I went by the fabric department at Wal Mart this morning and noticed the $2 a yard table. There was a piece of brown print, which usually would not have attracted my attention, but on a whim, I felt it. It had a great hand, smooth and silky, not very heavy, but certainly not gauzey either. The print on the wrong side was reasonably heavy, so I bought a yard, brought it home and did what I never do--I prewashed it in hot water and detergent and dried it in the hottest possible cycle. I did use a Shout color catcher in the washing machine, which was a good thing because the fabric did bleed some, although not very much.
When the fabric came out of the drier, there was hardly any raveling at the cut ends and almost no shrinkage. The hand was not quite as smooth as before it was washed, but it still felt really good.
The end of the bolt said it was made in India but there was no manufacturer's name and no color dots on the selvage.
Despite its anonymity, I plan to look for more of this kind of fabric in different colors and prints. It is wonderful to have a source for usable fabric at a price that makes buying fabric fun again.
Just thought you might like to know $2 will buy a pretty piece of fabric at Wal Mart. And there are some spectacularly pretty prints from VIP (Cranston Mills) for $5.47 a yard. froggyintexas