So it's been a while since my last post, I'm sure a lot of you have been waiting for part 2 of this blog post so here it is...
"Feeding the Stash Without Breaking the Bank"
In the past decade I have seen the price of fabric double and in some cases even triple in price. When I first started building my stash, my husband would ask me why buy if you aren't planning on using it right now or before you have a project in mind for it. My answer has always been, because one day I won't be able to afford to buy fabric but I will still be able to quilt using my stash. Over the years he has come to terms with the whole stash concept especially since the price of fabric has gone up so much in price. So am I at that point where I can not afford to buy any more "new" fabric to feed my stash? Well if I was to buy all my fabric full price at the going rate I would have to say YES. However that would be the end of this post and it's not ;) After all the above states feeding the stash WITHOUT breaking the bank, and this is how I do it.
Now I am a big believer in supporting the local brick and mortar quilt shops in my area however what I am not is a big believer of the ever growing prices that is being charged for the new fabric lines in these quilt shops. I understand that the costs of running a brick and mortar quilt shop has also gone through the roof due to the economy, but if the average person's wages doesn't keep up in their wages than well something has to give. Do you give up the joy of quilting and give into a joyous existence of just handing your hard earn money over to others just to survive. I am not willing to give up that easily. Where there's a will there's a way....
You can still support your brick and mortar shops just not in the same way you've done in the past. Instead of going to the new fabric lines, walk past them and go straight to the sales area of the shops. All stores have them and you can find some great deals there. Some shops have a percentage off the newer stuff if it's towards the end of the bolt and you buy enough to finish off the bolt. There are also "scrap bags" available, which are bits and pieces of fabrics that were left over from the shop making up quilt kits.
OK so now that you have helped to support the local shops your biggest stash feeding will come from the convenience of your own home via the internet! Yes you can get the BEST deals on line, and the following is just some of the places you can go to get them (my go to places)...
1) Whittles http://www.whittlesfabrics.com/shop/
This place is great, most of there everyday prices range from $5.00 a yard to $7.50 a yard!!!
2) Fabric Shack http://www.fabricshack.com/cgi-bin/Store/store.cgi
They have a spot called sale-abration where they have fabric on sale for as little as $3.98 a yard to $6.98 a yard!!!
3) Connecting Threads http://www.connectingthreads.com/fabrics/quilting_fabrics.html
They have fabric as little as $3.56 a yard on up and they also sell individual fat quarters of all of the fabrics.
4) Web Fabrics http://www.webfabrics.net/index.html
Even though this place doesn't have the great go to sale prices of the above
they do have 2 other important reasons why this is one of my go to on-line fabric places. They have complete lines of the open stock blenders, such as Moda marbles, Kona cottons, among others. Plus they allow you to buy individual fat quarters of ALL of their fabrics (great for feeding the stash and getting a wide variety of fabrics without breaking the bank).
5) The Stitching Post http://www.stitchingpostquilts.com/cgi-bin/Store/store.cgi
The great thing about this place is that they have a lot of the retired fabrics from the previous years fabric lines. But they also have sale sections if you just scroll down to the bottom of the page. They also sell their remnants at reduce prices as well.
6) The Missouri Star Quilt Co. https://www.missouriquiltco.com
This place is awesome! If you are on their e-mail list you can take advantage of their "Daily Deals" huge discounts off the newest precuts!!!
I'm sure a lot of you are thinking... Why shop online, the shipping costs would be so high that I might as well by local because the shipping would end up raising the costs to the brick and mortar shops. But this is where you are WRONG! Yes, wrong for one if you shop out state on-line you do not have sales tax and all of these places that I have listed offer the "if it fits, it ships" rate of the USPS but some will also go even further than that...some online stores will give you a low flat rate shipping if you spend over a certain amount in the transaction. Another thing is all of the above will allow you to purchase as little as 1/2 yard (except for the ones listed that will sell the fat quarters), a lot of on-line shops that I have been to may have great prices but they say you have to buy a minimum of a yard per each fabric, which to me isn't much of a savings when you are stash building, because the key (at least for the way I quilt...scrappy) is VARIETY. Stay tuned for part 3 of this series which will outline the many different patterns/ designs that will get the most out of your stash.
