$3 for fat quarter ?
09-20-2011, 08:39 AM
#121
Super Member
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Ontario Canada
Posts: 2,363
Originally Posted by ritamaew
I went to a LQS for a sale and found that all fat quarters that have been precut are $3. Now that computes to $12 a yard. Most fabric in this shop is $9.50. And many fat quarters were from older ie cheaper fabric. I am wondering is this typical or this shop taking advantage of customers?
Rita
Rita
09-20-2011, 09:20 AM
#123
Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: In the Quilting Closet
Posts: 77
Originally Posted by FirstQuilt
Originally Posted by wannaquilt1
Originally Posted by mjsylvstr
How about 4 quilters going shopping and each pick out their favorite fabric.....
and then each buy a yard of same.....
after that, one happy quilter with a new sharp blade zips through
4 yards of fabric with just 4 slashes and each quilter now has
4 FQs......
walk away 4 happy quilters !!!!!!!!
(and at the price of running yardage)
and then each buy a yard of same.....
after that, one happy quilter with a new sharp blade zips through
4 yards of fabric with just 4 slashes and each quilter now has
4 FQs......
walk away 4 happy quilters !!!!!!!!
(and at the price of running yardage)
09-20-2011, 09:52 AM
#125
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
Posts: 1,978
I love your idea....you could make a lot of money doing that way (it it worked). Start a new trend!!! LOL
Originally Posted by twinkie
I think it would be a good idea for us to go into a shop and buy a few yards of material, take it home and cut it into fat quarters. Then take the FQs back to the shop and get a refund for the FQ price. Wonder if they would think that is fair? They said they are having to pay someone to cut the FQ, why couldn't it be me? LOL
Originally Posted by ckcowl
some shops insist that fq's should add up to more than the yardage price- because they are paying someone to cut them-(the convienience you pay for for not cutting them yourself)
i asked one time---well why doesn't it cost more if i have to cut a 1/4 yard for someone at the cutting table then?
boy the daggers that flashed! :)
and she took a breath and said- well fq's have to be folded a certain way too- it takes more time- - -
i learned to not ask many questions of the owner in this shop (i worked in for over a year:) )
i still wonder though---how you can go through and raise your prices 30% then post signs all over for a HUGE 20% OFF SALE!!!
some people are (business people) not quilters-and they are there to make money
but bottom line is- pre-cuts cost more than yardage because it costs someone to PRE-CUT and we pay for the convienience-it saves us time-not money
i asked one time---well why doesn't it cost more if i have to cut a 1/4 yard for someone at the cutting table then?
boy the daggers that flashed! :)
and she took a breath and said- well fq's have to be folded a certain way too- it takes more time- - -
i learned to not ask many questions of the owner in this shop (i worked in for over a year:) )
i still wonder though---how you can go through and raise your prices 30% then post signs all over for a HUGE 20% OFF SALE!!!
some people are (business people) not quilters-and they are there to make money
but bottom line is- pre-cuts cost more than yardage because it costs someone to PRE-CUT and we pay for the convienience-it saves us time-not money
09-20-2011, 10:06 AM
#127
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Warrensburg, MO
Posts: 396
Originally Posted by ritamaew
I went to a LQS for a sale and found that all fat quarters that have been precut are $3. Now that computes to $12 a yard. Most fabric in this shop is $9.50. And many fat quarters were from older ie cheaper fabric. I am wondering is this typical or this shop taking advantage of customers?
Rita
Rita
Sooo, now we ask for a 1/4 yard ct, or 1/8 yrd cut.... we get a better deal that....at least we feel better...
09-20-2011, 10:51 AM
#129
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 4,688
Originally Posted by QKO
Originally Posted by QuilterChick
Fabric has gone up in price by at least $1.00 a yard; and the sad part is, all of it is made in China, even the "high end" brands. When I lived in NC, I used to buy at Mary Jo's all the time, and Mary Jo herself told me about the price increases. So when a shop owner buys a bolt, they have to reprice by the yard.
Fat quarters at $2.50 were too much to begin with imho; they are basically scraps and on many you have to cut off the selvage.
