Fabric

In these uncertain economic times, everyone is cutting back where they can. We’ve heard a lot of quilters talk about spending less on their fabric stash. Well, we found a few ways that quilters can keep on carrying on with their projects for a lot less than they’d usually spend on designer fabrics. We know quilters don’t want to sacrifice quality – so we came up with a few tips on how to shop frugally for your favorite fabrics.

First of all, check out this ebook for $3.99: The Frugal Fabriholic.

Full of easy fabric shopping advice, don’t forget to email the author to receive her list of Top Ten Sewing Websites. The web is the best way to find great deals for fabric. Find out as much as you can from the folks who’ve made the most of their searches.

For instance, we found a Yahoo Group called The Quilter’s Flea Market. Look here for quilting and fiber art supplies – including fabric.

AND, we found the fabulous online store $5 Bucks a Yard.

Another store, The Fabric Shack, has a constant sale going on. Check back often to see what they’re listing in their sale bins. Word has it they have great in-person prices, too. Next time you’re in Waynesville, Ohio, stop by to peruse through the items on their scrap table.

These are just a few ways to be frugal when shopping for your favorite designer fabrics. Don’t forget that several tips exist for shopping for patchwork materials and other inexpensive ways to keep sewing, quilting and crafting. The web is full of great bargains. Let us know if you’ve got a favorite frugal sewing tip!

Here at Havel’s Sewing, we love a good accessory. And, we love love love a quick and fun sewing project. We also love all the beautiful Japanese fabric that’s coming out lately – but we are a little overwhelmed by how much we’ve spent on a yard here and a yard there.

Make yourself a scarf for every outfit this Fall.

What can we do with a yard of fabric that we want to put on full display? We’ve seen tutorials on one yard skirts and bags, which are wonderful ways to showcase your favorite fabric. But our favorite way? Well, for our money, nothing beats a scarf.

Here are two quick tutorials that you can modify, if necessary, to make your own brilliant scarves!

Spool Sewing – Shot Cotton Scarves

Stop Staring & Start Sewing: Voile ah! A Teeny Tiny Tutorial

No need to modify – but we’ll be making both kinds of scarves out of our Japanese fabric stash. Oh, and we’ll also be hitting up Pink Chalk Fabrics for some shot cotton to make the Spool Sewing scarves exactly like the tutorial says. But you can definitely do this with other fabric, too. You may not want to fray the ends, but you can experiment with stitches all you like.

The Fabritopia/Stop Staring and Start Sewing tutorial calls for soft voile. With all the beautiful Alexander Henry cotton lawn that’s coming out, this is a great way to use a 1/2 yard of such striking fabric.

So, start sewing. You’ll have enough scarves to accessorize every outfit in your closet.

Like a lot of quilters and sewists, we’re over the moon for a lot of the Japanese prints available.  Often, at quilt guild meetings and block swaps, we notice Japanese fabrics we haven’t seen before.  When we ask, “Where did you find that?” we often get the answer, “Somewhere online.”  Well, we’ve collected a brief list of the best “somewhere online”s we could find.  Wanna find that fantastic Japanese fabric fast?  Try one of these sites:

We like Plum Wreath Blossom from Superbuzzy.

1.  Superbuzzy
This site has a great selection of Japanese fabric. When we were obsessing over new prints in the Seven Islands booth at Quilt Market, they told us we could find everything on Superbuzzy. They sell trims and other fun stuff, too.

Love love love this print from Fabric Tales.

2.  Fabric Tales
They’ve got all the awesome Echino stuff. Plus, they carry some really nice fabrics we’ve never seen before.

Fave circus fabric found at From Japan with Love.

3.  From Japan with Love
Lots of great Japanese fabric. Sent with love. Obviously. Get stickers and paper here, too.

Kokka Large Trefle is coming to Fabricworm this Fall!

4.  Fabricworm
Good old Fabricworm. They never let us down. They seem to sell out of popular prints fast, so be sure to sign up for an alert for when the fabric arrives.

Mwenda had this Alice print we searched and searched for.

