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Hi there! I’m Nicole Gilbert and you’ve joined the Stop Scrolling, Start Sewing podcast. Are you new to sewing and want to start quilting, but have no idea where to begin? Each Wednesday join me as I share the ins and outs of that quilt life. If you don’t have a sewing machine, have no idea how much fabric you need, or you’re just trying to figure out where the heck to stick that bobbin. This is the podcast for you. 

Hey guys, Nicole here and welcome to Episode 44 of the Stop Scrolling, Start Sewing podcast. So what is the most important part of quilting or at least the most important tool besides your sewing machine of course? It’s the fabric and there’s so much that goes into it so that’s what we’re going to chat about today. 

But first a few quick announcements. So some of you may have noticed over the last few months that I have created a new website you’ll still be able to access me via themodernquilterscircle.com but you may have noticed that sometimes when you go to those Modern Quilters Circle websites that I give you, it redirects you to nicolegilbertquilts.com since Nicole Gilbert Quilts is how you can find me on Facebook and Instagram it only made sense for my website to also be that name. So moving forward we’ll be using nicolegilbertquilts.com but don’t worry if you forget and you use The Modern Quilters Circle or you’ve already got bookmarks put in place, by the way go you, you’ll still be redirected to the right place so don’t worry. I know this is kind of crazy but my business thanks to each and every one of you is growing and expanding and it just makes more sense for me at this point to be at nicolegilbertquilts.com. In the past I’ve had some confusion because the name of the digital quilting instruction that I lead is The Modern Quilters Academy and then the website is The Modern Quilters Circle and those things were getting confused and then we had Facebook groups for The Circle and The Academy and they were getting confused. And so it just makes more sense for me and all of the things that I want to do for you guys to be under Nicole Gilbert Quilts because that just makes more sense. It’s me, I quilt, these are all the things I do for you. So that’s what we’ll do moving forward. Hopefully that made sense, it sounded rambly but if it didn’t sound rambly, I wouldn’t be me. 

So moving on, the next announcement I have is mostly just a reminder for all of you. The number one question that I get over and over again is, “how do I pick which sewing machine is right for me?” You guys keep asking it, I love answering it, but I know that sometimes depending on some of the parameters you all give me I know my answer sometimes sounds vague. When I say, “well that depends” but in all honesty it does. So I love chatting about sewing machines and I love helping you guys and more than one of you, quite a few more than one of you actually, I’ve done one on one zoom calls to discuss purchasing sewing machines and if that’s something that you’d be interested in in doing with me I’m always happy to help. So you can go send me an email at nicole@nicolegilbertquilts.com. That’s my email address, I will be happy to answer you and get one of those set up for you. But I know sometimes all you need is like a checklist or a guide, something that you can reference, make the appropriate decisions for yourself and then move forward. And so that’s why I created this Sewing Machine Buyers Guide. I know that some of you out there have already downloaded it and I’ve gotten great feedback from those of you who have it. So if you haven’t gotten a chance yet to download yours, head on over to nicolegilbertquilts.com/newmachine and then you can go ahead download it and be on your merry way and again if you have any questions just send me an email nicole@nicolegilbertquilts.com.

Ok guys let’s get sewing. That was a lot of announcements today. Ok so in the past I’ve spoken about fabric. I’ve done Quilting Basic 101, I’ve compared discount fabric to quilt shop fabric but today and actually just in case you haven’t listened to that episode, I believe it’s Episode 18; Quilting Fabric 101 is the name of it you can find it in your podcast provider or if you go to the show notes for this episode you’ll be able to click that link because we’ll include it. But anyway in this episode I’m going to dive into quilt shop quality fabrics specifically. Basically, what makes quilt shop fabric so good, what you can expect, the top brands in the game, the top designers, my personal favorite designers and how much is it really gonna cost ya. So yeah the good stuff. So let’s start with what makes quilt shop fabric so good and it really comes down to the greige goods that are used and if you’re not familiar with greige goods, first of all it’s not spelled anything like what you think, it’s spelled like the word beige but greige. So it looks like greige but pronounced grey I know it’s weird I didn’t make it up guys. So it comes down to the greige goods. Greige goods is the actual plain woven cotton fabric, like raw from the loom, those are the greige goods. For most US fabric that you’re purchasing that greige goods is produced in Korea or Japan, I’ve seen some from Vietnam and India but Korea is a really big one anyway and also Pakistan. I want to say I’ve seen Pakistan as well. 

