Sheila_H

Online Connecting Threads and Keepsake Quilting

If I'm in a new city visiting I always try and stop at some different LQS places and buy fabric that I can look and feel. I've ordered fabric before online and didn't find I liked it that much its kind of hard to tell for me just by looking at it.

I also buy a lot of fabric from the women on here too and haven't been disappointed yet! You have to be quick on here though lol

fairydawn

I like fabric.com , over the rainbow and somewhere sewing. Make sure your fabric is from a good manufacturer.

Alli

I like Hancock's of Paducah quality but they have a poor website. The search function is inadequate. Fabric.com is excellent but I have gotten some poor quality fabric. Writer above is right to look for respected fabric line names before you buy. I find Connecting Threads to be a lesser quality fabric. As always-you get what you pay for.

Favorite Fabrics

Oh, please don't feel bad about this, memaw4! The whole "country of origin" issue is one that I'm particularly interested in. Cranston/VIP printed here in the US until about two years ago. I was fortunate enough to be able to tour their printing plant in Webster, Massachusetts about a year before they stopped printing there. When they made the decision to print overseas, I felt terrible about all the people who had worked there for decades, and were being laid off. Even one of the customer service people who usually handled my purchases was let go. Since I had met these folks in person it was particularly distressing. One of the managers at Cranston called me to give me the news personally, rather than let me find out about it some other way. (That tells you how very nice they are!)

I would LOVE to be able to buy and sell fabrics that are made in my own country. (This is not a comment AGAINST other countries; everyone needs to be able to make a living.) It's just that I would like to help keep jobs here in my own country if at all possible.

So I started to look for other companies who might still be printing fabrics here in the US. As far as I know, the only company who prints cotton quilting fabrics is Santee. Their fabrics are sold in JoAnn's; they are some of the oldies-but-goodies that you will find on the calico wall. And, though Santee prints here in the US, all the greige goods are still imported (probably from Pakistan, India, or China).

A lot of people have thought that Connecting Threads' fabrics are USA made. It's quite possible that a few years back, they were. (I really only started following this issue closely once Cranston closed their mill.) Because I had read here on the forum about CT's fabrics being USA made, I've been watching CT's site, and have seen how their product descriptions have changed from "cotton grown in North America" to... nothing about where the fabrics are sourced or printed.

As a retailer, the issue of where the fabric comes from is... disheartening. I confess that I do love the quality of the imported fabrics (though Cranston's was very nice too). But I am acutely aware that I'm contributing to the US trade deficit, but there is nothing that I can do about it.

As to fabrics that are made start-to-finish in the US, there is one company that sells them: http://www.nationaltextile.net/index.html

The thing is, they are all poly/cotton blends, though, and you know how we quilters greatly prefer cotton.

If you do e-mail CT to ask about the source of their fabrics, please share their answer with us here on the forum

:)

KyKaren1949

I love Stitch N Frame, Whittle's, and Crafttown for their fabrics and good prices. I've also ordered from some of the places mentioned in the above posts.

Sometimes when I find a fabric I like, I go to the www.quiltshops.com website and enter that fabric into the search bar to find the best price. That site is a fabric search engine for over 200+ fabrics.

I've also used Quilt Fabric Closeouts for discontinued fabrics. Many times, the fabrics she has listed are still current in many other quilt shops.

I agree that it's the manufacturer more than the quilt shop, but it's also about the prices, good service, packaging and shipping as well. Are they reasonable in their shipping prices? Do they ship promptly? Are the packages well-wrapped and protected from the weather in case they're handled roughly?

I really try to find fabrics on sale or discontinued to save money. That's one of the reasons why I like Stitch N Frame. They have a weekly sale email that goes out on Wednesday. If they carry something you really like, if you wait awhile and check those sale emails, you will eventually find it marked down.

sewingladydi

My favorite too

Wintersewer

This is a GREAT site!!! The shipping is expensive so figure on about an extra $1 per yard. But brand name fabrics are under $5. Shipping is fast too.

wildyard

I ordered from QKO... Quilt Kits Online... a member of this board, and the fabrics were the best I have ever touched!!!
I have also ordered from Connecting Threads and Fabric.com and tho I have no complaints about their fabrics, they do not compare to those I got from QKO.

Anna.425

Quilter's Roost

http://www.quiltersroost.com

Sienna's GiGi

I agree but I also use fatquartershop.com,
hancockspaducah.com and connectingthreads.com