Fabric - what to use?

When I was 18, I took a 12-week quilting class at our local community college.  That was back in the days before rotary cutters and dedicated quilt shops.  I still have not finished that sampler quilt for a number of reasons (mostly my tendency to get distracted).

One of the reasons was the fabrics I had chosen.  The class required we buy our fabric ahead of time, so I went to the local chain store and bought away - mostly poly/cottons of course, because that was the biggest selection.  I think the instructer did us a big disservice not to use the first class to teach us about fabric quality, type and even how to make colour choices. Especially since it was a beginner's class.  As a broke student, I couldn't afford to replace the fabrics I purchased with cottons, so I made my  sampler quilt blocks with my original purchase, and was never happy with it, so into the UFO pile they have sat for 30 years.  I did finish the pillow with hand-quilting, and it still hangs around with it's lumpy batting fill and all.

Now that I am back into quilting, I was trying to explain to my friend K why it's not always the best choice to go to the chain stores to purchase fabric for your special quilts.  Here is an article I found that explains it best:

Quilt Fabric Shopper's Guide to Fabric Quality

Are Premium Quilting Fabrics Really Worth the Extra Cost?

This came from Suite101 posted Dec 27, 2007 by Christine Mann