Dina

I sew a lot with fabric from Walmart, Hancocks, and Hobby Lobby. Hancocks always has lots of sales, and Hobby Lobby has a 40% coupon in every Sunday paper. I think it is available online also. I buy my batting at Hobby Lobby with that coupon, usually 10 yards at a time off of the roll there.

Connecting Threads is a good place to buy online.

I very rarely pay LQS prices, just because fabric costs so much there. I have to really love it to do that.

Don't give up on a great hobby. It's too much fun and can be done without costing an arm and a leg.

Dina

sewellie

I buy my fabric from #1piecemaker here on the board. It says closed, but it isn't.

Littledreamdevil

sewellie
If you don't mind tell us how do I find #1piecemaker here on the board, I di a search for it and nothing comes up.
Will you [lease tell me how to find it.

DresiArnaz

I buy most of my fabric from thrift stores. In our area, you can get bags crammed full of fat quarters for 2-10 dollars.

I also buy sheets, pillowcases and funky shirts. Sheets can be used as background or backing or binding. I even gut comforters so I don't have to buy batting but then sometimes that limits my quilting options due to thickness.

Estate sales, garage sales, craigslist, freecycle and the closet.

I only buy new when I need something specific that I don't have on hand for a project.

If I didn't do this, I wouldn't be able to afford it. Fabric is expensive now!

DresiArnaz

Log in and go to the items for sale or trade board. It is not visible unless you log in.

Annie Pearl

Thank you for all the responses to my problem. It seems maybe I'm not the only one with a budget. You have come up with many ideas that I wouldn't have thought of. I think I'll check out the thrift stores this week and there are always auctions in the nice weather.

Jeanette Frantz

I've been watching the fabric stock at Wal-Mart and while they do have some quilting weight fabrics, most of the Waverly Fabrics in our local store are upholstery fabric weight -- much too heavy for quilting -- I'd never buy that weight to make a quilt -- it'd take a fork lift to move the quilt about! LOL! I was disappointed when that stock started coming in because a lot of the fabrics are just not suitable for quilting and all the beautiful quilting fabrics they had are now gone! IMHO, the weight of most of the Waverly fabrics we have in our local store, would make it impossible to match corners, half-square triangles, stars, or anything else -- You'd never be able to quilt over a seam with that much fabric there. JMHO!

Jeanette

katier825

When I had more money coming in, I got spoiled with the quilt shop quality of fabric. But locally, it's about $12-14/yard now. I started shopping around and now I find some really great sales. Stores vary, I shop at many different places, mostly ones I discovered on www.quiltshops.com . I signed up for newsletters for some of my favorite shops and watch for sales. Some places have lower prices all the time, like Thousands of Bolts and Marshall Dry Goods. Some have lower than average everyday prices, and great clearance, like Over the Rainbow. I've gotten brand name fabrics for as low as $4.00/yd. I do shop at Joann's sometimes, but I get better quality fabrics for less money at other places usually. My local Joann's is a mess and I don't care to shop there.

For batting, I like Hobb's 80/20, which I can get very reasonable at Connecting Threads (when it's on sale) or Michael's (coupon). I usually grab a queen size, which is often on sale around $12-13.

Thread can be expensive. Many people like the Connecting Threads brand. Personally I don't. I tried it a few years ago and was disappointed. Bought some last month to try again and am still disappointed. I use Aurifil mostly. I shop around for that too since prices can vary from about $8-13 for a large spool. Fil-tec/Bobbin Central has a nice cotton thread called Cairo-quilt. It is very similar to Aurifil, but about 1/2 the price. The only thing about them is they just increased the minimum order to $50. If you can get a couple of people together and all order a couple of things, it's not so bad though.

JustAbitCrazy

I don't think anyone mentioned buying from the website "Five Bucks A Yard". Their fabric is great quality. Also, when you go to a thrift store, head straight to the women's dresses! Look for the cotton dresses in the largest sizes with full skirts and long sleeves, if possible. There's a lot of fabric in one of them if you don't mind the time it takes to deconstruct one, and it does take a lot of time. But you can do that in front of the tv, and you'll often find some beautiful, unusual prints in those dresses.

QuiltingHaven

Keepsake Quilting is also a great place with good quality quilting material as well as Connecting Threads on line!!! Fast delivery and good prices.