Treasure Haul – Finds From the Fabric Bin
There is a bin near the cutting station in every fabric store that is a gold mine. Sure you may have to spend a little time digging but there is gold there my friend.
Fabric Gold.
This special bin at my local fabric store is usually full especially after there’s been a sale or busy weekend. There is always a reason to check this bin but it is my favorite time to check it when there is 50% off sale that includes clearance fabrics.
My usual pattern in the store is to walk up and down every aisle casually leading me to the back where the clearance fabrics are piled up. There are so many cute fabrics you can find in this section of the store, including higher priced fabrics that you would never dream of paying what the price says on the end of the bolt. I wait for those luxuries to be delivered nicely to this section of the store and then patiently wait for the clearance of the clearance sale. For instance the two folded fabrics below were recently found in this section of the store.
The black and white dotted fabric in the photo below, I just used on the back of an over sized baby quilt. It was a designer fabric that carried an original price tag of $15.99 per yard. I got 3 yards of it for 60% off. Yes, that’s right $19.20 for 3 yards on clearance. This is the perfect section to look for backing fabrics in. You can find lots of yards to fit larger quilts and pay a fraction of the original price.
The ticket stub fabric was also in this section. This fabric caught my eye and I’m dying to find a fabulous project to use it on. I picked up some of this fabric at 50% and have more than enough to make a guest quilt for visitors, some travel accessories that would be fun to have packed for at trip or any other numerous items. It too would make a very cute quilt backing.
When I go to have fabric cut that’s come from the clearance section, I will also pay attention if the fabric is almost at the end of the bolt. If I’ve asked for 2 yards and there is another yard on the bolt or less then I’ll usually take that too. If you ask, the person doing your cutting and there is not a line behind you, they will usually give you the end of the bolt pricing or a remnant price for the difference, especially if it’s just at a yard or less. It saves them from having to cut and make a remnant and you walk away with a little extra fabric.
After I had these two great fabrics cut, I go to THE best place in the whole store. It’s the equivalent of going down the candy and chip aisle at the market.
The remnant bin.
On this trip, five very cute fabrics at almost 1 yard each for 60% off the yellow sticker price. They practically jumped in my bag as freebies by the time I applied coupons.
EVERY fabric store will have one of these bins.
The best remnant bin I ever found is up in the northern part of my state, a couple hours away. It is a commercial distribution fabric warehouse that opens to the public one time every couple months and it is very worth the drive to see what they have in stock. People line up to get into this place on the Friday and Saturday they are open.
Everything from charm packs, large bolts of fabric, and every possible fabric type can be found in this warehouse. My favorite is the remnant bins which are large warehouse tubs of rolled up remnants ranging in sizes from a few inches to 3 yards. All marked down significantly and waiting to be turned into something fabulous. I could literally spend the entire weekend roaming this warehouse.
There are so many projects you can make with 1/2 to 1 yard of fabric! You could make some beautiful quilt blocks or combine several of these and make an entire quilt! That’s on top of the numerous little cute projects that are perfect for this size of fabric.
My Pinterest board for sewing projects is filled with ideas that would work for any number of fabrics found in the remnant bin.
I also have a board setup with just bags and bins! Seriously, you can never have too many baskets, bins and bags.
The remnant bin is the perfect place for beginners to pick up some adorable fabric to practice on. I always have a couple scraps from this bin specifically set aside for practicing a new free motion quilt design or some other technique I’m using.
This is the place to be creative, open yourself to new possibilities and have a little fun. The yellow tags are your invitation.
What’s your favorite fabric find and what have you made? Share photos!