11 of 52…How the Yankee Ladies Afford to Craft

Holy Smokes!!!!  Yesterday I found out about a thing called the Salvation Army Fabric Fair.  Here, when the SA gets craft/sewing supplies they don’t put them in the stores.  They hold them until the annual Fabric Fair, which I went to on the way to work this morning, because hello, fabric at thrift store prices.

Guys.  Whoa!  The thing is held in the National Guard Armory, doors open at 8, and there was a line when I pulled up.  And it’s not just fabric.  Yarn, knitting supplies, patterns, ribbon, buttons, yardage you can have cut from the bolt, yardage already laid out on tables, batting, needles, thread, sewing machines, templates, finished quilts, partially finished quilts, fat quarters, strips, charm packs, layer cakes, bags full of tops that have been cut but not pieced, and random sized pieces. And underneath each groaning, overladen table are more boxes filled with same for restocking!

The place was crowded, and I was trying to hurry, so I didn’t spend much time at the yarn bins, but they had some nice stuff alongside the Red Heart.

I spent forty-six bucks for all you see here.  That cream and blue plaid is wool, 2 yards x 54 inches and cost $7.  Cloak?  Ruana?  Huge piece of wool to throw around myself on Samhain?  Haven’t decided yet!

Fat quarters were seventy-five cents each.

That floral above the wool?  It’s 3 yards of cotton, far pinker than it looks in this pic, and probably destined to become a loose, flowing skirt for me for only six dollars.

There’s a log cabin ruler for three dollars, and that thing that looks like a pattern contains not only some pattern type stuff, but also three square templates, 3.5, 4.5, and 5.5 inches for four bucks.  YOWZA.

I’m probably going back before it ends on Saturday.  I still have some money left from the bowling prize I got yesterday, and I want to take my friend with me.  Because guys.  Seriously.  If you want to make beautiful things on a budget, this is a not-to-miss.  In other words, this morning was The Inaugural Annual Visit To The Salvation Army Fabric Fair.