[Ansteorra] Cheap cotton

[Forrest Hedrick]

Greetings All,
             I thought I might through my Turban in the ring on this one.  Playing Turk, I have managed to find some great deals on gauzes and cottons over the years.  the best by far I have found, is the utility wieght muslin.  It comes 50 yards to the bolt, and is 38" wide.  Any who know me, know I have to buy fabric by the acre so this helps greatly!  
             The other side of this coin is you can buy it at wal-Mart, Joann's and Hancocks for anywhere from .88 cents a yard to $1.09.  It also takes the Rit dyes beautifully.  Especially if you dye the finsihed garment, and use white vinegar and salt in the mix. The colors come out darker and richer, and "hold" better.  It'll bleach to a shining white, and last forever.  Some of you might recall seeing me run around in all white at events.  The pants for that set of garb are 9 years old now!  It survived 5 years of Ren Fair demo, and I've lost count of the number of events. 
                Seasonal sales are also a great soruce for material. Joann's usually has a "cheap" table for velvet around the holidays.  It's mostly end of bolts and you seldom find anything over a couple of yards, but there are usually tons of  these 2 yard pieces to chose from, so you can "piece" together enough for a garment.  The same goes for Brocades and tapestries. hancocks has a huge selection on discount tables.  The upside is that I know a couple of the mangers here in the Houston area will be glad to order certain types of fabric to cater to the SCA and other groups.  At least the Kuykendahl store here used to. 
                 One other thing I have found is you can find upholstery fabrics that are done in striped sections, that while using the entire piece would result in an "old couch" doublet, cut apart the individual "stripes" make great trim.  MUCH cheaper than buying trim by the yard.  IE most of the remnants run about $4 a yard and are 48 to 65 inches wide, so for $8 you end up with 10 to 12 yards of trim, depending on the pattern and width of stripes.  
   



In Service to the Dream and Ansteorra,

Lord Ambrose Blackwood von Mapt, al Kaleed Ibn Tarl

Apprentice to Mistress Shanahan the Fey

(more notoriously known as, Fo)


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