quality of flannel
 

There's a huge price difference between Quilt Shop Flannel and what the chain stores carry.

Is there really that much difference in quality? Is it worth the extra money to buy your flannel from a quilt shop, when the chain stores carry a lot of selection and they run sales regularly?

Just wonderin'...

There is a huge difference( my experience) . It typically reveals itself in the wash. Low quality flannel pills . I have given up on the low cost flannels at Jo 'Anns it pills bug time on the first wash and continues to pill. The flannel that is "premium " at Jo Anns I have had mixed results , some pilled , some did not... so Unless they let me wash it in the store to test ... I just pass .
As for quilt shop flannels I have had better results , but have had one or two pill slightly , but nothing compared to the pilling in the Jo'Anns flannel.
I have been a very reluctant buyer of flannel. At the quilt shop , I expressed my concerns , and the owner signed my receipt that she would refund my $$$ is I had pilling. Now that kind of commitment I will pay for.
I suggest you buy a bit from Jo'Anns and wash it and see if it suits your purposes, before buying any real yardage.

I am in the process of making a flannel quilt (pieced, NOT a rag quilt) and see HUGE differences in quality of flannels, even a great disparity in LQS quality. For the most part the LQS stuff is very nice, much nicer than anything I have ever seen in a big box or discount store. It is heavier, has a much nicer surface feel (pile)and washed up beautifully with no pilling and minimal shrinkage. By contrast some of the bargain stuff was hardly more than combed cotton and very thin, fraying and pulling apart easily. The one exception in a less than satisfactory LQS flannel was a Timeless Treasure flannel which was noticibly lighter weight. I usually adore Timeless Treasure fabrics, so I will proceed with caution on their flannels.

You can find inexpensive great quality flannels on line. www.Thousandsofbolts.com has a wonderful selection. The brands I had the best luck with and found to be the nicest quality were South Sea Imports, Northcott, Mayfield and Bernatex. When going to their website, hover your mouse over "Find a Fabric" then select expanded search and under fabric types choose flannel. This will bring back all thier flannels in all colors and you can shop just flannels.

Lori's response was spot on, succinct, well said. My experience has been exactly the same through shop ownership and years of personal quilting.

Jan in VA

this says it all! I have seen the print wash right out of the WM flannels in two washes!

when in doubt, purchase a small strip, the smallest they will sell you and test it in hot water, that will tell you...

i agree there is a HUGE difference between (big box store) flannels and the quality heavy double sided wonderful flannels sold in quilt shops.
do yourself an experiment & buy a yard from each place & compare- before pre=washing, after pre-washing- with cutting- with sewing-
you will be able to tell the difference & decide for yourself which flannel you want to spend your money on-
when making raggy quilts sometimes the thinner- lesser flannels area just fine - they ravel- rag very well- and are ok since you are working with multiple layers- it really depends on the project -future plans = deciding which flannel to choose- just know- the differences are HUGE.
my favorite- go to most of the time flannels are Benartex double sided flannels- worth every cent!

And beware of mixing and matching the flannels...I had a friend who made a rag quilt and upon washing it, some blocks shrunk much more than the others, and it was all bunchy. Can you even imagine how that must have felt, after all that work of snipping the seams? I felt for her!

I am surprised that no one here discussed the actual country of origin that a given fabric was imported from. I myself prefer and always on the lookout for a flannel from an European or North American place of origin (i.e. Italy, Portugal, US) first if available. My limited time spent in a supposed quality suburban LQS was mixed. One shop did not list the flannel's country of origin on any of it's bolt ends. Another shop just listed prominently only the name of the distributoring (brand name) company. I did not see where the bolt actually physically made or came from (manufacturing company). I find this is generally crucial for me at least as the first world made products are usually made far better with a work force that is not exploited. Quality follows a stable work force and is usually a given there.

I think it will be a good idea to show what a real fabric store that is not a LQS or a chain store is like. I live near one of two garment districts in the USA. I might take some photos of what stores one should make a point to visit when around one.

That problem could be fixed with more quilting. When the fabric is quilted sufficiently to the batting, it can shrink only as much as the batting shrinks. If your friend still has the quilt, I would try spray both sides with water to see if it could be blocked back into shape. Then add more quilting to the blocks.

Fabrics shrink radically differently when they are washed on their own. If they are closely quilted to a batting before washing, the layers act as one -- with the batting controlling shrinkage.

I always pre-wash flannel. I have had some wildly varied shrinkage in fabrics from both LQS and JA's. I mean as much as 4" of shrinkage (though normally 1-2") -- sometimes width, sometimes length, sometimes both. If I was some flannel and it really pills, well it makes good dust cloths. I don't care for some of the batik flannels I have bought at the LQS -- they were stiff when I bought them and I could not soften them with multiple washings (I can't use fabric softener because of the odor).