An imperfection created during the printing or weaving process. Hand woven material will always have some error or imperfection, as will hand printed fabrics. Machine woven fabrics less so, but thread does break and screens get old–contributing to the potential for flaws. So flaws are inevitable–it’s how you cope with them that matters.
* Fabric assessment between the mill and the consumer will as a matter of course check for the fabric for flaws; these will be marked for the end users’ awareness with a brightly coloured tag clipped into the selvedge. If the fabric has been sent to you with a flaw, an additional allowance will have been made in the length, and in reality it is very often possible to cut around flaws once you know where they are. If you are inconvenienced, or the allowance given is inadequate any supplier will replace a single length–or the whole, depending on the severity of the inconvenience.
* Having said this, the supplier should inform you of any serious flaws before they accept your order. They will ask what your cuts are to enable the warehouse to assess which piece they pick and how much extra to send you.
* However, not all flaws will be marked, and your criteria for flaws will be different from one job to another –for some projects the cut lengths might be short and easy to move around, for others the pattern matching must be on grain and for others they are positioned where you can work around them without too much time wasted.
* It is the maker’s full responsibility to unroll and check every inch of fabric before they begin to cut. Only at this stage can you plan around flaws; if it’s not possible then return the whole roll for exchange