It’s finally time for the big reveal! The surveys are in, so I can now share with you the fabrics and results from all the hard working testers. For the details, there were four questions that I gave a numerical value to. Color depth, opacity, feel, and overall quality. I added all those up to create an overall rating, which was used for the final ranking.

Overall Worst:

Spoonflower

Hands down, this fabric is horrible. It’s also the most expensive fabric, by a lot! Maybe it was unfair to add a custom printed fabric into this survey, but Spoonflower completes with other brands as a quilting fabric so we, as crafters, want to know the quality. So if you are wondering if that $18.50 per yard price tag is worth it, I can give you a resounding NO. It’s stiff, the color is severely washed out, and it’s just bad.

Rounding out the bottom of the list in order of  bad to worst:

• ID #11 Free Spirit Designer Essentials Raven
• ID # 8 Robert Kaufman Primatex Black
• ID #27 STOF France Black
• ID #33 Joann’s Sew Classic Black

Overall Best:

Connecting Threads Black Solid

I am a bit surprised about this one. It only comes in at #22 for color depth; almost dead center of the pack. It’s the feel and opacity that bring it to the top, coming in first in over all quality, second in feel and sixth in opacity. Look for this fabric as id#36 on instagram #bfp_fabrics

Rounding out the top 5 overall fabric from top down are:

• ID #40 Harts Exclusive
• ID# 13 Moda Bella Solid Silky Black
• ID # 15 Free Spirit Designer Essentials Black
• ID# 14 Michael Miller Black Double Dyed Jet

If Harts is unfamiliar to you, it’s a small shop out of Santa Cruz, CA. I am pleasantly surprised to see a local shop do so well! Also did you notice that Free Spirit made it on both the top and bottom lists? What’s up with that Free Spirit?

Category Winners:

Color Depth: Michael Miller Double Dyed Jet ID #14
Feel/Texture: Free Spirit Designer Essentials ID #15
Opacity: Island Batik Inkwell ID#7
Overall Quality: Connecting Threads ID #36

What’s next?

Now that the surveys are in, results from wash test, fade tests, and others will be published here very soon! There’s also the BFP quilt contest – where each tester can submit a quilt made with the samples from this survey + one yard of fabric. Follow #blackfabricproject to see what testers are up to, and give them a follow!

Finally, here’s all the aggregate data so you can sort and slice as you wish.