I have ordered fabric right off the clearance rack at Connecting Threads, and you can't tell the difference between that and what I received when I ordered some full price fabric. I think what you're getting in the clearance area is what is left over from the kits that didn't sell. Anyway, I've ordered a lot of fabric from there, and a couple of kits, and it's all been awesome. Customer service has been awesome as well. They deserve gold stars. It was because of my experiences there that I ordered from another well known and respected on line store, and now I'm using that fabric for practice. Difference was day and night, with customer service as well. As they say,never accept a bad experience twice! I'd be stunned if I had a bad experience at Connecting Threads.