is a thread you can safely "pull" out?

Can you put your label there?

Ugh... I'm part of this club too! I think it is less irritating when it happens with that bargain fabric though. I really get ticked off when it is the good stuff that I paid and arm and a leg for. But then I think... well, I'm not perfect as a quilter, so maybe it works after all? LOL

Unfortunately, this happens far too often even with quilt-shop quality fabric. I work at a LQS, and when we catch a flaw as we are measuring for a customer, we will cut around the flaw, using any leftovers as fat quarters or to put in a scrap bag. The fabric directly around the flaw goes into the scrap box that we use for making shop samples. This is a very aggrevating situation! Also, when the fabric is cut into two or more lengths in the middle of the bolt.

Occasionally, a flaw gets past us. If the customer brings it to our attention, we will make it good.

No, no, it is not 'flawed' it is distinctive and unique no one will be able to make that exact quilt again even with the same fabrics. It's perfect just the way it is, please do not applique over it! Enjoy your uniqueness! Celebrate it.

Just curious, did you wash the material before you started? I have seen fabrics that got too close to the machines where it's woven and picked up oil or other sludge as it passed through. Usually it's longer than a couple inches, but wondered if that was what happened. I used to pick up mill ends when we were in the AF in Mississippi, learned a lot about fabric production then (ugh, hate to think how many years ago that was!)

Thanks to the comments here, I'm going to take your advice, GingerK, and I WILL open up the yardage and check every inch. Too much money and work goes into our pieces not to. Thanks, everybody! But I bet those flaws will be virtually invisible once quilted and washed....which is a blessing as it hides MY mistakes, too! : )

Sadly, this has happened to me and my quilty friends too. Fortunately quilting truly does hide many errors, even the ones we didn't make ourselves. I like your appliqued flower remedy - post a pic when finished!

We also have found *lots* of times these darker lines in fabrics. Being nearsighted, I've seen that most of the time it is a single dark fiber (often it feels like something synthetic), spun into the thread and then woven into the cloth. So IMHO the fault is in the weaving mill that makes the greige goods. The various manufacturers probably buy differing qualities of greige goods, and (being the buyer) I am quite vigilant as to which manufacturers are printing on the better cloth, and when shopping for light colors I *only* buy those brands.

If you are looking for a plain solid white... go for Kona. NEVER go for Springs. They have lines all over their light color fabrics, and for some odd reason they are usually red ones. When Moda switched the greige goods for their Marbles about a year ago, we noticed a lot of these lines, and reported it to them. And we stopped buying their light colored Marbles. I'm hoping that they've fixed the problem (they did express concern about it) and next month I will buy a few bolts of their light colors again to check out how they are.

What to do when you find a line? If you are also very nearsighted, you *might* be able to take a fine needle and unwrap the dark fiber from the thread and slowly, slowly get rid of it. About 50% of the time I'm able to do this, the other half of the time I can't fix the problem.