Hello,
My name is rachelle and I am in possession of a large collection of vintage fabric. It’s been collected over several decades by my late grandmother. I’d say 40-50 percent of the material is scrap sized, but there are some large pieces as well. I’m a crafter and I intend to use as much of the fabric as I can in various projects because I believe that’s what my grandmother would’ve wanted. When pricing my items, would I be foolish not to raise the price when using vintage fabric? I am unaware of the market value, just aware of the sentimental value. Should people pay more for a scrap of fabric that isn’t being made anymore? I’d appreciate your thoughts.
By: Rachelle Martin Wilburn
Hi Rachelle,
that is a tough question. It really depends on several things. One, how old is the fabric in the piece you are working on? Do you have documentation? Is your project high quality?
I would recommend doing some research on vintage materials as well as researching current prices on the projects your turning these materials into. Fabric collectors aren’t necessarily going to purchase materials if they are turned into something else. The raw is the thing. There are several article on vintage fabrics here on fabrics.net that would help you. Hope that helps.
Hi Rachelle,
The first challenge is to put a value on the vintage fabric from your Grandmother’s stash. In general the value of any vintage item is what someone will pay for it. I don’t mean this as joke or put down but vintage fabric dating takes more than a date, it takes knowledge of textiles and understanding the quality and condition of each individual piece of fabric. Where one fabric piece may be rare, another may be very easily found.
Your original question about pricing items made from vintage fabric is more than just a question on whether the fabric is vintage. As you can imagine, a lot more than questions about vintage versus new fabrics need to be addressed.
Hope this helps!