How are you saving $ on your hobby?

GrannyNeedle55

All are great tips..I save more money by trading stuff that I dont want anymore.  Also since I am home stitching, I am not eating out!!!!

nudkks

tcca replied at 2013-9-26 09:08

                               
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i made my own floss bobbins too from some cardstock tht I had printed with a bunch of stuff that I ...

best way -and its good for the environment. x

Slige

Can you tell me what a floss friend is please?

jazzo

Why not start a floss friend group

mayoungpindiy

I agree with Soapmaker - thrift stores (especially the non-profit church run stores) are my best money saving tip.  Ive found beautiful even weave fabrics, kits, and floss.  It takes patience to acquire enough for a certain project but thats what makes it fun.

lasice

Patterns from this forum or russian, spanish sites. It is the best way for me.

DMC, which are not designet to europian market (EU), buying together with my friends, so we can share postage.
I have two qsnaps, don´t need more. No-name = local - threads for charity stitching and small easy projects, local needles are good, problem is fabric. Aida 14 only in basic colors, aida 16 white and ecru. Nothing else. Fabric from other countries is very expensive - RICO, Zweigart, DMC aida with grids, colored fabric or ordinary linen...it all cost too much + high postage + high customs. Ebay is not good - high postage + high customs + not many sellers are willing send package to my country (and no, I am not from Russia).
Yes, nice fabric and linen fabric I envy most in stitch diary.  :)

3furrycats

I buy charts from two facebook groups.  Sometimes I just want the hard copy.  I sold off almost $1100 worth of stash.

Mo sells his DMC overdyed threads for $1.00 per skein and $1.50 for silk.  He has a great selection too.  Last winter I snagged a p/t job at Yankee Candle.  Yep...it went for X-stitch supplies and paying off a medical bill.  

Chart sharing is a possibility.  When my LNS has a sale (twice a year), I buy my 32ct Belfast for 50% off.  She also has DMC for .25 each once a month.  She doesnt ship on the DMC though.  I look around at garage sales too.  I bought my project bag full of goodies for $6.

bikergirl1515

I use Ebay a fair bit to get the bits and pieces that I want along with waiting for them to come on at the right price if I am not in a hurry. I also get a lot of charts from Etsy which are pretty cheap and I can start stitching right away!

imuni55

Honestly, I dont save money at it at all - even more, I spend more and more with each year. I dont like to substitute materials, because almost always the original materials look better. And Ive tried substituting, believe me.
I worked with Aida (very cheap one), local evenweave and linen. And in the end, for me its only linen (for Mirabilias, at least)! When I was working with the Spring Queen, it was my first work on evenweave, and I was constantly afraid that I will pull her and the crosses will be more in height than in width. It was crazy. From that time on I only use evenweave for relatively small projects - notebooks, sachets, that kind of stuff.
I also tried to use "grandmothers threads", but they turned out to be SO bad - they frayed and broke all the time! ALL the time, like 3-4 times in an hour! I decided that Im never doing it again.
So no, I dont save, because I want the things that I do to be of the best quality and easiest to work with.

P.S. And ebay or amazon dont work for me - they dont ship here, and the customs are crazy (when were talking about US ones). I could ask my friends to shop for me on the German ones, but thats too big of a thing to ask, IMO. I can 100% do this for electronics - "buy for me this one item, please" certainly sounds better than "I need this lot, and that one, and 5 more".

kathyhase

I save money by hunting very hard for free patterns. This site has been an answer to prayer.
I shop at the local thrift stores for thread.
I recently bought a bunch of needles and supplies from Amazon