Custom fabric review

In the last few years I have purchased, sewn up and washed fabrics from a several different custom fabric shops.  I know there are several more that offer custom fabric printing, but depending on minimums I won’t order if it has a minimum of over 2 yards.  I’m not going to sink that much money into a design that may not print right or if I’m unsure of the quality of their base fabrics.

Custom printing shops

• Spoonflower
• Nature’s Fabrics
• My Fabric Designs
• TNT Custom Printing

Spoonflower

I know Spoonflower gets a bit of a bad rep from fading on their cotton fabrics, so I thought I would put in my 2 cents on the fabric, having used it for a few years.  This is my completely unbiased and unpaid for opinion.  I do have a shop on Spoonflower, but I barely make enough for a coffee each year.  They offer several different bases.  The turn around time is one to two weeks depending on how busy they are at that time.

There are some fabrics I like and some fabrics I don’t, so if you want to order a yard for something special…here is what I think are your options:

#1 – I don’t like their cotton lycra, and the dark colors do not hold.  Their printing process does not lend itself well to holding darker dyes or printing a true black.  They use an eco process, which I am sure is better for the Earth than the Chinese cotton lycra that holds dyes better and has a softer hand.  The cotton lycra basically peels apart due to the sizing they use to finish it in the dye process.  Not a soft hand at all.

#2 – The above being true, their synthetic blends DO hold darker colors.  I have a black/red/white shirt from Modern Jersey that has held up well.  My caveat is always that I wash in cold and hang dry a lot of my nicer clothes.  Your clothes last longer and feel better (less pilling) that way.  Plus you conserve some energy.  Bonus!

I have not tried all of their fabrics, but I have ordered enough to figure out what I can and should not order based on my design and intent for the fabric.  As a designer you also get 10% off the price.

Cotton/Natural based fabrics will not hold a true black and will fade.  I steer clear of them for apparel, as so much of my designs have black in them. 

– Cotton spandex jersey ($26.75/yard) and the submitted print.

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– Modern Jersey ($26.50/yard) – A nice weight for shirts that lend themselves to draping. It holds color well.  This is what I generally buy. I would not use it for super fitted garments as it will be see through if stretched too much and it doesn’t have a great recovery.  It is a great weight for summer tops.  Here are several items I have made with the Modern Jersey Fabric.

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It has held up pretty well after 1.5 years of washing and wearing. 

– Performance Knit ($24/yard) and Performance Pique ($20/yard) – I honestly can’t tell much of a difference between the two of these fabrics, except one is more expensive.  They are basically a lightweight polyester blend fabric.  I would not use for leggings, but I have used for more fitted tops and skorts.  Needle holes will show through the white base, so beware of that.

– Sport Lycra ($32/yard) – This is a nice thick polyester that resembles a swim fabric, but also works for leggings.   I haven’t made a swimsuit out of it, but have made leggings.  They are thick enough to wear in the winter and a nice quality.  This fabric is also pretty spendy, so not something I would buy a lot of yardage.

– Minky ($27/yard) – This is a non-stretch low pile minky, so not super plush.  It took the dye well, and backed with a thicker (cheaper) minky, it will make nice blankets.  Prints fairly true to the file colors.

– Satin ($18/yard) – It comes a little stiff, but it softens up in the wash.  I made my daughter some sleep pants with it, and she said they were comfortable.  Not a super thick fabric…it definitely will need lining for a skirt using it.  It printed well and has a nice sheen to it.

– Faux Suede ($32/yard) – No stretch, prints true to file colors.

– Silky Faille($24/yard) – This was thicker than I was expecting.  It would be good for a nice fitted dress.  There is no stretch in this fabric, but it has a nice hand to it and is not see through. Prints true to file colors.

-Chiffon ($21/yard) – No stretch, sheer fabric and very lightweight.  This is nice for layered tops and kimono types of garments. Prints pretty true to file colors when you take into account the sheerness of the fabric.

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– Poly Crepe de Chine ($23/yard) – No stretch, lightweight fabric that is good for tops. Prints true to file colors.  You can see through it a little bit putting it up to the light, but shouldn’t need lining for just a top.

– Celosia Velvet ($34/yard) – Low pile light-weight non-stretch velvet.  This does not print true to colors on your file and veers more towards the green spectrum.  I printed a teal print and it turned out hunter green, and a light blue-grey print and it has an aqua tint to it.  It looks very lux, but the printing issues are killer.

– Dogwood Denim ($30/yard) – No stretch medium weight denim fabric.  This printed pretty true to the file, maybe just slightly off but not much, and was a nice thickness.  I used it to line a laptop bag.

