went here http://www.quiltfabriccloseouts.com/...tore/store.cgi and there was only one rust fabric. I use a lot of rust, in all shades. So while the price is great - I can't use it.