Impulse Shopping (on a budget)

Good day Fabric Fiends. This is about that beautiful chuck-it-the-basket feeling but without the shopping guilt and minimising the impact on the wallet.

It has often been commented on by my other half that I squeak when I walk. I always blame my cheap-ass bargain basement shoes.

There is lots of good advice out there about being organised and to avoid overspending but thats no fun. They usually involve some kind of boring list. We are not about that accountancy style adult stuff today. This is a bit less organised than that but I have found that I have to have SOME rules not to waste my money or not get things that are not worth the spend.

It seems when it comes to my hobby, I like to overspend. So after a short time I imposed some rules to myself which I do stick to. That's key. Do not spend what you do not have. Part of the enjoyment of this is being able to go a bit crazy without worrying someone is going to propel from the ceiling to harvest my kidney. So before we get into this, the shops and stores etc I mention will be UK based, but I am sure many of the the principals will apply elsewhere. I am also going to level with you, not all of the advice herein is stuff I have done myself but its all stuff I explore regularly when I am shopping around and its all things I would do for the right project/idea.

Ok, so before we start, I have some basic meterage rules I follow, unless its a special fabric-hungry project, these are guidelines for my stash purposes. Please note that you may need more or else according to your style preferences and your size. I determined these after studying lots of the patterns I have to determined some averages for myself.

When I shop impulsively, I have look at the fabric and allow it to speak to me. That sounds like a very hippy concept, and it kind of is, but if I can't see a purpose for it, I don't buy it. If the image in your mind has a lot of ruffles and other frippery, again, add on more fabric. I feel it, I crush it with my hands, I stretch it. Then I assign it a outline designation, even though I rarely have a specific pattern in mind. This is usually when I am at the local market or even a physical store, because I can rarely go out with exact idea and come back successful. When you are shopping on a budget you take what you like, when you find it. You stick it in the basket and move on. It will not be there next time you go, It gives it an extra frisson of excitement as you are being a bad, irresponsible adult. These designations determines the meters that I buy. By the way, I always ask about the width as well. Anything below 45 inches, I add on a bit extra. Also check whether the measuring stick is yards or metres. On markets especially, there is a lot of variety.

Skirts - Pencil Skirts - 2 metres

Skirts - Circle Skirt - 3-4 metres

Trousers - tapered style - 2 metres

Trousers - Wide Leg - 3 metres

Dresses - Without sleeve - 3 metres

Dresses - With sleeves - 4 metres

Puffy Skirt Dresses - 4 metres

Shorts - 2 metres

Jumpsuits - Without sleeves - 3 metres

Jumpsuits - With Sleeves - 4 metres

Jackets - 3 metres (usually because they tend to have long, awkward facing bits that jut out)

Coats - short - 4 Metres

Coats - Long - 5 metres

Cami Tops - 1 metre

Short tops with sleeves - 1.5 metres

Ok. So when I go to a market or a store, I often physically take money out of the machine and I bury my purse at the bottom of my bag. If I see the money from my hands disappearing I get more picky. If I plan to pay by card, I have a figure in my head that I stick to. Usually this figure is £20.00 a month. Thats it. No more. That is my budget for that month.

Fabric Markets - Planned spend of £3.00 a metre

Fabrics Stores £5 a metre. The key to that are those sweet, sweet sales tags. If it doesnt have a tag I don't even touch it.

Online Stores - £8.00 a metre maximum. I spend the extra because I have better access to fabric content information. There is a section below on uk budget fabric stores.

Once I reach my limit, I put on the blinkers, stop exploring and go to the cashier and get the heck out of Cave of Wonders before I forget that I'm not Beyonce.

Ok. Let's assume that you budget is lower than above. What do you do to still get that thrill? The answer is to think creatively. Charity shops are the obvious answer but your local supermarket or department stores might also have Duvets, table clothes, scarves for sale which you can repurpose the fabric. I keep going in at the moment as I want a mens jacket to try tailoring it. Alas no luck yet. For an out of the box for instance, there is a store in Burnley, UK. Its called immanuel fabrics. It has a pound a metre room. Lots of the fabrics there are intended for upholstery or curtains. So it isn't the obvious choice for me to travel for dress fabrics. It does have some dress making fabrics by the way but I tend to go for crafting fabrics generally. However, that type of material could be perfect for the most expensive of projects: Coats! I keep meaning to go up and get some fabric exactly for that. If you don't tell people, who knows any different? I also run a sewcial group. We often swap material and patterns or even just give it away to each other. However, do not take the Mickey and be as willing to give fabric away as you are to take it. Don't be that person. Also check gumtree and free cycle for completely free.

Destash groups on facebook. Lots and lots and lots. However, personally, I think they often overcharge. So if you HAVE to have that Adventure Time fabric or the fabric with the boobies, think destash, colour blocking and combining with a cheaper plain fabric as use it as a fun detail. Ellie and Mac have quite a few colour blocking patterns and they have that great Wacky Wednesday promotion. 89p per pattern? Yes, please.

E-bay is a mine of fabrics and you can search for remnants, for specific fabric types, bulk buys and set a budget. Most of my paper patterns have been bought from Ebay. Also great for buttons, zips and general equipment!

Here, a good understanding of fabric types are the key not to be disappointed. Do your research on the features of the fabric. More natural fibres (Cotton, Linen, Viscose) feel more comfortable and are more environmentally friendly.

Some of my favourite E-bay stores (Always, set the price for lowest + packaging)

MissyJ

Clothcontrol

The Textile Centre (they have a separate website and sometimes there are price differences from one to the other - so check both)

Fabrics4all

Vegatext.ltd (Currently my favourite)

Cheapestfabricsuk313

Some of my favourite online fabrics stores

Minervacrafts (Sales section) - Also worth checking for specific fabrics but set that filter!

CJ-Fabrics

Sewaffordable

Poundametre

NOT poundfabrics - they are cheap but I never had a great fabric from them

Coalville (facebook group) (Not tried them but they have loyal following - the buying mechanism seems like more work than I'm willing to put in

UK Markets

Birmingham Rag Market

Waltenstowe Market (London)

Longsight (Small but good - Manchester)

A word on patterns.

I find these days that I am willing to spend more on good quality pdf patterns. So 1 a month. I would expect to pay around £14.00. I look at it from the point of view that I'm paying for ease of adaption, company reputation and building a versatile pattern collection. However, look out for those deals. Join that subscriber list, especially around launch time of a new pattern.

So, there we are. You have had a little look into my skinflint ways. So here is a gallery of some of the makes I have made from budget fabrics. For a bit of fun, have a guess as to the cost. Answers are there so scroll down. These are based on the total cost of the fabric (Excluding the pattern)

1.

2.

3.

4. The Skirt

The Answers (Total Cost)

1. £3

2. £8

3. £3

4. £5