I used a fabric in a quilt that had little holes in it. I take that quilt top out every once in a while and hold it up to a good light and look it over again. When I eventually am pretty sure I have all the little holes found and fixed I'll quilt it. Most of the holes are about the size of a pencil eraser so they weren't obvious and some are even smaller so they're harder to find.

That would certainly "frost my flakes" as you say ! ( I now have a new expression thanks to you!) Thanks for the reminder that price does not always guarentee a flawless piece of fabric.

I got some fabric at the LQS that had a "weakness" in the fold. It was on the sale table. I got it home, washed and dried it. As I was ironing it, it split right down the fold. I took it back and the owner was appalled. She had some left on the bolt, gave it a pull and the whole thing split. Got my money back, she sent it back and they credited her as well. Seems they sent her the "wrong quality" fabric. Ever since, I check the fabric carefully.

Not for quilting but I was buying fabric to make purses at PA Fabric Outlet. Thank God my friend Bev was with me that day. She told me to tell the woman cutting fabric that I wanted my 1 yd. cut BEYOND the big "empty" square where someone must have asked for a sample. I never saw it but her being an experience/professional seamstress spoted it right away. She warned me...from now on when you pull the bolt to have it cut...open it and check it in the shop/store. She said she learned the hard way and wanted me to know to do this every time.

Of course when I order online I can't see the yardage I am getting but so far fabric.com has been great and very generous with their cuts. And when I buy at Joann's I always look at the fabric while the lady is cutting someone elses fabric. I also watch it when she unrolls it. I WILL say one of the ladies that works there will flip the piece over before she folds it and she does check it out.

But thanks for the reminder...sorry you have had to deal with this. It's great that the quilter will take care of it for you...she must be a pretty special person.

that would get my knickers in a twist too!!!

Thank you for sharing this experience with us! I will definitely inspect the fabric closer when I purchase in the future.

The fabric that I used for the backing on my very first quilt(my avitar) had a small hole in it, about the size of a pencil eraser, every 88 inches. I had bought this material specifically for this quilt. I went ahead and used it and appliqued left over blocks over the holes. 8-)

Wow! I would be ticked off, too. Luckily I haven't had something like that happen to me. I have had a slub or two that had a broken thread coming off it and that would cause a big hole at some point, but it was always while piecing, so no problem to just cut around the bad spot.

Funny. I used this saying this morning and I was laughed at.

Charisma is wonderful and I am sure your quilt will be beautiful. You can always cut around those flaws and use the rest of the fabric.

when I was dealing with fabric wholesalers they told me fabric can have a certain number of flaws per yard (forget the number) and still be considered "first quality". I would hate to see what their seconds look like.
I agree, check in the shop if you can.