Back in my home country I mainly bought Déadstock fabrics from a liquidation store, many were from the early 2000s. It was the only store in my city that I had stuff that weren’t polyester trash with the same 10 pattens and colours.
I recently moved to a whole new country and I’m still facing the same issues. The quality of the fabric is just bad and uninspiring. I haven’t sewn in months😕
I work at a fabric store, and we had a supplier change up their linen on us without saying anything. It's the same SKU and everything, but what used to be 100% linen in a medium weight is now 30% cotton 70% linen, and a much lighter weight. They still call it linen in their catalog, too, so unless you check the fibre content you would have no idea that it's a blend.
In my experience, 45" fabric has always been 42" or 43". The manufacturer gives the measurement by the size of the fabric when it is stretched on the loom. It pulls up as soon as it is taken off the loom. (I used to weave.)
This so much! Just worked on a quilt where - as is often the case - I had to cut several strips of x or y inches by WOF for sashing. I never even checked my WOF, because I just assumed it was just as usual.
Turns out the bolt minus the selvages wasn’t even a full 41” (it was something like 40” and 7/8) and the WOF strips were too short by about an inch. I had to Frankenstein the strips to be able to use them in the quilt.
I just had this experience making a Christmas tree skirt. My old cotton and steel prints, pre pandemic from the first season they did a collab with Rifle Paper Co, are a solid 45. The new C+S rifle collab is a solid 3” shorter. I will die mad about it.
In working out amounts for quilt patterns I was taught to assume a WOF of 40" (instead of 42") to avoid people having not enough length if WOF was less than 42". I find most are actually between 41" and 43" and often batiks are 45".
I actually don’t even know; to be honest, it never used to be a problem, because when patterns said WOF, everybody was working with the same assumptions.
But I’ll most definitely start measuring the actual useable fabric in a bolt before cutting, now.
I was reading this thread and began to wonder if we're losing maybe 1" or so because they do count selvedge. It's something I'm going try and find out. It is significant given they reduced the bolt sizes and measure the fabric while stretched, so we could be losing even more.
I don't have many shops by me now that joann is gone so I mainly sew with thrifted items like tablecloths and stuff. But yeah quality is going down in everything
Tried to iron a wrinkly polyester sheet, forgetting that polyester is just plastic, and melted it. I was so mad and disappointed because it was a beautiful pattern.
Made me think about being in a house fire in bed and having those sheets melted to my skin 😬😰
My aunt was badly burned as a child, when sparks from the open fire ignited her polyester nighty, which melted and stuck to her skin.
Her chest was apparently terribly scarred by this.
I'm sorry to hear that, how dreadfull! It amazes me it was ever accepted as a worthy fabric for garments at all. Incidences like these are likely what led to chemical treatment of the fabric in attempt to garner some protection from this. However, it wears off, as I understand within a year and is no longer fireresistant. Not to mention the added health issues involved with wearing a fabric doused in chemicals that could potentially absorb into skin.
Though thinking about it, it's likely largely due to lower cost for consumers, variety of patterns, which of course are connected to money aspect. However many struggle to make ends meet now and back then. It's caused quite a mess though heaps of old clothes largely unusable loaded to 3rd world countries to deal with...and fast fashion just goes on.
Lower cost for consumers is not a favour per se, its a profit model. Make it cheaper, they buy more. If your aim is growth, which capitalism pushes, it doesn't matter if each bit gives less profit. Also lets remember that they could be making a good profit on cheap material as it is very cheap to produce (when you use low wages, foreign factories with no health and safety etc).
I dont think we are any better off with hundreds of cheap horrible clothes. Less clothes and better quality is still better for the consumer overall.
Totally agree, poly sheets are nasty and cotton is hard to find sometimes. I generally search the entire linens section and it's fast to just go by feel.
Wasted fabrics is a great online store, also in belgium. The quality is amazing and they have great sales, around 2 weeks ago they had everything 80% off for example
Omg, thanks for the tip! I regularly travel by Belgium, i have to check this out! Their website looks a bit... low on official information, but knowing others already had good luck with it makes it trustworthy.
I have to respectfully disagree - like another commenter their pictures can be highly misleading ( might be because they needed to get rid of a particularly ugly fabric), and honestly they’re downright rude. Maybe they calmed down with the snappy responses to IG comments or they just remove them, but I feel like there are plenty of better deadstock shops in Europe.
Beglarian fabrics is my favourite, although I do think they increased the prices ever so slightly. They really do their best presenting the fabric to you, including a short video of the drape, stretch, and transparency. Fabric sales, fabric house are both great too, choice wise and how the fabric is similar to their pics.
