It is a good idea to check your fabric before buying. But it's like buying a case of tomatoes. You can't cut open every tomato to see if it is about to rotten. When buying fatquarters make sure you don't need that size but smaller. I bet that if she washed that fatquarter before cutting , she would have an even smaller piece of fabric and possibly even more off the the grain than before. I have only been to one fabric store in my area that when you get quilting fabric they are told to rip it to size. And like Eleanor Burns says that is the only way to get the true grain of the fabric. Imagine a store like JoAnns doing that with every fatquarter they sell. No way.