Anyway, these are the places that are sending us some of the best greige goods on the market and that basis that greige goods basis is honestly, it’s probably the most important part that makes quilting fabric just so much better. I mean the printing process too but really the greige goods themselves. So what makes greige goods so awesome? It’s twofold it’s the staple length and thread count. So let’s start with thread count because I know it’s something we can all rap our heads around a little bit. Because we’re used to it in our sheets. I know we’ve all heard you know 1500 thread count Egyptian sheets yadda, yadda, yadda – it’s amazing. Kind of similar to that but you’ll hear thread count referred to in two different ways. You will hear sometimes numeric, like just like your sheets but not usually as high of numbers but then you’ll also hear thread by thread count so it’s in one square inch, how many threads are going lengthwise versus how many threads are going width wise. So to put that in perspective like the standard for quilt shop quality cotton is 68 by 68. So that’s your thread count. Now what makes this so good is that oftentimes some of your discount retailers will be a much lower, usually about a third of the amount of count, so like 22 by 22 or so and this really does result in a stiffer less smooth cotton. Like not comfy, not a comfy cotton and sometimes it takes some getting used to but once you have gotten familiar, actually doesn’t take getting used to it takes familiarizing yourself, once you’ve gotten familiar with what that feels like it can be difficult to go back to more discount brands because it will feel rough. At some point if you’re like super boujie about it and you are like exclusive, super high end quilt shop quality fabrics you will touch some of your discount brands and be like, “Oh my gosh that feels like burlap.” Not all the time and usually only the super sensitive will feel like that, however there is that marked of a difference for many people. So while I do believe that all fabric is good fabric as long as you know how to properly treat it and use it and utilize it for its best purpose, um there is quality difference, there’s quality difference in every single thing on the market. Everything is not created equal and that’s ok as long as we know how to use it. 

So I don’t want you guys to listen to this episode, this is my little disclaimer sticker on the side of the package today, I don’t want you listening to this episode and thinking that I say quilt shop fabric is the only type of fabric you can use. I know that there are lots of big box retailers that have fantastic prices and you can make lovely quilts with their fabrics that they stock. I’m just saying that there is a quality difference and there’s a time and a place for everything and if you’re interested in knowing why maybe you may want to make that larger investment this episode is here to explain the difference. That’s it, ok everybody’s a big girl, put your big girl pants on and make the decisions for yourselves.

Ok back to the episode, so that’s your thread count now, let’s talk about staple length. Now staple length is the length of the individual strands of cotton that are then woven together. I know I also discussed staple length when it came to thread, I am drawing a blank as to which episode I spoke about threads about but I will make sure that it’s in the show notes as well. So I will make sure that I note that as well because if you’re interested in what makes certain threads better than others like your Aurifil and your Gutterman versus your Coats and Clarks and you know some of your more discount brands. I discussed that in another episode so I’ll make sure we note that as well. But staple length is the length of the individual strands of cotton that are then twisted and bound together and woven together to make the to make the fabric. The longer your staple length the smoother and softer your fabric is. So you can also note that the more expensive it is. So longer, smoother, softer – larger investment. That’s kind of it across the board, same kind of rules apply for your threads as well. Now there also tends to be, when you use a longer staple length, all of those wonderful benefits I just listed happen but also very little shrinkage. I know – which is honestly the biggest deterrent I have from using discount fabrics not because I don’t use them because I have. And I mean I probably bought some fabric from Hobby Lobby like a couple weeks ago so by no means am I saying I never do this because I totally do it but when I buy fabric from a discount retailer I do immediately come home and wash it and starch it and iron it and all of the things because I want to make sure that it has been treated as Primo as it possibly can and the shrinkage is out of the way at the onset. So they don’t deal with puckering later on when I’m quoting or after it has all been put together. So that’s my biggest thing is shrinkage, you’re not really going to get shrinkage from quilt shop fabrics like really minimum, minimum to none, honestly there are fabrics out there that you will get absolutely zero shrinkage and most of them you will get such a tiny amount that it will be imperceivable by the naked eye. True story. 

