A note about "woven" fabric versus "printed" fabric
 

Just a bit of info regarding fabric. I just received an order of fabric (several 1/2-yard cuts. 90% are "printed" patterns. All fabrics were the same charge per yard. Just a reminder for my quilting friends. Most "woven" fabric may be used on either side as the pattern goes through to the back. With "printed" fabric, however, the back is almost blank. Whether the fabric is "printed" or not may not be as important in a quilt as it is for apparel. With apparel, the print may wear off at the elbows or the buttocks where you sit on it. Just want to remind sewers to be more diligent when choosing fabric. This also happened at my local quilt shop. Prices are going up but fabrics are being "printed" rather than "woven". I believe that the[ATTACH=CONFIG]304443[/ATTACH] quality is different and, therefore, the price should also be different. Maybe it's time to start complaining. What do you think? Would love your input. Photo below shows "woven" fabric on left versus "printed" fabric on right. Yolanda Wood River

Every one of those fabrics is a print. The only difference is on some of them the dyes go all the way through.

Very interesting. Hadn't thought of that. How do YOU tell if the fabric is woven or printed? Y

The only prints that are woven are things like jacard. These are mostly used in upholstery or drapery and are heavy. Plaids and checks are often woven. The only way to tell for sure is to pull out individual threads. Most cotton fabrics are dyed other than plaids and or checks like gingham.

There are two basic types of fabric, woven and knitted. A woven fabric can have a design woven into it like a damask. In a damask the design shows up on one side as a positive and on the other side as a negative but it's all one color. A woven can be a yarn dyed where the individual yarns are dyed before they're used to weave the fabric. This is generally used in plaids and homespuns are one type of yarn dyed woven. If a fabric has a colored design woven into it you'll see the colored thread carried across the background part on the wrong side of the fabric. This is generally used in fancy silks.

Other than homespuns, quilt cottons are all printed fabrics. Some are printed on high speed rollers and some are vat dyed like batiks.

check out the gingham in your stashes... only plaids and stripes CAN be woven... altho i guess, technically, jacquards would be a woven print, but in this case are usually tone on tone...

Don't forget woven patterns like herringbone and houndstooth...

Also, not all quilting cottons are printed fabrics...shot cotton, for example, and many of the solids, are yarn dyed.

Thank you for that explanation. I so appreciate your expertise. Yolanda Wood River

It's not a matter of woven or printed, it's a choice of design. A woven design (not counting solids) by necessity will be some sort of stripe or check or plaid. A printed design could be anything in the world, including a printed stripe or plaid.

Fabric is two basic types-----------woven or knitted, not counting felted fabrics. The cottons we use in quilts are woven AND most are then printed.