Fabric flaw!
 

Sometimes there is a reason things are on the sale table - flaw, older fabric line, just not selling. Before I did anything I would quilt it and see if it show up then - chances are good that you may not notice it, especially after a washing!

Oh, what a bummer! Too bad the colors weren't reversed, you could have Sharpie-fixed it!

I've had that happen too! Even with full priced LQS fabrics!

If I KNOW a fabric is flawed before I buy it, I am willing to deal with it. I do get upset when I'm not aware of the flaw until the fabric is in place.

WOW me too - I feel just like you do Bearisgray!

I have bought some with a white streak on colored fabrics. Somehow the dye did not get to the white streak, usually not too big and I can recut the piece I need. Cost of fabric doesn't have anything to do with this happening.

Is there room for me on this wagon too? I just recently finished a WHITE on WHITE quilt X 2 When I was doing the final inspection I found little grey spots about the size of a pencil eraser. There were 2 on the front of one and one on the other. I tried everything, but could not get them out, so in the end, I made sure some quilty stitching went right over them and hoped for them to hide in the shadows.

It is irritating...but happens to all of us at one time. Like many, I'm fine if I spot it prior to working with it...I think you will find it will disappear once it's quilted.

I wish I could say I have no idea how that feels, but, I totally sympathize.
I finished pressing a quilt top that I pieced today. Made with Moda charm pack and Kona cotton. Found a 2 inch weaving flaw in a piece of the Kona. It's all stitched up in the middle of the quilt. I was fit to be tied!
When you pay good money for what you believe to be good fabric, it can really make you angry to find a flaw AFTER you stitched it in.
I just hope that quilting will make it disappear.

Oh bin there and found that. So annoying and then you wonder why your eyes did not pick up on the flaw or stain or whatever, when you were piecing. I am about ready to insist on openning the fabric to its full width and inspecting it before cutting--especially the $10-$18 a meter stuff!!!

is a thread you can safely "pull" out?

Can you put your label there?

Ugh... I'm part of this club too! I think it is less irritating when it happens with that bargain fabric though. I really get ticked off when it is the good stuff that I paid and arm and a leg for. But then I think... well, I'm not perfect as a quilter, so maybe it works after all? LOL

Unfortunately, this happens far too often even with quilt-shop quality fabric. I work at a LQS, and when we catch a flaw as we are measuring for a customer, we will cut around the flaw, using any leftovers as fat quarters or to put in a scrap bag. The fabric directly around the flaw goes into the scrap box that we use for making shop samples. This is a very aggrevating situation! Also, when the fabric is cut into two or more lengths in the middle of the bolt.

Occasionally, a flaw gets past us. If the customer brings it to our attention, we will make it good.

No, no, it is not 'flawed' it is distinctive and unique no one will be able to make that exact quilt again even with the same fabrics. It's perfect just the way it is, please do not applique over it! Enjoy your uniqueness! Celebrate it.

Just curious, did you wash the material before you started? I have seen fabrics that got too close to the machines where it's woven and picked up oil or other sludge as it passed through. Usually it's longer than a couple inches, but wondered if that was what happened. I used to pick up mill ends when we were in the AF in Mississippi, learned a lot about fabric production then (ugh, hate to think how many years ago that was!)

Thanks to the comments here, I'm going to take your advice, GingerK, and I WILL open up the yardage and check every inch. Too much money and work goes into our pieces not to. Thanks, everybody! But I bet those flaws will be virtually invisible once quilted and washed....which is a blessing as it hides MY mistakes, too! : )

Sadly, this has happened to me and my quilty friends too. Fortunately quilting truly does hide many errors, even the ones we didn't make ourselves. I like your appliqued flower remedy - post a pic when finished!

We also have found *lots* of times these darker lines in fabrics. Being nearsighted, I've seen that most of the time it is a single dark fiber (often it feels like something synthetic), spun into the thread and then woven into the cloth. So IMHO the fault is in the weaving mill that makes the greige goods. The various manufacturers probably buy differing qualities of greige goods, and (being the buyer) I am quite vigilant as to which manufacturers are printing on the better cloth, and when shopping for light colors I *only* buy those brands.

If you are looking for a plain solid white... go for Kona. NEVER go for Springs. They have lines all over their light color fabrics, and for some odd reason they are usually red ones. When Moda switched the greige goods for their Marbles about a year ago, we noticed a lot of these lines, and reported it to them. And we stopped buying their light colored Marbles. I'm hoping that they've fixed the problem (they did express concern about it) and next month I will buy a few bolts of their light colors again to check out how they are.

What to do when you find a line? If you are also very nearsighted, you *might* be able to take a fine needle and unwrap the dark fiber from the thread and slowly, slowly get rid of it. About 50% of the time I'm able to do this, the other half of the time I can't fix the problem.

Stitck your quilt labael over it

Unfortunately, the same eyes that will "miss" a flaw during the piecing process, can also miss a flaw at the quilt shop. I think it's even more likely to miss at the Quilt Shop, IMHO. When I hit the Quilt Shop, I end up looking at bolt after bolt of fabric, hauling out my "matching/contrasting" patches, and so on. I don't go that often, so it's usually a big haul day. By the time I get to the cutting station, I've practically got a headache from looking at so many patterns. While I do check out the fabric while it's being cut, it's these tired, fabric-worn eyes doing the checking. I do my best. I have caught flaws. But let's be kind to ourselves as well, and recognize that we are not always in the best "space" to be checking for flaws while at the cutting table. Sometimes I'm rushed and pressured, sometimes I'm running late, sometimes I'm just tired because this is coming at the end of my errand list -- you name it. So don't beat yourselves up. Do your best with the flaws. If you find them when you get home, take the material back if you can. And if you can't, do your best to have fun with the flaw. I once had a long, black, obvious thread in a light blue fabric, and I "fussy cut" it so it looked like a streak of lighting across a 4" block, and everyone who sees it asks me how I managed to put that thread there like that! It's a striking element of design! As my Mother used to say: When life hands you lemons, made lemonade!

Is there any way you could use a colored sharpie to correct the problem? I have in the past and works great - they come in a rainbow of colors.

I had that happen recently when I purchased fabric from one of my favorite, high end lqs. They said it was because it was a batik, but no way. Since the fabric was going to be cut and because I had been looking for this color for months, I took it. They wouldn't give me anything off on it and snapped that they didn't buy seconds. Maybe not, but the threads they're using must be. It must be oil or something getting on the thread and when it's woven it comes into the fabric. We just have to be really careful when we purchase fabric.

Oh that's rotten luck. I had it happen on a quilt recently - there must have been a stray dark thread when the material was woven - but it was clearly an 'extra' so I oh so carefully picked it and tugged it and managed to get it out. when I washed the quilt you couldn't see the place it was. Perhaps you can try that?