Obsessed with Flea Market Fancy

Look at how beautiful this fabric is!  This is my recently acquired stash of Flea Market Fancy

I have completely fallen in love with Denyse Schmidt’s Flea Market Fancy fabric (me and every other modern quilter out there it seems). Of course it is out of print and incredibly difficult to get your hands on. After being out bid a few times on ebay I was determined to get my hands on some. I thought I would save you some pain and share some of the strategies I discovered…

How to build your very own stash of the hard to find Flea Market Fancy:

• Search on Etsy for FMF and hold out for the sellers who are reasonable (you can find $6-10 fat quarters, so don’t get too scared when you see crazy prices like $40 a fat quarter).
• Search Ebay for FMF and either:
• Win it the traditional way by bidding or….
• Send a message to the seller of your favorite print and ask if they have more that they will sell to you directly. I have gotten a few good deals on FMF by doing this before the piece of fabric actually sells on Ebay. If I offer a fair and high enough price initially I don’t have to go through the drama of the online bid. 
• Search Ebay from other countries. I got a sweet package of 12 fat quarters of FMF for just $70 (AUD) on the Australian ebay. The exchange rate works in our favor and it only cost me $62 including shipping and the demand for FMF doesn’t appear to be as high in Australia. ebay UK can also have FMF for sale at times. 

• If the price is reasonable, consider buying clothing items made of FMF on ebay or Etsy. You can deconstruct dresses or shirts and use the fabric as you’d like. I saw a shirt and shorts made with pink seeds and blue flower bouquet and it sold for $5. There was at least ¾ to a whole yard of fabric there…what a great deal! Here’s a great example. 

• Do a google search for “flea market fancy” and check all of the entries that pop up. On the 5th and 6th search pages I found some links to obscure online fabric sellers that had FMF. Once again, the Australian sites came through for me and I ordered FMF from about three different Aussies. The prices were much better than the US prices on etsy and ebay.
• Consider ordering the home dec weight “Country Fair” fabrics. Many of the prints are the same as Flea Market Fancy and Katie Jump Rope, and they are even on sale for $4/yard at many online sites. Also they are 55” wide so you get more fabric for the money. The weight is heavier than typical quilting weight, but it is lighter than normal home dec fabric. I think you could still make quilts from it, and it’s perfect for projects like napkins, placemats and pillows. 

• Trade for it here. This flickr website is great for swapping your hard to find fabrics for some FMF.  I found some very good prices on pink bubble dot FMF and got a yard. Then I swapped FQs of it for other FMF prints that were harder to buy.  

Hope you find this helpful! I’d love to hear other places that folks have had luck finding the elusive Flea Market Fancy!  If you love FMF be sure to check stop by Flea Market Fancy Freaks for beautiful projects and to connect with other admirers.