Choosing The Right Quilt Fabric--Part 4: Choose Your Fabric Store and Products Wisely

This is the fourth and final installment in our series entitled Choosing the Right Quilt Fabric. The series is about helping quilters make better decisions about choosing quality fabrics. In this segment we will look at how to source quality cotton fabric, make informed choices and learn about avoiding pitfalls in purchasing quilt fabric.

Where to Buy Quilt Fabric

Where you purchase your quilt fabric can have an impact on the type of quilt fabric that is available to you. A true "quilt shop" often understands the need to have top quality goods available to a quilter. This is so the quilter has the best fabric to ensure a higher quality final quilt product. All the things discussed in previous articles would be a concern to most quilt shop owners. They are in the market to assist their customers in making purchases that will yield satisfaction.

Before you can know if your quilt shop of choice is offering good quality product you must first know a little about the fabric lines offered in these types of shops. There are many labels/manufacturers and all are not equal.

Learn more about the manufacturers who make our quilting cottons. View their current fabric lines and read more about their designers. Here is a list of some of the more prominent textile manufacturers. Click on the name to go to the company site.

AlexanderHenry
Andover
AnthologyFabrics
ArtGallery--Includes Angela Walters
AvlynCreations
Benartex
BlankTextiles
BlueHill
Cloud9 Fabrics
Fabri-Quilt
Hoffman Fabrics
MarcusBrothers
Maywood Studio Fabric
MichaelMiller
Moda
Northcott
P&BTextiles
QuiltingTreasures
Red Rooster Fabrics
RJR

RobertKaufman 

• Kona Bay 
• Artisan Batiks

SouthSea Imports 
StudioE Fabrics 
TimelessTreasures
WestminsterFibers

• Free Spirit--Includes Tula Pink and Joel Dewberry 
• Rowan Fabric--Includes Amy Butler and Kaffe Fasset lines 
• Ty Pennington 

WestradeCollection
WilmingtonPrints
WindhamFabrics

Ask Questions

Don't be afraid to ask questions of the shop where you plan to purchase your quilt fabric. Some of the questions you might ask are:

1) Are your fabrics all first quality or do you also carry seconds?

• If they carry seconds or thirds ask where they are located so you will know up front what to avoid. 

2) What fabric lines do you carry?

• Most store buyers have favorite lines they carry. It's good to know what they are so you can make a decision about whether you like that line. This is especially true if you have found something online you like by a particular manufacturer and you want to find out if it's available to you locally. 

3) Do you ever have sales on your fabrics?

Get Feedback From Others
Every time you speak to a new quilter or visit a new quilt shop ask for clerks, owners, and other quilters' opinions. What are their favorite fabric manufacturers and why? In time you will see several companies emerge as favorites over and over. As a quilter I have my tried and true favorites. Typically, I will look for Westminster Fabric lines, Moda, Timeless Treasures and Hoffman Fabrics. Their lines fit my designer choices and their quality of fabrics are in keeping with my desire to create heirloom quality quilts. By doing your research you will also develop favorites and come to know where to purchase these.

Avoiding Attractive Pitfalls

Sometimes the need to take advantage of a sale or a really catchy print overwhelms the desire to be practical and make quality choices about your quilting cotton. If you favorite store, or any quilt shop, has a sale offering folded flat goods ask if these were shipped from the manufacturer as flat fold goods. They may be bolt ends that a store has flat folded for convenience but often flat folds shipped from the manufacturer are not first quality goods.

Between the 1920's - 1940's textile mills would test their prints on low quality (greige) goods. The products produced on these low quality goods would later become feed sacks. The feed sacks sometimes would be the only cottons available to home quilters, especially during the depression. Today, this first, or test run, is sold to discounters in the form of flat fold goods that you can purchase in discount stores. These may look somewhat like the finished product but they are often produced on lower quality greige goods to save money in the set up for final printing. Sometimes they are printed on good fabric but the colors and design are not up to the manufacturer's specifications. Some flat fold fabrics are deliberate knock-offs of popular designs. Expensive fabric in the form of flat folds have often missed some of the final finishing of good quality fabric. Unless you are purchasing fabric for a craft or product that will not have much use or will be somewhat disposable, avoid flat fold goods whenever you wish to create a quality product. It old adage of "you get what you pay for," rings true over and over in the world of choosing quality cotton fabric.

