Craftroom Contest + Manga Fabric = Win! 
A while ago, our generous friend at IKEA South Philly sent us some CHARLOTTA Teckning fabric and CHARLOTTA Block fabric for review. It’s so awesome that it helped to inspire us to launch a contest! (along with Teresa’s $2K Craftroom). Read our review below and learn how to win a prize package worth over $50 of IKEA goodies (including 6 yards of manga-inspired textiles and the now discontinued FIRA cabinet pictured right) for your craft stash!
Manga-Inspired CHARLOTTA Fabric Review
Disclaimer: Although the CHARLOTTA Teckning and CHARLOTTA Block fabric reviewed below were provided to us free of charge by our friends at IKEA South Philadelphia, the review consists of our own opinions are are not influenced by the sponsored nature of the post.
That out of the way, we can get down to the nitty gritty – a fabric review. Or two.
IKEA CHARLOTTA Teckning Fabric Review
This fabric I LOVE. And I’m not just saying that! Truly, it’s a wonderful fabric with a HUGE motif that just dominates your senses. The full panel takes up an entire yard of this 59″ wide fabric so that the scenes make up a total of 14.75 square feet of fabric yardage. The scale alone makes this fabric a standout, but it’s the intricate line drawings balanced against the broad swath of darkly colored cityscape below that grab your attention. So much is conveyed in the facial expression of the shojo (japanese for girl) in the top panel that you wonder how she fits in (if at all) to the story told below.
Swedish mangaka Åsa Ekström of her design explains that the cityscape is a fictitious mix of famous Swedish buildings with some outsized manga characters interwoven. She does admit, though
It’s Sergel’s Square in Stockholm that’s getting fried”
Room for improvement: Though I love the design of the motif on this fabric, I can only wish that the blacks were as black as in the images above. They’re not. The dark color is about a 60% warm gray. That’s disappointing because I feel that the graphic nature of the print would be well served by higher contrast. But that’s me.
IKEA CHARLOTTA Block Fabric Review
Meh. This one I’d love to love, but I just don’t. It’s a vaguely art deco-ish design that Åsa says ’shows her love of Tokyo, the capital city of Japan.’
It’s a great city and dressed in its garb of neon it becomes almost magic”
With the washed-out tones of the printed textile, I’m just not feeling the magic. Again, I think that the overall effect would be greatly improved by an increase in contrast. If the contrast were as high as the image (right) would seem to indicate, this would be an outstanding fabric for a black and white palette. As is, it’s just about 60%.
See New Manga-Inspired IKEA Textiles for more information
Enter to Win – Creative Craftrooms Contest
Want to know how to win a prize package with 3.5 yards of CHARLOTTA Teckning, 2.5 yards of CHARLOTTA Block and the hard-to-find, now discontinued FIRA five-drawer chest of drawers? Plus get recognition of your mad organizational and decorational skills? Enter to win our Creative Craftrooms Contest!
Winning entries (and possibly some runners-up) will receive a home page blog post featuring their craftroom, sewing room, workshop or other creative space. Contest is open to amateur home crafters and professional workshops! Hurry, though – entries will be accepted for a limited time only!
ENTER TO WIN!
Tags: craftroom, IKEA contest, Manga