"Feeding the Stash Without Breaking the Bank"
In the past decade I have seen the price of fabric double and in some cases even triple in price. When I first started building my stash, my husband would ask me why buy if you aren't planning on using it right now or before you have a project in mind for it. My answer has always been, because one day I won't be able to afford to buy fabric but I will still be able to quilt using my stash. Over the years he has come to terms with the whole stash concept especially since the price of fabric has gone up so much in price. So am I at that point where I can not afford to buy any more "new" fabric to feed my stash? Well if I was to buy all my fabric full price at the going rate I would have to say YES. However that would be the end of this post and it's not ;) After all the above states feeding the stash WITHOUT breaking the bank, and this is how I do it.
Now I am a big believer in supporting the local brick and mortar quilt shops in my area however what I am not is a big believer of the ever growing prices that is being charged for the new fabric lines in these quilt shops. I understand that the costs of running a brick and mortar quilt shop has also gone through the roof due to the economy, but if the average person's wages doesn't keep up in their wages than well something has to give. Do you give up the joy of quilting and give into a joyous existence of just handing your hard earn money over to others just to survive. I am not willing to give up that easily. Where there's a will there's a way....
You can still support your brick and mortar shops just not in the same way you've done in the past. Instead of going to the new fabric lines, walk past them and go straight to the sales area of the shops. All stores have them and you can find some great deals there. Some shops have a percentage off the newer stuff if it's towards the end of the bolt and you buy enough to finish off the bolt. There are also "scrap bags" available, which are bits and pieces of fabrics that were left over from the shop making up quilt kits.
OK so now that you have helped to support the local shops your biggest stash feeding will come from the convenience of your own home via the internet! Yes you can get the BEST deals on line, and the following is just some of the places you can go to get them (my go to places)...
1) Whittles http://www.whittlesfabrics.com/shop/
This place is great, most of there everyday prices range from $5.00 a yard to $7.50 a yard!!!
2) Fabric Shack http://www.fabricshack.com/cgi-bin/Store/store.cgi
They have a spot called sale-abration where they have fabric on sale for as little as $3.98 a yard to $6.98 a yard!!!
3) Connecting Threads http://www.connectingthreads.com/fabrics/quilting_fabrics.html
They have fabric as little as $3.56 a yard on up and they also sell individual fat quarters of all of the fabrics.
4) Web Fabrics http://www.webfabrics.net/index.html
Even though this place doesn't have the great go to sale prices of the above
they do have 2 other important reasons why this is one of my go to on-line fabric places. They have complete lines of the open stock blenders, such as Moda marbles, Kona cottons, among others. Plus they allow you to buy individual fat quarters of ALL of their fabrics (great for feeding the stash and getting a wide variety of fabrics without breaking the bank).
5) The Stitching Post http://www.stitchingpostquilts.com/cgi-bin/Store/store.cgi
The great thing about this place is that they have a lot of the retired fabrics from the previous years fabric lines. But they also have sale sections if you just scroll down to the bottom of the page. They also sell their remnants at reduce prices as well.
6) The Missouri Star Quilt Co. https://www.missouriquiltco.com
This place is awesome! If you are on their e-mail list you can take advantage of their "Daily Deals" huge discounts off the newest precuts!!!
I'm sure a lot of you are thinking... Why shop online, the shipping costs would be so high that I might as well by local because the shipping would end up raising the costs to the brick and mortar shops. But this is where you are WRONG! Yes, wrong for one if you shop out state on-line you do not have sales tax and all of these places that I have listed offer the "if it fits, it ships" rate of the USPS but some will also go even further than that...some online stores will give you a low flat rate shipping if you spend over a certain amount in the transaction. Another thing is all of the above will allow you to purchase as little as 1/2 yard (except for the ones listed that will sell the fat quarters), a lot of on-line shops that I have been to may have great prices but they say you have to buy a minimum of a yard per each fabric, which to me isn't much of a savings when you are stash building, because the key (at least for the way I quilt...scrappy) is VARIETY. Stay tuned for part 3 of this series which will outline the many different patterns/ designs that will get the most out of your stash.
No comments:
Post a Comment