The Black Friday ads are starting to roll out. Joann's will have both their solid and print flannel at $1.50 a yard, and their solid and print fleece at $3 a yard. Butterick patterns are going to be 99¢, thread is half off, fiberfill is buy one get one free and lots of the yarn is on sale too. "Craft" felt is going to be $2/yard, and the bolts are 72" which is longer than other fabric. 3 yard bolts of solid colored cotton are going to be $4.79.

I already have the Christmas Eve jammies halfway done for this year, but I make lots of nice warm cuddly clothes and blankies with the flannel so I will be buying lots more. The fabric says "not intended for sleepwear" which means it hasn't been soaked in nasty stuff like formaldehyde. I'm alright with that. I also have a couple snowsuit type patterns for babies and toddlers that are in fleece. They probably wouldn't be enough for an Arctic expedition but they are more than enough for playing in the snow. I know it isn't wool, but the polyester felt makes warm blankets, and I can needlefelt pretty designs on it even though "they" say you have to use wool.

I find that sometimes I can get a little stressed trying to look through the pattern books in the store with an antsy toddler and a baby. Joanns usually puts a particular kind of pattern on sale once or twice a month. When they do I look them up online, whether it's McCalls or Simplicity or whatever. That way I can just go into the store with my pattern numbers, look through the drawers, and move on. I have patterns now for about every possible item of baby and young children's clothing in various styles, including classic ones that won't look goofy in ten years. Now that I'm mostly buying patterns for older children and young teenagers that I know I won't use for quite a while I'm being even more careful to make sure that something isn't going to look dated. No point in spending money on something that is really cute now so that my children can tell me how they are dying of embarrassment later. (Although I'm sure they will anyways.)

I've looked through the Michaels flyer, and they had some yarn on sale but nothing else that interested me. Craft Warehouse, which is apparently only in the NW, has some yarn on sale and fabric from bolts is buy 2 yards get the third free.

Just thought that if anyone is looking to build a nice stash of fabric this might be a good time!

Kayleigh

ooh.... I think some quilting fabric will be on the menu. I hate going out into public when everybody is out acting stupid(shopping) but for such low prices, it would be worth it. I've got plans to make 2 or 3 flannel quilts........

Thanks for the tip!



I do that, too, and it's a huge timesaver.



Conservatively, I have well over 500 patterns for women's, men, children's (mostly unisex, but not all) and infant/toddlers. I have been actively collecting patterns for 10 years, mostly picking them up when JoAnn's or Hancock's (RIP, in my area) had their good sales. I also buy them from thrift stores for 25 cents when they're intact.

I'm not that concerned about things becoming dated because I'm old enough to have seen firsthand, several times, that styles DO come back. I've kicked my own behind any number of times because I didn't pick up a pattern when it was available and now I have a use for it. When they are as inexpensive as they are during these sales, I don't have buyer's remorse.

I sew a lot, and like to sew for myself and other people.



My stash has taken on the characteristics of my prep stash, which is to say... considerable. I tell myself that's a fringe benefit of getting old. And just like foodstuffs, if it's good quality and a genuine bargain (which is not the same as cheap), or just specatacularly pretty and has my name on it, I will add to it. Finding space to store it, now that's another matter.

Thanks again for the head's up.