Originally Posted by bearisgray
YUP!
Still wonder how some stores can sell any sized "quilt" for under $100.
Those quilts are made in China, by virtual slave labor, from fabric made overseas as well. Back in the early 1990s, there was a huge hue and cry from major quilting "names" about the Smithsonian selling patterns from American heritage quilts (Harriette Powers e.g.!) to import companies who in turn had them reproduced with cheap skills, cheap fabrics, for cheap prices.
A national petition to quilters was distributed and with it Karey Bresenham (Houston International Quilt Festival honcho) actually spoke before Congress on the issue of our art heritage being sold and degraded. And the permission to make any more copies from American heritage work was withdrawn from these importers! (Quilters of the world unite!)
By then, the skill level had increased and they spent time copying our fabric prints. For a while I had one of the original quilts that was so poorly, poorly pieced - no matched corners, irregular seams, huge stitches, etc. - and then bought another later one which showed how much better sewers they'd become. Decided to sell those to lessen the load on my move to VA and because I just didn't want to support those import firms any longer.
Jan in VA