I'm not sure if I qualify as a cheap-o or not, but I certainly am frugal. I've made every one of my quilts on a Singer I got at Walmart for about $100. I've never taken a class. Alex and Simply Quilts and Quilter's Newsletter Magazine have been my teachers. All my fabric came from Walmart until we got a LQS here in town, and I still shop walmart. I'm alot pickier than I used to be though. Any pattern I use I modify to suit myself and note where it came from and whose it is. This obsession of ours can get expensive and it's worth every penny, but everyone has to do the best with what they have to spend.--Sherry

Quiltzilla wrote:
Then it sounds to me like you are probably walking on the right side of the street!

The problem is those who do want to copy someone's work, rather than simply be loosely inspired to create their own patterns. It is unfair to "steal" someone's creative product for one's own profit. I would love for our society to find more incentives for creative output. It saddens me to think that we might not be able to find some of the wonderful books, patterns, magazines and other inspirations we enjoy, if the companies who publish, distribute and sell them to us decde they are not worth the effort. You know, kind of like HGTV deciding to kill Alex's program? Thank goodness she and Ricky and some other forward-thinkers have come up with an alternative outlet! But even they could not have invested whatever it is taking to get this going if there was no reasonable expectation of recouping the costs (and hopefully profiting a bit).

To me, though, it is a person's right to be a Cheap-O quilter, to find ways to keep costs manageable and economize as need be. We all must live within our means. I don't see an ethical dilemma in that per se. It is when it comes to taking other people's work that it is no longer Cheap-O, but outright stealing. That is a whole different matter.

I'm sorry, but I don't see anything wrong with NOT buying a pattern. There are lots of patterns to be found free online & there are lots of quilts that anyone could easily make without purchasing a pattern.
Our grandmothers copied each others' quilts long before anyone thought to pay someone for their expertise.
I certainly would never take credit for the pattern, nor would I expect someone to share knowledge gained from a class or book. I love to look at magazines & pattern books, but often start making changes & my quilt ends up quite different than the published pattern.

I am irritated by those teachers who insist that you could never make anything without taking their class. I feel sorry for new quilters who are too afraid to start without a huge financial investment in tools, books & classes. Sometimes they think they have to use the exact fabric & are afraid they'll fail if they change anything to suit their own taste.

I had just read this thread today and at my quilt guild meeting tonight someone came up for Sew and Tell with an Easter Egg wall hanging she had made. She had seen the pattern at the quilt show but had not bought it, knowing she could easily copy it!

Tama

I got another cheapo

After our quilt guild meeting we had a class to learn a simple way of making bulls eye quilts.

It all had to be pre-paid a month ahead of time.

ONE of our quilters stayed through out the class, when I asked her where her sample block was, of which we were all working on. Her reply was OH she didn't sign up for the class.

Yet, she got the same lessons, and learning experience the rest of us paid for.

Where's the quilt police when you need them.

This is so true! I know several quilters who have this CheapO trait. They are big turn offs to be around when you want to share your passion and interest in quilting. I buy items on sale when possible but I don't buy low quality no matter how cheap the price.

This happened to me last night at a group meeting!

One girl came up to talk to me and showed me a complicated block of the month she was just starting. And then she said - its needleturn applique, I have never done that so I thought you could teach me how!!!

I never mind helping anyone or advising anyone in our group because I always think what goes around comes around. But her assumption that I would be prepared to teach her needle turn applique from scratch I thought was the limit.

How did I learn? I went to and paid for several workshops and classes.

However I couldn't just brush her off so I found books from our library and suggested she took those and tried some techniques out first and then I would fill in any gaps next week.

Perhaps I should say to her that I will run a workshop for her and it will cost .........

Nothing gets me more agitated than a cheapo quilter. The "Too high for my blood' type quilters are a real drag to be around. I'm not referring to quilters on a tight budget, there is a big difference. Quilters on a tight budget know value. The CheapO quilter is a nitwit when it comes to value.


1. The CheapO will use a dull rotary blade until it takes five or more passes to cut a piece of fabric.

2. The CheapO won't buy the good seam ripper because she can get one on the $1 rack and then picks a hole in her fabric while taking out a seam.

3. The CheapO will go with the group to the quilt store and then complain all the time about how expensive everything is.

4. The CheapO won't take a workshop or class because 'I'd have to buy the book and kit when I know I could get it cheaper someplace else'.

5. The CheapO thinks anyone is foolish to spend more than $1 for a spool of thread and proud that she doesn't.

6. The CheapO thinks a dollar store sewing kit with tiny fold up scissors is perfect for a guild door prize when it's her turn to bring one.

7. The CheapO won't buy a quilt pattern or a book for a new technique because she can look at it and figure it out on her own.