Fabric
How to know what fabric to buy??

I was wondering how you determine what fabrics to buy? by the feel, etc.

What brands of fabric are good to buy? What fabrics should we not buy?

Also where do you like to buy your fabrics from? If online what links?

Thanks everyone!

Craftybear, I tend to go by designers. All I will say about what I won't buy is cheap fabric (regular price, not a good sale) It's not worth it to me for all that goes into making a quilt. :D
Some lines I love:
Jinny Beyer
Hoffman
Moda, Moda and more Moda lol
Thimbleberries

that's a few off the top of my head.

The first thing that catches my eye is the color/design. If I like the feel, it's as good as sold. LOL

I like many different brands Kaufman, Hoffman, Clothworks, P&B Textiles, Benartex, etc. Sometimes I buy new releases, but more often I find I am waiting and getting the same prints later on at better prices online.

I shop both in the LQS and online. Nothing beats seeing them in person, and I try to help keep the LQS in business. But once I find brands I like, I have no problem ordering them online as long as the ordering page is secure.

I have tried many online sites and have been happy with most of them. My most frequent purchases come from:

Over the Rainbow
Thousands of Bolts
SeaWatch Fabrics
Desperate Quilters
Webfabrics.net

Some I've tried once and would definitely shop again:
Quilt Fabric Closeouts (pics do not do the fabric justice)
Fabric Shack
Log Cabin Quilting
Green Fairy Quilts
Toadusew
The Quilted Castle

Benartex, Maywood, and Northcott are good also.

If it feels good, and i like it, i buy it. I usually go for the good stuff, which i consider moda, michael miller, etc. go to the websites and browse, sooo many out there. I love fabric.........

I'm forced to buy the cheaper fabric, but I stick to all cotton. Not the cheapest (see through stuff) but not the top lines. I'm on a tight budget and hubby thinks buying material is a waste of money...and so on.

Have you checked out Thousands of Bolts or Whittles? They have brand names at low prices...great quality!

I buy fabrics for many different reasons. Here's my rules:

If I have a specific project in mind, I buy it.

If I can't take my eyes off of it, I buy it.

If it's on sale, I buy it.

If I want it, I buy it.

If it's black, white, some other color or a mixture of colors, I buy it.

Hey, rules are the guidelines by which we live. These are mine and I'm happy with them.

I buy when I find a clearance sale on the best designer line fabrics. I don't care about color just price because I have a big stash and can co ordinate about any fabric choice. I like Connecting Threads fabric. I buy the kits from there when they are on clearance and use the fabric for other patterns. I like David Fabrics at Walmart for the quilt of the month. There is a Walmart close by that sells fabric. I can find clearance prices about anytime online, there are hundreds of fabric websites. Marshall's Dry Good Warehouse has good every day prices. My favorite fabric manufacturer is Northcott.

He'll change his thinking when the budget gets looser. :thumbup:

I buy it when it calls my name in the store. The hard part is that I am on a first name basis with a lot of fabric.... I used to buy 2 yards but I have bumped that up to a minimum of three yards if it catches my eye and 4 or more if it screams my name!! It's hard to be a fabriholic!!!

thanks everyone for all of your nice comments, this board is so good to help others out, we all learn from each other

this is my # 1 Quilting site online

Please others post your comments here about fabrics!

The main thing I look for at buying fabric is the quality and the thread count. Actually I'm not counting - but after a few years of quilting I can see it and feel it. Because I only do handquilting and not patchwork the thread count is very important to me. Less than a 60 does not work for me, the quilting stitches will "fall" between the threads. Therefore I look for a higher on. 70-75 works best.
I love to use P&B Fabrics, Moda Bella Solids and Quilt Gate from Japan. Fortunately I can get them from our wholesaler where we buy for our Online-Shop - but the LQS also have it.

Ditto, What is most important to me is the way it feels. For stuff like my Linus Quilts I let the pattern influence me more since I will be doing them entirely by machine. I love the look of Batiks but they are hard to hand quilt and usually more tightly woven. While I like the look of say white on white prints they also are harder to handquilt through.

I just go over to the animal section or the 30s, andstart looking around, lol! I do pick it up and see how it feels, amke sure it isnt see through and all!

I think I'm going through my batik phase right now and I really like a lot of the Hoffman and Kaufman batiks. I use a quilt store that is about 80 miles away but on the way to my son's house where we go to babysit every Tuesday and Wednesday. The store is Pennington Quilt Works and they have an amazing variety of batiks I have ordered from Batiksplus on like and been very happy with my purchases. I needed another Bali pops recently and was able to find it on eBay and paid at least $5 less than the first one I bought at the quilt store.

Thanks everyone for sharing, great info for the ones, just starting.

When it is in person, I do like to feel it.

When online I trust the shop. Also if it is Kaufman, I can be sure that it will be nice. Never been disappointed there.

These are some I have bought from
Quilter Studio
The Quilting Place
Craft Connection
Ann's Fabric and Crafts
Over the Rainbow
Always Open Quilt Shop
Wish Upon a Quilt
The Stitch and Frame Shop
The Tattered Rabbit
Tennessee Quilts

thanks for letting me know,

lots of great comments, keep posting so we can learn more about fabrics

When you are buying fabric, how much do you buy?

I just found this link about buying fabric, and how much you should buy?

http://www.ufo-rphanage.com/article_buying.shtml