Do you have a small sewing budget?

Now that I have started my own blog, I have decided to bring home a guest post I did at Home of Homemade Treasures. Thank you Yucenur for having me! I have broken the post up into a couple of parts.

My budget for sewing is pretty small. I dream of beautiful fabric and piles of patterns. But I have to deal with the reality that my budget is small. And so is my stash!

Stash photo Untitled2_zps70486a0c.jpg

I heard someone say once, they were "too poor to be cheap". Huh? Basically, it means that buying cheap stuff isn't always the best way to save money.


This is just one example of when you should remember this philosophy.

Sketchbook Shirt

I sewed up a beautiful Oliver + S Sketchbook shirt. The pattern cost me $22 (!!!), so I chose a cheap fabric at $6.00 per metre. I was trying to save money since I splurged on the pattern.

My reasoning was that if I just kept using the same pattern over again a few times, I would save money.

Though what happened was, that after a few washes, the cheap fabric pilled and got ladders like a pair of stockings would. The shirt was relegated to the back of the drawer!
Sketchbook Shirt, not a willing model

Lesson learnt. Good quality material will wash and wear for years. So now I endeavor to buy quality, when I can.

Next post up I will show you how I get great quality fabric for an affordable price... Upcycles!
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4 comments:

  1. Mel@Mellywood's MansionApril 01, 2013 10:43 am

    Oh no! I have a craft budget but since most of what I do is for the home I can use the house budget. Then again I feed 5 kids so that's not much either lol. Tax time and bonus time I always get something on my list I'm a craft gadget junkie!

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  2. RoslynApril 01, 2013 12:09 pm

    My sewing budget is pretty much $0 - it is a luxury when I have a little bit of money left over. I buy small amounts where I can, and rarely buy more than a metre of anything at a time - luckily I can still make most garments for the girls from 1m. This year I've gotten into patchwork a lot more, and I think that was from the necessity of using up scraps and making my fabric go further.

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  3. KrissyApril 03, 2013 7:24 am

    I also have a small craft budget. I dig through remnant bins everywhere I go hoping to find something awesome. I am hoping the trick is to do this long enough that eventually I will have a pretty good stash of scraps to use on my projects.

    (linking up from Sugar Bee Crafts)

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  4. Mrs. LuckyApril 04, 2013 10:59 am

    It is so hard to keep a certain budget for something that is so enjoyable and there is always something new to be tried. I definitely need to improve my budgeting skills as it is getting out of control! Your smart budgeting skills are very handy. Thanks for the mention of my blog by the way. It was a pleasure to have you there.

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