Answer to the Walmart "quality of fabric" email
10-22-2010, 10:02 AM
#21
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Location: MN
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I've
However, we did have a speaker at our guild meeting years ago that told us about fabric runs. She said that runs are made on lower quality fabric to test the pattern. If you have ever seen a flat fold fabric with the design printed a little off, it is probably one.
.
I had heard that too. That a test run is done first, and that these fabrics are then sold. I also read somewhere that there are three grades to the fabric, and most quilting stores pick up the top grade (best quality), while companies like Walmart pick up the lower end (test run) cheaply.
This is what I asked them, and they said that it wasn't true, at least with that one company anyway.
I've heard this exact thing many times,and I am trying to find out if it's true, or if it's something that got started and is not taken as fact.
As, this company has said, they don't do that, they don't waste the time and energy to make 3 different types of fabric, it seems too inefficient to be true.
I will wait on the other's replies, though, before I believe anything, LOL!
And there's also the issue someone else brought up, WM doesn't sell a lot of name brands. So, if its true about the 3 different types, what do those brands do with their lesser quality?
I don't know what they are selling now, but in the past few years, I've seen VIP, Timeless Treasures (or is it Fabric Traditions?), David Textiles, RocLon muslin, Springs Industries.
Originally Posted by stefanib123
Originally Posted by vintagemotif
Originally Posted by hereca622
However, we did have a speaker at our guild meeting years ago that told us about fabric runs. She said that runs are made on lower quality fabric to test the pattern. If you have ever seen a flat fold fabric with the design printed a little off, it is probably one.
.
I've heard this exact thing many times,and I am trying to find out if it's true, or if it's something that got started and is not taken as fact.
As, this company has said, they don't do that, they don't waste the time and energy to make 3 different types of fabric, it seems too inefficient to be true.
I will wait on the other's replies, though, before I believe anything, LOL!
And there's also the issue someone else brought up, WM doesn't sell a lot of name brands. So, if its true about the 3 different types, what do those brands do with their lesser quality?
10-22-2010, 10:10 AM
#22
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Alabama
Posts: 685
i don't dispute the fact if the manufacturer is the same, but go into walmart and try to find South Seas, Moda, etc... This same concept applies to hobby lobby as well. the manufacturers are 90% of the time not the same. walmart buys in bulk at the lowest cost from the lowest priced manufacturer. it's not set in stone that walmart does not have nice fabric, it's just a general rule that quilting shops have a much much larger selection of better quality quilting fabric. take this test. go pick out your favorite fabric at walmart, hold it up to the light, and i can almost guarentee you that you would be able to read through it, then do the same with your favorite fabric in a quilt shop. it's like the difference between broadcloth and kona cotton. i go for the better quality fabric, no matter where i purchase it, so i am assured that it will hold up over many many many years and washings to come. i hope that makes sense. :) :) :)
10-22-2010, 04:11 PM
#24
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Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Southeast Georgia, USA
Posts: 9,136
i always find this subject frustrating (sometimes infuriating) and hysterically funny at the same time.
1. if i pay $3 per yard and the fabric is worth at least $3 per yard, then i got value for my money.
2. if a fabric manufacturer is stupid enough to ship two or more different grades of the same print under the same name we will know it. we will be insulted by their assumption that we are suckers and chumps. we will not buy their products at any price from any source.
3. if they sell those different grades for a fair price under a different name, why should i care? the only thing that matters is whether or not the fabric is worth at least the price charged.
4. there are good and lousy fabrics to be found at every pricepoint along the spectrum. therefore i do not need to obsess over the source. i only have to make sure that i buy fabric i like for a fair price.
5. as long as those who insist on paying only the highest prices for fabrics continue to shop thusly, i do not have to compete with them for the same caliber fabrics available at lower prices. i hope they cling desperately to their delusions for years to come so that i may reap the benefits in peace and prosperity.
now i think i'll go roll around on my mountain of lovely fabric purchased at great prices ... and feel quite smug in the process. :-)
1. if i pay $3 per yard and the fabric is worth at least $3 per yard, then i got value for my money.
2. if a fabric manufacturer is stupid enough to ship two or more different grades of the same print under the same name we will know it. we will be insulted by their assumption that we are suckers and chumps. we will not buy their products at any price from any source.
3. if they sell those different grades for a fair price under a different name, why should i care? the only thing that matters is whether or not the fabric is worth at least the price charged.
4. there are good and lousy fabrics to be found at every pricepoint along the spectrum. therefore i do not need to obsess over the source. i only have to make sure that i buy fabric i like for a fair price.
5. as long as those who insist on paying only the highest prices for fabrics continue to shop thusly, i do not have to compete with them for the same caliber fabrics available at lower prices. i hope they cling desperately to their delusions for years to come so that i may reap the benefits in peace and prosperity.
now i think i'll go roll around on my mountain of lovely fabric purchased at great prices ... and feel quite smug in the process. :-)
10-22-2010, 04:25 PM
#25
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Kentucky
Posts: 611
Originally Posted by stitchinbee
i don't dispute the fact if the manufacturer is the same, but go into walmart and try to find South Seas, Moda, etc... This same concept applies to hobby lobby as well. the manufacturers are 90% of the time not the same. walmart buys in bulk at the lowest cost from the lowest priced manufacturer. it's not set in stone that walmart does not have nice fabric, it's just a general rule that quilting shops have a much much larger selection of better quality quilting fabric. take this test. go pick out your favorite fabric at walmart, hold it up to the light, and i can almost guarentee you that you would be able to read through it, then do the same with your favorite fabric in a quilt shop. it's like the difference between broadcloth and kona cotton. i go for the better quality fabric, no matter where i purchase it, so i am assured that it will hold up over many many many years and washings to come. i hope that makes sense. :) :) :)
The question is whether the brands they DO sell that the quilt stores also carry is of a different quality for the exact same patterns.
10-22-2010, 04:31 PM
#27
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Kentucky
Posts: 611
Originally Posted by PatriceJ
5. as long as those who insist on paying only the highest prices for fabrics continue to shop thusly, i do not have to compete with them for the same caliber fabrics available at lower prices. i hope they cling desperately to their delusions for years to come so that i may reap the benefits in peace and prosperity.
10-22-2010, 04:38 PM
#28
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Wal Mart bashers like to justify spending more money at LQS thinking they are getting better quality. I buy what I like and not over pay for it. I never shop small stores or bigger ones that have over priced fabrics that I can get at WM for less money.
Just me.
Just me.
10-22-2010, 04:41 PM
#29
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Alabama
Posts: 685
Originally Posted by Jingleberry
Wal Mart bashers like to justify spending more money at LQS thinking they are getting better quality. I buy what I like and not over pay for it. I never shop small stores or bigger ones that have over priced fabrics that I can get at WM for less money.
Just me.
Just me.
10-22-2010, 04:41 PM
#30
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 2,131
Oh, if we could just have those feed sacks in stores now. That fabric would still be around years from now. I wish I had saved my pretty dress that Mama made me when I was in the sixth grade. You would have thought she bought it from the top designer, when she showed it to me. I thought I was in high cotton wearing that. "Oh, by the way! I was in cotton wasn't I?" LOL
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