egl_archive

Last Monday, I put in an order of 16 yards of sateen (and one yard of colour swatch printed on quilting weight cotton) on Spoonflower. I paid for the semi-rush service (regular printing deadline, express shipping) and received my order today :D

This is my first time ordering full yards of fabric from SF (I've ordered a swatch pack from them before) and my second time ordering full yards of fabric in general (I've ordered from Fabric On Demand before). I will be doing some inferred comparisons between SF and FOD, so I just want to say before hand that SF wins by a mile... I was really disappointed with Fabric On Demand's service, and their product, though at the time was cheaper, was much inferior (lolita dress making wise) in comparison to SF's sateen.

sugarsugar_dina posted her review of FOD last year, and I must say I had a similarly disappointing experience.

Aaaanyway, this is a review of Spoonflower, so let's get to it.

Here is SF's organic cotton sateen at a glance, as taken from their website:

Organic Cotton Sateen: $27/yard ($24.30 with designer discount)

100% organic cotton sateen, glossy finish, white

* 56" wide printable area (142cm)
* 3.8 oz per square yard, 230 Thread Count
* Certified organic cotton by Global Organic Textile Standards (GOTS)
* Peroxided white [note that prior to 3/25/10 we printed on natural rather than white]
* Glossy finish, soft hand
* Appropriate for clothing, pillows
* Machine wash warm or cool using phosphate-free detergent

I put in my order on February 7th. On the order page, it quoted that my order will be shipped via Fedex International Priority on the following Monday (yesterday) and in my hands by Wednesday (tomorrow). This is compared to the 2 months of communication nightmare I had to deal with FOD in order for them to get my order right.

On February 10th, I received an e-mail from Stephen, asking about one of the pieces which I wanted to be printed in 6 full yards. He asked if I was fine with receiving 2 pieces of 3 yards, and I gave him the OK on the 12th. I anticipated that my order will be delayed by a day or two because I didn't get back to him right away. To my pleasant surprise, I got the shipment notice yesterday, and here I am writing a review of the fabric I received today.

I did have to pay tax (12%) and brokerage ($10) at the door, which I was expecting. The actual price after shipping and tax came to about $30 per yard. even after designer's discount. So to all the Canadian readers (and I'm sure many of you have horror stories about private couriers), if you choose Fedex as your courier (which is the only choice for larger orders, I believe), expect to pay cash on delivery.

The fabric came in a large cardboard box. Each piece was bundled separately (with one exception which I will mention a bit later), nicely wrapped in tissue paper, and sealed with their logo stickers.

The colours are very vibrant. I expect a slight face after the wash, but from looking at other reviews, the fading shouldn't be too noticeable.

The details came out superb. I gave them 300dpi RGB files converted and colour matched from the original CMYK I gave to FOD.

The feel of the fabric is very soft and comfy (I imagine even softer after removing the sizing and soaking it in fabric softener). There is a huge textural difference between the sateen and the quilting cotton. The quilting cotton just feels downright cheap and scratchy in comparison. The sateen also drapes very well, in comparison to the super stiff cotton poplin I got from FOD.

A lot of people have expressed concern over the "sheen" of sateen, but I honestly don't find it distracting or cheap looking at all. It gives a luxurious feel to the fabric, in my opinion. I compared it with Baby's Seraphim print, which I believe is made of printed cotton sateen. The feel is very similar except that SF's sateen is more stiff, most likely because it's covered in sizing and haven't had the wear Baby's does (the dress was released in 2006!). I also recall someone mentioning that AatP's Masqueate Theater is made of cotton sateen. I'm actually getting that print in the mail soon so I'll be able to do a physical comparison then.

UPDATE: photos of the fabrics after a pre-wash is now uploaded. Bare in mind that lighting conditions were not controlled so comparisons of before and after pictures on the computer monitor is far from accurate. To my naked eye, there is little if any signs of fading. I soaked and hand-washed the fabric in vinegar (to remove sizing) and fabric softener and air dried them even though SF said it was OK to machine wash. I imagine machine washing would cause more fading because of the more mechanical nature of the process.

Before wash:

After wash:

Before wash:

After wash:

Before wash:

After wash:

Before wash:

The stapler is there to compare true black and SF's "charcoal" (the darkest black they can achieve on their printer).

After wash:

So, the final verdict:

Communication: 4.75/5
This is the part where I explain about the exception of the separately bundled fabric pieces. To my surprise, the lavender fabric, which I had ordered full 5 yards of, came in two separate pieces but bundled together. Though Stephen contacted me about splitting the 6 yards of black fabric in half, he did not tell me about the lavender. But it seems like they threw in an extra yard or two, so I got 2 pieces each of over 3 yards of lavender instead of one full piece of 5. The extra was a nice gesture, but I still wish he'd told me about it. Other than this caveat, they kept their delivery date promise, and was prompt in communication and updating shipment notice.

Quality: 5/5
Out of all the printed cotton fabric I have tried (FOD's cotton polin, SF's quilting cotton and sateen), the organic sateen is the most appropriate in terms of weave, feel, and drape for the application of lolita dress making. It is in my opinion comparable to certain brand fabric like Baby's/AatP's sateen, but I can't say for certain until after I've removed the sizing and softened it.

Price: 5/5
$25 a yard is definitely not cheap for cotton fabric, but Spoonflower offers the most competitive prices for the amount of printing surface and the degree of quality in the easily-accessible/non-wholesale custom fabric printing market, I believe. After having the opportunity to compare them with a competitor, I'd definitely say SF offers better value.