5.  Mwenda’s
We found some of the fabric we’d been drooling over at our last quilt guild meeting on this shop. Love the selection.

Sit down at your sewing spot and sew!

It wasn’t too long into my quilt life that my friends and family stopped asking me, “How are you?” Instead, they started asking, “How’s the sewing?” The better question, I told them, was this: How’s all the sewing stuff?

By stuff, I mean the various activities that make up the quilt life: guild meetings, workshops and classes, blog and magazine browsing, fabric shopping and quilt show excursions. There’s a lot of quilt stuff going on…which doesn’t leave a lot of time for quilting. It’s easy to get caught up in the myriad of distractions and lose sight of the reasons I started quilting in the first place: the meditative quality and tactile satisfaction of sewing.

On days when I feel as if the quilt lifestyle is eclipsing the actual work, I take a deep breath and sit down in my designated sewing chair. I sit still and let the pull toward the computer and television pass. I don’t answer the phone. I sit down and sew.

Working on a project is a great reminder that you do not need to go fabric shopping at this time. At least, that is, until the current project is completely sewn. And is there better motivation for finishing a quilt than the promise that you can purchase more fabric? For your next one?

All the sewing stuff is terrific. It’s a reason to get involved with the sewing life in itself. But I aim for balance. The sewing life is pretty empty without the promise of making something. And that requires that you sit down and sew.

We found Sew Deerly Loved when we were searching for Heather Ross Munki Munki fabric. This little shop delivered in a big way. And besides running the Sew Deerly Loved Etsy shop, this busy fabric seller has six kids, quilts and writes a lovely blog: lovely little handmades.

The shop is stocked with a great selection of Japanese fabrics and quilting cottons – sold in yardage, fabric sets and bundles. You’ll also find a great deal of popular patterns. And customer feedback is 100% positive!

We love the selection at Fat Quarter Shop!  Of course, they have way more than just fat quarters.  They have quilt kits and free patterns.  And, they have our favorite:

Fat Quarter Clubs!

We love the Fat Quarter Club options.  And check out their other pre-cut fabric clubs.  Get charm packs and jelly rolls ready to sew!

If you love vintage fabrics OR vintage-style fabrics, then you will love love love Reprodepot.com. With gracious customer service and a lovely selection, shopping this site is quite a treat.

Reprodepot offers a variety of Japanese fabrics as well as decade-specific styles. The site is well-organized and styles are clearly labeled.

Check out the multitude of great patterns available on the site, too.

There’s a lot to love about Elkabee’s Fabric Paradise.  The selection alone is out of this world – it’s large, it’s diverse, and it’s priced pleasantly.  One of our favorite features of the site is its organization: you can browse fabrics by manufacturer.  By scanning each fabric company’s selection, you can get a real feel for their individual design styles.  For instance, P & B Textiles has more novelty fabric than Free Spirit. 

It’s actually a neat way to learn more about where your favorite fabric comes from.

Another terrific feature: the Sale Fabrics.  The prices are right and the fabrics are often ones that you can still find hanging out at other shops for almost 30% more than what Elkabee’s Fabric Paradise is selling them for.

Take a look and make an order.

The online fabric store, Fabritopia, is run by Jona G., who also writes the delightful blog, “Stop Staring and Start Sewing!”

Fabritopia offers a multitude of sewing patterns, and Jona G. is designing patterns herself now, which you can download from the store site.  She also offers free pattern downloads, sewing kits and, best of all PRE-CUTS! 

Her inventory is carefully curated, and she has fabric from several of today’s most popular designers.  She doesn’t always carry an entire collection, but her selection of a collection is nicely managed.  For instance, you can’t get the entire Anna Maria Voile collection, but you can get a few choice pieces that complement one another.

One thing we love about the online fabric shop, Quilt Home, is this:

Designer Samplers!

Anna Maria "Good Folks" Designer Sampler

Just check out the vast array of pre-cut fabric choices available from Quilt Home.  Not only do they have pre-cuts, but they have an excellect selection from a full-range of popular fabric designers.  Prices are great and look for the coupon code on the right side of the site.  Also, orders over $50 receive FREE SHIPPING!