fabric wondering

When Tyler gave me the day off (was that only 1 1/2 weeks ago?!)

I sewed pretty much all day.

I knew I wanted a skirt from one of the Alabama Chanin books,

but I wasn't sure which one.

I decided to go with the one from the 3rd book -

since the front and back pieces were a bit different, I thought the fit would be better.
(the skirt in book 1 uses 4 of the same pattern piece.
And I didn't really want 6 panels, which is what the skirt in book 2 has, plus, that's a fuller skirt...)

I expected I'd need to make a couple of muslins, since I am

a) difficult to fit

and 

b) notoriously picky about fit 

but I figured I could knock out a muslin in no time.

(I wouldn't be adding the elastic waist, so we're talking 4 seams...)

I thought I wouldn't like a seam up the front, but copied the pattern exactly for my first time.

Really.

Why are you rolling your eyes like that?!

I really did make it exactly, exactly like the pattern.

I was right ~ I didn't like that center front seam,

so the first thing I did was change the front pattern piece to one cut on the fold.

I also had to reduce the waist, which is no surprise,

seeing that my rear is even more ample than my waist...

After trying on each muslin,

I'd wear it

while I made the next one, after tweaking the pattern.

These skirts are so comfy!

(I was using an old jersey sheet passed down from my best sewing buddy)

I kept saying, "This is so comfortable ~ it feels like I'm wearing nothing."

To which Tyler would reply with stars in his eyes, "You practically are!"

Turns out the man does like me in skirts after all,

a fact I discovered on our anniversary - thus the whole skirt making in the first place.

I'd always assumed he didn't like me in skirts,

because he never said anything, on the rare occasion that I wore one.

He doesn't like me in long skirts.

Glad we got that all figured out.

After some googling,

(and adding fitting books to my wish list...)

I ended up deciding that I needed to make a full rear adjustment,

not just take in the waist.

So I made, what I think was, a full rear adjustment

and I also lowered the front a smidge at the waist

The 3rd muslin fit well enough, that I made my final pattern adjustments

(took another tiny bit off the waist, lowered the front waist a smidge more, and added about 2 cm to the back length) 

and moved on to the 'good' fabric, without making another muslin.

(Each muslin took longer than I'd expected. Shocking, I know.)

I sewed up the skirt on the machine, but hand-sewed the hem,

which I did using binding strips and the cretan stitch.

Love it!

I also finished up my gray shirt that evening

and wore it to church the next day (with a sweater since it was freezing...)

At lunch,

Tyler told me he wanted me to keep sewing for myself,

'til I had an entire wardrobe,

and that I'd just need to re-figure patterns as I lose weight

and sew more....

Which leads me to the what I sat down to write about in the first place.

Fabric.

Specifically, knit fabric.

How the heck do you tell how a fabric is going to wear over time?

It's not such a huge deal right now;

I'm not going to make anything terribly involved until I lose more weight

(meaning what I am making now won't fit me for years, so it doesn't have to be top quality)

but if I'm going to spend hours and hours (and more hours)

making a garment,

I'd like to know that the fabric is worth the time, that it won't start pilling in 3 months,

that I'll be able to wear it 'til I'm tired of it, not 'til its tired.

I don't have a single shirt in my closet that isn't showing signs of wear.

(except the few I've made recently, so they don't count...)

Now, admittedly, since I don't have a ton of clothes, I wear each piece more often than most people do,

but still, I don't think a shirt should be looking 'old' after being worn 2 seasons,

even if they average a wear a week (which my 'going' shirts don't...)

I can't help but notice also

that

my girls' shirts from The Children's Place look fabulous, 

even when they've gone through 2 (or more, for the thrifted ones) kids!

So what is it?

What do I need to look for to know that a fabric will stay nice looking?

(Adding to the difficulty ~ I have to purchase over the internet,

as very little knit fabric is available locally!)

One can assume that the more you spend, the better the quality,

but that isn't always going to be the case.

And frankly, I can't exactly afford to spend big money on fabric...

So my big question,

which I have been a researching, but haven't yet come to any conclusions,

is - how do I figure out what fabric to buy??