Review: Fabric.com Remnant Box

I'm stealing this idea from alimakes .   She reviews new stores she buys from and she's a fan of buying remnant/scrap/mystery packs, items I adore as well.  She's introduced me to a few different online stores that I enjoy buying from but more importantly she's about the only review I found that showed pictures of what you can expect when you buy the 3 lb remnant package from fabrics.com.  Yeah, I probably would have caved and bought one eventually even without the pictoral review but she definitely showed me it was worth the $20.  In fact, I think the pack I received was even better than what she got.

SO. . .blah blah blah, lets see what I scored in my remnant pack.

It came all double bagged so I had extra fun picking out the knots (hey, I like to re-use the bags) which just increased my anticipation.  I tried not to look at the fabric too much while I was freeing it.

There was a TON of fabric in the bag.  No piece was smaller than about 1/2 yard.  Most were around 1 yard with only one small swatch missing along one cut edge.  (which is fine with me, since I want to include all of these in my scrap quilt--so I can just even up the edge where the swatch was cut and get my scraps and still have a nice full piece to do other, bigger projects).

First up was about a yard of this great fabric.  The picture doesn't do it justice in showing off all the shiney gold fabulousness.  Each of those stripes is covered in gold leaf (I'm sure there's a real term for this but I'm too lazy to look it up).  The flowers/vines are also all trimmed in gold.  This is not a type of fabric I'd ever buy (especially in yardage) but I like it.  A lot.  It's definitely going to be a great addition to my postage stamp quilt.  In fact, the pattern is so big and varied I can see two or three bits of this in the quilt, giving a little gold flash here and there.

This piece (about 1/2 yard) is also shiney.  The snowflakes are silver leaf and there are other shiney embellishments on the swirly action along the side edge.  The way it was folded up in the bag, I could only see the snowflakes on the white background and I was thrilled with that.  I love subtle/neutral holiday prints.  As I was unfolding it, I saw the dark edge and thought it was two small pieces folded onto each other.  I was thrilled once I unfolded it all the way and saw it was printed with the dark stripes on each selvage edge and then it faded from tan/beige to white (with poinsettas and snowflakes).  Again, this is something that's outside of my comfort zone but I REALLY like it.  I like it so much I kind of don't want to ever cut it up.  But I also really want it in my scrap quilt.  Like the other shiney fabric, the print is such it could make several appearances and not look like a duplicate.  Love that.

More WIN here.  I really like all four of these.  The green one (on the right) is something I'd probably even buy as yardage.  I can see a lot of uses for it (in fact, I'm thinking "alligator" right now!).  The other three are definitely things I would consider buying as individual remnants, so getting them together (and each is between 1/2 and a yard--the purple may even be a bit bigger) was awesome.  I see I have the black one upside down.  Those circles are actually balloons, each with a different pattern.  The white confetti one just screams "birthday" but could also be new years (or any festive celebration).  The purple is something I've actually seen before and thought cute but had no reason to buy (yardage).  All of these will look fabulous in my postage stamp quilt and I can think of plenty of other uses for the rest.

This bunch contains the only fabric I gave a "wtf?" look to.  Bet you can guess which one it is. 

Yeah, that camoflauge colored one with the saketboardesr/bikes is it.  I don't hate it (it's good quality) but it's something I would never buy on its own.  The only way it would come into my posession is through a mystery purchase like this (or in a bag from the thrift shop), if it was gifted to me by someone else (hey, I wouldn't turn it down), or if someone asked me to buy it to make something for them (and I kept the leftovers).  Thankfully that one is one of the smallest pieces I received (about 1/2 yard). 

The orange paisely next to it is also bordering on a "dud".  I like the colors but I'm not a fan of paisleys at all.  But it does match (sort of) the orange biker on that funky fabric, so I'm thinking I could make one hideous gift bag with the two.  I do swaps at Regretsy so. . .yeah, I may have to just do that.  I have about a yard of it so. . .

The blue one has great colors (really bright--again, my pics don't do any of these justice).  It's not something I'd ever buy even as a remnant but I do like it.  The pattern is really large so I might just use it twice in my postage stamp quilt.  I have NOTHING like it (color wise) in there yet so it's a welcome addition.

The skulls?  Yeah, I like them.  They'll be welcomed in the postage stamp quilt and I can see uses for it in other projects (maybe a skirt for a sock monkey?).

Overall I'm very pleased with this purchase.  I got a TON of fabric for $20.  And with fabrics.com, if you spend $35 you get free shipping, so I had an excuse to buy a few other things I'd had my eye on (which were on sale) so I met the minimum.

The fabrics are all good quality, not cheap stuff from the super clearance bins.  This batch had a lot from Timeless Treasures. 

My only beef with the pack (and this is super minor) is quite a few of the pieces had tape and/or staples on them (one small piece of tape in one spot).  It was only one staple (per piece--not all of them had it) and it came out without incident but it's annoying having to check for it.  The tape was less annoying except on the shiney fabrics.  It did take some of the shiney off (but it was along the selvage so it was no biggie).

I'd definitely buy one of these again.  But not for a while, since you get SO much with them. 

Great stash builder.  Great way to get you out of your comfort zone.  They'd also be great for a quilt along style project.  Everyone who joins could buy one (or two folks could go together and share one) and you have to use ONLY the stuff in your pack to make something.  That would be so FUN.