Grip of the day

I agree that occasionally S&H charges are too high (one reason I LOVE amazon.com Prime).

I suspect it's the "H" part of S&H. Even at minimum wage, it has to cost the company >something< to locate the bolt, cut the swatch, address the envelope, stuff the swatch in the envelope, and rush it to the post office.

I'm well aware that it's not a cost free thing to send a swatch. Most large firms are automated. Fabric .com,Vogue fabrics. Fashion Fabric club to name a few so the handling is less. Of course robots cost money too.. When I buy fabric I weigh the cost of shipping with my searching my area and feel shipping is cheap, but that just rankled me. I use Amazon smile because a small percentage of the purchase price price going to the Linus Fund. I don't mind that even on prime, which I have, the price is frequently a bit higher than some other places. No running around. Juno

Years ago when I shopped QVC I always thought their shipping charges were t hrough the roof for the smallest item. Shipping charges were being discuss ed one day on their site and it was put out that they calculated what charg es would be from Pennsylvania to their farthest shipping destination and th ey used that to base ALL their shipping fees no matter how close you lived. I don't know if this is true or not but does seem plausible that other co mpanies use the same method.

I no longer shop at QVC because of this and they've always charged me sales tax which was an incentive to NOT shop there. I no longer shop at Amazon because as of 12-31-13 they also charge me sales tax.

You could always move to Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire or Oregon. .

Yeah, I won't order swatches either, with those sorts of charges. However, I can kind of see it from the company's point of view... it does take time and materials to cut tag, locate, then mail a swatch, and I wonder how many requests for free swatches they'd get from starry eyed "just saw my first episode of Project Runway and I know I can make better dresses than those" novices who've never sewn a stitch......

That's part of the reason I've liked buying from fabricmartfabrics.com -- the photos are good enough that you get an idea of the drape of the fabric, and they do accept returns. I wish more online stores would take heed of their photographs and try to emulate them.

I tend not to mind paying swatching charges from specialized companies that will send me a folder of, say, current cotton shirtings. Or stretch cordura. Or all their base silks. But when I'm only interested in one fabric that's not well described or photographed, and they want a high shipping charge, I figure I can find it again elsewhere, or find something else that will do as well....

Whatcha looking for? Maybe I've seen something similar locally in Portland.

Kay (have camera, will photograph ;-) )

First, thanks for correcting my spelling. ;) I bought some stretch rayon from Fabric.com in a leopard print. 2 1/2 yard black and brown and 2 1/2 gray and black. Washed, dried it flat and folded it.took it out yesterday to cut one piece"wide s to make an infinity scarf. It looked a lot wider than before I washed it. Measured and found my 57-60" wide fabric is now about 74". It has absolutely no stretch left to it. I emailed fabric.com today asking for a refund. I Havent heard back yet. The swatch I was looking at was a blue and black cotton stretch lightweight jersey from Mood fabric. I wanted to feel it and see if it was the weight I wanted for the scarves I hope to make. The girls love the animal prints. These are supposed to be Christmas gifts. Since we won't see the grandchildren until the middle of January, I have plenty of time to make them. They ask me to make something for them every year and I usually try to. So If you see something,while out, that looks like it will work I 'd appreciate it if you let me know where I can buy the fabric. I'll keep looking on line. Juno

I don't mind paying sales tax. Anything I buy on line with tax is still less expensive than buying local. NY State tax is 3.25 %. Combine tax for state and county is 8.50%. It's cheaper and better that anything I can find in Joanns. Added to that is the the time and gas . My time is worth a lot to me. Juno

Unfortunately, I tend not to trust the heavily discounted lycra containing fabrics unless I know they're from a store that does a huge turnover. Heat is especially damaging to lycra/spandex/elastane, and a season or two in an unairconditioned warehouse... well, doesn't do the fabric any good.

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Unless something's change drastically in the last few years, you need to sew to work the floor at Fabric Depot. So it's probably safe to ask someone there something like "would you make an infinity scarf from this?":

Also:

Sales tax here is 9.25% but no state income tax.

Kay Lancaster wrote: [...]

For various meanings of "need to sew". My very nice across-the-street neighbor works there. She proudly told me the other day she "is going to take [her] first sewing classes soon." She has worked at FD for over a year.

I have never seen anything she actually sewed. All of her clothing appears to be RTW. It may be that she quilts.

In the eighties, I carried my passport in a bandanna tied around my waist under my shirt.

Measured today: forty inches. Maybe if I tied two bandannas corner-to-corner . . .

:-))) I can empathise and all I can say, is 'Bless the person who invented elastic'.

I've been thinking a lot about elastic since there were admissions form a couple of us that we'd never wear a zippered pack around our waists.

I have quite a stash of various kinds and before I've gone to sleep over the past couple of nights, I've been recalling the types of elastic waists I've used and which I prefer. I don't like a single lot of elastic but I do like to use 2 or even 3 casings and then never seem to use any elastic over about three quarters of an inch.

That's my personal elastic foibles exposed.