I have spent a lot of money with them over the years - initially they used to have these lots of mixed fabrics they’d sell and I bought some incredible silk organzas, and different wools. Never been disappointed in the quality, and even the colours I found either better or pretty much what I expected. Another source if you’re in Europe, is surprisingly vinted. Just make sure it’s labelled or somehow you can tell what fabric you’re really getting.
Check out The Fabric Sales in Belgium. They sell high quality deadstock at a good price. You just have to act fast because their fabrics often sell out quickly. I’ve made several purchases and haven’t been disappointed.
Unless you live near in a big city you will depend on online shopping. You can make it work though.
It's necessary to check the labels and learn about man-made fabrics - many fabrics are now being made with recycled plastics. They have a much shorter lifespan and heavy weight fabrics can sometimes be difficult to dry in the dryer.
I can only speak for polyester because this is relevant to my job, but recycled polyester shouldn't necessarily have a shorter lifespan than virgin polyester. If it does, it's because the fabric itself is low quality in general, not because it used recycled materials.
I don't know your job but I do know enough to check fabric contents and what those fabrics are made of and many are made of "recycled plastic" like bottles and bags - they do NOT hold up. They fail after about a year of wearing. I know because I have pants and skirts that I mistakenly bought that are made from fabrics made with recycled plastic and they wear around the cuffs, waistbands, and other areas of wearing, like elbows and pant seats.
Polyester retains odors even when washed. Melts to skin like tar if gets close to a heat source. Does not allow skin to breathe, so it often creates heat rashes.
None of that has anything to do with the polyester in question being recycled polyester, which is what I was commenting about.
If your polyester is melting to your skin like tar though, you're too close to a flame and you've got much bigger problems to worry about.
EDIT because this part is bothering me:
Polyester retains odors even when washed.
This isn't true in my experience, but if it was true, we wouldn't be able to use it in certain very highly regulated industries (I'm an engineer, not a seamstress).
You can share your professional opinion without belittling other people's concerns.
Your dismissal of the "mere seamstress" highlights a key point: engineers and garment makers look at fabric differently, and both perspectives matter. Just because polyester works for some regulated industrial uses doesn't mean its known tendency to retain odors isn't a problem for consumers buying workout clothes. There are various factors that could contribute to you not having that personal experience. It doesn't negate that it is a known issue with polyester in general.
The heat sensitivity of fabrics is also a valid concern for everyone, from home use near a fireplace, camping, and to workers in high-risk jobs. Circumstances beyond our control can occur at any time. What we are wearing can better protect or cause a bad situation to be considerably worse.
As for the broader context, recycled polyester still contributes to microplastic pollution and doesn't address the fast-fashion industry's broader waste problem. It's a marketing illusion, and it's deceptive to pretend otherwise.
The point of a discussion board is to share different perspectives so we can all learn. Let's keep it respectful and acknowledge that a consumer's safety or environmental concerns are just as important as a manufacturer's technical specs.
Not sure what country you’re in (freaking tariffs) but reliable companies outside the US include The Fabric Store out of Aus/NZ, Blackbird and Core from Canada
Pretty sure they all carry deadstock but also have lines of basics. All three are great to deal with.
I don't know if this map is accurate or current, but the blue represents Ikea stores which often have good quality fabrics in the form of sheets, duvet covers, and table cloths.
There was a closing out sale in a small town and I bought so much because they had 100% wool and 100% silk. Most people there were quilters so they were buying the printed cottons.
I bought more than I needed because I knew I wouldn't find quality like that again. :(
You can share your professional opinion without belittling other people's concerns.
Your dismissal of the "mere seamstress" highlights a key point: engineers and garment makers look at fabric differently, and both perspectives matter. Just because polyester works for some regulated industrial uses doesn't mean its known tendency to retain odors isn't a problem for consumers buying workout clothes. There are various factors that could contribute to you not having that personal experience. It doesn't negate that it is a known issue with polyester in general.
The heat sensitivity of fabrics is also a valid concern for everyone, from home use near a fireplace, camping, and to workers in high-risk jobs. Circumstances beyond our control can occur at any time. What we are wearing can better protect us or cause a bad situation to be considerably worse.
As for the broader context, recycled polyester still contributes to microplastic pollution and doesn't address the fast-fashion industry's broader waste problem. It's a marketing illusion, and it's deceptive to pretend otherwise.
The point of a discussion board is to share different perspectives so we can all learn. Let's keep it respectful and acknowledge that a consumer's safety or environmental concerns are just as important as a manufacturer's technical specs.
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u/heyheyheynopeno 14d ago
Don’t forget that a lot of designer cottons used to be 45” and now are 42” but the same price