Enlightening Fabric Shopping Trip... and Disappointing
 

I know this has been discussed before, but now I have seen it with my own eyes!! I cheerfully set off on a fabric shopping expedition this past weekend. I am working on a quilt from Darcy Ashtons, 'Bunnies & More' book. I am a certified bunny lover!! :D As I perused the aisles of cotton fabrics I was not only shocked and disappointed by appalled by the QUALITY of the fabrics!! I felt as if I were looking at cheesecloth.... not cotton fabrics!! :thumbdown::thumbdown: I kept going from aisle to aisle as I was not finding anything that worked with my 9 floral bunny blocks. I kept searching through bolt after bolt and found the quality of nearly every bolt to be totally unsatisfactory... I mean come on now, if you can count the threads per square inch without squinting..... that's a pretty good sign the fabric (to me anyway) is substandard!! Honestly, I didn't even bother looking at the price of the fabric per yard even though it was on sale I had no plans to buy a single inch let along a yard or two.
I moved on to fabric store #2 hoping not only to find a color that worked but BETTER QUALITY fabric!! I most likely do not have to tell you that I didn't find the quality any better than the first fabric store. Again, I was totally blown away by my 'enlightening' fabric shopping spree! I know it's been written here several times but I am totally shocked at the quality of our fabrics right now.
This was not a LQS by the way.. and I really don't want to discuss where I was shopping but I am sure one could most likely figure it out anyway. I don't want to put any fabric shop down at all as I feel it's most likely the manufacturers that are sending this .... junk to the stores!! I seriously don't blame the fabric stores! JMHO
Sign me
One very disappointed fabric shopper!! :(
Thanks for listening!

I have found quality fabrics at my lqs - prices have gone up but then so has everything. I really hit them when they are having a sale

We happened to be in Walmart's the other day & I just browsed the fabrics. The woman was stocking the shelves with new fabric that had just come in. I believe the price was under $4.00 a yard & when I commented on it, she said it was coming from Pakistan.

I did a shop hop friday and WOW- sticker shock.. the prices have risen A LOT... Needless to say I came home with 1/8 of what i normally would of had.. I couldn't force myself to spend that much money..

I too was shocked to see the fabric quality diminished and the prices rose..

This is so sad!!!!

One of our LQS in town is closing, as owner is retiring. She has all fabrics listed for $5.00 yr for anything. She carries a VERY large selection of quality fabric. I've been there 3 times in last week & have purchased at least 25 different fabrics with minimum of 4 yds each. I am so excited to get them washed, but I have them spread out on my dining table & am just basking in their beauty.

I was also at WalMart and found their fabrics were $7.97 per yd there. There were less expensive cottons too. But the better quality fabrics were more spendy. I did forget to add that I actually did find what I was searching for at WalMart!!

the quality is just not there like it use to be
cotton is so high right now they are making the fabric as cheap as they can

There are a few stores that I just won't buy fabric in anymore no matter what , as I can't believe they can get it that thin. A few times I was lured by a nice looking print, only to find the thinness to be just shocking.

Good reason to shop your stash or watch estate sales! I visit http://www.estatesales.net/ each week and check the listings...if it says sewing stuff or fabrics, I go check it out. The fabrics are never the current modern/contemporary lines, but I have found some amazing buys within my budget!