Is it just me or is it getting more and more expensive to sew? 

The bare essentials - fabric, thread, pattern are so expensive these days. I am dismayed every time I go into my local hobby store. I am staggered to see that kits (pattern, fabric, threads combined) are now selling for more than £30 each. A small printed pattern can be £9 or more. Add to that, specialty threads and recommended charms and it is getting just plain silly.

Sew, how exactly does one keep the costs down?

Find a stitching fabric in a colour that you like - aida, linen etc. Then, buy a large piece off roll and cut to size. It works out much cheaper. If you go for white or cream you can always dye pieces a different colour or paint them for a different look. 

Use DMC or Anchor threads which are less expensive than some of the specialty threads that designers now insist on recommending. They offer a full range of beautiful colours and specialty metallic or fluorescent threads.

Search for freebie cross stitch patterns on the web - try an image search. There are many generous designers and talented bloggers who give away freebie patterns. 

Look for kits/patterns on auction sites. It is possible to find a bargain. Last year I purchased a £40 kit that someone had bought, started, but never finished for less than a tenner (including postage). The only problem that I had was that it had sat folded for so long that there was a dust mark on the fold line which was very hard to remove. 

Have a go at designing your own pattern!

These days I don't buy a pattern unless I really love it. I just can't justify the expense when I have so many gorgeous patterns in my stash. I stitch so quickly that I could very easily spend thousands of pounds on patterns and threads in a year.

I can't help wondering if designers are pricing themselves out of the market. Is this something that they even bother to consider? I know that they are losing out to copyright theft but by making things so expensive they are penalising those who pay and making it easier for those who don't, to justify copyright theft.