0:00 this beautiful fabric was all thrifted
0:03 and I'm going to show you how to get
0:04 quality fabric spending way less money
0:07 than you would in a fabric store first
0:09 we go in my favorite thrift store and I
0:11 head straight for the men's shirts
0:13 because they're usually full of quality
0:16 fabric you can feel the quality of the
0:18 100% cotton in your hands as you touch
0:20 them the first thing I look for is of
0:22 course color what am I looking for what
0:24 am I going to do with this fabric the
0:26 second is I want to have a big men's
0:28 shirt and I want to make sure there's
0:30 not extra seams in the back that will
0:32 cut up the fabric I want it to be big
0:34 honken pieces so I look for giant men
0:36 shirts I like long sleeves because you
0:39 get so much more yardage with a long
0:40 sleeve and I like color I am forever
0:43 looking for oranges and reds and the
0:46 brighter happy colors I do seem to like
0:49 blue too so I look for color I look for
0:52 size I make sure that it's 100% cotton
0:55 if it's a short sleeve I might buy it if
0:58 the color is wonderful enough and if the
1:00 price is low enough it just depends on
1:02 what I'm wanting but long sleeves are
1:05 definitely preferable I always start in
1:07 the extra extra large place because you
1:09 get more f for your buck in the fabric I
1:12 check if the fabric is what I like I
1:14 like this one it's not a plaid I often
1:17 look for things that aren't plaids like
1:19 florals and other things but many of
1:22 these have polyester in them so you
1:24 really do have to check to make sure
1:25 they're 100% cotton at least I do
1:27 because I'm a little bit of a cotton
1:28 snob I want it to be quality cotton and
1:31 I want it to be 100% cotton so check for
1:34 wear and tear you can check on the edge
1:36 of the sleeves on the back of the collar
1:38 and you can see this has been worn a lot
1:41 and that means the fibers aren't as
1:43 strong in the rest of the shirt this one
1:45 has a stain it's a stain in a place that
1:47 won't matter so I might buy it anyway
1:49 but I always check for stains because
1:52 sometimes there are stains in places you
1:53 just didn't notice till you get home so
1:55 be aware of where the stains are and if
1:57 you can live with that or not I love
2:00 novelty prints and very rarely I get a
2:02 novelty print that is 100% cotton often
2:05 they have polyester built into them
2:07 brights I've done Lots with brights you
2:10 can feel by watching and looking this
2:12 one has poly in it and poly is just not
2:14 going to work as well I'm a fabric snob
2:16 and I want 100% cotton I want it to be
2:19 quality cotton and I want it to look
2:20 nice and these days they keep putting
2:23 spandex in so you'll get 3% spandex so
2:25 be careful I have purchased Women's
2:28 cotton dresses Women's cotton skirts
2:31 baby clothes that are out of cotton and
2:34 other cotton things in a thrift store
2:36 before those purchases are rare and they
2:38 just happen because I just can't resist
2:41 I do however always look in Linens I
2:44 look in sheets I like to buy 100% cotton
2:47 sheets for foundations for my string
2:49 blocks I love that you can sometimes
2:51 find novelty Fabrics I find that the
2:54 quality is variable so that last one it
2:57 was 100% cotton but it was terrible so
3:00 be sure to always check quality my tools
3:03 are ready and I'm going to break down a
3:04 shirt for you there's a lot of people
3:06 who've done this online but my way is a
3:08 little bit different because I give
3:11 myself permission as you're going to see
3:14 to waste things that take too much of my
3:16 time so this is a pretty quick process
3:19 to break down a shirt and put it back
3:20 into Fabric and it is kind of sad I try
3:23 not to think about that it was sewn
3:25 together so I could take it apart again
3:27 but it's such a wonderful way to buy
3:29 fabric for less you can get quality
3:31 wonderful fabric so first I take the
3:34 buttons off I make sure they don't pop
3:35 all over the world and then I just slide
3:37 my scissors up and I take that whole
3:39 front thick piece off yes I know it has
3:42 a proper name but let's not try to say
3:44 it and act like I'm a seams dress or
3:45 anything so we're just going to take all
3:47 the thick parts off and I just run my
3:50 scissors and they're very sharp I use my
3:52 Kai scissors and I just run them along
3:54 the seam down at the Hem I am not very
3:57 big of a perfectionist close enough is
3:59 close enough and if I waste a little
4:01 it's okay with me because speed is my
4:03 friend I keep all the buttons just
4:06 because they're the best toy
4:08 grandchildren could ever hope to play
4:10 with disclaimer the children need to be
4:12 old enough not to put them in their
4:13 mouth or choke on them also you can use
4:16 buttons for so many amazing quilting
4:19 projects I also cut off all the tags and
4:21 then I go for the sleeves and my first
