Wonderful news!!!
 

I just found out that the Wal-Mart in my area (Portland, Texas) is making thier fabric department BIGGER with more fabric choices and more stuff... Spoke with a friend that works there and the "Grand opening is Aug. 10th!!! So VERY HAPPY!!!!!

For a while they were saying they were going to eliminate fabric by the yard and just have pre-cuts in some stores. Guess we are a power to reckon with! Quilters win again! Granted it's not always the best fabric around, but the prices are good, so it depends on your purpose. My 4 local fab shops are all doing well, so I'm not worried about the competition, though they have to go with increased prices as their costs go up. Still going to use them as much as I can, though. I NEED them there! We are more than 20-40 miles inany direction from a Wally or JoAnn.

That is good news but if you have a Hobby Lobby close by check them before you buy. Some of the fabric that my WalMart is selling is the same fabric as Hobby Lobby, same price, but Hobby Lobby always has there's on sale 30% off.

I occassionally sew things other than quilts - like dolls and their dresses and the like, so Wal-mart fabric is ok for that. My nearest JoAnns and Hancock's are about 30 or more minutes way, with traffic, so for the quilting fabric I go there. But since I have a "thing" for fabric...it's nice to go local to play with the fabric - LOL.

It appears that there are quite a few WalMarts that are resetting their craft departments. Mine starts next week and I am excited. I was told there are several bins full of bolts of new fabrics, most better quality. I have seen a big improvement in the quality of quilting fabrics in the past few months and it makes shopping there even more appealing. Yes, you can still find the cheap, thin stuff....but I can find that everywhere. And the prices for the good stuff at WalMart have gone up too....some as much as $8. But WalMart is 4 miles from the house, and JoAnn's or HobbyLobby are 40 miles, so driving the 40 miles will only happen if I can't find what I need close to home. Good Job WalMart!

I still cannot find fabric at WalMart in Louisville, KY! Haven't for years. We do have a Hobby Lobby; guess I'll check them out when I'm near them sometime, which isn't often.

Be sure to write Walmart and say thank you! I certainly did when they took ours out and when they put it back in.

Mine too!! And more quilting notions. An entire aisle is labeled for quilting fabric too!! THe quality is determined by the dpet manager who orders by store and my WallyWorld has great new stuff!! The idea of a thank you is good too,...

Haven't gotten in to "feel the goods", but the WalMart at Alva OK must be on the top of someones list. They have added bunches of new fabric....I can hardly wait until I can go back and check it out. I'll need more than the 15 min I had when I ran through last Sunday.

when cheap proves to be expensive
 

When I had just started quilting and didn't know better I celebrated finding batting at $10 at Walmart. Then I used it in a couple of bags and found that it bearded horribly so that was money, time, effort and fabric wasted. Maybe their fabric is better value but beware their batting.

That is GOOD news. Our Wal-Mart downsized, and told me a few years back that they would be doing away with fabric. However, those of us that complained to their corporate offices have been rewarded. In the store that I shop in not only are they expanding they have cleaned it up to make it even easier to buy the fabric. SIMPLY WONDERFUL!!

The wall mart closest to me only has precuts, I am disappointed with that, but the notions are improved. I liked it a few years ago when the fabric needed to be cut. Maybe they will go back to the cutting, somehow I doubt it.

I guess the thousands of e-mails other people and myself have sent has finally paid off. I have complained to every manager of every wal-mart around here. I retired from wal-mart and know quite a few of them.

We never lost our fabric section. But it is good to hear that Wally is going back to what they had in the past.

We never lost our fabric section. However, about two months ago they started getting more bolts of fabric and it as stacked everywhere. Last month they started reorganizing the entire craft department. They brought back embroidery items and added back other crafts that had been deleted. It certainly is nice to have a larger fabric selection as well as other crafts available.

They usually have David's Textiles fabrics for their quilts of the month, and I love that fabric.

Wish the one near me would start selling fabric. Not even the precuts.

Our Walmart had a large fabric dept. then reorganized the store and significantly reduced the square footage allocated to sewing and crafts, including increasing cheap precuts and reducing bolts choices. Since then, they have reduced the precuts and upgraded the quality and space allocated to bolts.

The fabric dept. is now organized into a quilting section on one row of shelves and a separate section for novelty fabrics. Checked yesterday and a lot of the quilting fabrics are good quality -- price also reflects that upgrade in quality, which is fine with me.

We have a lot of quilters and quilt guilds in this area, so I guess my local Walmart heard the customers and reevaluated how to best serve the area. Other Walmarts in this area are not doing likewise.

I live in Southern CA and there are several Walmarts that I can drive too. We have one that has a fabric department and it is a good size one. BUT they only have one small cutting table and one clerk. I was over there the other day and they were having a sale and the line of customers seemed to be a mile long. I think they need to rethink their dept.

In Henderson, Nv, (close to Las Vegas) they have expanded the fabric shop her also. Very surprised. I still try and buy my fabric at LQS based on my budget. However, they are handy to have around for smaller projects

I recently moved from ILL. where my WM was only 10 minutes away to MT where it is now 2 hours drive away! Same goes for quilt shop as she is selling as is the 1 in ILL. I'm beginning to think I jinx quilt shops. I'm ! of those who likes to see fabrics in person before I buy so time will tell how much I sew.

As someone else mentioned, be careful what you wish for. We had several scrapbook stores spring up and then Wal-Mart got into the mix. Now all the other stores are gone and the selection at Wal-Mart is miniscule. I would be afraid that they will drive all LQS out of business. Just my concern and I want the small guys to succeed because of variety, quality, service, etc. Several WM fabric "cutters" haven't got much of a clue. I am sure there are others who do, but the difference is amazing when you can go into a LQS and they will stack up fabrics and help you decide on colors, etc. Also their enthusiasm is just plain contagious.

Our Wal-Mart (Normandy) in Jacksonville, FL: is moving their Fabric Department all around to improve it and adding even more materials by the end of June. Yeah!! Love it...I bought Singer Serger for $207 and it works great.

If you're looking for an occasional piece of fabric, Walmart may have what you want. My experience is, though, there are never enough coordinated pieces to make an entire project. I do buy flannel for baby blankets at Walmart and Hobby Lobby. Selection is great.

Wohoo !! Our Wal Mart has really amped up their fabric.. I was in there today buying some material for dresses and wow .. I couldn't believe how its grown !

i would not get to excited yet our walmart brought back fabric and the quality is not that great and the prices went up drastically the cheapest i have seen for decent fabic was almost $10.00 a yard i can get the same thing from Joanns ,Hobby Lobby or hancocks using a coupon

They are beautiful, I'd like to know how to make one.