What's SEW Expensive in 2023?

As hobbies go, sewing is not cheap...

Today's post is a throwback to a topic I first covered in December of 2013, which will soon be ten years ago.

At the time, I was writing about my impressions of having been away from sewing for decades and finding that the landscape had really changed in the interim.

Sewing nowadays is not a cheap hobby, nor it is it something that people do to "save money", like we used to do when we made our own clothing.

From the very beginning, I was adamant about saving money where I could when it came to financing my new pastime. My earliest sources of fabric came from home and kitchen linens like sheets, draperies, and tea towels.

I started out making bags, so harvesting zippers, rings, and other hardware trim from discarded or second-hand bags immediately became a priority for me.

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Which is not to say that I didn't have to buy "actual" sewing supplies. It's hard to find a cheap alternative to various forms of fusible interfacing, for instance. (And — quite frankly — I wouldn't recommend doing so if what you're sewing requires it for a specific finish.) No doubt that what I've spent on Pellon products over the past decade has put the biggest dent in my pocketbook.

Of course, in today's hyper-inflated economy, I'd assume that the problem is much worse. I did a quick check for the purposes of this blog post and here are the differences on Amazon.ca for the four types of fusible interfacing that I use:

• Decor Bond 44" x 25 yards in 2015 cost me $151.70; today it's about $180
• Peltex 20" x 10 yards in 2018 cost me $47.84 (a bargain); today it's about $120
• Thermolam Fusible Fleece 45" x 15 yards in 2019 cost me $161.81; today it's about $180
• ShapeFlex 101 20" x 25 yards in 2019 cost me $113.35; today it's about $200

The advice would be to keep an eye out for sales. Joann's had a promo for 50% off in the weeks before I grabbed this screen shot:

Joann's CDN$ prices on select Pellon products in March 2023...

While buying large bolts of interfacing provides the best bang for the buck, I'm sure it's an impossible choice for some people to incur such a big expense all at once. (Had I not been making money via pattern sales, etc., I would probably only have bought what I needed for a project or two at a time.) On the other hand, given ever increasing prices, I'm glad I don't have to make the decision now as to whether to buy in bulk or only what I need.

What about quilt batting? I've never purchased it, but during the height of the pandemic, I had heard that prices for batting had gone up by about 30% due to supply chain issues. Organizations that were making quilts for charitable purposes were finding it difficult to adjust. It's rare for prices to come back down after they go up, so I can only imagine the problem has been exacerbated by inflation in general.

More than $5CDN on eBay...

I'm very happy not to be making a lot of bags these days. And happier still that if I wanted to, I have a stash of hardware that I purchased years ago that represents a considerable savings over what I'd have to pay today.

The single tuck lock that you see here now costs more than what I paid for ten of them in 2016.

I would still recommend that you check out thrift stores for pre-owned purses and belts to scavenge hardware from; it's the ultimate save money/save environment choice.

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I recently picked up a combo disappearing ink/washable ink marking pen and didn't think that it was very differently priced from the last time I bought one. A quick glance at the shelves to check out the other sewing notions didn't trigger any double takes at the prices. But one item — that wasn't on the shelf — has been puzzling me as to why it's so expensive.

I have been looking for some Fray Check for two years now, with no luck at finding it at a reasonable  price (to me). The little bottle that was purchased at a Walmart near the beginning of my sewing journey had stayed usable for a long time because I always stuck a pin in the opening to keep it as airtight as possible.

 

Would you pay this for one and a half ounces of glorified glue??

But over the years, it got used up and I was surprised to find that it was not available in any of the usual places where I purchased my sewing stuff. The example that I've shown here from Amazon is an extreme one, but to be honest, I'm not interested in paying even five dollars for one of these bottles. (My local Michaels store is selling a two pack for $9.99.)

Frankly, I don't use it enough to keep so much of it on hand. I've been using other methods of treating the problem of fraying when it arises. If the problem is along a raw edge of a seam that will never be seen, liquid craft glue/fabric glue will work in a pinch. When I converted my Route 66 bag, I interfaced the loosely woven material with SF101 and then sewed around the raw edges to keep them from fraying.

Of course, actual fabric continues to be expensive, as it's been since I first came back to sewing. I have never been a regular buyer of fabric so I don't know what the price increases have been across the board. Are sales still occurring on a regular enough basis to satisfy needs? Have you had to adjust your expectations about accumulating a traditional fabric stash? Are you now more likely to thrift your fabric? (Anyone care to enlighten me on this topic?)

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This last item is not sewing supplies related, but it speaks to the increasing price of everything that we buy. (Or the ever shrinking quantities at the same price point. Have you noticed that your rolls of toilet paper now have fewer sheets? Or that your canned vegetables contain more water? Or that the packaging for <whatever> has been redesigned because it now contains less?) 

Save money on cotton pads and single use wipes...

I have not purchased cotton balls or rounds or makeup remover wipes for a long time and was astounded at the price of them when I was recently killing time cruising the aisles at a drug store. In particular, the last time I bought cotton balls, a bag of three hundred cost a buck at the local dollar stores. Nowadays, it looks like a price point about three time higher gets you fewer and smaller pieces of cotton.

The reusable makeup remover pads that I made about a year and a half ago have been meeting my needs extremely well and have held up to my schedule of five days per week use. (I still have some disposable wipes that I am making my way through on the weekends.) I will vouch for this idea once again as a way to save money and cut back on single use items.

Of course, there are now a variety of these available for purchase in the marketplace, but since you're obviously a sewer, you can make them yourself for pennies.

How has inflation affected your sewing hobby and what creative solutions are you employing to cope?

'Til next...