Originally Posted by Lori S

It is true that the quilt shops generally carry only higher quality goods. But there are a few indepedent stores that carry end of runs, or discontinued top quality at significantly lower prices.
Just educate your self in how to recoginize higher quality fabric from lower. One is the amount of threads , if you can see the outline of your hand thru a single layer it is a low quality ( very little cotton per inch).
Examine the print , it should have clearly defined patterns. Screen prints tend to be very high quality. When looking at fabrics that have what seems to be great colors and depth. Look at the Selvage ... often highly appealing prints have over 10 colors in the registration. Some have as many as 20 , this give the fabric wonderful shading.
Many times a cheap fabric can be made to appear higher in quality by the finish ( starch and or Sizing). Fabrics that seem unusally stiff for a cotton quilting is hiding its poor quality. If its thin but seems to have a stiffness , avoid. Chances are it will sew OK , but once washed will not have any "body " or a desirable hand.
Granted most fabrics are prewashed by the quilter to preshrink ,and check color fastness , but cheaply made goods will reveal them selves in the first few washes.
While discussing color fastness. No manufacture is immune to having a fabric run , but the cheap fabrics , run and keep running. I have on occasion checked the fabric at the counter prior to cutting , by using a damp white cloth on a corner ( yes I have been known to keep this in a zip lock bag in my purse). Deeper color fabrics are most prone to running.
Beleive it or not a give away to cheap goods is the care the manufacture winds the fabric on the bolt. Higher end manufactures pay close attention to making sure that when the fabric is cut off the bolt the straight of grain is parrallel to the bolt. I can not tell you how many time I have been at a chain Store ( Jo Ann's ) and the fabrics a so poorly wound on the bolt that when the cut a yard , by the time I get it home and straighten the grain , I have as much as 8 inches or more that it lost. ( this is a pet pieve of mine) .
I can go on forever on this topic but ... bottom line ..learn to reconginize good quality from poor. It is a skill you will use just as much as learning to sew a 1/4 inch seam.