Sunday, May 24, 2015

Stash, Cash, and Quilter Blogger


I want to show you a few different stash
additions I scored this week. Lucky me, I paid
almost 1/2 of list price for my finds. I shop
often, early in the morning when I might find
new sale things just put out, and when the store
is emptiest. It saves standing in lines, and adds
to my time sewing in the studio.



Of course, every Secret Garden 
needs a hidden key. I already
have ideas for making just a simple
quilt with large blocks as a 
summer throw.



I shy away from individual fat quarters most
of the time. They are usually priced $2.50 and 
up around here, and unless it's special, I don't
want to pay $10 a yard for fabric. The same
goes for most pre-cuts like jelly rolls, charms,
etc. You can read my post where I break 
down the actually cost of those enticing bits.

Stripping the Charm from Pre-Cuts

Upsides and Downfalls of Pre-Cuts

Winter Sunshine HST Top Finish 
and Pre-Cut Wrap Up

Like all 'rules', this isn't hard and fast. There
are times when convenience wins out, and 
I need a specific pre-cut. I just want to buy
it aware of the price per yard.

There is a bin where my LQS wraps one yard

pieces for $6 a yard. I have found some
prizes like Art Gallery fabrics in there, and
ocassionally something odd I was looking for.
Pay attention to where in the store things
are displayed. It's no different than grocery
shopping. Usually the less expensive items
are in least accessible areas, like downstairs
or in the back corner.

I have been talking with other quilting 

bloggers about the price of fabric. Here in
the US we seem to have it easiest on our
billfold, and maybe a better selection of
quilt stores, depending on where you live.
I can think of about 10 within an hour--
many I've never even been to yet.
Prices where I have shopped are in the 
$7-$8 for solids, and $10-$11 for brand name
quilting prints. Sale prices for close-out 
fabrics run $5-8 here.

Can We Talk? 

Please Leave Me a Comment

I'd love to know what you're paying where

you live, and how you buy your different
fabrics, whether at you local quilt store
or online. Do you have tricks to manage your
shipping or import tax add-on's if you buy 
out of country? Cost management is 
essential whether we quilt as a hobby or 
profession. Many people have found
the recent US economy to be a tough place
to sell product, and this all impacts
our bottom lines.

Even when we can buy our fabric cheaply,

how do we know what to charge for our quilts?

Craftsy--Tips for Pricing Your Handmade Goods

Hunter's Design Studio--What's It Worth?
The Quilting Edge--Pricing One's Work...
SewMamaSew--Placing a Value on Your Quilts
by Molli Sparkles
And please read yesterday's post on 
Molli Sparkles, too!

I've had cost analysis on the brain lately while
I try to figure out if I can afford a long arm.
Yes, I've been bitten badly. Summers are 
generally slower for quilters while we spend
more of our time outdoors, and it's a great 
time to think about how you're spending your
resources. Of course, it's also a weekend
where many online stores are having sales,
and my Inbox is flooded with flyers.

*************
QuilterBlogs

Have you seen my new button to the right?

I came across a resource on another blogger's
page a few weeks back, and followed up on it.
I discovered the QuilterBlogs.com network,
and was pleased they accepted Pink Doxies
into their listings. It's not only a great, FREE 
place to list your blog, but I've found it's a
remarkable place to FIND blogs I was
missing out on. Today they have listed just 
under 1700 quilter's blogs! If you are a 
quilting blogger, this is an easy decision.
Get over there, and get it listed.

The Doxie girls and I are looking forward
to hearing from you today. In the meantime...

Come on, Doxie girls.
The garden is planted, so...
let's go sew.

Linking up with~
Molli Sparkles

7 comments:

Sandra Walker said...

So much information here! Thank you! You and I have had a few discussions about prices per yard/metre. I have only ever bought one jelly roll, and it was on sale online. I know pre-cuts are convenient, but you PAY for that convenience. I've never done the math to figure out just how much you pay, so I will check out your post links. I just know that $35-40 or more for a layer cake is not in my budget. :-( Off to put my blog on that site! Thanks!

