Firstly, if you haven't voted on my 500th post yet, would you please pop over there and vote - it's all for a good cause (or three). Voting will remain open until 8am (Sydney time) Saturday 6th August. Thanks heaps.
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Late last week I received an email from one of the two Big Box Craft Stores in my town saying that they were having a three-day-sale. The sale included 40% off all fabrics and 40% off all yarn!
Now, for a knitter who also sews, that was irresistible!
But then, I remembered that earlier in the week I had received another email giving me 10% off everything in the store, including sale items.
Doubly irresistible!
So, on Friday, I took myself across town to the Big Box Store. I went first to the yarn department. I have plenty of yarn in 8ply (DK) weight and really didn't need anymore. I wanted 4ply (baby) or 5ply (sport) to knit a couple of baby blankies for Angels for the Forgotten. I bought ten balls of soft 5ply yarn - they only had four balls of the same dye lot of the blue so I bought an extra ball of the cream; I estimate that I will need about 5 balls for each blankie.
I then went to the fabric department. I find too much choice quite difficult so decided to concentrate on the fabrics that were already discounted (before this three-day-sale); that is, the fabrics which had been hanging around in the store for too long because they weren't very popular.
I decided to be frugal (I'm not working and have just bought an expensive sewing machine; plus the Big Box Store has sales quite often!!), so I limited myself to ten half metres (20 inches) of a random selection of fabrics. I concentrated on finding fabrics with colours I like - notice they are mostly brights and mostly warm colours with some green and purple (my favourite colour) thrown in to the mix. I did not really consider the pattern of the fabric; once it is cut into two inch strips much of the pattern will be lost anyway!
I know this is not really the greatest choice of fabrics to work together, but they will be used to make string blocks for quilts for charity. Somehow those string blocks just work, despite the variety of fabrics used.
I'm not sure if that fabric with the white background was such a good choice, I may use it for the back of the blocks which will be made in a Quilt-As-You-Go technique (found here). I'm not sure if these will go to Oz Comfort Quilts, but they will certainly be used for quilts for people in need.
When I got to the cutting table, I had the first of two surprises. The sale fabric was included in the 40% off sale! That is, fabric which had originally been marked at $12.99 a metre and $l5.99 a metre and was now marked at $6 and $8 a metre, was still forty percent off; making them $3.60 and $4.80 a metre!
I then expected the sales assistant to total my discounted purchases (which also included needle threaders and thread) and then take off the 10%-off-everything-including-sale-items ! For example, say I bought $100 worth of fabric/yarn - with the 40% discount that would be $60, then a further 10% would be minus $6, giving a total of $54. That would have been wonderful!
But no ... I got forty percent plus ten percent off all the fabric and all the yarn! That is fifty percent off all yarn and fabric! I got the 5 metres of fabric for what amounts to 25% of the original selling price! I know some of you will not agree with me, but I have to say it: God is good! Normally, I delete my emails from the Big Box Stores without even reading them!!
I returned to the Big Box Store on Saturday but it was crowded and messy and I couldn't think so I ended up leaving without buying anything. I wanted to buy some fabric suitable for men but I couldn't find anything much on the sales table and couldn't get around all the people to look at the "full price" fabric!
There will be other sales and I'm sure I have more than enough to be going on with!
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Late last week I received an email from one of the two Big Box Craft Stores in my town saying that they were having a three-day-sale. The sale included 40% off all fabrics and 40% off all yarn!
Now, for a knitter who also sews, that was irresistible!
But then, I remembered that earlier in the week I had received another email giving me 10% off everything in the store, including sale items.
Doubly irresistible!
So, on Friday, I took myself across town to the Big Box Store. I went first to the yarn department. I have plenty of yarn in 8ply (DK) weight and really didn't need anymore. I wanted 4ply (baby) or 5ply (sport) to knit a couple of baby blankies for Angels for the Forgotten. I bought ten balls of soft 5ply yarn - they only had four balls of the same dye lot of the blue so I bought an extra ball of the cream; I estimate that I will need about 5 balls for each blankie.
I then went to the fabric department. I find too much choice quite difficult so decided to concentrate on the fabrics that were already discounted (before this three-day-sale); that is, the fabrics which had been hanging around in the store for too long because they weren't very popular.
I decided to be frugal (I'm not working and have just bought an expensive sewing machine; plus the Big Box Store has sales quite often!!), so I limited myself to ten half metres (20 inches) of a random selection of fabrics. I concentrated on finding fabrics with colours I like - notice they are mostly brights and mostly warm colours with some green and purple (my favourite colour) thrown in to the mix. I did not really consider the pattern of the fabric; once it is cut into two inch strips much of the pattern will be lost anyway!
I know this is not really the greatest choice of fabrics to work together, but they will be used to make string blocks for quilts for charity. Somehow those string blocks just work, despite the variety of fabrics used.
I'm not sure if that fabric with the white background was such a good choice, I may use it for the back of the blocks which will be made in a Quilt-As-You-Go technique (found here). I'm not sure if these will go to Oz Comfort Quilts, but they will certainly be used for quilts for people in need.
When I got to the cutting table, I had the first of two surprises. The sale fabric was included in the 40% off sale! That is, fabric which had originally been marked at $12.99 a metre and $l5.99 a metre and was now marked at $6 and $8 a metre, was still forty percent off; making them $3.60 and $4.80 a metre!
I then expected the sales assistant to total my discounted purchases (which also included needle threaders and thread) and then take off the 10%-off-everything-including-sale-items ! For example, say I bought $100 worth of fabric/yarn - with the 40% discount that would be $60, then a further 10% would be minus $6, giving a total of $54. That would have been wonderful!
But no ... I got forty percent plus ten percent off all the fabric and all the yarn! That is fifty percent off all yarn and fabric! I got the 5 metres of fabric for what amounts to 25% of the original selling price! I know some of you will not agree with me, but I have to say it: God is good! Normally, I delete my emails from the Big Box Stores without even reading them!!
I returned to the Big Box Store on Saturday but it was crowded and messy and I couldn't think so I ended up leaving without buying anything. I wanted to buy some fabric suitable for men but I couldn't find anything much on the sales table and couldn't get around all the people to look at the "full price" fabric!
There will be other sales and I'm sure I have more than enough to be going on with!
Great loot! Fabric and yarn sales are so exciting :) Good job limiting yourself too, haha!
ReplyDeleteOh No! I missed that!
ReplyDeleteExcellent find at the sale-look forward to seeing what you do with these!
ReplyDeleteWow, very smart shopping. Very wise to go in knowing what you want and how you plan to use it.
ReplyDeletewhat fun! It's hard to resist the lure of such a sale isn't it? I find it overwhelming and get into a bit of a panic so I understand why you didn't buy anything on your return.
ReplyDeleteWow you were lucky. I always seem to receive those emails just after I have spent my budgeted craft money so I dont really buy from those sales. Maybe I should just wait in future. I also have enough yarn to last me a liftime so I dont really need anymore. I think your blankets in those colors will look very nice too.
ReplyDeleteShe scores! I went back late on Saturday arvo as I'd realised I had no binding fabric for the quilt I was making and at 40% off I bought 2 metres instead of one!
ReplyDelete