Originally Posted by
QuiltedCritterLady
I rely quite a bit on advice from a friend who has been quilting for decades. She cautions me not to be a fabric snob. Basically, she has said to look at the fabric. If it is so thin that you can see your hand placed behind it, it is too thin. If you can't see your hand through it and you like it, by all means buy it! I have found some junky fabric at Wal Mart, and I've found some to be acceptable. Lately I've found some there that was quite a lot better - not as nice as the LQS, but neither were the prices. I try to buy the best I can afford and decide for each project. My Christmas quilts were made with better fabric. When I made Christmas table runners I used fabric that was a mix from various places. If I were to make pot holders, Wal Mart fabric would be just fine. Dog blankets would be fine from Wal Mart fabric too, no question. Decide for each project individually based on your budget. If all I could afford was yard sale fabric, I would still quilt. If I could not even afford that, I would still quilt, and I would just cut up old clothes. That's what our grandmothers did anyway, right?
Not if your grandmother had any sense. Back then when clothes were worn out they were really worn out. People did not have the amount of clothes they do now and they wore them a lot longer than people do now. By the time they were worn out had already been worn by every kid in the family and repaired numerous times and maybe even made over a time or two. By the time the last kid was done they were nearly rags. They tore them in strips and used them for mops or dust rags or cleaning rags in general.
Quilts were made from the SCRAPS from MAKING clothes!!! Most people made clothes back then and would have lots of scraps leftover.
Richer women that had purchased clothes would even buy special fabrics specifically for making quilts.