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Wild Thyme OriginalsGet to know the upholstery shops in your town! We just had a lovely chair re-upholstered... and while I was in the stop, looking through the sample fabric books, I mentioned to the owner that I make mini bears out of some of those fabrics..... She had 5 old sample books in the back office that had beautiful BIG (12x12) squares of upholstery fabrics that they don't stock any more.... I walked out with an arm full of squares... maybe 50....! That's enough for me to make maybe 100 bears!!!!! For free! Why have I never thought of this before?
:doh:
Beary truly yours,
kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals
Posts: 3,177Coo, better get down to DFS quick!
Penny 
UKWow Kim that is Fabulous ! i cant ever imagine making a bear out of a 12x12 square!
Wild Thyme OriginalsHi Pipa! I can actually get at least two minis out of a 12x12 square... sometimes more, depending on if they have bent legs etc....
I can't believe I've been paying fo rthis stuff when it's been free for the asking the whole time!
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals
UKWow they must be teeny ! all my bears are 11-12 inche upwards which take over 1/2 a fat quarter of fabric! i tried a couple of minis once. they came out cute but i hated making them, i dont enjoy it for some reason LOL!
Wow yep. it sure will save ALot of money getting the samples, it just goes to show there are all kinds of places we can find supplies and sometimes for fREE which is even better 
Baird'sBears Great idea, Kim! :hug:
I'm off to search the Yellow Pages!
Eileen
Bears-a-Bruin!What kind of backing does it have Kim? I'm going to have to investigate this, thanks for the tip! Sometimes I search eBay for fabric that isn't aimed at bear-makers, and have found some great mohairs that way (one lady didn't realise it was mohair she was selling, so it wasn't advertised as such - but she was still happy to sell it to me at a low price when I explained it to her....).
Is it long pile, or medium? Questions, questions! 
Wild Thyme OriginalsHi all! Most of what I grabbed was fairly traditional medium pile upholstery velvet with the grid backing. A few have that sort of white fabric looking backing (non stretch & non frey), similar to what a vintage rayon backing looks like, but they weren't rayon! I also found a coupl eof pieces of long pile... not as long or as lush as the Malden Mills type... but close! Also some really interesting textured velvets with a grid backing.
It's funny, to an upholstery shop an piece of 12x12 fabric is a total swatch... to me it doesn't get the point of being a true scrap until it's like postage stamp sized! I offered to pay the owner for the old swatches, sinc eto me they are something that has a value... but she wouldn't heard of it! How sweet! She'll be getting a nice little gift basket from me in the next couple of days, that's for sure.
Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals
Posts: 8,574Hey Kim I am really happy for you....what a find!
Of course the only industries here are lumber and Methamphetamine. And the meth industry is stronger and goes year round.
Hmmmmm
I don't think I want anything to do with them. Meth. What a waste!
But you galls living in cities, what a great idea!
Thank you for sharing this info Kim- very kind.....
Dilu
UKkim that is so sweet of you to send her a gift basket and kind of her to let them go free, i guess as far as they are concerned they would have been dumped in the bin anyway so if you found a use from them she was probably happy to "recycle" something that was destined for the bin
oh you are so lucky...we simply don't have the right kind of uv here...I did find some a few years ago but haven't seen it for ages.