Ok, so now I’m going to break down a couple of these higher end ones that you’ll see like no shrinkage at all. So PFD fabrics, that’s an acronym you’ll see often it stands for Prepared For Dying. This is for all of those, Oh my gosh if you go to a quilt shop a lot of them have kits for ice dyeing and alcohol dyeing. Oh my gosh you guys there’s so much, I love quilting so much. Oh my gosh I could geek out about this stuff for hours but you can by basic greige goods that haven’t been dyed and you can do it yourself at home and there’s whole kits for it. There are classes for it. I want to say in Hamilton for Missouri Star Quilting Company they even have like a whole store for dying. I could be wrong because that’s basically like my Super Bowl dream, “like where you going when you win the Superbowl, Nicole?” “I’m going to Missouri Star!” I know it’s so, it’s, it’s so so geeky but I haven’t actually been and it’s on it’s on my quilty bucket list but I could have sworn reading somewhere that she had a dying place as well. So cool guys – if you’re not into it ,go look it up. 

Again I digress. Pima cotton, cotton sateen if you’re not familiar with cotton sateen I was like, “So what is it? Is it satin is a cotton? What are we doing here?” It’s cotton sateen. So it is the softest, smoothest cotton ever that almost feels satiny. Thinking recently of recent quilt lines or fabric lines that have come out with at least one cotton sateen in it, Tula Pink Linework comes to mind. The fabric that she uses for backing on 108 inch wide fabric, it’s called Sketchier is the print. Really cool, really cute. It’s got a little skunk on it that’s farting. It’s hilarious and adorable and if you don’t think it’s hilarious and adorable sorry, but it’s really cute. But anyway that is just the buttery-est, smoothest fabric ever. Won’t shrink. And also a lot of batiks they typically don’t shrink so all of those things awesome, awesome, awesome. 

So that’s the greige goods. That’s why the greige goods are the real goods there, the meat and potatoes of why quilt shop fabrics are so good. But there’s other things that go into making awesome fabrics and the next part of it is the printing process. So have you ever bought a T-shirt, like a screen printed t-shirt and let’s say you buy two different ones and one of them is the bomb, like legitimately it’s like in there it’s like ink infused, it’s beautiful, it looks like it was dyed not printed on to it and then the other one almost looks like someone like ironed on a patch to it. You know I’m talking about? That’s the difference between screen printing quality in a quilt shop and a big box retailer. If you look at the big box retailer the print looks like it is, the print looks like it’s like sitting on top, it’s not like in the fabric it hasn’t dyed the fabric necessarily, it’s sitting on top of the fabric. Whereas quilt shop quality that dye is really well absorbed in there, so good, it’s so good, it’s beautiful. But so that’s, so that’s kind of the difference that’s why quilt shop fabrics are so much, can be so much nicer. It they look truly great, just a quick note about screen printing if you’re not entirely up to date on what screen printing is, screen printing is printed with like flatbed screen printers through the mills and the screens are engraved for each color in the design and then the ink is pushed through a frame screen onto the fabric, kind of like a stencil. Which is why depending on the process that they use sometimes it could just be kind of like laying on top. The quality and the color facets of the prints are super high and the screens can usually hold about two dozen colors and the repeat, if you’re not familiar with repeat go back to my last episode about Fussy Cutting Episode 43 and I talk about repeats, can be about 24 inches wide which is the size of the screen printing beds which is why that’s kind of like the limit 24 inches.

Another printing process that’s used is digital printing. And now these are, this is like one of those, it’s new, not everybody’s doing it and it’s this weird kind of inbetweeny thing. Not many of the super high end retailers are doing it yet and I’ll tell you why but the low end ones are not doing it either and I’ll tell you why. So the low end ones aren’t really doing it yet because it’s expensive, it’s an expensive setup. Meaning the factories that you have, have to have very specific equipment to it and it’s very new technology and a lot of times more inexpensive manufacturers are not early adopters of fancy new technology. Which is just kind of the name of nature of the beast. So that’s why some of those those lower priced manufacturers don’t really make it yet, however the really high manufacturers aren’t really doing it yet because the pictures are not nearly as clear. So you can get a sharper brighter picture from screen printing then you can from the digital, however with digital there’s no limits to colors remember I said for screen printing you can usually do about two dozen colors so 24 colors and you can do a repeat as big as you want because it’s just digitally printing it on it, it’s not inhibited by the size of a screen frame but there is that limitation of the clarity of picture which is why it’s not necessarily that companies don’t want to do it but designers designs, that’s a little meta for you designers designs would get lost in that digital image. So they put all this work and beautiful artwork into these designs and it wouldn’t really translate so until that technology gets a little better I don’t expect to see it as prevalently but it’s coming y’all. I swear it’s coming.