Last, but not least, avoid box stores for your quality fabric. Many will run sales over and over using pricing from quality yard goods then discounting these to make you feel like you are getting a good deal. In fact, the goods do not compare to what you will find in an established quilt shop. Many box stores are actually selling seconds and lower quality goods but are making these sound like first quality. If you use the field test on fabric (Choosing The Right Quilt Fabric--Part 2: Field Check for Fabric Quality) you will quickly discover the difference.

Conclusion

The production of quality cotton goods is complex. Designers and manufacturers work together to create concepts and designs up to a year in advance. Once complete these designs are sent out to the mills where they are test printed and await the final approval. As a rule, almost all fabric is now milled overseas in Korea and Japan. Having the final product milled overseas does not equate to a lower quality fabric. This process has kept the yard goods pricing affordable for quilters. The point is to a quilter, looking for quality goods, do be afraid of textiles printed overseas.

Spend time to know your quilt fabric vendors and stores as well as your manufacturers. This will lead to a higher quality of quilt and one that will withstand time, as we all hope our quilts will. You will ultimately be a great resource to other quilters and have the opportunity to share what you know. Your friends, family, and fellow quilters will appreciate your time spent seeking the best product you can buy for your money as the quality of your product will show.

Happy buying quality cotton for quilting and most of all happy quilting.

To read previous posts in this series, click on each article below:

Choosing The Right Quilt Fabric--Part 1: Know Your Thread Count

Choosing The Right Quilt Fabric--Part 2: Field Check for Fabric Quality

Choosing The Right Quilt Fabric--Part 3: Judging the Color, Pattern and Finish

It's Quilting Time

As the U.S. suffers from a December blast of cold it's time to pull out the quilt projects!  Put on a pair of fuzzy slippers, make a cup of hot cocoa, then sew away.  Before you know it, you'll have a quilt done and be ready for the next cold spell.  Happy sewing, happy quilting.  Stay warm and be happy!

Choosing The Right Quilt Fabric--Part 3: Judging the Color, Pattern and Finish

This is the third installment in our series entitled Choosing the Right Quilt Fabric. The series is about helping quilters make better decisions about choosing quality fabrics. In this segment we will look at how to judge the color, printing and finish of quality fabric.

Colorfast Fabric

In Part 2: Field Check for Fabric Quality we talked about The Rub or the process of rubbing the fabric between your fingers to check for separation of threads. The Rub can also be used to check color. When you "Rub" the fabric between your thumb and forefinger if you have color come off on your fingers this means the fabric color is not sealed. This typically is a sign of inferior fabric or processing. It also means the fabric is not colorfast meaning when you wash the fabric the color will bleed. Check for the word "colorfast" on the label.

Another color check process is to wrap a small piece of white cotton around your finger then rub it back and forth across the fabric. Look to see if color has transferred from the fabric you are testing onto the white cotton. Even if the color found on the white fabric is slight it is better to avoid purchasing this fabric. The color will not remain bright and vibrant when washed over and over.

Color or Pattern Overlap

Unfold the fabric so you can see a yard or so. Look at the pattern to see if there are overlapping points of image in the fabric. Check to see if the design skips or if there is ghosting of the pattern meaning the pattern looks like there is a slight shift in the pattern away from the rest of the print. Do the patterns overlap one another? Or do you see where the pattern skips from time to time? Does the color fade or disappear? These are all signs that the manufacturer may be using an inferior process to apply the color and pattern to the fabric. Your colors and pattern should be crisp and free from unintended shifts during the process of applying the design to the fabric.

The Finishing

Another test for the quality of the fabric you are considering for purchase is the feel or "hand" of the fabric. In the final process of applying color and design to fabric goods the manufacturer often applies a final finish that seals the dyes and makes the fabric softer. Cheap or inexpensive fabrics don't get the final finish. This makes the cost of manufacturing of the fabric less expensive but also cheapens the quality as the fabric will be stiffer and will not hold it's color well. This would be a fabric you want to avoid. To test the finish you simply need to feel the fabric and crumple it a bit. If the fabric feels stiff and when crumpled remains wrinkled then this is a fabric that has not finished. Don't waste your time using this type of fabric.

