loopywren

Thank you tussy, it would certainly be a grand pot, I love that era. Welcome from someone else in Uk too by the way. by the seaside as well, but in the S.E. Ramsgate. Small world, My longest standing friend of over 50yrs comes from Weston, we met whe we joined the wrens

Tussymussy

Hey, your friend wouldn't be a Betty would she? I have a friend, Betty, who often travels to that side of the UK.

I love the Arts & Crafts movement as well as Art Nouveau. I grew up in Bristol and was very lucky to live in the only house designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh outside of Scotland.

Talking of Art Nouveau, there is a famous American silversmith whose name I have forgotten, but begins with D. He made lovely ladles and other things in that style. Does anyone know his full name.

galvestonangel

My DGD and I are in early stages of planning a trip to Ireland, England/Wales, and France for next May or June. So if we can save our money and everything else goes well, we will be visiting those countries. So I will post my trip a month or so before we will go and if you can connect with us, I will bring you some fabric. By then we will have our itenerary down. You can tell me what you want and how much and I will try to get it. I was planning on a little shop hopping over there but now I don't think so. One place on line that has really good sales is Fabric.com. Right now he has a lot of good fabric for $5.00 a yard. I do not know if he ships over there but you could check. I couldn't afford to quilt if I lived over there.

loopywren

What a lovely idea. It is difficult to manage financially, the reason I have not made anything bigger thatn lap quilts and only three of them for the grandchildren. I have thought of ordering from USA and having it shipped, other people seem to have done this and it works okay. I will try the web address you suggest. Thank you Galvestonangel.

Cuilteanna

One problem is that the larger the order, the more likely you'll be caught for customs and VAT. Smaller orders have a better chance of slipping through unnoticed.

Long ago a friend of a friend used to sell fabric her husband would bring her back from business trips to the US. She charged just over her cost, but you had to be a friend and have the same taste in fabrics as herself!

Fabric.com does ship internationally, as do many of the other online sites like Fabric Depot, Hancocks of Paducah, Keepsake Quilting, Erica's (those are just some I've used over the years). Global Priority envelopes used to slide through most frequently and I sometimes had an order in less than a week! Those were the good days before money was such an issue, LOL.

Now I mainly do mini's, table runners, wallhangings or lap quilts (which are quilted on to a fleece blanket instead of batting and backing, which saves a LOT of money!)

Aussie Quilter

The cost of shipping, wharf charges, customs agents charges, Customs duty and sales tax, distributors costs, and the LQS profit, all combine to bump up our prices.

Early this year I was looking for a Michael Miller Fairy panel. Cost in Australia? $22.95. US cost? $9.95. Even with postage it was way less to buy it from the US. Recently I bought 5 yards of fabric from the US for $17.95. The cost for the same fabric in Australia was at least $25 per metre.

Aussie Quilter

I buy wool direct from Bendigo Woollen Mills. 200 gm balls (about 7 oz) of 12 ply are $11.95 - Patons Jet 12 ply is $6.95 for a 50gm ball. Aran jumper for DS cost me about $60. The mill also has free postage for orders over $30.

Aussie Quilter

Printed matter in Australia is duty free. Fabric is also - unless you are bringing in Commercial quantities, then you pay duty and sales tax on it.

Longarm

Hi Earthwalker,

I just wanted you to know that sometimes I feel like I am on a soapbox when I start going on about exporting jobs instead of being made in our respective countrys. Buying local has gotten to be a joke for most items, when even candy mints are imported from somewhere else to the US. Last package I purchased came from Mexico.

No wonder fabric is so expensive, the shipping and handling charges have gone out of sight.

Thanks for listening to my gripe.

Longarm

threads57

Here in Ontario I spend $8.00-$16.00 a metre. There is some that is more expensive but I refuse to pay more. I do usually wait for sales. Fabricland sells some wonderful quilt fabric lately and if you get 50% off you can get it from $4 to $10 a metre. Also our minimum wage is $10hr. I know that is not only reason for our higher prices but is does add to it. Also if I travel to the States it cost me gas money and usually a meal. I do go once and a while.