Thread: Quilt Store Quality Fabric

so, I have started following a lot of quilting blogs - I'm a bit addicted.

But they keep mentioning only buying and using "quilt shop quality" fabrics and say to never buy from big places like joanns, etc. I'm a tad confused. I'm pretty sure that joanns and other places carry not only lower grade fabric but also the nice stuff. So isn't it just more important to make sure it's a quality fabric vs. being snotty about where it's purchased? I'll admit that I'm doing all of this on a budget and sometimes I just can't afford the local quilt stores prices. And heck - my local Hancock Fabrics now sells Kona cotton solids in LOTS of colors!

This is the link that got me started - a layer cake swap where they said specifically not to purchase fabric from Joanns or other stores like it:

http://distantpickles.blogspot.com/2...some-cake.html

Am I wrong in my thinking? I guess I've just never been one of those "brand name needed" kind of girls.

I agree with you. I have found many nice fabrics at Hancocks, Joanns and even Walmart! I feel it to see how thick it is and if it feels and looks nice I buy it. I love buying from my local quilt store but I just can't afford to do it every time. I say if you like it buy it. You are the one working with it anyway. I wouldn't be able to sew anything if I had to get the fabric from the quilt store everytime. Once it's in a quilt it will look beautiful! Back in the day people used to recycle clothes and flour and seed sack bags so I would say using a "discount" fabric is just fine.

i take it to mean good quality fabric regardless of where purchased. tight weave, pure cotton, good solid colours.
i have purchased good fabric from Hancocks, there is no joanns in canada. we have 'fabricland' some of it is terribly thin and worthless. i have purchased good quality fabric at walmart, in the past, they no longer have fabric here.

Don't we all wish that the price of fabric was no object? Yes we do BUT price is a consideration for me. I look for good quality fabric from any and all available sources. If I was participating in a swap then I would go to my LQS for the required fabric.
On a side note, the last LQS fabric I bought had a printing flaw in it that I didn't notice until I was machine quilting my quilt.

Thanks for all of your responses and making me feel better about how I've been shopping! I absolutely agree in supporting the LQS, but it can't always be by buying fabric. I'm going to have my quilts quilted there (unless I learn and want to quilt my own one day!) and they have classes, etc. But I just can't see limiting my fabric buying to only them.

The way I look at it, quilting was started by thrifty women who had only scraps from clothes they made, and swapped with others for variety. I 'honor' that tradition by being thrifty -- yes, I'd love to be able to buy the really nice fabrics from designers, but I have other things to spend money on, too. So I buy in the clearance areas at the LQS, some from Joann's, Hancock and very occasionally, Walmart (the fabric at our store is usually cheap). But I also buy at Goodwill, as quilters pass away and their family members donate not knowing just how much those fabrics are worth, in money and in their loved ones eyes. I also buy at yard sales, and even clothing that I see at yard sales where the fabric is nice and in good shape, which I then cut up. Our economy isn't going to improve for a very long time, so we all have to save where we can. But we can still enjoy our art and produce beautifully, well made quilts for others as reasonable prices, too.