My mom used to tell me to hold the fabric up to the light and look at it. She said "if you could read the newspaper through it, it's not good enough to put in your clothing or quilts."
I find a lot of that kind of fabric in the stores that are not quilt shops.
The other tip-off is if it feels like it's been stiffened, it usually has. And once it's washed it just becomes awful.
But I DO agree with the others who say to buy the best you can afford. No one should not quilt just because they can't afford quilt shop prices. However I'd go to thrift shops and buy a bunch of inexpensive clothing that can be cut up and used. To this day I still do that when I see a dress or shirt that would look lovely in a quilt. I simply always make sure it's all cotton. And an awful lot of those things are.

8-)

Sorry ladies, I got carried away and clicked twice. :?

Me too. I really like their fabrics! 8-)

I haven't bought fabric online..... I really like to feel the fabrics when I pick them out lol

I buy fabric from quilt shops. I can tell a difference in them just by the way they feel. I worked in a quilt shop for 5 years and I got used to working with the good stuff so nothing else will do.

MarshallsDryGoods.com seem to have nice fabrics at a reasonable price.

My quilt shop has a back room with reduced price fabrics. 40% off everything, and 50% if you finish the bolt. I spend a lot of time in the back room.

Do you ladies mix the different purchased fabric in your quilt? In other words if you bought from a quilt shop and at Joanne's would you use both the fabrics in one quilt?

I use fabrics that feel approximately the same and have the same fiber content, regardless of where I got them from.

An exaggerated comparison of what I probably would not put together: cheese cloth with heavyweight denim.

I prewash everything before cutting it. If it has good manners, I will use it. If it has bad manners, I will try to return it or discard it.

Good manners - keeps its color to itself, dries relatively smoothly (not crumpled like a wadded up newspaper), and the grain lines are approximately perpendicular. Shrinkage is taken care of in the washing. If it loses all its body due to a ridiculous amount of sizing, then it also goes in the bad manners pile.

Debbie Mumm is - as far as I know - a quilt shop fabric. I think many of them are flimsy. I think some of the LQS novelty prints are printed on very coarse fabric.

One learns as one goes.

[quote/ Debbie Mumm is - as far as I know - a quilt shop fabric. I think many of them are flimsy. I think some of the LQS novelty prints are printed on very coarse fabric..[/quote]

Debbie Mumm is sold now at Joann's too. However I don't know if it's the same quality as the quilt shop Debbie Mumm's. I understand from talking to one of my guild members who has worked for a fabric line, that there are several qualities manufactured under the same name at times, and the lesser quality is sold at stores that are not quilt shops. The quality all depends upon the basic gray fabric they start out with. 8-)