REVIEW: Pink Chalk Fabrics Scrap Bag

I had my eye on Pink Chalk Fabrics scrap bags for a while.  But they were out of stock for the longest time and, to be quite honest, I didn't NEED to buy any fabric.

But then the end of the year clearance came along and what was on sale but some awesome ostrich print fabric I'd had my eye on.  And I did need to buy two yards of solid color (orange) fabric for a swap so. . .why not grab a scrap bag while I was at it (since they were finally back in stock).

First up, pics of the fabrics.

15 different prints.  Each piece was a good size, too (no tiny strips or little chunks).  And only one of them was just too big of a print for the project I'm working on (that car print was really large and I'm doing a postage stamp quilt, so I just squirreled that one away for now).  I was able to cut out a few 5 inch squares from each along with 2.5 inchers and still had a nice piece of each fabric to use later for whatever comes along.

My only beef (if I can call it that since the product description does mention "some may have minor flaws") were the minor flaws.  Yes, I realize they were possible but they still annoyed me.  Of the 15 fabrics I received, two were flawed.

The chevrons had a very noticable stain on the white part.  And the white bird fabric had a very long (and dirty) sticky mark left over from tape.  There was also a smaller tape mark in another spot on the fabric.

Normally these types of flaws don't bother me (especially when the product description notes they could be there) but these ones did for some reason.  Maybe I had forgotten the "may contain flaws" warning in the description (I think I did) or maybe it was because I had waited so long to finally purchase this scrap bag that I was more excited about it than normal (so I was let down a bit).  Or maybe it was this:

One of the scraps had clearly come from pre-washed fabric.  You could tell from the feel and the fabric had that "wavey" look that pre-washed (but not starched) fabric has.  And it had the tell tale snarly strings along the edge (from frayed threads).

"Flaws" are things like a bit of annoying sticky from tape (hey, it happens) or a tiny stain on white fabric (again, it happens) but PRE-WASHED fabric means USED.  I was purchasing a scrap bag from a online fabric store so I expect the scraps to be "first run".  Trimmings from other cuts, end of bolts, bits and pieces left over from doing other business.  I do not expect USED items.  If I want used fabric scraps, I'll buy fabric scraps from etsy or ebay (or the thrift store--which I do--I'm not anti "used", I just don't want or expect "used" without warning). 

To me that made this purchase a dud.  For the price ($14.95--not un-reasonable since it was a good sized bag) it was NOT worth it.

I won't be buying the Pink Chalk Fabrics scrap bag ever again.  I'll also think twice about buying from them again for other purchases as well.  If it hadn't been for the ostrich fabric (that I really wanted) being on sale there (and I couldn't find it other places I like to shop) I probably wouldn't have made this purchase anyway.  Overall, Pink Chalk's prices aren't that great and their shipping was a bit slow (I cut them slack since it was over the holiday--I'm not totally unreasonable here).

Overall, the scrap bag was a bust.  The other items I bought were perfectly fine.  If I were grading this (first time) purchase I'd give it a C.  Pink Chalk won't be on the top of my shopping list (unless they have something I desperately want that I just can't find anywhere else).