Location and Description
So the stores aren't actually in the Granite State, all of them are in the Pine Tree State. However, there are two very close to the border, one is about an hour east of the White Mountain area. If you're from New England and know of Job Lot, Marden's is very similar. A big and wonderful difference is that they have a fabric department - how glorious!
As mentioned on their website, Marden's takes part in the Project Linus program. Their site mentions of hopes for the future to have demonstrations - well they started! A very nice and informative woman gave me a demonstration of how to make an infinity scarf. So easy and simple, nothing better than that! The fabrics that Marden's purchases are from store liquidations, overstock, and the like as mentioned on their site. This means their selection has a great variety of prints for great prices.
Selection
It's hard to say how much is at Marden's, a boat load? Northdixie Designs took this picture at the Brewer, ME store. The Rumford store may have less but cannot be considered insignificant. Their selection includes panel prints, children's, quilt backing fabric, a nice mottled selection of varying shades of colors, regular batting and wool by the ginormous roll, half an isle of batiks, half an aisle of new fabrics and a large selection of Christmas/December holiday/winter fabrics. The fabrics are color organized except the batiks.
Prices
$1.49 to $7.99 per yard is the price range for fabrics at Marden's. Fat quarters are $0.75! No lies. The most expensive fabric (44" width) that I've seen at Marden's was $4.99/yd. Quilt backing fabric (108" width) are mostly $7.99/yd. Natural muslin was priced at $7.99/yd and bleached muslin was $3.49/yd.
Examples
Fat quarters I recently purchased:
 |
| Even though Marden's is a surplus and salvage store you can still get sets of fabric! |
The following are examples of designers and manufacturers with the price per yard:
 |
| Dolce by Tanya Whelan for Free Spirit $4.99/yd |
 |
| Forest by Erin McMorris for Free Spirit $4.49/yd |
 |
| Simple Pleasures by Fresh Designs for Henry Glass & Co. $2.99/yd |
 |
| Come Quilt With Me by Pat Yarmin for Marcus Brothers Fabrics $1.49/yd |
There are so many amazing prints which should be expected since Marden's purchases these bolts from the very quilt shops you probably shop at. The only difference is that they are "old". In my last mega fabric spree there were fabrics from 2005, 2009, and 2010 in there. This may be undesirable to some folks but wicked awesome for others because they really liked a certain fabric and may find it at Marden's! Here are just a few manufacturers sold at Marden's:
Andover
Blank Quilting
Claire Bella
Fine Lines
Free Spirit
Henry Glass & Co.
Marcus Brothers
RJR Fabrics
Rowan
Studio e
The Jingle
Last but not least, I must discuss the jingle. How many times a day do we, without option, hear and see advertisements. Often we don't need or want these products but their images and jingles are stuck in our minds. Marden's jingle - I should have bought it when I saw it at Marden's! - is catchy and true and therefore gets no complaints from me. There are many times when I have come home from Marden's and thought, 'Gosh, I should have bought more yardage of this,' or 'That fabric would have gone great with this little collection I'm growing!'. Truthfully, as soon as these thoughts pass through my brain the jingle starts playing and I feel really silly. So, heed their advice and just get it already!!
********
Hope this was helpful and informative for you. Ask me any questions or leave a comment!
-Beatrice
No comments:
Post a Comment