Why Color and Finish Matter

When spending the many hours required to make a quilt you don't want to be disappointed with the end product. You don't want to get your blocks or pieces together and discover flat points in the colors or skips in patterns. This lessens the beauty of your quilt. You also don't want to have your quilt bleed during it's first, second and/or third wash. The results will be a lackluster quilt. Checking the quality of your fabric choice and ensuring it is free of process defects and finished properly will help ensure you are pleased with your choice when finished.

A good quality cotton quilt fabric should be soft, with vibrant or distinct coloring. The pattern should never skip, ghost or disappear and the color should be colorfast.

Choosing The Right Quilt Fabric--Part 2: Field Check for Fabric Quality

This is the second installment in our series entitled Choosing the Right Quilt Fabric. The series is about helping quilters make better decisions about the fabrics by providing information about fabric.

Field Check for Quality

We've all heard the comments: "All fabric is the same"; "Fabric is fabric"; and "Some companies just charge more!"  Some of us have even made those comments--including me.  In fabric none of these statements are valid.  The quality of one fabric is not the quality of another.  Fabric has different weights (as we learned in the first installment entitled Know Your Thread Count).  The cost of fabric is directly related to thread count and the manufacturers process.

So how does a quilter choose the right quilt fabric?  One way is to conduct a field check for fabric quality!  Sounds complicated but it's in fact quite easy.  You may get a few looks for fellow shoppers and clerks but don't panic!  Others may be curious enough to ask questions giving you the opportunity to provide them with a fabulous education.

The Crumple and Wrinkle

The first field test on quilt fabric should be to take a corner of the fabric you are looking at and crumple a bit in your hand.  Hold it there for about 15 seconds then release the fabric.  Does the fabric stay hopelessly crumpled or does it slowly regain it's shape with minimal wrinkling?   This is important as a good quality fabric should retain it's original shape after being crumpled.  If it remains a wrinkled mess in the yardage then walk away.  Can you imagine what a 15 second crumple can become in a quilt that is made to be used by others?  Do you want that to be the signature of something you painstakingly made either as a gift, a commission, or a show piece? Remember that there may be a small amount of wrinkling in making this test but significant wrinkling is not a good earmark for a quality fabric.

The Sniff Test

Yes, you read this right...the sniff test is next.  Hold the fabric to your nose and inhale.  Does the fabric have a distinct or strong chemical odor?  This signals that the fabric has been chemically treated with stabilizers or sizing to make it appear to heavier and more stable.  If you smell heavy chemicals beware.  Once you wash this fabric it will possibly go limp and reveal a very thin fabric. To field test a "smelly" fabric grab a corner and place a hand on each side of the fabric and rub it with a rapid scrubbing motion between both hands.  If the fabric loses it's luster and stiffness once smoothed back out it is a poor quality fabric the manufacturer has tried to disguise as quality yard goods.

The Rub

As mentioned in the first installment of this series, Know Your Thread Count, thread count matters. You can field test for thread count, since this is not generally listed on the bolt end. Simply place a spot of the fabric you are considering between your thumb and index finger and rub the two back and forth together. Now check the spot where you rubbed. Does the fabric fibers appear to be separating? Does the fabric fibers appear to have separated and now the spot looks then? If you answer "yes" to these questions then the fabric is probably a low thread count and would not make the cut as a good quality quilt fabric that would yield and long lasting quilt.

The Wrong Side

Open the fabric you are considering for purchase just enough to look at the grain running both length-wise and cross-wise. Do the length-wise threads appear to be running from one edge to the other in a straight line? Do the cross-wise threads running up and down appear to be running straight? This will tell if the fabric in "on grain" or not. Also, look at the selvages. The threads should be running parallel to the selvage. A good quality fabric will have the threads at perfect right angles. If the fabric is "off-grain" and this can be spotted on the wrong side of the fabric then the fabric is not a good candidate to produce a top-quality quilt.

The Results of a Field Check for Quality

Checking your potential fabric purchase by doing a field check for quality may appear strange to other shoppers and clerks. Those who understand what it takes to create a quilt will also understand that the quality of the textile goods is the first step. Ignore the stares and giggle to yourself as you rub, smell, crumple and inspect the yard goods you are considering purchasing. Giggle even louder when you observe someone else doing the same. It's become like a secret society in which you hold membership. It's the club of knowing how to make quality wise decisions about the quilt fabric you are purchasing.

