may be a regional thing...i can find ginghams...and dotted swiss, need to hit fashion fabric outlets if you are looking for fashion fabrics, here our joannes carry both. most quilt shops do not because they are not profitable/popular with quilters.
and i am working on a gingham quilt right now for a special little girl.

I've done baby quilts using 1/4" and 1/8" ginghams then applique animals on top of the gingham.

I made a quilt out of just gingham for my baby girl in 1970.

Robert Kaufman has a whole line of cotton gingham now called Carolina Cottons, tiny 1/8 inch checks in maybe 20-25 different colors.

I made my son's baby quilt out of gingham, 22yrs ago. LOL. It was poly cotton. I didnt know anybetter at the time and it worked out ok. Just have to be careful and pin more. the gingham is a little slippery. Yes, we still have the quilt. It held up very well.

I made two, one for each twin bed in our bedroom. Mine has 4 square patches alternated with plain fabric on which I used Artex paint and did flowers and his is 9 patch with sashing. Still using them and I have a box full I have been saving, witing for inspiration. I love gingham. You could embroider the alternate patches with the theme of your choice.
Made a quilt for a friend using her mother's gingham aprons with the cross stitching on them, turned out beautiful.

Carol J.

I wonder why they have added so much synthetic to a traditional fabric such as gingham. I haven't found good gingham for some time. Too, my daughters were summer babies and I made receiving blankets for them from seersucker. It was all cotton, was very comfortable, and easy to launder. I looked for seersucker when the summer grandbabies were coming but nowadays that has synthetic in it, too, and is hot in the summer. Both of these fabrics are traditional and now not as good. Kinda goes with the thing that once you find a product that you really like, they will quit making it!

I have a quilt my great aunt made, its all out of Gingham, She used sashing on it. It looks like what it is. An old fashion scrappy. She did use some of the brighter colors. It looks like what u would expect to see on a bed in the Rural Ozarks in the 50's.

I have found both at Fabric.com. I don't know if they keep it in stock but I know it is there from time to time. The dotted Swiss is wonderful.

I have made baby quilts with gingham. I put white blocks with embroidery between blocks of gingham. The embroidery blocks are themed to match whoever I made it for....cats, dogs, ducks...etc. My gingham blocks are always the same color. Blue gingham is the one I tend to aim towards.

There was an embroidery technique--was it called Chicken Scratch?--that was popular for some time. It utilized the "even weave" of the gingham to create some really nice designs. Seem I remember animals on baby quilts and there were some pretty designs to put as borders on aprons or the bottom of gingham skirts in that era when we wore gingham skirts!