Why do some quilt shops only purchase two or three fabrics in a line and say "you can fill the other requirements from our stock of other fabric" (that does not match or coordinate, IMHO) Yes, fabric is expensive for the QS owner but also for the purchaser. I do not want to go to three different shops to fill requirements for a pattern. Sorry for the rant, but this makes online shopping more and more attractive and does not keep my LQS in business. My current baby quilt (that I am going to start before this one is finished) requires 13 fabrics, all are 1/2 yard or less, except for the backing. So far, have been to three shops before being able to get what I wanted. Again, sorry for the rant, hope no rules are broken.

Because you really can use something besides fabric from one line to fill in. Because they'll be stuck with the less popular "filler" fabrics after the main fabrics sell out.

Some lines have so many fabrics, I think it'll be far to expensive for shops and a risk to have to many leftovers.
In Holland many of the shops more or less specialise.
My favorite shop sells a lot of reproductions, japanese fabrics and Moda.
She doesn't sell the 'whole' serie, but fabrics that she knows will sell Mostly that's about half of a line.
(and of course doesn't have every new line in her store that's come on the market)
I think it works very well. When I want p.e. Jinny Beyer fabric, TOT's, marbles or fabric for children, I know I have to go to another shop.
So I visit 3 shops more or less regular.
Works for me (and for them LOL)

i don't know about most quilters but for myself i have never used the fabric colors or line that a pattern calls for.

when i buy a pattern 99% of the time i change the color scheme completely.

this might be why they only carry the major fabrics in the line.

mainly because they can not afford all 36-55 colorways in a line! Most they would be stuck with as they are really horrid and do not really BLEND in at all! Often you can find the same maker will have another line with that color way and it will have better blenders.

I found I usually only use 1 or 2 pieces of a collection. I believe quilt stores want a nice collection from many mfg/collections. rather than all or many from one mfg that may not sell.

Having to pick outside of a line of fabrics opens my creativity. It can be difficult, yes, and I have shopped at a few different shops to find what I want. But just using all one line seems to make a quilt look too "commercial". OK, I have made a few quilt tops with just one line and they are gorgeous, but I am not as proud of them. They lack "me".

And yes, very expensive for an LQS to carry all of a series. And having to go to a few different shops gives me a chance to visit with some of my favorite shop owners and employees! Fabric shopping, shop hopping.. fun times!

I know that a few years back and it still may be true a great deal of the Moda Collections would work with many of their other collections as the colorways would work well with all of them. Designers have changed and there are so many options out there now I can see QS's trying to limit their inventory. Personally, I agree with you Tee Gee in that 2-3 colors of a collection doesn't cut it for me either. I want the choices I had before so I don't bother purchasing some collections because of this fact. I know and do add different fabrics/manufacturers with a quilt. I also want the same quality/feel the same in my quilts. However trying to do this online is not the best way for me to make that determination. The colors shown on each of our computer screens is not equal and a slight bit off of a particular color then has to go into my stash for another project which can be very frustrating.

I agree with a lot of the comments already stated but there are QS owners who purchase to their tastes more than the client's and unfortunately it was their mistakes which caused excess fabric no one wanted. It's an extremely hard call because there are QS owners who do everything but stand on their heads to please their customers fabric desires and some still sits there unwanted for whatever reason. IMHO, there are so many of us quilters with likes and dislikes that it is impossible to please everyone all the time. In these times of high fabric prices I'm sure there is a lot of that that plays into their decisions on what they purchase. So many QS's have had to close because of poor purchasing decisions

So we all just have to do our best when purchasing and know where we're purchasing from online. Call them when ordering online and see if they can help you with the color considerations between fabrics and the ones that help us are the ones that will stay in business. I just don't know a realistic solution to this problem but figuring out what works best for you or anyone for that matter. It is amazing to me that one can find entire collections online and various colorways but can't do do in some QS's. I guess that's the way it's going but it sure isn't going to help the QS's keep their customers. Quality in fabrics/collections is more important to me than having a ton of various fabrics by different manufacturers that anyone would have a hard time putting together for a particular type of quilt they want to make. Guess we'll just all have to see what our own QS's do and then make our decisions on where we will purchase in the future.