SGB said...

I live in the state of Alabama which unfortunately is a quilt store desert. Thankfully, i live close to the Alabama /Georgia line and they do have many shops in that state. I wonder if they know how lucky they are? It is a major road trip for me to get better quality material than what's available at Hobby Lobby or Walmart. Shopping online can sometimes do but I prefer to see the colors in person if possible. It's frustrating. I remember when I was a young girl in the 70's and ladies still knew how to sew clothes. There were many more fabric stores then! Why wasn't I stocking up on cotton back then? I didn't know!

Linda @ kokaquilts said...

Well, here in NZ fabric prices in our quilt shops seem high! We pay anywhere between $NZ27 - $NZ32 per metre! Of course some shops have specials from time to time, you can pick up $5 fat 1/4's or get 30% off precuts, and Spotlight (similar to your Walmart I suspect) have fabric too that is cheaper. I "shop my stash" first, then at my LQS next because I try to support small businesses but, like many, I do end up buying online to get the variety and the better deals! As for the shipping costs, it's usually somewhere around $US26 so I try to buy enough to make it worthwhile!

Julie said...

Whoa! That price even shocked my dear husband. I'm not sure I could keep quilting under those circumstances.

I'm not above repurposing men's shirts for great pieces of gingham or unusual plaids. A friend of mine scours for corduroy skirts trying to fill out her stash for a corduroy quilt. We have town yard sales coming up, and I'm really looking for older cottons. I can't imagine how expensive even clothing must be in NZ if regular fabric is so high.

Thanks for chiming in, Linda.

Julie

Linda @ kokaquilts said...

Ha ha, well I do buy quite a few fat 1/4's rather than yardage! Yes, $NZ1 varies anything between US.60 cents - US.85 cents, which makes shopping online very tempting when it's high! The LQS is up against that as well too of course, and many little shops are closing.

Clumsy Chord said...

In Canada, fabric prices seem to hit between $16-22/metre, depending where you go. Fabricland is a chain that sells mostly kind of cheap/poor quality fabric for about $18/m but then offers 20% to members all the time and often has 50% off sales. (They do buy up some of the name brand fabric when it gets sold off cheaply at the end of a line's run, so sometimes you'll find really great quality stuff that'll be on for $9/m if they have a sale.) I think jelly rolls are landing around $50-60 right now, which means I never ever buy them. I will buy charm packs (though they are expensive when you break down the costs) if I need a whole line but don't need large pieces of anything, but I don't buy them too often anymore either.

Anyway, generally speaking the online shops are cheaper than the brick and mortar shops (about $13-18/yd), even when you take shipping into account, so I do a lot of shopping online. I buy occasionally from the US because sometimes even with shipping and exchange it'll still come out cheaper to buy it from there. (I understand that I'm pretty lucky, though, because I almost never get charged taxes for bringing it into the country, whereas in some parts of Canada people get dinged on nearly every package. I've heard they're supposed to charge it if the parcel is worth over $25, but I never get charged unless it's worth $90+.)

I sometimes laugh when people in the US complain about spending $10/yd because I don't think anyone else has it so easy. But, regardless of where we live, quilting is a really expensive hobby, so it's kind of a wonder there's so many of us who do it. And it's no wonder there's so many people online who are hoping/trying to turn it into a business in some way. (I don't begrudge anyone their attempts at it either! I don't have the temperament to craft for a living, but those who can should!)

Preeti said...

My favorite online shop is Connecting Threads. They have very good quality fabric at reasonable prices. Solids at 4.96/yard. They also introduce new fabric lines a few times a year at 5.96/yard. They have started carrying other name brands which are >9/yard. Their thread is 100% cotton and very affordable.
The other place is Craftsy. When they have sales, a few times a year, it is a good time to get some precut candy. I do shop at Joann's when I have a coupon or their fabric is 40% off. They do carry some premium quilting fabric, contrary to popular belief.