Stopped at Joann's on Sat. to pick up some black fabric for the border of a black and white quilt I'm making. Very disappointed as for the most part the fabrics were thin, stretchy and kind of see through. Checked out the Kono black and that was always a good choice for a solid black colorwise as well as for thickness. Kono was a little better than Joann's stuff but still not as good as the small piece of Kono I have that I bought a few years ago. Didn't get to use my coupons again. Guess it's a long trip to the LQS for me.
May in Jersey

Hi May - it can be hard to get a good solid black. Kona has two different blacks. Regular Black (#47) is different from Jet Black (#46) which is dyed multiple times. It's a bit more expensive (about $7/yard instead of $5/yard) but worth it in my opinion. I think Joann probably only carries the regular black and that may be why it didn't feel right to you.

Hope this helps!

Thanks, that is good info to know.

I usually buy my Kona online.

Just to make you feel better, I buy the Kona Jet black here in the UK and if I'm lucky, ONLY pay the equivalent of around$12 per metre (39"). But I've never found a solid black to match it for quality, depth of colour or colour fastness. In my experience, cheap price = cheap quality, unless it's a genuine sale.

Have you ever tried the Michael Miller Jet Black Solid? It's amazing.
Blackest black I've found. There is no red or blue or green tint to it. It's just the most deepest black.
http://www.hancocks-paducah.com/Item--i-MCJ-BLK

I haven't but I have used other Micheal Miller fabrics and always found them excellent quality. When my bolt of Kona starts getting low, I'll campaign my LQS to get a bolt to try. She probably will oblige me as I've been sending hordes of ladies in there recently to buy metres of fabric for my kaleidoscope workshops so I'm definitely in her good books at the moment! :mrgreen:

Thanks for the 'heads up'. :-D

May, just curious, where is your nearest LQS? I was in Wildwood this past weekend and was looking for somewhere to go in the rain on Sat. and couldn't find anything nearby.

Have you ever tried the Amish black fabric from Keepsake Quilting? I have been tempted to order some but first wanted to find out if anyone has used it.

If you're looking for a really deep double-dyed black, another great one is Maywood Studios Black Magic. We use it in our kits when we need a really black black with no other color tinge.

Maywood is also always on the highest quality goods. Not really that cheap, but worth it.

Never realized that there's so much variation in black!

... a gaggle of geese

... a horde of quilters

Great to know the correct term! :mrgreen: ...love it!!!

In my case, it's a "hoard"! teehee!

Next time you're in a relatively well-stocked LQS, take a look at the black solids.
Even if they're top of the line fabrics- Moda, Kaufman, P&B - when you put them next to each other, what looked like perfectly acceptable black solid before will now appear with a red or blue or green tint.

My understanding of this, from something I read back when the MM fabric came out, is that many of the black solids are produced by using a mish-mash of remaining dyes, and throwing black in to them so they darken up to a "black" solid.
But those underlying other colors still have an effect on the final product.

The MM Jet Solid Black was one of the first made with ONLY dark black dyes.

How many times have you bought black fabric, used it up, and then bought more.....and it wasn't the same color?

I've bought and used huge yardage cuts of this fabric from different sources and never had the equivalent of dye lot mismatch problem.

I found the Moda frayed a lot. A LOT.

Keepsake Quilting's Amish black is an RJR fabric - which, when I last saw in a store (not Keepsake) was not black black.
When I fabric shop, I always have a square of the MM Jet with me to compare. ;-)

I haven't tried the Maywood black yet. Thanks for mentioning it.

NAYY / YMMV.
;-)

See that's the problem. There's only one LQS here and it's not well stocked (they would only have one black) and there aren't really any others.

Thank you for letting me know about the Amish black!

I haven't used black in quilting, but I was always frustrated with black clothing. The black sweater would look awful with the black slacks. Now I know why.

Hancoks has the best balck fabric I have ever found and prices are fairly good. They carry it all the time.

It is a wonderful black - but the three pieces I've had (from different bolts and different times) DID shrink quite a bit crosswise. (But then, I soak my fabrics in hot water) - over two inches.

