Saving money on quilting boils down to three things, use what you have, buy only what you need and pinch your pennies when you do buy. Here’s a list of ways to do just that.
1. Use your scraps. For ideas on how to organize your scraps read this post by Bonnie Hunter.
http://quiltville.com/scrapusersystem.shtml2. Use those ugly and “what was I thinking of” fabrics for backings.
3. Make a challenging quilt. It will take longer to make the quilt so you fabrics will last longer and you will have fun learning something new and stretching yourself.
4. Don’t buy a new magazine until you’ve used a pattern from an old one.
5. Don’t buy a new pattern until you’ve used one you already have.
6. Join a quilting guild if you haven’t already, you’ll have lots of quilting fun for very little money.
7. If your quilting guild has an auction,donate, attend and bid. The members of my quilting guild donate their unwanted items and most of them are sold for under retail. If your guild doesn’t have an auction, suggest having one. It’s a great fund-raiser and lots of fun.
8. Check out Quilter’s Flea Market, it’s a great place to sell unwanted quilting items and buy some new-to-you things for a less than new price.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/QuiltersFleaMarket/9. Shop your stash - see Stashbusters online group for lots of great ideas to use your stash.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stashbuster/10. Finish your UFO’s and WIP’s. Unfinished projects are a BIG money waster. Remember, it’s not a quilt until it’s quilted!
Please leave a comment with your favorite way(s) to stretch your quilting dollars, we all will appreciate it.
