I think some fabrics are just woven with finer threads and are inherently thinner, but not necessarily inferior. I hope so, anyway, because the fabric I just used on my daughter's quilt was finer and thinner. What is really making me angry these days is that fabric is narrower, selvage to selvage. Some of my recent purchases have only 40" of useable fabric. This causes a difference in the amount required for some patterns. Also, I seem to make a lot of quilts that are in the upper 70's in length. Previously with 42" fabric, I could use two widths for backing, but not with 40" fabric. Not enough margin for the longarm.