I shop all over and on the internet too. For me it's very convenient, as I live 55 miles from a town where there are quilt stores, Joann, Hancock, etc. The thing I don't like about Joann's is that the price of their fabric has really gone up but don't feel the quality has. Also this is not all fabric either so a person, to me, has to shop by feeling. Have not gone wrong with buying from Connecting Threads for their clearance at under $3.00 a yard. Now trying 1000 bolts of fabric.

I agree, I have gone to quilt stores and found some fabric that I will not buy it is so thin and you can see through it, I am like many of you I shop where they have what I want, at a good price and good quality. I do support our local quilt store as much as I can, but I am also realistic and I know that she cannot stock everything. However if there is a book or notion that I want and she can get it for me at a comparable price I give her the business.

I live in a small town and if we don't support the store, we won't have one.

People forget you should work with the best quality that you can afford. For my grandmother it was a way to recycle clothes headed for the scrap bin. For me it has been a way to use up scraps from garment construction, then the luxury of purchasing new fabric for creating my quilts. My fabric has come from everywhere fabric stores, thrift shops, yard sales, friends, the one thing I remember is I am not my mother who collected. I am me and I create. So what I get is used in some sort of way.

My feeling is that I make quilts for myself (and I know how to take care of them) and for my grand kids. The kids quilts will get more use, more laundering and will probably wear out from love ... fine with me. Why spend big $ on that.

Now if I were to make a 'heritage' quilt or one for competition I might reconsider buying the best fabric available.

Of course I still make sure the fabric isn't thin or see-thru, and decent quality. I don't like 'crunchy' fabric that has way too much sizing, that is a sign to run away fast.

Songbird; I wish people didn't put so much emphasis on where to purchase things!! Honestly, I purchase from WalMart, Joann's, Hancocks, Craft Warehouse and a few online companies...when they have a sale. The majority of fabrics in my stash do not come from LQS at all. That said, I am careful to purchase only high quality fabrics with a high thread count so my hard work doesn't fray away in the wash. I have purchased at my LQS and had lousy fabric at a high cost per yard. Very disappointing!! So again, no matter where I purchase I always make sure the fabric is good fabric and that for me is more important than saying I purchased it at my LQS or anywhere for that matter.
You just go ahead and purchase those fabrics any where your heart desires and pocket book can afford... and enjoy your quilting!!! I think it's wonderful that you are a quilter, plain and simple!! Just my 2 cents worth!
Quilt on, Miss Songbird.. Quilt On!!! Pay NO mind to the Quilt Police!!!

I always find this subject of discussion interesting. I wonder if the same attitude is in place when one shops at the Dollar Store vs the Supermarket or the Chain Super Market vs the local mom and pop conveniense store.

You are going through what a lot of us went through when we started out. The best advice I can offer is, while it's difficult, let things people say go in one ear and out the other. Just like there are clothing "snobs", car "snobs"... there are those who are just as particular about their quilting.

That being said there ARE differences between the quality box stores offer in the quilting realm than quilt shops. Honestly, the first four or five years I was quilting I really just didn't know what to look for...I couldn't have been able to tell you the difference between good quality or poor. It really just takes experience with both ends of the spectrum, and then deciding what YOU like and prefer.

I think it's fine to use what's readily available and I often do. Just like a foodie when delving into fine food will shoot for the best quality ingredients, once you perfect your skill you may find yourself craving higher quality materials. :) But there is nothing wrong with whatever you chose to use, it's completely your personal preference...and while not all of us can afford to drive Bently's, not all of us can use quilt shop qualilty fabric all the time...and there's nothing wrong with that! ;)

It's all about quality and time and endurance. If you want your quilt to last then use the best quality you can afford, even if you have to save. Remember the hours that go into a quilt. It is better to have one good quilt than three or four of poor quality ones, like the ones you can buy for 65.00 that come from China, right?

Sometimes old clothes are very good quality fabric and those can be had at the thrift stores for pennies. This is just my opinion. I would never dream of critizing anyone who does what they do.

There are all sorts of ways to find good fabric. Garage sales come to mind, reading the adds etc. I myself have bought out two ladies years ago, who decided to get rid of their fabric...

As for the dollar store versus the supermarket? again it is your choice and who cares what anybody has to says, they are not paying your bills. personally, again I will always go for quality, I make sure all my food comes from America, but that is just me.

JoAnn's getting a bad rap
 

I always bought the best fabric that I could afford, whether it be JoAnn's, Wal-Mart or a LQS. A friend of mine discovered a LQS that had $3.99 fabric - it was the same fabric that had been on their shelves, but they were making room for new fabric. Between the two of us we would keep the people working there busy cutting fabric. My Mom taught me years and years ago what to look for in fabric, and that's when you could buy fabric in the Dime Stores (I know I am really going back a long time, when fabric was less than $1/yard) and it was a lesson well learned. I have seen not so great fabric at Wal-Mart, JoAnn's, and sometimes the LQS, and I have gotten some pretty decent fabric at those same places. My advice would be to buy the best fabric that you can afford, and look for sales, although at JoAnn's they sometimes make it difficult to find fabrics on sale, or it's on sale and you have a coupon and it won't work when something is on sale. However, I have found some great fabric in the Red Tag section, you just have to check it out and when that reduced price is 50% off, yippee. I was just there and picked up a nice remnant piece of fleece, and I got 50% off that price. Sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time. I know I got a little gabby (LOL), but be true to yourself and don't listen to the Quilt Police or even the Fabric Police, unless you can see an official badge. LOL. I hope you continue to sew and quilt for a long time to come - I've been sewing for 60 years and it's been a very important part of my life,especially now that I'm retired. Happy sewing.

As there is no LQS around me, I use Joann's and Hobby Lobby, when they have sales, and really have never had an issue..My Joann's will even give me end of bolt at a discount and I never have to ask...I also buy fabric on line when I hear of a sale and I go to goodwill/salvation army...If I really had to pay full price for fabric I don't think I would make more than one quilt a year if that...