Remnants: to buy or not to buy?

I'm in a quandary about remnants.

Do you buy remnants?

I seem to get sucked in every time I see those overflowing remnant bins touting 50% off, or in the case of last week, 70% off!

Remnants are always marked with the yardage in decimals: .634/yd. And with my math skills (or lack there of) I'm always trying to picture how much fabric that would be...what would .634/yard look like? Will there even be enough to make anything?

And the pricing? I don't get it. Something is priced 1.50 yd @ 7.79/yd regularly 19.49/yd at 70% off. I'm sorry, what? And sometimes they are 50% off the current price, sometimes they are 50% off the regular price.

For me, buying a remnant is much like choosing a mystery grab bag. It's not until you walk out those doors and rip open your remnant that you find out what you really got and how much it really cost. And let's be honest, grab bags are never quite what they're cracked up to be.

In my experience, my remnants have ended up being very odd sizes, have stains or pen marks on them, or have some other imperfection hidden at the end of the bolt. And since you can't open them before buying them, or return them after you've bought them, you're clearly taking a gamble.

Last week I was sucked into the remnants...and walked away with 1.5 yds of pink and brown fleece fabric with a very cute design. The remnants were 70% off. I thought at 70% off, it had to be a good deal.

After passing through the cash register, and standing outside dissecting my receipt, I think this snazzy fleeze cost me more than if I had just bought a finished blanket.

That whole 70% off thing? Balonie.

The fact that it was $7.79/yd on sale made no difference. They took 70% off the regular price, which was a ghastly $19.49/yd.

I ended up paying $11.69. Slap me. I never would have bought it had I known it was that much.

Remnants a smart buy? So far, not for me.

You live and learn.

Here's to hoping that lovely, overpriced fleece blanket lasts a long, long time.