– Cypress Cotton Canvas ($34/yard) – No stretch medium weight canvas material.  Does not have a very soft hand, so using it to cover my daughter’s chair is a no-go since she didn’t like the feel of it.  It printed the colors in a muted way, so not true to the colors of the file.  This is expected with a cotton fabric, though.  Natural fabrics will generally be less vibrant.

As, you can see I haven’t tried all of their fabrics. I haven’t tried their new cotton base.  I will have to order some of my newer designs and try the fill a yard option so I don’t lose so much money in printing samples.  I have tried some fabrics that are no longer carried.  In the past I did buy their sample pack, so I have that for fabric selection for what is still carried.  The printing is my make or break deal on what types of fabrics to buy, though.  They can feel nice but have issues printing.

Nature’s Fabrics

This is a new one that I have tried.  They offer custom fabric printing on a variety of bases with a 2 yard minimum per print.  The turn around time is about a month if you place an order by the 15th.  They submit on that date, so if you order the 18th, your turn around time will be two months. 

• Bamboo/spandex jersey ($18.99/yard)
• Bamboo stretch French terry ($19.99/yard)
• Cotton/spandex jersey ($18.99/yard)
• Cotton/spandex French Terry ($18.99/yard)
• Sateen cotton/spandex woven ($18.99/yard)
• Double brushed polyester jersey ($13.99/yard)
•  PUL ($15.99/yard)
•  Minkie with stretch ($18.99/yard)
• Swim/spandex jersey ($13.99/yard)
• Poly boardshort (non-stretch) ($13.99/yard)

I ordered the bamboo spandex jersey, sateen cotton/spandex woven, double brushed poly and swim/spandex jersey. 

My favorite was definitely the bamboo spandex. 

I think the sateen woven, was a little rough, though nice weight. 

The brushed poly is apt to show white through when stretched, and it doesn’t have the best hand.  Due to the “fuzzy” nature of the brush, the print was a little fuzzy.  I wouldn’t order it again. 

The Swim spandex is a nice weight and will work well for swimsuits or leggings.  It has a slight shiny sheen to it.  I think it printed less vibrant than my file, which is a bummer.  I wanted that black background, but it ended up more of a dark grey.

TNT Custom Printing

I had really high hopes for this one, and with the wait time on it I will likely not order from there again.  The turn around time was about two months, as I placed an order as they were putting one in.

Bases I ordered were bamboo spandex and their fluff bomb (minky on both sides with stretch).

The bamboo spandex printed okay, though I have noticed the one I have washed more is getting pilly and the black is losing color. Looking at the print it seems as though the solid black areas didn’t print well, since there are white flecks throughout the print.

The Fluff bomb did not print as vibrant as I hoped. It is hard to photograph it, but it ended up more grey than black in the black areas. I thought they could print black since I did purchase one of her black prints that printed well, but mine did not.

My Fabric Designs

This company was one that I tried once a few years ago. I only ordered two prints: the quadri-performance knit and their cotton lycra.

First one was Quadri Performance Sport Knit ($26/yard). It printed true to design and the yardage was as described. The fabric was a bit thin, so I think it is more for a wicking shirt than leggings.

Next was their Cotton Slinky Knit ($24/yard). It appears a little heavier than Spoonflower’s Modern Jersey. I printed on black, and it was a little lighter than Spoonflower prints, so not a true black. The yard BEFORE washing is 32″. Yeah.  After washing it was 29.5″.  Not happy.

Other Options

I have seen a few other places online that I haven’t tried yet.

• Contrado – There are tons of options on this website. You really need to watch when you order, though, since they don’t have the settings for printing a yard. Once you get the dimensions to a yard it is a bit pricey. They do print faux leather, so I may end up ordering some of that in the future.
• Raspberry Creek Fabrics – I haven’t tried this one either. I did see a thread on a Facebook group that their quality has gone downhill, which is unfortunate. They have a Facebook group, so that might be a good place to start with the company prior to ordering.
• Rockerbye Destash Fabrics – This one is similar to TNT Custom Printing, where they put your order in at the same time as their custom printing orders. She has nice quality fabrics, so one can assume your print would turn out well, too.

I’d love to hear any questions or your own experiences with custom printed fabric.  I love the customs from the hosts on Facebook, but most of the time I only want 1 or 2 yards, so can’t meet their minimums.

Any custom fabric host will tell you that designs will print less vibrant on cotton bases than on polyester bases.  This is why I generally veer towards the brushed poly and bamboo lycra fabrics, if at all possible.  Spoonflower does not offer these bases.  I am becoming less of a fan of cotton lycra on the whole, just in my preference for apparel uses and long wearing fading.

That is my 2 cents opinion…for what it’s worth. 🙂

Have a great one.