Frugal Fridays - Sewing for Less

My Frugal Friday Tip: Take advantage of good quality clearance fabrics and pattern sales to make home sewing most cost effective. Don't forget to look in back corners and strange nooks of the store for good deals.

At one time, sewing your own clothes was cost effective. Today with basic fabrics like denim and cotton being $3-$8 a yard and a garment taking 3-5 yards along with 3-7 hours of your time to create, it's cheaper to shop for ready made at Wal-Mart or even the mall.

Here's some suggestions for finding more cost effective sewing supplies:

1. Major fabric store chains periodically run sales on patterns. Usually you can find Simplicity, McCalls or Butterick patterns for 99¢ or $2 each. Vogue is generally more at $4. Sign up for the store's sale flyers or check their website to find when the patterns go on sale.
2. A local independent fabric store around me has a discontinued pattern rack in the back of the store. These patterns are generally less than 3 years old and some are last season. They sell for 25¢ each. I look for classic lines along with some trendy stuff and have amassed quite a collection.
3. Major fabric chains generally have clearance fabric tables in the back of the store. I generally wait until the clearance tables are 50% off. I have gotten some incredible deals. I've found $9 a yard pieces for 50¢ or $1 a yard. Again, sign up for the store's sale flyers or check their website to find when the sales are.
4. Look for a bargain bin. One of the fabric stores in the Fargo, North Dakota area where I used to live, had a bargain bin in the pillow room, at the back of the store. It looked like an off limits stock room. It contained a bin with fabric and bags you could fill for a dollar a bag. The bags weren't huge, but you could generally get 5-6 yards of heavy weight fabric in them and yards and yards of light weight stuff. While I was there, I found linen, wool, decorator fabrics and dozens of other useful pieces for literally nickels a yard.
5. Ask for a discount on slightly damaged fabric. My MIL and I were poking at her local independent fabric store. At the time they had virgin wool on sale for 50% off. It was normally $25-$50 a yard. I found a piece that was slightly moth eaten at the edges. The manager (who happened to be doing the cutting) sold it to me for $5 a yard.
6. Do some poking at yard sales, thrift stores and consignment shops. You never know what you might turn up. A friend of mine stumbled on a yard sale of a sewer trying to get rid of her stash. She took home yards and yards of incredible fabric for less than $10.
7. Check your local library for books on pattern drafting, sewing techniques and short cut design methods that will save you time and use less fabric. Also, use the library to preview any book you're considering investing in. Most can do inter-library loans for books they don't own.

Don't forget to visit Biblical Womanhood.com for more frugal ideas.