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When my oldest started taking reasonably lengthened naps and I started getting sleep at night, I found myself wanting to make things. I had worked full time before my daughter was born and was still new to being at home during the day. I started out ambitious and wanted to make clothes for my daughter. After seeing the price of fabric I started learning all about how to make clothes out of the fabric from old clothes. Most of my ideas never came to fruition but I did learn several other ways to get fabric for free or cheap along the way.
Ways to Get Cloth For Free or Cheap
1. Old clothes
As mentioned above, you can reuse old clothes. If you have clothes that no longer fit, this is a good way to use them. Clothes that are still in good shape except for a small stain or tear will work too. You can also combine this idea with the following ideas and get clothes and therefore fabric for cheap or free.
2. Thrift store
You can also check out your local Arc or Goodwill. A lot of people don’t realize that thrift stores sell fabric, but is normally by the blankets, curtains, and that kind of stuff. It will be a lot cheaper than if you buy it at a store, but you will be limited in colors and amounts.
3. Neighborhood sites
I get most of my fabric from the neighborhood site Nextdoor. Facebook marketplace and local buy nothing groups are also great options. You can ask your neighbors on these sites or apps if they have any fabric they are looking to get rid of. I have received a lot of high quality fabric this way and a lot of it was even free.
4. Friends and family
I also got a lot of my fabric from a lady at church who was getting rid of her stash that had accumulated over the years. If your friends and family know that you have been making fabric crafts, they may also give you some. You can also find a craft buddy and trade pieces of fabric to have a greater variety.
5. Fabric bundles
For projects that only use small pieces of cloth, like most projects on Crayons and Spice, you can also look into cloth bundles. They come with a whole bunch of smaller squares of a variety of fabric. It is more expensive per yard of fabric, but it gets you a lot of variety for cheaper. I have seen them at Walmart and Hobby Lobby or you can get something like this or this online.
I hope you enjoy building up your own personal stash of cloth. Once you have some, head over to these posts to find ways to use it.