Well, if you were doing one project and had enough fabric, you probably wouldn't notice the difference of the tinted black.

You would, however, notice the difference of your other fabrics with the MM fabric. They just pop off it.

The only reason I noticed was that years ago I went back to my LQS to get more black for a project. As I was looking at the 3 black bolts, the light happened to hit them and I noticed there were obvious differences.

But keep it in mind to check if you ever get to a bigger shop.

And you can always order the MM online. ;-)

It is not only the black, I wanted to buy lime green and you could see through it, like gauze.I should of checked to see where it was made. I've been very disappointed with their fabric lately. It was a country classic and the kona wasn't much better.

sadly we are going to have to get used to thinner fabrics showing up every where for a while...the Asian greige goods they are ALLOWING fabric manufacturers to use is thinner than we are used to!

If you've got a Hobby Lobby nearby, I think they carry Kona...

You are right! I did the same with an Amish quilt I made and the black #46 was a little more expensive, but a lot easier to work with also. It has the feel! Edie

I never get to use my Joanns cupon. Seems like everything is always on sale. Why do they bother sending cupons?

Yes, China has invaded Joannes as well.
Michelle

I bought black and yellow Kona at Joanns and I'm happy with it. It was $6.99 a yard. I bought white at Goods store in PA which was Hoffman brand and it seems about the same. The strange thing is all the kona had to be ironed after washing. I bought David Textiles fabric at Wal Mart for less then $5 a yard and it came out beautifully. Didn't even need to touch it up with an iron. Used to be the more you payed the better the quality.Seems you can't count on that anymore.

I order my black from Keepsake quilting too. It is the best I have seen and used...a true black. It's called Amish black.

check out Keepsake quilting, they have Amish Black and it's $6.50 a yard. May not be the right price but it's $6 something

It gets you in the store.

I brought the kona solid in joanns for my daughter's quilt and when you cut if there are fibers all over the cutting mat. Was not very happy and won't buy it there again. I was in the store just recently and was extremely disappointed. We all complain about the price of cotton in lqs but most of the fabric I looked at was $10 a yard. I was really shocked. Sales are good when you can find them but they have to have what you want. I did get to use two coupons. Loved the 20% off your total sale.

I just purchased black in a quilt kit made up at a LQS and it was sooo thin. I bought better at JoAnns. I try to buy yardage when a quilt shop has a sale.

I found exactly that a week ago when I visited the newly remodeled Joann's in Brick.......came out empty handed of fabric..was totally disappointed........ Still like the C&C thread so I usually use the coupons for that.........

Although I am now using thread from Connecting Threads and it is working just fine....so maybe there will be a change....after the seventy-some spools (I now have in cabinet)are gone !!!!!!!!!

I got my Joann's coupon book in the mail, so I went there yesterday hoping to come home with some fabric. However they had everything in the store on sale for 20-30% off so you couldn't use your coupons. They seem to have the same old stuff, nothing that excites me. So I was upset that I couldn't use the coupons, I left without buying anything. I will continue to order stuff online.

Happy that you asked about this---many helpful replies.
Thanks, Kutnso

Lately I have been shopping at Hancock rather than Joann's. You can really get some good deals at Hancock.

I've tried several blacks but my absolute favorite is Amish Black from Keepsake. It's all I use now.

I don't know if it different in your JoAnna's but here the coupon says "20% off ONE item," not the whole order. The coupon is very deceiving if you don't look close. And trust me, the cashiers stick to ONE ITEM.

I stand my ground with JoAnns, if I have a coupon for 40% off any one cut I get my 40% off. They really don't want you to make a scene in front of other customers. I have bought whole bolts of Muslim for backing like this.50% off same. Sometimes its cheaper to say you'll pay full price if you can use your coupon.

I have used the Amish black from Keepsake Quilting and have been more than satisfied with it. I use it all the time.

For a really black black I have used the better Kona Black but I also order Amish black from z and s quilting on-line.