HAED final verdict

[Sarah]

Well after asking many questions (thankyou guys for all of your help) and pricing up the nicest HAED I have ever seen (January Queen - my birth month) I have come to the conclusion that I can't afford the £100 plus its going to cost! I am so disappointed because I was going to give it a shot. I was especially pleased with the fact there are no silly fractionals or french knots on the design I like because I just don't get on with them! Back to the drawing board for me
Sarah xx

[Evedeve]

What about asking for bits/parts for gifts (birthday,xmas, heck of it cause ya love me gifts)??? might be a way to collect all the bits with lower cost out of pocket for you

[Ravenfaerie]

So had a little look, beautiful chart by the way and there is 89 colours. Priced that up at http://www.bluegroovecrafts.com/" target="_blank and it'll cost 32.93 pounds. They also have laguna 25ct which wont cost more than 9 pounds, add the cost of chart and its just over 50 quid (much less than the 100+ you were expecting) Or why not buy the tread for what you need page by page? That way its more spread out??

[Parksfarm]

Or - you can send funds to one of us in the US and we can buy the floss here for $.35 each, which I think works out to about 20 pounds for the 89 colors ($31.15 US Dollars) plus whatever the postage is to send a large envelope to the UK...

I would be totally willing to buy floss for any of you located outside the US. The prices you guys have to pay for floss is ridiculous!

[CheyennePony]

I had a look at the chart myself - there are 89 colours but as some require more than 1 skein it's actually 140 odd that you need to buy. Colray crafts do the kit for £72 on 18ct or £69 on 25ct.

It dosn't look like there would be that many colours on the 1st page so you could buy the chart then get the colours for the 1st page and work from there. HAED have a sale pretty much every month so why not get the chart then as a download and work from there? (with a 25% off sale the chart will be about £8 and you won't have to pay postage)

[Mystonique]

And if you are stitchy mad you will find ways to use up that thread =} I know I felt the same way the first chart I kitted up myself but the excess thread got used up pretty quickly on other projects and if I spread the cost over all the projects it worked out a lot less scary..

[thatrabbitgirl]

I love how we're all trying to convince Sarah to start her first HAED. Let me join the chorus and chant, "Do...it! Do...it! Do...it!"

--Alice (Who has 8 HAED charts, but hasn't started any of them...yet.)

[Theresay]

Yes, like others said, you can collect the floss you need as you stitch from page to page. You'll be in for a long ride ^^ The cost should be more manageable if you spread it.

[kell]

You don't need ot buy it all at once though - just buy the fabric and a few of the colours - perhaps the ones that are large blocks of colour on the first page, then build up from there. I spent about 6 months buying up one skein of each colour I would need (getting a lot of the mfrom the USA as it worked out much cheaper, even with postage). I figured it would be easier ot buy more of whatever colours I needed as I ran out.

I'm actually considering starting again with mine as i kind of lost my place with it. I hadn't even finished one page, thogh, so it's not an awful lot to re-do if I decide to go that way...

[dollystitcher]

I have to agree with Alice (thatrabbitgirl) GO FOR IT, you will never regret it . Yes they can work out expensive but buy your stock as you go. They are sooooo worth it even if I do spend at least one day a week swearing at mine

[Sarah Gixxer]

I hope you decide to go for it. As others have said, you could buy the few colours needed for the first page and then buy a few more at a time. I have accumulated probably 80% of the colours available from DMC over a period of about 2 years as I've begun to need them and then when a few colours get low, gradually replace them as you go. Considering that most HAEDs take years to stitch, the cost can be spread out quite a lot to make it much easier to manage.

[LauraR]

Ive done several HAED and although they have a lot of colours more often than not there are few stitches to each colour, maybe you already have them? I buy the charts direct when they have a sale and download them. Sign up for the newsletters and Michelle usually includes a discount code with them.

[Vega]

I have to agree with the other ladies. Wait for the chart to go on sale (they have sales rather frequently). Purchase the floss needed for the first 2 pages to get you started. Then add to it as more funds become available.

Also, if you want to purchase online, price shop various sites. Some might have better initial cost but really get you on the shipping price. I always check at least 3 sites before placing an order to get the best price possible.

And online coupon codes as well! Some offer free shipping with a minimum order, some offer 10-20% discounts on your order. Just do a quick search for "name of store online coupons". It should pull up a variety of different coupon sites. And comparing 10% off to free shipping helps as well! Believe it or not one might be $2 or $3 cheaper than the other.

Granted, this takes a bit of time and effort on your part, but for someone like me (On a tight budget) its worth it.

[felicity53]

There's a lot of good advise here. Think carefully before giving up on doing this HAEG. Think of the pleasure you will get when sewing it.
Although it may seem like a lot of money our hobby is actually quite cheap when compared with others. If you were to work out how many hour of work goes into each piece and were to divide the cost by the number of hour it works out .... well ....inexpensive.

[milkmaid]

agree with every thing that has been said i don't have a lot of money and it was a consern for me
i got given some money for my birthday ,and brought the chart and brought the fabric at the same time
and over a few weeks i brought a few colours of the first couple of pages while i finished off another project ,i'm really enjoying mine although i still have a lot of colours to buy

[sam3006]

i brought mine as a kit for £62 heres your design worth a look

http://www.colray-crafts.com/products.php" target="_blank

[ali-cat]

As everyone has said - you really don't need everything at once. I bought one of each colour from Tandem Cottage (I switched to Venus threads, as they are easier for me to buy where I live in France) and they were about 30p each - and they bobbin them for free!

Don't be put off by the price. A HAED can take many years to finish - I worked out it will cost less than £20 a year for my HAED, by the speed I'll be stitching it.

[helbel]

1. Sign up to HAED - I think they give you a money off coupon at that point

2. Wait for a sale - at least a 25% one though they have 30% and even 40% on occasion. I suspect Easter may well be the next one.

3. Only buy the fabric and threads for the first page. Dye lots aren't going to make such a huge difference on something this size so don't panic.

4. When the next Joanns sale comes along get a US member to play flossfairy and order as many as you can afford at that time.

OR!

Do a storykeep first to test out what fabric count/type you think is best it'll be cheaper and a guide as to whether to invest in a big HAED.