How to choose the best
quality fabric for your quilt
How do you choose the best quality fabric
for your quilt? Quilt shops, magazines and patterns
will tell you to always use quilt shop quality fabric, but what does that mean
exactly?
To understand what "quilt shop quality" fabric is,
we have to go back to the beginning. Cotton cloth before it is printed at the
mill is called greige (pronounced gray) goods. The
higher the thread count of the greige goods, the
higher the quality of the cloth will be.
Average cotton cloth has a thread count of 60 x 60 threads to the inch,
sometimes called 60 square. It may thin or stiff and it shrinks a lot in the
wash. Expect your batting to migrate or beard through
these widely spaced fibers over time. Better fabric - which is what you usually
find in quilt shops - has a thread count of 68 x 68 or more and is made with
longer staple cotton thread. This makes it feel a little softer, accept dye better and have a longer life. It will still shrink a little
in the wash, but not as much. PFD (prepared for dying) and batik fabrics can
have up to a 200 thread count and generally don’t shrink at all.
The first time a mill prints cloth, they will usually do so on lesser quality greige goods in order to test the colors and the placement
of the designs. Look at the selvage of fabric you have just purchased. See
those color dots? They aren’t there to help you choose co-ordinating
fabrics, although many people use them that way. They are there for the
manufacturer to make sure the color was correct and that it printed in the
correct place.
The printing process manufacturers use can be quite
complicated. Fabric designers work about a year in advance to come up with the
concepts which are then converted into colorized designs. These designs are
sent overseas to the mills to be test printed and returned to the manufacturer
for approval or correction. Most of the quilt fabric we use today has been
printed in
In the 1920's - 1940's, mills would test their prints on low quality greige goods. These low quality greige
goods later became feedsacks. In todays market, these first run tests often become the
flat folds that you purchase in discount stores. These flat folds may be
printed on lesser quality fabric which won’t last, or they could be printed on
good fabric but the colors and/or designs weren’t up to manufacturers
specifications. Some flat folds are printed as deliberate knock-offs of a
popular design. If you compare it to the original design, you will see that the
colors are bit off, or a part of the design (like a leaf or a vine) is missing.
Quilt fabric also goes through a multi step finishing process, which sets the
dyes and makes the fabric softer. Inexpensive fabric skips the last couple of
steps, resulting in stiff fabric that wrinkles easy and is very susceptible to
bleeding and/or sun fading. Fabric that is quickly printed to take advantage of
a trend like hot a hot cartoon character often skips those last few steps
because it is less expensive to make and manufacturers believe people buy it
without planning on any long term use.
Whenever you make a quilt, use the best quality fabric you can find. Don't
frustrate yourself by using second or third best. You will be happier with the
process and prouder of the end result.
For more information, read Harriet Hargrave's From
Fiber to Fabri; the essential guide to quiltmaking textiles. It's an excellent book that takes you
from the cotton boll to the finished product. You'll learn about the history of
textiles, how fabrics are manufactured, prepared, and dyed; and how they are
printed and finished. The book offers numerous tests to help you determine the
quality of fabric.