Remember when fabric was actually made in the USA?
Fat quarters at $2.50 were too much to begin with imho; they are basically scraps and on many you have to cut off the selvage.
Remember when fabric was actually made in the USA?
Most top-end printed fabric is printed and finished in Japan and So. Korea.
Some of the more mid-low end fabrics, like David Textiles, Springs Creative, lower-end Cranston, and most of the the stuff you buy in Wally World, are also printed and finished in China.
Connecting Threads has their fabric printed and finished in Mexico.
Batiks and hand-dyes are mostly dyed, stamped and finished in Indonesia and India.
There are many reasons fabric isn't made in the USA anymore. If fabric were in fact made in the USA today, with all the government regulations and union labor, fabric would probably cost about 25 dollars a yard, and you'd be talking about FQ's at 8 or 9 dollars each.
FQ's aren't scraps, or made from scraps in any shop I've ever been in. FQ's are made in most shops by cutting a half-yard off the bolt, then cutting the half-yard in half lengthwise. In more careful shops this often involves starting with an oversized half-yard cut which is then re-folded, trimmed and straightened before cutting, so that you get a true FQ that is straight to the pattern. There is a lot of time involved and some trimming loss to making a perfect FQ, thus the increased price. Labor might be free in some places, but it isn't in most shops. Personally, as a shop owner I'd just as soon not cut FQ's because there is waste involved, but you're almost forced to offer them because so many patterns are based on FQ's.
If you do find a FQ pattern you like, it probably is worth your time, and you may save some money, by seeing if you can easily adapt that pattern to long quarters. I'd be willing to bet that many FQ patterns can use long quarters, which typically cost less than fats.
09-20-2011, 11:23 AM
#130
Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: A Yorkshire Brit living in Southern Sweden
Posts: 113
I was thinking about this when doing my first ever quilting fabric shop recently ....
Bear with me because it will all be in metres and Swedish kronor but the point is the same!
Fat quarters were 19.95 - call it 20 SEK - which is 3.02 US dollars so exactly in line with this thread!
A metre of fabric, a yard and 4 inches, could easily be 67, 79 or 87 just based on what I picked out ... and many of the same fabrics as the FQs were sitting there on the shelves ...
So, taking four fat quarters as 80 SEK = 12 US dollars means that I might be able to save money by buying a metre to cut into FQs of the 67 SEK cottons but the really wouldn't be much in it of the 79 and 87 ones (87 = 13.12 US dollars)
I think the slightly extra cost of the FQs is often worth it if I am unlikely to be using more than one FQ of that fabric ... but as soon as I start picking up more than one FQ of the same design - perhaps to have one to swap - I should probably think about whether it is worth getting a metre cut instead ....
As many of the fabrics were available on the roll as well I don't think my fabric store was using up ends of rolls for the FQs, but I can see how that would be a good idea for the store. I did sift through the 'end of rolls' or 'cut badly' 'has a fault' table but found it quite annoying that I had to search for the fabric type constantly.
Helen
Bear with me because it will all be in metres and Swedish kronor but the point is the same!
Fat quarters were 19.95 - call it 20 SEK - which is 3.02 US dollars so exactly in line with this thread!
A metre of fabric, a yard and 4 inches, could easily be 67, 79 or 87 just based on what I picked out ... and many of the same fabrics as the FQs were sitting there on the shelves ...
So, taking four fat quarters as 80 SEK = 12 US dollars means that I might be able to save money by buying a metre to cut into FQs of the 67 SEK cottons but the really wouldn't be much in it of the 79 and 87 ones (87 = 13.12 US dollars)
I think the slightly extra cost of the FQs is often worth it if I am unlikely to be using more than one FQ of that fabric ... but as soon as I start picking up more than one FQ of the same design - perhaps to have one to swap - I should probably think about whether it is worth getting a metre cut instead ....
As many of the fabrics were available on the roll as well I don't think my fabric store was using up ends of rolls for the FQs, but I can see how that would be a good idea for the store. I did sift through the 'end of rolls' or 'cut badly' 'has a fault' table but found it quite annoying that I had to search for the fabric type constantly.
Helen
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