I used to think WalMart fabric was ok. Fabric was fabric. Then I used real quilt shop fabric... It is so much nicer. Fewer wrinkles, less shrinkage, better thread count. Now I am spoiled... I like the good stuff... and if I am putting my time into a big project, I want to know that the material will out-last me!
I was told that the reason you sometimes see the same print at WalMart places as you see in quilt shops is that when the fabric maker is first lining up the color separations to print the fabric, the trial runs are made on inexpensive fabric. That is what is sold to the discount places. After everything is lined up perfectly, then they print it on nice material and that is what goes to the quilt shops. I thought that was an interesting explaination.
hugs, Jup