Weight of fabric??
 

Was going through my "collection" of butterfly fabrics (all from quilt shops over the years) and I noticed that my older fabrics seemed heavier/thicker than my newer favric by the same manufacturer. Has anyone else noticed newer fabrics being thinner than the older fabrics? (Not sure its a negative since the seams appear flatter with the thiner fabric but I am wondering about how long the new ones will last.)

I haven't noticed that difference. The only real difference I feel is the difference between LQS fabrics and those of places like JAF. JAF is most of the time thinner than the LQS fabrics. I haven't been in the market for much fabric the last 2 years as I am trying to use up some of the fabrics in my stash.

I have some very old fabrics and I have noticed many of the newer are thinner than the older. I can still find thicker but not as easily.

I haven't bought a lot of fabric in the last 3-4 years and what I have bought has been some of the newer "modern" fabrics and what I have noticed about many of them is that they seem to fray more than some of my older fabrics.

I pulled out one fabric and found it to seem heavier than normal. Thought maybe I'd gotten it mixed up with upholstery fabric but no, it's a Cranston 100% cotton. Glad it is heavier as I'm using it for a tablecloth, quilted with backing and batting for the top portion only. Sides are paper pieced blocks which I haven't decided if I want to quilt them or not. This will be a fitted tablecloth so it won't slip off when the cats jump up on it.............if they ever do.

I buy mostly Moda and it's been consistent. I love that brand.

I think for some of us of an age group, we are used to the American made cotton made by American grown cotton. There were certain industries standards, even if we weren't so aware from a consumer viewpoint. I;ve always maintained that there was not much difference in the greige goods being a 1980s Concord, CranstonVIP and a Hoffman -- the difference was in the number and costs of dyes and treatments.

Now while some are more local, primarily we are getting fabrics from cotton grown all over the world, and milled/produced all over the world, to standards/desires of all over the world.

Weight is not the only factor, a nice batik can be a much finer cloth than that Cranston or VIP. Both will work for a quilt, they can even work together, but in general it's just so much easier when things are similar weights.

I too noticed fabrics by the same manufacturer to be different weights. I had three different fabrics all three were different weights. They were the same fabrics, colors and pattern. These were bought at different times and years apart. this was probably 10 years ago.

A lot of the new designers are insisting on a "finer" fabric. That just means there are more threads per inch that are "finer." I actually prefer the higher thread count fabrics. They're softer and press a little crisper. That's why I like batiks, Kaffe Fassett and Figo fabrics are that way. Moda has always been one of my favorites. I think the Bella solids are a lower thread count than their prints.

I've noticed the fabrics in quilt shops is thinner than it used to be. I recently purchased some for a baby quilt. I washed it and was shocked at how much it shrank and how thin it felt. There must have been a lot of sizing and who knows what else on the fabric. It was disappointing.