4:23 thing is to cut the sleeve off there's
4:25 so much fabric in the sleeve I do not
4:28 believe in hurting myself over this so
4:31 again I just do close enough is close
4:34 enough I cut that little cuffy part off
4:37 some people believe after they cut this
4:39 cuff part off that they should save some
4:41 of the fabric in the cuff but it's not
4:44 worth the time to me some of you who
4:46 want to save every little piece are
4:48 probably having a cow but really I give
4:51 you permission to just throw that in the
4:53 garbage you do not have to keep it if
4:56 you do want to keep it I'm showing you
4:59 one time time how to keep it fast which
5:01 is use your cutter but you only get to
5:03 keep one of the pieces of fabric most of
5:05 them the interfacing is on there so hard
5:08 it's not usable and you can't use it
5:09 anyway and it's too much work sometimes
5:11 it peels off but not usually so it's not
5:13 worth it so I really do just throw the
5:15 Cuffs away I do not keep them then you
5:18 go down that one little seam and down
5:20 the other side of it and you have Tada
5:23 whole sleeve worth of fabric and it's
5:25 pretty great I like to press it and play
5:27 with it but we just get all the usable
5:29 fabric we can and we Salvage it and we
5:33 save it and then we fold it up into neat
5:35 little packages so that we can keep it
5:37 in my little bin so when I want it it is
5:39 ready for me time to cut the shoulder
5:42 Circle seam it's kind of like going
5:44 around or roundabout you just start
5:46 cutting you go around and around till
5:48 you come to the beginning and you have a
5:49 perfect little circle that cuts off the
5:51 shoulder seams and I do both and then
5:54 we're ready to do the rest this rest it
5:56 just keeps getting faster and faster as
5:58 you go it's really really therapeutic
6:00 and fun to cut a shirt apart and Salvage
6:03 the fabric so I cut across that whole
6:05 back and because there's tux taken in it
6:08 causes lots of yardage this is me
6:10 getting rid of the excess of the yolk I
6:13 use my cutter because it just gets the
6:15 seam off faster and it's quicker than
6:17 using scissors so slice slice slice and
6:20 these pieces are big enough to do lots
6:22 of things with so now we're done with
6:24 all the hard parts and we have just the
6:26 simple big yardage easy Parts left we
6:29 just sliced on both sides of the seams
6:32 and TDA we are ready to fold everything
6:35 up and take care of it it is really fun
6:37 to measure and see how much yardage you
6:39 get it's amazing when you have extra big
6:42 men's shirts versus maybe a medium shirt
6:45 the amount of yardage is so much bigger
6:48 and so that's always something to keep
6:50 track of here it's time to think about
6:52 Pockets I often we'll leave pockets in
6:54 and actually work them into a quilt it's
6:56 really fun to tuck a $100 bill in a
6:58 little pocket for a graduating senior if
7:01 you don't want to keep the pocket intact
7:03 then you just cut around it then take
7:05 your cutter and cut around the pocket as
7:08 quick as you can and Salvage the pieces
7:10 of fabric in the pocket it's not very
7:13 big but I find it to be still a useful
7:15 size to keep you have to take that top
7:18 one and cut off all the seams so it's
7:19 even smaller but it works and that's
7:22 another way to deal with the pockets and
7:23 we're ready to rock and roll here's that
7:25 gorgeous shirt I bought earlier in the
7:27 video it's so beautiful to me and I
7:29 still need to process it but I wanted to
7:31 show you these quilt blocks that I made
7:34 from the shirts that I bought earlier in
7:36 the video sometimes I just like to make
7:38 quilt blocks to use for charity quilts
7:41 and these go really well with a couple
7:43 of fabrics look how beauty that is going
7:45 to be when I put it into some pattern
7:47 that I come up with I don't know here's
7:49 another one and this one is sweeter
7:51 softer it could be for a woman's shelter
7:53 or for whatever I decide to use it for
7:56 this is fun to buy $18 worth of shirts
7:59 and make all those blocks I allow myself
8:01 to have four tubs of thrifted fabric I'm
8:04 not allowed to have more so when I run
8:06 out of space I have to start sewing this
8:08 is my thrifted Fabric and I have
8:10 beautiful colors I divide them into
8:12 colors they are so useful I use them all
8:15 the time I like plaids I like florals
8:19 these are my brighter ones in here and
8:21 some of it is little pieces of yardage
8:23 that go with plaids so I keep most of my
8:26 plaids in the tubs with my shirtings I
8:29 just want all of my thrifted fabric
8:31 together so if you need some fabric that
8:33 is less expensive some of you have been
8:35 writing to tell me how expensive fabric
8:37 is in your area it is worth going to
8:40 thrift stores and seeing what you can
8:41 find and picking some up that can bless
8:44 and serve your life stay Merry and
8:46 creative
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