Ok and then the last thing that I would say is probably exclusive to quilt shop fabric is the finishing process which is a multi-step finishing process that sets the dyes and it makes the fabric even softer. Inexpensive fabric tends to skip those steps which results in stiffer fabric, that wrinkles easily and it’s more susceptible to bleeding or sun fading. Another thing that you’ll hear beside shrinkage is that people don’t want to use discount fabrics because of bleeding. It’s not necessarily that the colors are more stead, more steadfast in quilt shop quality fabrics it’s that the finishing process seals them. So there’s that. So not saying that there’s never bleed but it’s super rare. You know you’ll hear me talk about color catchers and using them and it’s because I’m a paranoid Nelly but honestly if you listen to a lot of other podcasters out there talking about like pre-washing fabrics and all that a lot of them will say, “you know I never pre-wash my fabrics and I never have an issue,” so there’s that. So that’s all the things on quilt shop fabric and why it’s so awesome. 

So big name players there are so many fabric companies out there like way too many to list but some of the most popular ones that you’re going to hear a lot about are Free Spirit Fabrics, Moda Fabrics, Riley Blake Designs, Figo or F I G O, or oh I don’t know I think they’re just super cute designs, said it – no idea how to pronounce it. KimberBell, Windham, Timeless Treasures, Robert Kaufman, Northcott and Andover. I’ll leave it there but those are pretty much biggest players in the game, biggest names in the game so yeah. Now of those I will say I tend to purchase mostly from Free Spirit Fabrics and Moda Fabrics. Moda invented the jelly roll so if you’re a jelly roll person you have motive to thank for that and also I love Bella Motive Solids. Now Robert Kaufman is actually the manufacturer of Kona Solids. Kona Solids and Bella Moda Solids are two of the best solids manufacturers in the game also two of the most prevalent solids manufacturers in the game. So you have that, those two companies to thank for those awesome things, Kona and Bella.  Free Spirit Fabrics, Free Spirit Fabrics is my jam. They are so artsy I love it! Mostly because it speaks to my bright, crazy, color design world. 

So that being said my favorite designers, my favorite designers that you can find in quilt shops and this is not in every not in every quilt shop. The beautiful thing about quilt shops is that they are independent, they have independent buyers who purchased the fabrics that speak to their souls and that speak to the souls of their shoppers and so what you can find that one quilt shop you cannot find it another which is amazing because every shop kind of creates their own thing. My favorite local quilt shop where I currently live, because military family we move all the time, but where we currently live is Beetle and Fred in Beacon, New York so shout out because they’re awesome, they are my jam. They’re also not my closest quilt shop. There’s one closer – she tends to do a little bit more of the Civil War Reproduction and that style, beautiful stuff not really my jam. But favorite designers; Tula Pink she’s at Free Spirit, Anna Maria Horner – Free Spirit, Sherry and Chelsea – I love them – so cute mother, daughter team they’re from Moda. Bonnie and Camille also love them flowery, girly, light, crisp love it – they are also from Moda and I’m going to do an honorable mention because I don’t often use this designer but when I find a random fabric that I’m like, “huh who made this? That’s cool,” it’s usually him; Kaffe Fassett. Awesome, oh I almost forgot. Giucy Giuce. I know right? Giucy Giuce is his name but it’s spelled like Giueseppe. Super fun, adorable guy. There’s like a thing with otters, it’s a whole thing. So cute anyway he’s also awesome. But there you have it guys. I know that was a rambly mess but I had a lot of fun today. 

So thank you for listening to another episode of the Stop Scrolling, Start Sewing podcast to catch up on not only today’s episode but all past episodes head on over to themodernquilterscircle.com/podcast or nicolegilbertquilts.com/podcast. Hoho I totally forgot. See I’m gonna do that all the time guys so that you can catch up on all of our past podcasts. Make sure that you hit subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and I appreciate you. So stop scrolling and start sewing. Bye for now.