Thread: Am I crazy...

... if I spend $28/m on a fabulous stretch fabric?

I've been looking for a specific type of fabric, and I've finally found the perfect thing. I'm usually a spendthrift, though, and the price is pushing my comfort level!

Would I be crazy to spend that much?

That is a pretty normal price for fabric here where I live but it depends on the current exchange rate of course, and the fact that this country and city in general is quite pricey. What do fabrics in US usually cost in that quality?

My problem is that I don't buy fabric often enough to have a good sense of pricing. It may be a perfectly fair price, in which case I would feel less guilty in paying it!

That sounds reasonable for high quality fabric. I generally expect to pay $15/yard for regular stretch fabric and $25-40/yard for fancy stretch fabric like burnouts or high quality prints.

Depends on the fabric. If its durable for costuming and exactly what you want, you should have it. Hopefully its 60" wide! $28/yard is not too bad for something special...so long as you don't need 5 yards for a circle skirt!

if it's good quality, go for it! the really nice stretch fabrics used for dance here in Australia are usually $40 - $50/metre !!

Originally Posted by sabrinabellydancer

If its durable for costuming and exactly what you want, you should have it.

Sabrina, I like your enabling!

It is 60", happily. I'm glad to hear that the price may be within reason!

Have you seen the fabric in person or on a swatch? $28/m is a lot to gamble if you're ordering through the mail and it looks different--and not in a good way--after you get it. Assuming you can afford it, if it ends up as a nice costume that you like and that would retail for at least what you spent, it's worth the money.

I do have a swatch of it, and it looks great in person. Retail value is a good way to think of it. Although I have sticker shock, if I'm honest with myself I spent quite a bit more, in the final analysis, on the various fabrics I used for my last homemade costume.

Can we see?

I have dreams for very specific fabrics (not that I can sew to save my life), but I would definitely pay that if I could find a fabric that fitted my plans.

And then pay someone to make me a costume from it!

I've done it. I found the most amazing fabric while I was in Vancouver. I just had to have it even though it was pricey. I even had to make an emergency trip to the ATM! LOL

Uuuuummmmm . . . if you're crazy for considering $28/meter for 60" fabric, then I'm a total loon for spending $55/yard for 54" fabric. (mercifully, I only needed one yard, and got a skirt, two long gloves, a neck band and a head band out of it with some to spare.)

So I say go for it!

Deborah

Originally Posted by sabrinabellydancer

Depends on the fabric. If its durable for costuming and exactly what you want, you should have it. Hopefully its 60" wide! $28/yard is not too bad for something special...so long as you don't need 5 yards for a circle skirt!

These are my thoughts exactly. It might seem like a lot on a per meter basis, but it doesn't seem like much on a per costume basis.

If you usually try to save on costs on costuming, then you can splurge once in a while. Think of it as saving up to purchase this fabric! (I know, I’m and enabler!)

post pics. I can tell you if it's worth it

Not any crazier than me haunting my high-end fabric place while watching the $100 per yard fabric finally end up at $30 per yard!! I scooped it up and now it has been sitting (lovingly folded with paper between the folds) for several years for me to do something with it, lol!!! Too afraid to cut into it . . . it is all sequins on a heavy stretchy base! But I LOOOOOOOOOVE beautiful fabrics!!! I had to ban myself from that store.

And TBH, when I finally make a dress out of it . . . it won't need any extras at all!!! so it was worth it . . . but maybe I should frame it, hehe.

You guys are great! I feel duly enabled.

I'm attaching a photo below. Let me preface this by saying that I'm obsessed with rainbows and that I can't believe I finally found a fabric that combines rainbows and sparkles to this degree!

Originally Posted by Ainsley

You guys are great! I feel duly enabled.

I'm attaching a photo below. Let me preface this by saying that I'm obsessed with rainbows and that I can't believe I finally found a fabric that combines rainbows and sparkles to this degree!

OMG, this is nice!! Where did you find it???

Awesome!!! Get it

:::leans over and whispers in Ainsley's ear::::get it get it get it.....

go for it!
I would....

That's gorgeous!
What are you going to make out of it?
:-)

Thanks, everyone, for the enabling! I finally ordered it. I'm always slow to pull the trigger!

I plan to make it into a two-piece bra/skirt costume. Brace yourselves for a deluge of related questions!

Catherine: PM-ing you!