Hi there....
I usually go by the feel of the fabric..the texture..you can get an good handfeel at the store.......I've been working in the fabric business sine 1985 so I have a bit of fabric experience :-).... - which is a plus......25 years in fabric had better have taught me something...:-)
I also enjoy finding great buys when I can but that's not an easy thing here in Canada......but at lot of people on the forum talk about getting fabrics for $2.00 and very low prices...I'm not sure that you can buy a $2.00/Yd fabric and have a $8-12 yard quality.....but here a good fabric can be $15-18..but in the U.S., that would perhaps be half of that or even less...because the prices here are just higher - I guess with customs and shipping, etc.
That being said, I am sure that there are a lot of good lower price fabric out there because we can see that a lot of companies put on good sales in the U.S...and some of my friends on here have sent me sites that sell on line...unfortunately they don't all ship to Canada - and when they do the cost of shipping can put the fabric up to local prices....so it is then a non-win situation :-)
I also do know though that you can have the "same" fabric at different prices at different stores..but they are not all the same run on the same fabric..some are seconds and may have certain errors or faults - and these seconds will be sold off to clearance centers..but not advertised as such......but the First Quality goods will be at the LQS...so be careful if you see the same fabric somewhere else for a lot less..it may come from the same company and have the same name - but it may not be the same fabric by a long shot :-)
Just be careful as you shop - and if you are not sure about a particular fabric - before you buy yardage - buy a FQ and test it out and see how it works for you.....
Happy Quilting everyone!!!!!
Bill