Originally Posted by
Monroe
I had to stop at WM late last night on my way home since it was the only place open. Walked through the fabric dept- truly poor quality fabrics at $5 - 7/yard! Loosely woven, heavily starched or sized fabrics that will shrink a lot when washed. I prewash everything, and don't buy fabric at WM. They seriously downsized the fabric dept about 4 years ago and moved it to the back of the store. Thread and binding selections also decreased. Driving 25 miles to a fabric store isn't feasible with the price of gas jumping over 17 cents in just the last week. Cotton prices came down a lot over the past 2 years, but fabric costs continue to rise.
I don't understand this repeated assertion that Wal-Mart has poor fabric. Maybe some Wal-Marts but our stores have always had good fabrics. The oldest store took it's fabric out for awhile but it's back now and the newest store (less than 2 years old) has always had some great fabric, 100% cotton, tightly woven, doesn't shrink excessively.....and it is much cheaper than the VERY SAME fabric at Jo-Ann's. About a year ago I bought some 100% cotton (green background with white dots) for $2.00 yd at Wal-Mart. It cut and sewed up beautifully. I loved it so much I went back and bought more just to have in my stash. Six months later Jo-Ann's had the same fabric at $5.99 yd. Fat quarters bought at Wal-Mart compare in every way to those bought at Jo-Ann's except in price: $.99 at Wal-Mart; $1.99 at Jo-Ann's.
Having said all that I still shop at Jo-Ann's; it's nearer and I can use coupons. But I don't hesitate to buy fabric at Wal-Mart, either. Some of it is better than fabric available at Jo-Ann's, and most of it is at least equal and much cheaper. We no longer have LQSs nor a Cloth World (do they still exist?) nor a Hancock's so those are not options. We do have Hobby Lobby--not very convenient to me--and of course if we choose to, we can drive 35 miles to Dallas--and get anything we want there. But in the meantime, I love that Wal-Mart has fabric!