I was surprised when I was buying backing for a quilt from a shop going out of business. It was the wide backing. As she was pulling it off the bolt, it was in several different pieces. The clerk told me that was not unusual. I was buying the wide backing so I didn't have to piece it. I told her I didn't want it.

When I worked at JoAnn's we were required to measure every full bolt of fabric sold to make sure the customer got what was paid for, wrapped or not. We did not have to measure special orders that were measured and sealed at corporate. That being said, my daughter was recently shorted on a special order of drapery fabric. The clerk insisted on measuring it and sure enough, it was short. They were able to make it up from stock. It should not have been shipped without measuring even if she ordered more than 20 yards. Somebody goofed, but the local store caught it.

Those five yard precuts at WalMart sure don't look like five yards, but I've never bought one to see. I was overcharged at WM recently. I bought multiple small amounts of a line for a specific pattern - the Misty Rose. It was cut correctly, but when I got home, I discovered every fraction was incorrect - every one in WM's favor. I don't know if th error was with the cutter or if the chart she looked at was incorrect.

I was thinking of buying a bolt of lite heat n bond for appliqueing. The bolts say 35 yards. And as you know we can use every single little piece for appliqueing (at least I do)
Do you think I should ask them to measure?
Karen

You can certainly ask. They may be annoyed. They may be slow doing it. You may want to ask yourself, if it's only off by a yard, is it worth spending the time unrolling and re-rolling? And if they re-roll it messily then you may want to re-do it at home. So it is, as so many little decisions in life, a time vs. money thing. (Just my 2 cents. And probably not even worth that much!)

I had no idea....thanks for the heads up, I'll sure have them measure if I buy a "fill" bolt!

Thank you for letting us know. I will be sure to have it measured next time.

No, I wouldn't have the Heat 'n Bond measured. Those kinds of things weren't a problem, just fabric on bolts.

Yes, I have seen it happen many times in our store. Fortunately, the shortages are typcially not more than a 1/2 yard, though.

Joann's wrapped bolts usually have more on them except the home dec stuff.

Whether you know it or not, the quality of the help in the distributor's double and roll operation directly affects the price you pay for fabric. If the manufacturer or distributor accepts low-quality junk from the printing/finishing plants, or if they hire a bunch of crack-heads into their double and roll operation, or if they fail to provide proper training and/or quality control, it affects the price you see at the checkout counter.

For us, the bottom line is, if we get split bolts or short bolts several times from a given manufacturer, and talking with them doesn't cure the problem, we quit buying from them.

If they can't hire reliable help and train them properly for their double and roll operations, and have someone doing quality control on that operation, I don't want to deal with them, and I don't care if they're the most popular fabrics on earth.

I'm picky about quality. And I'm just as picky about stuff coming in to my store as I am picky about how stuff is cut and sent out from my store. I expect my suppliers to be the same, and if they're not, they're not going to be my suppliers for long. I've already "fired" a couple of suppliers, and I'm about to "fire" another supplier for the same reasons.