I go by how the fabric feels to me, is it thin? how's the weave? I don't want anything too thin, I want my quilts to be USED.. Also, how's the pattern applied? if it's just printed on top, alot of times I'll pass.. my experience is those fade faster than others; even in a scrap quilt, I want some consistancy; and I use the back sides of fabrics quite a bit in my quilts... oh yeah, it has to be 100 % cotton.

I'm having problems with fabrics that ravel (is that the right word?) and leave strings all over the edges. It's in the latest QuiltForKids kit I just got and the long strips are terrible to work with. I don't want to use fray-check cause it will make it stiff. Any suggestions?

I hope this is still on-topic---is there any way to tell in advance (before cutting) if this will happen? The fabric looks and feels fine until you handle it. I've never had this happen with fabric I've bought (even the Walmart fabric) so I guess I've been lucky but hope to avoid it happening in the future.

Thanks!

Starch is your friend for those fabrics!
At least I think it helps.

I think the lesser quality fabric all seem to have the most sizing on them! I have picked up fabric that I like but they feel like they are full of sizing and I wonder how they will feel after they are washed. I was tempted to carry a bolt into the ladies room once just to wash a small corner of the fabric and see how it would be. :-D I didn't but
if I was buying a large quantity of that kind of fabric I think I might buy a quarter yard and wash it first before I committed to a bigger piece. :-D

i haven't come up with any system yet that's better than trial and error. there are some brands that i'm consistently pleased with; others i've learned to hate; and some that are great most of the time, with the occassional unpleasant surprise.

and it seems no matter how little or how much i've paid for something, the truth is only revealed or confirmed once it's been washed. (you have noooooooooooo idea how much that ticks me off. that's precious time "wasted" that i'd rather spend actually using the stuff. mumble ... grumble ... frizzlefrazzle :hunf: )

if i can see through them when i hold them up to the light, i pass. if they are already frayed and frazzled while still on the bolt, i sneer snottily and move on. if they feel slippery, as opposed to silky, i know they'll be a pain to work with. they had better be inexpensive (no more than $3.50 per yard) or they go back on the rack.

my favorites are fabrics that have a medium weight, a nice "classy" drape, and a bit of "grab". by that, i mean that it will naturally "stick" to another layer of itself, or to other fabrics. if it does that before it's washed and with the added bonus of a silky feel and a certain indescribable lustre, i'm in love. those will get the highest rating on The Internationally Famous PatriceJ Snooty Scale.

i also like the "workhorse" fabs. they might not be fancy or shopworthy, but i can buy lots of them when i need to; they come out of the dryer looking and feeling like they did before the first wash. they're great for kids quilts because they'll hold up in the wash, but nobody will need to feel badly if they get abused or damaged to too much love.

you guys know me. i could go on and on and on until your eyes roll back into your heads with boredom. it's that complex.

i'm slowly building a list of brands that perform consistently well for me and of those that don't.

Ahh Haa, nobody has yet to mention the little dots in the selvage as an indicator of print quality.

Those dots represent the colors that have been used in the fabric and are handy in determining matching fabric. They also indicate how many colors are used. In printing a fabric, occasionally a test print is done with less than the full color spectrum.

feel free to chime in here....

Quote has been edited.

I still think that pre-washing is in the same category as washing/priming/spackling the walls before repainting them.

A pain to do and so tempting to skip, but worth it in the long run.

I made a quilt years ago with stock JoAnn fabrics -- not the greatest thread counts or patterns -- that turned out great and has held up well.

These days I don't buy "muddy" prints. I find that many of the fabrics at Walmart have the muddiness I am talking about -- slightly blurred pattern lines, as if all of the colors did not match up exactly where they should. When I see this, I also usually see that the texture of the fabric is fairly coarse (lower thread count).

I don't pay as much attention to price (except to price me out of the market if it's too high!) now as I do to print quality.

wow, thanks for starting this thread, we all learn from others!

Oh Jan, I am so glad you mentioned that. I noticed that same thing with the material in my QFK's kit. It had an nice feel to it, but raveled like crazy....driving me crazy! Even cut oddly when I rotary cut it...thought my blade was dull, changed the blade and it still did it. Hmmmm...