The Sewing Place

Seriously Liberty and JL?

Louweasel

Seriously Liberty and JL?
« on: June 21, 2017, 07:48:46 AM »
Planning a project for a friend who wants to learn some quilting. I wanted to buy a kaffe fassett charm pack so usually I'd go online, but I wanted aqua colours and the nearest colourway was too green so I thought I'd choose a few FQs. John Lewis has long stocked these fabrics so off I hop onto a nasty sweaty tube. To find out they don't stock Rowan fabrics at all anymore. The man suggested I try Liberty so I went there, knowing the mark-up would be high but not wanting my trip to be wasted and thinking I would save p&p, plus I wanted to be able to have the fabrics in front of me to match and compare which is difficult online.
The minimum cut for the lovely selection of kaffe fassett fabrics by Rowan (probably all fabrics) is half a metre. Half a metre! For quilting fabrics! No quilter in their right mind will shop there, it would only be good to select the fabrics and note down the pattern name and colour to order elsewhere; but if nobody buys they'll stop stocking them.
Especially as they do stock the charm packs (I wanted a colourway that is available as well as aqua colours) but the price... A reputable online seller of quilting supplies, with a bricks and mortar shop as well (so no dodgy eBay nonsense) sells them at £9.50. At Liberty they are £25. Yrs you did read that correctly; twenty five pounds. I'd expect maybe £12 because it is Liberty, but over two and a half times as expensive!?!?!
Went home and ordered online as best I could so fingers crossed the aqua fabrics coordinate...

b15erk

Re: Seriously Liberty and JL?
« Reply #1 on: June 21, 2017, 08:57:14 AM »
Louweasel, those prices are eye watering!  I'm not a quilter, and just dabble occasionally, but I certainly wouldn't be buying from either shop at those prices.

No wonder people shop online....  ><

Jessie
Jessie, who is very happy to be here!!  :),  but who has far too many sewing machines to be healthy, and a fabric stash which is becoming embarrassing.

rubywishes

Re: Seriously Liberty and JL?
« Reply #2 on: June 21, 2017, 09:27:54 AM »
Minimum cut over here at bricks and mortar stores is usually 20cm...far more reasonable than half a blooming metre...good grief!!!
I'm sure the fabric you ordered on line will be fine....sending positive thoughts and vibes to you! :flower:
Juki TL2010Q, Juki DX7,  Singers: 1917 27K treadle (aka Gertie), 1957 99k (aka Vincent), 1951 99k knee lever (aka Shirley), 1950 99k handcrank (aka Alice), 1927 28K (aka Dora), 1947 201K treadle with motor conversion (aka Livvy)
....and the dusting and vacuming can wait!

BrendaP

Re: Seriously Liberty and JL?
« Reply #3 on: June 21, 2017, 10:09:18 AM »
And I think that the local P&Q emporia is expensive with most fabrics in the £10-£13 per metre price range!  but for that money whe will happily cut a FQ from the bolt and put the other half into the FQs tray, or cut any length you want 0.2m.
Brenda.  My machines are: Corona, a 1953 Singer 201K-3, Caroline, a 1940 Singer 201K-3, Thirza, 1949 Singer 221K, Azilia, 1957 Singer 201K-MK2 and Vera, a Husqvarna 350 SewEasy about 20 years old. Also Bernina 1150 overlocker and Elna 444 Coverstitcher.
http://paternoster.orpheusweb.co.

Iminei

Re: Seriously Liberty and JL?
« Reply #4 on: June 21, 2017, 13:35:02 PM »
Doughtys only sell in 1/2m  cuts ...

but they are very well priced and the batiks are so beautiful you almost always want more  :\
The Imperfect Perfectionist sews again

Lowena

Re: Seriously Liberty and JL?
« Reply #5 on: June 21, 2017, 14:30:04 PM »
1/2 m is a good amount to buy, especially if one is not too skilled at cutting out without waste. Fq can sometimes be not quite enough.
Charm packs are usually in the region of £12.50 and most p & q fabrics ( round here ) are between £12 and £14 per m.
Triumph of hope over experience :D

Louweasel

Re: Seriously Liberty and JL?
« Reply #6 on: June 21, 2017, 22:17:39 PM »
But if you want a few different patterns and you're making two cushion covers, buying half metres is way too much. There's a reason p&q shops sell FQs!
John Lewis will cut 20cm, that's why I went there first. Half a metre is especially too much at £18.95 per metre. I know kaffe fassett is a bit more expensive but my favoured online/real store as mentioned sells it at £13.80. To be fair that's the sort of mark up I'd expect from Liberty though; it was the mark up of 150% on the charm packs that got me!
£12-13 for a normal charm pack sounds dear to me - at the aforementioned P&Q shop Moda ones are £10.95 for forty squares. Another shop I use (online and bricks and mortar) charges £11. The kaffe fassett ones have only 30 squares in.

Vegegrow

Re: Seriously Liberty and JL?
« Reply #7 on: June 22, 2017, 08:05:28 AM »
Doughtys only sell in 1/2m  cuts ...

but they are very well priced and the batiks are so beautiful you almost always want more  :\
I think I've bought in 25cm from them?!!
"The only place where housework comes before needlework is in the dictionary." ~Mary Kurtz

rubywishes

Re: Seriously Liberty and JL?
« Reply #8 on: June 22, 2017, 08:45:00 AM »
1/2 m is a good amount to buy, especially if one is not too skilled at cutting out without waste. Fq can sometimes be not quite enough.

Just this afternoon I ruined two beautiful floral fat quarters by incorrect cutting and sewing  :angry: and it was all I had of them so now I'm heading for the  :toast: and hoping that tomorrow after work I can get back to the shop and rummage about and find another two....don't like my chances, Murphys' Law and all that....grrrrrrrr.
Juki TL2010Q, Juki DX7,  Singers: 1917 27K treadle (aka Gertie), 1957 99k (aka Vincent), 1951 99k knee lever (aka Shirley), 1950 99k handcrank (aka Alice), 1927 28K (aka Dora), 1947 201K treadle with motor conversion (aka Livvy)
....and the dusting and vacuming can wait!

b15erk

Re: Seriously Liberty and JL?
« Reply #9 on: June 22, 2017, 09:11:18 AM »
I'm not a patchworker, I just dabble now and again, but when I first tried it (about 7 years ago) , I went down to Abakhan, all gung ho, and spent about 50 squid on fabric.  That same fabric is still going strong - I think it will outlive me!  :o

I bought in metres and 2 metres, just as I would dress fabric.  As a result, the same fabrics keep greeting me in the pw box...  :S

I never thought that 1/2 a metre goes a long, long way!

None of the fabrics I bought were more than a few pounds a metre though.  Methinks there is a bit of an excessive profit margin with these two sellers.

Jessie

Jessie, who is very happy to be here!!  :),  but who has far too many sewing machines to be healthy, and a fabric stash which is becoming embarrassing.

Iminei

Re: Seriously Liberty and JL?
« Reply #10 on: June 22, 2017, 19:41:55 PM »
I think I've bought in 25cm from them?!!

Maybe just at the roadshows and shoes then ?!

Because today I bought 1 3/4 of a ...ahem !! ... certain reversible Japanese fabric ...
The Imperfect Perfectionist sews again