Cheap!

I remember going to the fabric store when I was little and sitting at the pattern book table, flipping through the huge pattern books, sticking my fingers in every page with a pattern that caught my eye until I ran out of fingers. I still love going through patterns, but now I do it online. It’s a little easier on my fingers. I like to go through the pattern websites and make lists of patterns I’d want to buy (double checking I haven’t already bought them, which has happened more than once).

Then I watch the sales.

When the particular brand of pattern I want goes on sale for $1 I go buy it. Which is how I ended up coming home with these 9 patterns the other week, spending a grand total of $9.72 after tax.

Having been raised by a mom who taught me to look for bargains, I’ve never really thought about how much patterns really cost, because I only ever buy them on sale. So I was a bit flabbergasted when I looked at the bottom of my receipt and saw that I’d saved $122.64! What?!? That couldn’t be right.

But the manufacturers suggested retail price for the patterns range from $12 to $16. Who in their right mind would pay that much for a pattern?! Especially since they go on sale for $1 each month. Which means they are still making a profit when they sell them for $1. Makes me wonder just how insanely high the retail value for my pattern collection is.

Last week I used a combination of sales and rewards to get a pair of maternity capris for $1.40, regularly $44. I’m good! Since I felt a little weird buying a pair of pants for under $2 at a store (I’ve paid that much for pants at a garage sale several times), I bought this cute little outfit, also on sale, for $7. It has turtles on it!

With fabric I’d previously purchased on sale, I made these out of one of the patterns I just bought and a pattern I bought previously (also for a LOT less than MSRP).

I like sales. Also, there might be a pattern to what I’m buying lately.