You Get What You Pay For

by Steffani McChesney
 
So you bought some quilt fabric at a chain store for $3.99 per yard. It stretched badly when you tried to sew a bias edge. If you pre-washed it, it ran in the wash water and dyed other fabrics in the load. If you didn’t prewash it, it ran all over the neighboring fabric in the quilt top when the quilt was washed. Bummer. All that work for nothing. You have just experienced that old truism, “You get what you pay for.”

Even though we don’t like to pay it, there really is a reason why “quilt shop quality” fabric costs up to $9.99 a yard. The fabric is much better quality and there are several more steps involved to produce the more expensive yardage. If you are going to spend weeks, or even months or years, to make a quilt, you might want to consider the reasons for buying better quality fabric.

So, what really are the differences between the chain store fabric and the quilt shop fabric? I’m glad you asked. A knowledgeable consumer is a satisfied consumer.

The first step in producing quilt fabric starts with something called griege (pronounced gray) goods. Griege goods are unfinished fabrics in their raw state right off the looms. As you might imagine, there are different levels of quality in griege goods. The finest cotton is used to make the best griege goods. Premium griege goods have a minimum of 60 threads in a square inch in both the warp and woof of the fabric, known as 60 square. The higher the thread count the better the quality and the better the hand of the fabric. The hand of a fabric is the feel, that silky smooth finish on a top quality fabric. Run your hand down a bolt of the best quality fabric and you will know what I’m talking about.

Higher thread count insures better printing. The fabric also lasts longer and beards less when quilted. Printing the highest quality fabrics is an exacting and delicate process using many screens (one for each color in the fabric) and complex engravings for the patterns. The printing presses used to print the top quality fabrics are large flat bed presses specially designed to print fabric. These presses must run at a much slower rate than rotary presses (such as used to print paper) to insure good registration and color distribution. Flat bed presses also insure that the fabric is printed on the straight of the grain.

Remember that time is money. Better quality fabric takes longer to produce. Chain store fabric is printed on high-speed rotary presses. An interesting side note, the finest quality quilt fabric is printed on presses in Japan and Korea. Chain store fabric is printed on domestic presses.

After the printing process comes the finishing process. Finishing consists of a chemical bath the sets the dyes into the fabric. This prevents bleeding and provides that silky hand to the finished goods. Poorly finished fabric is coarser and has a rougher texture.

So the next time you feel like griping about the high cost of quilt store fabric remember the facts in this article. And don’t forget, you are creating a work of art, whether it’s a baby quilt for the grandkid or an art quilt for the next quilt show. Your hard work and talent deserve the best. Go for it.