There is a brand new Walmart that just opened - the closest one to me. It's 60 miles. I stopped by today and there IS a fabric section. It's not really big, but has a great selection. I'm wondering if the fabric decisions are made according to geographical area. It seems all the stores around this area have fabric, and the depts are usually busy too. Is that a good sign?

Great News for you ! And yes I think it is by area and maybe what other stores might be around to competer for fabric ?

Every week my walmart has been getting a delivery of fabric...and its selling out fast. This is beautiful fabric and goes from 2 to 3 dollars. some of it may be seconds but the quality of the woven fabric is still there

:D :D :D :D :D :D :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink:

Lucky girl!!! Our walmart is going to close fabric out in 2010 they tell me. The one in Burlington a 1/2 hour away has already closed theirs out. I have been buying in Walmart for 30 years! It is a bummer. But my favorites have been discontinued over the last year anyway and I can't find them anymore. Oh well.

My Walmart still has fabric. No signs of going out of business. You may be right. It may be regional.

Little hud I may have to come your way if you still have fabric when the one in Mt. Pleasant quits their fabric dept. I'm in SE Iowa so not too far.

60 miles? Well at least it has fabric. Demographics that companies do are pretty interesting. And yes, good sign that there are fabrics and the departments are busy. Have fun!

Sounds like fun.

Since I live in the middle of no-where, I thought that 60 miles was pretty sweet!!!

Maybe Walmart is listening. This quilting trend doesn't seem to be slowing. It would be wonderful for everyone to have access to affordable fabric in their own neighborhoods. Don't forget the online shops! There are so many great ones out there.

We have TONS of fabric in our store here. THANK GOODNESS.

I bought a thread count thinghy and take it to Walmart/JoAnns/Hobby Lobby/ and even the quilt shops. I can tell if the fabric is woven evenly or has any slubs in the threads. I find many times that some WalMart fabric is as nice as the quilt shop fabric. Not the majority of it is though. It's always been some of the $5 a yard cotton fabric there that is good quality.

What kind of "thinghy"? :D

http://threadcounters.com/

I found a version at Hobby Lobby but it's not as easy to read.

Those are just like the ones drug stores have to look at your pills. I got one free at xmas. I use it to thread the smalest needles :D I go by the feel on my fabric :wink:

A powerful magnifying class will work too once you know what to look for. :D I practiced using a quilt shop quality fat quarter and compared it to other fabrics.

Glad to hear that never understood why some walmarts do not have fabric section are does and those in surrounding towns too.

I came across a post on another sewing forum and they were talking about thread counts from stores. What the jist of it was is that most fabric in quilts stores is 260 thread count and the fabric in walmart was 180 Joanns is 200. The question that was biening answerd was about why the price for quilts shop fabirc was so much higher. One word Quality.

Then again for those of us out in no mans land that means very little if we only have one place to buy from. BTW you can get fabric online cheap that is real good quality. I have a few quilt fabric catalogs coming to me so I have a bigger selection.