What's a good price for fabric?

[mollybrown]

I'm trying to buy fabrics for some bench cushions, and I'm lost.  I'm seeing prices from $12 a yard to $100 a yard.  I don't want to cheap out, but I don't want to spend too much either.  What's a good price per yard?

[pitterwoo]

depends a ton on what the fabric is made of and how it's made. do you want this to be durable, just look cute from a distance, want stain or fade protection? start by comparing the same types of fabric.

[mollybrown]

These are all cotton fabrics, so I'm guessing the lower end of the spectrum is more reasonable. I am SO out of my league right now...

[TBM]

Unless it is a sale price or an end of bolt kind of situation, to some extent, you get what you pay for. There is are many quality levels of cotton...different varieties of cotton, different thread counts, weaves, etc.. Cheapest doesn't necessarily mean the best buy.

I'm not saying that you need to spend $100 (or more) per yd, but something that people sit on will wear out faster than something like an accent pillow...especially if you use go too cheap on the fabric.

Often end of bolts with lower yardage amounts wind up on sale or in a remnant pile. It's a good way to get better quality at a lower price.

[ssmjlm]

I would say for bench cushions you want a home decorator weight fabric, not a cotton quilt type fabric.

Cotton has gone up in price, so for quilting fabrics anywhere from $8-$12/yard is decent. I'm not really that familiar with home dec fabrics. Your best bet is to visit a local store and just touch things like Pitterwoo said.

[auntie]

Mar 3, 2013 17:22:17 GMT -5 mollybrown said:

I'm trying to buy fabrics for some bench cushions, and I'm lost.  I'm seeing prices from $12 a yard to $100 a yard.  I don't want to cheap out, but I don't want to spend too much either.  What's a good price per yard?

Hard to say.

For bench cushions you'd need at least a home dec 54" cotton fabric. I would expect to pay a minimum of $10/yd for a second, over-run or discontinued patterns from a good line like Waverly, Kaufman, probably closer to $12 from my Fabric Row wholesalers in Philly. Cotton prices have spiked in the last 3 years.

If you're looking for a more labor intensive weave or first quality or upolstery grade fabrics, $30- $70/yd would be more likely.

It totally depends on what you need.

For a bench, I might look at a substantial Waverly cotton or cotton/linen blend at the very least.

[imojoebunny]

I would use sunbrella fabric for this. It is not really soft, but is designed for outdoor use and thus holds up to sun and stains. I think it is around $13 a yard.

[mollybrown]

Thanks for the guidance! I'm slowly able to narrow the fabrics down.