I had a similar experience. Was a little shocked when the sample for the significantly cheaper sample showed up. Exact match! I ordered the cheaper fabric, of course, and have no regrets! :-)

online fabric stores have much better deals than the others. the cheaper places buy in huge bulk and have lower overhead than the other 'high-end' brand stores.

There can be differences in what is called greige goods, the fabric which it's printed on. You would have to compare samples with your own eyes to determine if the quality of the fabric is the same.

You can buy quilt fabric in Walmart for $3 per yard butthe same print in a fabric/quilt store can be $12. Sometimes they’re close to the same quality, but many times you can see visual differences in thread count and texture.

Can you get samples of the less expensive stuff to compare with? If you can, do it.

blubird is on point with the greige goods. Sometimes the half price place is really getting a good deal and giving you the same fabric- but sometimes it's really you get what you pay for and there will be a definite difference between the samples.

I agree the 1 st one looks much more color saturated.

original and knock offs. a knock off might be good enough. if its something thats going to be laundered multiple times, i'd be wary. it might shrink and fade more than you'd like.

smith + noble will be there when you have complaints about how their fabric stands up to use. the online fabric stores, you wouldnt even consider complaining to.

Thanks everyone, good to know about the griege goods. I’m going to order the other samples. Regarding the color differences, it might just be a picture thing because the smith and Nobel sample looks like the Covington Amelie picture.

Where did you end up ordering this fabric from? I just got the sample from Smith and Noble and would love it for my master bedroom, but I'd like to spend less if possible. No samples are currently available at onlinefabricstore.net. Thanks!