Sunday, July 29, 2007

Mystery coming up!

I was going to say tomorrow... but actually, it's later today, like in 4 hours, Ann's Summer 2007 mystery is going to start. Yes, I'm insane. I didn't even start to cut the fabric until 6pm tonight. :P Who sews with 4 hours (or less!) of sleep?!

Ann's given us the pre-cutting clues so far, and I love to guess what it's going to turn out to be!

Here's my best guess. But is it wrong to do this? Does it spoil the mystery? Does it hurt the author if I guess the pattern based on the clues given so far? All I'm basing it on is 3 or 4 very simple blocks and the measurements she gave. I didn't get a sneak peek or anything. On the other hand... I feel rather gleeful when I have correctly guessed the mystery pattern. :)

I'm using black for the background and scrappy bits of my hand dyed fabrics for a crib sized quilt of 36x48. I kinda hope it turns out as I guessed, it'll be a pretty quilt. :)

Speaking of hand dyed fabric... all the times I've seen dyed fabrics for sale in person, it's at least $16/yard, up to $30/yard. Yeah! Would you actually pay for that? I think my husband was seeing dollar signs for a minute when I mentioned the prices. :)

The thing is, when you add all the costs of dyeing the fabric - fabric, dyes, chip in a little for the reusable containers and water... it's still less than $4/yard. Time isn't an issue for me, I have plenty of time. That $4 is competitive with WalMart's prices!

So... if I were to sell my dyed fabrics for $12/yard (believe me, it's nice quilt-shop quality fabric), would you honestly be interested in buying it, or would you still think "I could just dye it myself." Heh, I know I wouldn't be buying it at $12 a yard. :)

At least I'm honest. ;)

Leah

6 comments:

Sweet P said...

There is nothing wrong with guessing how a mystery quilt is going to come out. I used to do it all the time. That's why I can't do mystery quilts as mysteries. Once I get an idea in my head of how the blocks should be put together they refuse to go any other way, whether or not it is the way the designer intended.

I've seen you dyed fabric and I love it. I would pay you $12/yard for it. I may not buy tons and tons of it, but I would buy some. I have no desire, time, space or knowledge for making my own hand dyed fabric. So, if you ever decide to sell some, let me know.

QuiltingFitzy said...

I haven't bought much fabric lately, and I save my LQS purchases for specific quilts or projects that are to be given away.

I love your dyed fabrics, you know that, lol. I'd for sure pay $10, but at $12 I probably would put the purchase off for another day and not ever get to it. I know you deserve the $12, but I hold on to my pennies for another day all the time, lol.

just jenn said...

I am so frugal with money that I normally stop looking at fabrics if they go over the $10 a yard price range. But I do love fat quarters and a sampling of like 4 fat quarters for $10 would definitely be a purchase because then I could get a yard but more of a sampling. I like samples! LOL!

I think that when you are pricing things it's all about what the market will take and recoup you for. I know that I could personally do all the work myself but I haven't gotten around to it yet as much fun as I know it would be. It would require an investment and then might not get touched for awhile afterwards. LOL!

Dannielle said...

Well I have a drawer in my kitchen filled with procion dyes and supplies so I probably wouldn't look elsewhere for hand-dyed fabric. But if I didn't enjoy the process myself I'd definitely be interested at that price. There is definitely a market for it...especially if you're open to custom dyeing.

Marci said...

Are there pictures of your fabric? I would love to see it. I doubt I would pay that for it though as I am not a quilter. =) I do sew clothes though.

Thanks for the kind comments on my blog.

Kim said...

One of my friends does alot of hand dyes to sell at local shows shops- At least once a month she buys 15-20 yards of kona at Joann's with her 40% coupon. That makes the fabric $2.39 a yard. So even with all the supplies needed to dye, doing it thqat way she is able to keep the price to $8.99. Sunpaint fabric is more - I think $11.99. If you buy all the fabric from Joann's like that, she orders alot the first time and every time she uses 2 bolts ( Joanns only sells 8 yd bolts) she special orders more of it. When they try and charge you shipping and handling- ask them why are you paying for a stock item to be shipped from their warehouse??? And if they try to charge anyway - have it shipped to your home. Good luck in your new adventure.