I buy all my fabrics at Walmart. I've never had troubles. In fact, I'm wearing a shirt I made 4 yrs ago and it still looks new. Its was $1 a yrd fabric. I can't afford Quilt store prices, but that's just me. I have also bought from Joanns too..

Some of WalMarts less expensive fabrics are very nice.

They don't have the selection that the quilt shops do, but they don't have the prices, either.

I try to get there right after Halloween and Christmas to get deals on those marked down holiday fabrics.

Donna, I had the same question when I started buying fabric. Here is an article that helped me understand things a bit better, and I hope it helps you as well: http://www.fabrics.net/cotqual.asp I've actually started to collect better fabrics, and have a good time trying to find them reasonably priced.

A far as some of the other comments on this thread, please take a moment and consider that if I made snide comments about shopping at Wal-Mart, I would be run out on the rails and rightfully so. Making snide comments about people who do shop at quilt stores is no better, just reverse snobbery. To look down on either defeats the purpose of the board (IMHO.) Keeping track of my fabric information is so that I can help someone who wants to get some, not so I can "list designers and collections by name in mixed quilt company." I'd like to think I'm still a quilter. I'll happily tell anyone on the board who asks where I got a fabric and what I paid for it - hopefully I can share a bargain I found, not just because I like telling them the price. I happen to have 3 antique quilts that I would give anything to have a label on them so I could know more about the quilts and who made them - if that's a monument, then I can only hope that my great-grandchildren (should I ever have any) appreciate it.

As you can see, there are usually more than one way to look at something, and I hope we can all be more tolerant than exclusionary. I got a wonderful present last weekend, but the tone of these comments kept me from sharing it on the board. Maybe I'm not the only one?

Please don't go by what I said. I'm not a snob or anything towards Quilt Shops. I LOVE quilt shops, and don't see anything wrong with them, but I'm on a budget so buy what I can afford. PERSONALLY.... I don't think it really matters where you get your fabric, just enjoy sewing, and please share with us what your doing. :P

Like everyone else, buy what you like and use it. I always wash it first because I use, Walmart, JoAnn's and they are not created equal. I check my fabric, some of Walmart's $2.00 fabric is fine and others are not. Open it up, you can see if it is thin, the thread count is low and you DON'T want to waste your time on it as it won't last. I have used a lot of their $2-4 fabrics and they are fine. Then Jo Ann's flannels are the same way, some are good and some are too thin. I love my Erica's but nothing is under $8.00 a yard unless it is on clearance and so I usually go there for special fabrics that I can't find anywhere else or to get patterns and ideas. Hope this helps. Bernadette

For me there was - and still is - a learning curve - about what works well and what is a waste of time and money.

I think the original question was to try to shorten that curve - to save both time and expense.

I consider myself an experienced buyer of quilting type cottons, but I've just recently purchased items that didn't work out for the project I was working on. Drat!

I really don't think there is a major shortcut around experience.

If you can, go to quilt shows and look at what the quilters used in their quilts. One can't go touching the quilts bare-handed, but one can get some good ideas about what the fabrics are like.

I mix fabrics all the time and have never had a problem. I don't buy from Joann because they are too far away from me, and their workers are not very pleasant to say the least.