I never find a thing! I can find yarn! Tubs and tubs of yarn!
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I don't ever find much. I imagine if I went every day or two I'd increase my chances, though.
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I don't look for fabric at my local thrift stores; I look at women's dresses that are made out of cotton. I bought a 2X muu-muu for $.75 that was just the color I needed for my sampler/log cabin quilt. It is on my bed now and I love the fabric. Full skirts also offer quite a bit of fabric and they sell for $.75 - $1.00 each and usually have 2 yds of fabric. I also use the buttons and zippers for sewing for my family. My local LQS is expensive on her fabric; they have close-outs and sometimes I find fabric for $4-$5 per yard. I do better buying new fabric on line.
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I also read the yard sale ads that appear once a week in my local paper to see what people are selling. I have found fabric that way.
Recently I found a local auctioneer's website and follow her auction listings. Last SAT she held a living estate auction and my friend and I hauled home a pick up load of fabric and notions from that auction. |
I don't find decent fabric at my local thrifts either. If there is any, it's usually polyester blends. Fine for clothing but not IMHO for quilts. But needle arts are not a part of most people's lives where I live so I'm not surprised.
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Originally Posted by kso
I also read the yard sale ads that appear once a week in my local paper to see what people are selling. I have found fabric that way.
Recently I found a local auctioneer's website and follow her auction listings. Last SAT she held a living estate auction and my friend and I hauled home a pick up load of fabric and notions from that auction. |
A couple of weeks ago, after shopping at 3 LQS, I stopped at a thrift store just outside Holmes County, OH, where there is the largest Amish settlement in Ohio. I found a complete mystery quilt top cut out and partially sewn together. It came with the backing, pattern, and all neatly organized pieces. It was $15. I also found a fall panel for $0.25. I've never found fabric at goodwill and only once or twice at the local hospice shop. I'll have to add this thrift store to my travels. I wonder if it's because the amish live nearby and more folks quilt that I found it there? BTW, there were a few amish in the store shopping, too.
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I seldom find fabric at our Goodwills or Salvation Army. I think it is snatched up the minute it comes into the store. When Hancock Fabric's were closing their stores, I asked why we were lucky and got to keep ours. I was told our store and the one in Johnson City are some of the highest grossing stores for them. So I am assuming we have a huge amount of sewers/quilters who are always looking for fabric at the thrift stores also.
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I'll bet a lot of bigger thrift shops just "rag" fabric pieces, that is , toss it in the bins where they put damaged clothes (then are sold to manufacturers or third world countries). I wonder if talking to the manager of your local shop about the desire for fabric scraps and asking them to set them aside for you to purchase would work. I think I will try that here. I have been amazed at what they toss and what they keep. I once saw the local shop filling a dump truck with items that had been left outside the shop when it was closed. Some of them had gotten wet..but they even tossed in plastic items and skiis!
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Lots of Salvations Army stores in the Detroit area, but I've never seen any yardage or fabric at any of them. A couple of times I've seen a small amount of craft stuff, but very little.
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