I am curious to know if anyone has any thoughts on the quality of fabrics made outside the USA. I was looking at a bolt yesterday and it said Made in Korea. What should I be looking for as far as quality is concerned?

I usually look to see if it is see through and if it stretches. I also didn't like some I got that had a slickness to it. I have been much more careful since then to make sure it is 100% cotton.

But are there other considerations when looking at something not American made? I like to support American made products but don't go overboard on the idea that I can't buy it if it wasn't made here.

I would just like to know if anyone has had any experiences with this.

I don't think any of them are made in the US. Even connecting threads fabric isn't. The cotton is grown in the US and shipped overseas for the fabric to be made.

what fabric do you buy thats made in the USA?

These are two of my favorite manufacturers

Cranston Village is made in the USA. The factory is in Webster Mass.


And Fabri-Quilt is made in Kansas City Mo.
http://www.fabri-quilt.com/default.asp

The last bolt I bought from Cranston was printed so crooked no amount of straightening could make it right. Had to fussy cut to get useable pieces.

So American made does not always equal quality! Just saying.

i doubt there is any fabric which is not made outside the USA One of the last plants which is near me, stopped printing about 4 yrs ago. They may be one or two.
Manufacturers have been printing outside USA for several years now. What you have been using as quilt shop quality has all been made overseas.

and i just got an email that the Webster plant, whih has not printed for 3-4 years is soon to close. They have been doubling and bolting there now for over a yr.

I was told a while ago that no fabric is printed/made in the US anymore.

And as for Fabri-Quilt, the KC plant is used solely to fabricate the Fabri-Quilt Hospitality products, not the Fabri-Quilt, Inc. fabrics. Fabri-Quilt Hospitality makes and sells bed coverings and window treatments to the hospitality and health care industries. Their fabric is neither milled nor printed in the US.

I was told some time back that the fabrics are all made outside of the USA due to polution regulations. They can still print fabric some of the places, but the fabric itself is made outside of our USA. If you are concerned about quality, you need to look at the fabric itself. You sometimes can find a print on high quality fabric and also the same print on a cheaper quality of fabric. Another way is to just ask.

some of the austrailian fabrics are great-
i've had some vietnamese silks that are 'to die for!'
irish linen,
united kingdom brocades---
bali batiks,

fabrics from around the world can be FABULOUS!

I've not found any made in the states.

Early this summer, I attended a Northcott event at LQS. Here is part of what I posted:

"There was discussion of fabric production - approximately 9 mo's from selection of design to time of release in stores, most fabrics for all of the "big" companies made in 7 printing plants in So. Korea, the amount of fabric produced in a run (3,000 yards, whittled down to 15 yd bolts), where designs come from (for their Stonehedge line, the designer was inspired by a tile in a store her father owns) and how designers are paid (royalties). Questions from people did lead to talk about Connecting Threads (made in US but dyed in Mexico), and how chains can offer "the same" fabrics (almost never are exactly the same; a small portion of the pattern will differ and are not on the same quality greige goods)."

The gentleman who did the presentation told us that currently the printing for most quilt fabric is done in So. Korea. He did not indicate that it was due to less stringent laws, but that they have perfected the process.

I just got a jelly roll from Walmart from Pakistan and the quality of the fabric is wonderful. It's a nice dense cotton. I've been kind of disappointed with Moda lately. Some of their fabric is nice but some is so light it's like voile.

I check for quality, but I don't check to see where the fabric is manufactured. It doesn't matter to me :wink: as long as I like the looks of it :D:D:D

Connecting Threads fabric is not made in the USA. This is from a facebook post by them:

Our fabric is not made in the USA. At one point we said it was "Grown in the U.S. Cotton", which was true, but too many customers misunderstood this to mean "Made in the USA", so we've dropped that marketing message. When we first started making our own fabric we tried to find U.S. fabric printers to no avail.

eta a link:
https://www.facebook.com/ConnectingThreads/posts/10150342946511131]https://www.facebook.com/ConnectingT...50342946511131[/url]