Originally Posted by
thimblebug6000
The only time I have ever seen a problem with fabric, it wasn't that old. A friend had purchased a thin black at a bargain US shop (when our $$ was better) She was making a log cabin and using the black as the centre and when she started to hand quilt it, she noticed a small tear in one piece. She took her nail and rubbed it over a few of the pieces and they started to shred. She painstakingly hand appliquéd a new better quality black square over this and removed the offending pieces.
I have many older pieces in my stash, but if I'm doing all hand work, I try for the best quality I can, preferring to save the thinner fabrics for all machine work.
I once purchased some fabric from a LQS at one of the shop hops here. It was a very interesting black and white small print. A few months later I went to use it and when I was getting ready to lay it out to cut, I tugged on it a bit to get it squared up. To my surprise, it ripped right down the center! I've never had any of my vintage tablecloths I've made clothes out of or my vintage fabrics do that.