Spoonflower offers designs on a wide variety of fabric, wallpaper, and home decor products. Your products are produced after you order them, so test swatches are intended to help you see a product in person and make a decision on your final order. Purchasing a physical test swatch is the best way to ensure the color, scale, and product choice will work for your project. While a design may preview well on your screen, the only way to know how colors will translate on a given product is to review a physical sample. Please review the FAQs below to learn more about swatches.
How large are swatches?
Swatches range in size based on the specific product you order.
- Fabric and home decor swatches are 8x8 inches, with the exception of our two wide format fabrics which have a larger swatch size of 12x12 inches.
- Wallpaper swatches are 2x1 feet. These will help you preview the design across the width of a wallpaper roll.
How do I order swatches?
Fabric Swatches
Once you have located the design you’d like to swatch on fabric, start by choosing the fabric type from the Choose a fabric dropdown menu. Then, click the Swatch 8” x 8” button. The quantity will default to 1, but update the quantity as needed if you would like to purchase more than 1 swatch. Then, add the item to your cart with the teal Add to Cart button.
Wallpaper Swatches
Once you have located the design you’d like to swatch on wallpaper, click the button with the specific type of paper you are interested in (ex: Pre-pasted, Peel and Stick, Vinyl, etc.). Then, click the Swatch 2’x1’ button. The quantity will default to 1, but update the quantity as needed if you would like to purchase more than 1 swatch. Then, add the item to your cart with the teal Add to Cart button.
Home Decor Swatches
All Home Decor products have an option to purchase a swatch. This is located beneath the Add to Cart button. Keep in mind that some Home Decor products are available for purchase on more than one fabric type, so be sure to choose your fabric first before adding the swatch to your cart.
Now that you’ve added your swatches to the cart, you’re ready to check out! Read more about checking out, here.
How do I know what part of the design will print?
Use the preview images on the product pages to see how a design will print on a swatch. For fabric, you’ll see the preview window update once you have chosen Swatch 8” x 8” as a size. The rulers (highlighted in the image below) will show the 8” x 8” printable area.
For wallpaper, designs are displayed as a single swatch being held in someone’s hand. Once you’ve chosen the Swatch 2’ x 1’ size, you can see the swatch preview image on the left hand side of the wallpaper page (highlighted in the image below). This is a great way to see the design’s layout on a single swatch.
Do you shrink down a design to fit on a swatch?
We do not alter the scale of a design when printing it on a swatch. The scale of the design on your printed swatch is the same scale that the design will be on the final product.
What if I need to see more of the design than the swatch shows?
There are many larger-scaled design options on our site, so it can be helpful for some customers to be able to preview a larger piece of fabric or wallpaper to be sure it meets their project needs. For fabric, consider ordering a fat quarter if you need something a bit bigger. For wallpaper, if you are ordering Peel and Stick or Pre-pasted, you could choose the 3-ft roll for a larger piece. That being said, our other wallpaper products are only available as a swatch or the full 27-ft roll.
How quickly can I get swatches?
Swatches are made to order, like all of the products here at Spoonflower. You'll always see the estimated Standard production time for a product below the "add to cart" button. You can find out more about our turnaround times and shipping options, here. Keep in mind that our Standard option works on estimated turnaround times. If you are working under a deadline, we do always recommend choosing Rush or Guaranteed Delivery from the shipping options available on the shopping cart screen. These options work on a fixed schedule and will also display a delivery date.
Note: Home Decor swatches are essentially the same as fabric swatches. While finished Home Decor products (such as curtains and pillows) are not eligible for expedited shipping, you can still order the swatch itself via Rush or Guaranteed if necessary.
Once I receive my swatches, what do I do next?
Once your swatches are received, inspect them and decide if the design choice and product choice is the right fit for you. If so, it is best to place your order promptly. Since every Spoonflower product is custom-printed to order, in a sense, each individual order is its very own dye lot. While large color shifts between orders should not be an issue, there can be slight changes between orders placed (and hence printed) at different times. The longer you wait in between orders of the same design, the greater chance there is for a color shift to occur.
Can I return my swatches?
Test swatches are intended to help you see a product in person and make a decision on your final order. Purchasing a physical test swatch is the best way to be sure the color, scale, and product choice will work for your project. Because test swatches are also printed on demand, they are not eligible to be returned for a credit or refund.