@Bumblebuncher , you are a kook. I like that in a person. We'd be fast friends in real life.
So ladies I know some of you have heard the story I call "The Fabric Feeding Frenzy". For the rest, gather round amongst the piles, bins and rolls of fabric to hear the tale.
Once upon a time, long, long ago, about 2003, I had a friend named Debra. We met at Fiber Guild and had similar interests. She sewed garments, like I did, dyed fabric and was an avid quilter. She tried valiantly to get me into quilting but that came later. Debra lived in a 1920s mansion, close to 6000 square feet. She had a sewing room and a fabric room. The fabric room had at least 100 big tubs of fabric. Several additional rooms the closets were full of fabric and of course there was more fabric in the sewing room. She bought at yard sales, online, eBay and sales in the shops. She was a math teacher.
We would go shopping together, as one does. One crisp October day there was an excellent sale at Joann, one of the national big box fabric and craft shops. As a teacher she got a discount and she had a secondary 20% off coupon that could be added on. We searched the store with a keen eye. Clearance fabric an extra 50% off. Muslin, calico I believe to you gals, 75% off. Basic fusible interfacing 4 yards for $1. Yup, two still cellowrapped bolts of the muslin into the cart. Quilt fabric, tencel, rayon, knits, linen, we heaped it in. She taught me the phrase "I'll take the bolt." It gets easier the more you say it.
We left, triumphant and headed to a home decor fabric store. We'll. They had a new buyer and were totally revamping every thing. They were marking things down directly to clearance prices, no intermediate markdowns. Tapestry fabric from $25-$30 yard down to $1, $2 or $3. Dupioni silk from $12 to $2. All kinds of jacquard and brocade same thing. We bought a lot. I went back the next day and they said my friend had just left. Reverse that again a day or two later. Some things we split.
All in all over the course of 8 or 9 days I bought 300 yards of fabric. Yikes. That includes muslin and interfacing. Oh, it came to $300. Yes, I still have most of it. Yes I have bought additional fabric since then but none recently. Yes I haven't been sewing in a while.
They moved to Idaho shortly after that. I miss her but she was a bad influence.