Choosing The Right Quilt Fabric--Part 1: Know Your Thread Count

This is the beginning of a series entitled Choosing the Right Quilt Fabric. The purpose of this series is to help quilters make solid decisions when choosing their fabrics by being better educated about the quality of fabric available.

Know Your Thread Count

Is thread count of a quilt fabric important? To be able to answer that question you much first understand what thread count means. The term "thread count" refers to the number of threads woven together in a square inch. If you have 50 threads lengthwise (known as the warp) and 50 threads width wise (known as the weft) the total thread count per square inch is 100.

Quality quilting fabrics have higher thread counts--with the average being between 68 and 78 (weft and warp). Quilting fabrics in this range are thicker and more durable, shrink less, and sew better. A good quilting fabric has a thread count of approximately 60 x 60 square (thread count of 120 threads per square inch) or more. Finer quality fabrics with a higher thread count will feel softer and finer to the touch. They are smoother and will last longer.

It's not easy to find out the thread count of quilt fabric as not all quilt cotton manufacturers will reveal this magical number. You can, however, look at a quilting fabric and make a decision on it's quality on your own by examining the weave. Do the threads appear loosely woven? Can you pull the threads apart easily? Can you see your hand outline through a single layer of fabric? Does the fabric look thin? If these questions are answered with a "yes" then this is not a quality fabric and has a low thread count that will not produce a quality quilt that will stand up to use.The better quality quilt cotton manufacturers will have a higher thread count, but this means the fabric will cost more. The higher the thread count the higher the price. What does that means in terms of creating a top quality quilt? The higher quality, higher thread count cotton will yield a quilt that is much more durable, will not wrinkle as quickly, and is made to be used.

Two things to remember if you do find the thread count for your favorite quilt cotton manufacturer (and yes some are not afraid to let you know what it is):

1) Do not confuse quilt cotton thread counts with the thread count of cotton sheets.

2) Know that the higher the thread count the more pressure has to be put on a needle to penetrate the cotton when quilting. For machine quilting this is generally not an issue but when making a quilt that will be hand quilted this can matter.

Thread count is just one of many things to consider when purchasing cotton fabric for your next quilt project. The next article in this series, Choosing The Right Quilt Fabric, will be How to Identify Quality Quilt Fabric.

Another Giveaway---From Angela Walters

Hey all, it's not always easy to find one giveaway for the week so to find another is like a treasure chest of gold.  This one is from Angela Walters as part of the launch of her new fabric line, Legacy, being shipped to stores. Go to her blog and watch her video then make a comment for a chance to win.  It's really that easy.

To enter:  http://www.quiltingismytherapy.com/2013/09/27/legacy-has-shipped/

Tip of the Week--Choosing the Right Thread for Your Quilt

Ignorance can be bliss, right?  Not in the world of making a quilt that is archive quality.  This Tip of the Week topic is about using the right thread for the right moment when creating a quilt.

Creating the quilt top and piecing things together.  

This is the foundation and primary focus of your quilt project.  When you join seams you potential create ridges from your seaming and the thread that are holding the pieces together.  For this reason a fine thread is appropriate.  A good start would be a 50 weight thread that will blend into the seams when pressed flat.

In a quilt that is archival quality it is important to use 100% cotton thread as this will out last your polyester threads if you are using cotton for your quilt top.  The polyester can potential wear down the cotton fabric and tear through it.

Quilting the pieces together.

When selecting a thread for the quilting (bringing your sandwich of top, batting and backing together) use a heavier weight thread, say a 50 weight, to create strength and durability in your finished piece.  When doing hand quilting the threads made for this are generally coated....in old days women often ran their thread through a cake of beeswax to give the thread strength.  Do not use thread made for hand quilting in your sewing machine.  The coating can potentially gum up your machine, which is not a good thing.

Whether you are machine or hand quilting the selection of color can make a huge difference in the final quilt.  If you want your quilting to blend, use a neutral color like a light grey or something that is a predominate color in the quilt top and back.  If you want high contrast use a complimenting color thread that will stand out and be noticed for the color it adds to the entire quilt.

Regardless of the type of quilt you are creating, take as much time and effort in selecting the right thread type, weight and color to ensure the best results possible.