Originally Posted by
athenascooter
my long arm quilter said that she was told that the manufactures make a trial run with cheaper quality to see what quilters like and put that in walmart and hancock, etc and then make better quality for quilt shops. You can find some good quality fabric and the other stores but you have to look. I have used from all but like I said you have to look carefully before buying
I've never heard that from any of my shop's sales reps... but there's nothing to keep Wal-Mart or Hancocks from looking at the LQS fabrics and asking a fabric company to make a similar design just for them. And the designers do "jump ship" from one manufacturer to another. Susan Winget used to design for Benartex and now does lines for Springs Industries that JoAnn Fabrics carries. Likewise, April Cornell, who used to design for Moda, has created exclusive lines for JoAnns. There isn't a Hancock's near me, so I really don't know what they have these days.