Originally Posted by Favorite Fabrics
The beauty of any fabric, of course, likes in how it looks in the finished quilt.
And there have been many discussions on the differences in quality between quilt-shop fabrics and chain-store fabrics.
But, of the quilt-shop fabrics, when you're talking "basics" or blenders... fabrics that you probably bought because they were just the right color... are there certain lines that you think are worth more?
Let me explain where I'm going with this. Pretty much every fabric company has a line of basics/blenders. And some companies give you a little bit of a quantity discount, and some don't. All the prices have been inching up (well, ok, more than inching in some cases!). Just today I was looking at some of the new ones coming out by Robert Kaufman - they're Patrick Lose designs - and they're going to cost, on the wholesale level, about 75 cents more per yard than other companies' basic blenders.
Do you think the price difference is warranted? Are there certain basics and blenders that you think are worth paying more for? Which ones? How much more?
The reason you might pay more for some fabrics have to do with a few things.
#1 If the line is from a well known quilter and thay want more money from the company that is repping them.
#2 The thead count is higher.
#3 How many cooridents are in the group.
I worked in Textiles and there are many factors just to mention a few. It coast about 1.25 per yd to print the fabric. but to develop the line could run from 3,000 to 6,000. After the line is printed it has to be shipped. This could be from India, China, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonisia. Notice not in AMERICA. The shipping coast has to be figured in. When you see all thoes huge cargo ships with thoes huge containers on them.. well some of them are filled with fabric. and that coast about 5,ooo per container or even more. Then the fabric has to go to a wearhouse to be sourted and rolled onto bolts and shipped to store's. now mors coast is added. The store pays about 3.50 to 4.oo a yrd. we pay 9.00 and up. Batiks coast more because the printing is different. They are dyed and thats a whole different process. I hope this answers some of youe questions.