I shop by feel too.....I made a quilt with a particular piece of fabric that didn't feel right and I had a lot of trouble with it. So the quality of the fabric is important. We put a lot of time and effort into our projects, having them fall apart at quilting because the fabric had too loose a weave is just heartbreaking.

Categorizing retail shops and big box stores is ridiculous. Last time I was in walmart in the city near me they had cotton fabric for $12.98/yd. It was good quality and very pretty. No, I diddn't buy any of it. I have bought fabric there for $2.00/yd and it had been priced much higher once. BTW, I bought some absolutely marvelous blue & white fabric w Civil War battle scenes and paid only 79 cents/yd for it. Dumb me...I only bought 3 yds. It was nowhere to be seen at a later date. Maybe it was because they were Confederate depictions....I gave it to a CWar buff thinking I could get more.. Really do regret it now. The fun for me is in the hunt for the unusual and the process of quilting, not in the finished product. Maybe that accounts for so many UFO's.

That 79 cent sttuff was at Hancock's...my fav store. They are always fair and courteous. But I buy on line, yard sales, Rescue Mission (yds and yds of J Beyer fabric) for a token of fabric stores. The best place to look is...my stash. I'm 78yrs old and have collected fabric for many yrs. Children just shake their heads at the fabric I store. But, DD and one DIL, 2 DGD's will accept any of my quilts.

It's probably just because I'm a historical type of person...I live in the past. And I think I just look at the world differently than a lot people. To me quilting is still something that can be utilized while also being art. To me, quilts are meant to become old and worn AND loved! That's why we make more. I understand that some quilts call for higher quality fabric, but to say if you don't buy a certain type of fabric from a certain place you are lower on the "quilting totem pole" is rather stupid. But that's the way of the world ya know.

I don't understand how the quilt police got involved in this. Someone asked for an explanation, and everyone has chimed in with their opinion. In 9 pages of posts, I have not seen ONE single post that made me think the poster was the quilt police. I haven't seen anyone say "YOU should not shop there because..." They are simply stating their opinion, their reasons behind their choices, which is great because maybe someone came up with a reason that I hadn't considered. Since when did expressing an opinion become offensive?

I cannot speak to the quality of Joann's vs LQS fabric. I refuse to shop at Joann's because I hate their customer no-service, their long lines, and - more than anything - their coupon shenanigans. There are certain LQSes around here that I won't shop at either, mostly because of the attitudes of the owners. And I'm not talking snooty attitudes, either. One is overly inquisitive and snoopy about my personal life, I have to be downright rude to her to get her to leave me alone. I don't enjoy that experience, so I won't shop there. Another owner is overly talkative and shares way too much detail about her personal life, and she can't measure and cut while she's talking. She will follow me all the way out to the parking lot and stand there while my engine is running, talking. But these are simply MY experiences and the reasons why I won't shop there. If you like Joann's coupons, then by all means, shop there. If you prefer to support your LQS and can handle the personality quirks, then shop there. I am not telling anyone that they should or should not shop certain retailers, I am simply explaining the reasons behind MY choices.

I won't shop at Wally world. It's over animal abuse(fish) so I've been boycotting even tho they no longer have a pet department. Not fabric quality.

Joanne's will have some nice stuff at times, and whoever likes it, more power to them. I'm more intrigued by color than style, and that is my complaint. I will shop wherever I can get the colors I want. Sometimes that is the local quilt shops as they tend to keep last years fabric longer - especially if it still sells. After they sell out, then new stuff will replace. The box stores tend to replace faster. Even the LQS might be different if they also sell machines - there might or not be a better selection of thread and accessories for machine quilting. Some will carry different lines, but mostly the same color choices.

The only real big complaint I ever had about Joanne and the local Hancock, was crafts! I don't mind paper, art, etc, but that pot-pourri would give me a headache. It stank. You can ignore the other craft items, but the smell goes all over.

It's the management decissions at JoAnn's that I complain about. And I've experienced this in North Little Rock, AR and in the Cumming, GA area. They don't hire enough people to cut the fabric, or to check you out. They are not the only store that does this and it's always a puzzle to me, because they don't make a dime until that cash register rings. I can always find fabric and notions I like, but getting the bought is a pain in the a**.

People always throw that term around. Mostly they do it because it makes them feel better about themselves. 99.99% of the whole "quilt police" thing is all in their own head. Once in a great while somebody will run into a "you should never, you should always" person and invariably you find out that person isn't a quilter anyway.

There. Now that I've made everybody mad I think I'll iron and cut some fabric.

I envy you a Joanne's or any LQS. I have to drive 45+ minutes to anything around here. There is a Hancock's in one town and in another a Hancock's, Hobby Lobby, and a Ben Franklin. I wish we had one here in town.

I think it is the old addage "let the buyer beware." You need to examine the fabric you are buying. Personally I think Joann's fat quarters do not have a good thread count. Some of their fabric is very nice. I have never had a problem with fabric bought from the LQS or at reputable sites on line (fabric.com, connecting threads, etc) Personally, though, I have had my own issues with some of the MODA fabric. I felt it "ravelled" (not sure if that is the right term....it was too stringy)