Minerva Reviews 

Sad to be writing this but this company has been a huge letdown and I will never use them again. I ordered two fabrics back in October, one a ‘print on demand’ and the other a deadstock. I was emailed to say there would be 3-6 week wait for the POD and if I wanted to have the other fabric urgently I could pay an extra £3.99 to have it sent separately. I said I could wait the 3-6 weeks and have both delivered together, no rush. Roll on 10 weeks, no fabrics, no contact. I chased and was told the POD was now ready and all would be sent out. Two weeks later I get an email saying that the deadstock fabric was no longer available in a 5 metre length but … wait for it … in 8 separate lengths which included one at 20cms and one at 10pms! Honestly, is this normal behaviour! When I complained saying this was unacceptable I was offered a 10% discount for the ‘unfortunate’ situation of being offered my 5 metres in 8 cut lengths. The fabric was on sale so I was paying £25 for the 5 metres of deadstock so the 10% discount was £2.50 for 8 small lengths of fabric! Not ethical in my books and no way to treat a good customer. If you want to order POD fabric plus other fabrics, do them separately … even though they do not state this anywhere … I personally won’t be buying from ever again. Too many other good fabric shops to use one like Minerva.

I’ve been a loyal customer of Minerva for many years and particularly like their exclusive fabrics. Unfortunately the change to Print on Demand for some fabrics has been a nightmare, with my current order still not received today (10th Jan) despite being ordered on the 29th September!!!! My previous POD order had a similar wait time. I’m not going to bother ordering any POD fabric in future it’s a joke. I see I’m not alone by other reviews… Such a shame, Minerva has always been my go to store for dressmaking fabric in the past.

* Edit I would like to point out most of my purchase was not made with money on a gift card and the next order had the same problem and whilst trying to spend the money refunded on the gift card I have had the wrong fabric sent with an incomplete order for the umpteenth time* They cannot completely fulfill orders due to a bad IT ordering system and poor stock management. Then when they fail they have the cheek to offer you scraps, 10cm, 20 cm lengths to add up to the partial fulfilment of metres long orders. Last time they offered me five length to total 2.5m when I ordered 3. Two other fabrics were incomplete. But surely they are offering you these scraps at a nominal rate? No they want you to pay the same amount for 10cm. Then if you have used a gift card as partial payment you bet they are refusing to refund you cash for their failure even though you spent more of your own money than the gift card and the refund is less than the cash you spent. Nope store credit so you can come back for more of the same and pay at least £50 to get your free delivery. In the past two years the company has lost all respect from me. I check emails and they have failed me many times in that 2 years. Minerva has set the bar so low it is at the earth’s core and they are currently trying to go through to the other side.

I’ve been a Minerva customer for a few years now since picking up sewing, and they are by far my favourite fabric company to buy from. They have a huge selection, and everything I’ve purchased has always been great quality. The posts of people’s makes are incredibly helpful when shopping online, as you can get an accurate idea of what the finished product might look like. Their customer service has always been excellent for me, with rare issues usually resolved same day. I’ve found their dispatch and delivery to be very quick, even living somewhere which often has extended delivery times. Overall I would 100% recommend Minerva!

Yes, Minerva prices can seem a bit high on certain items. However, for basic supplies, for their exclusives and specials, for their huge range in one place, and for their outstanding customer service, I've found them to be very good value.

I've had technical issues with my email - I don't receive Minerva's automated invoices, updates, or tracking numbers. However, it turns out manually generated emails are fine. So I've spent a fair bit of time chasing orders. Although the whole team seem great, one service rep in particular - Mitch - not only noticed there was an issue with a recent order, they also realised I probably hadn't been notified. Thanks to them forwarding the details, I was able to address the update & will now receive my items.

It has been an excellent year discovering Minerva Exclusive patterns! In the past I have had disasters in attempting to make dresses and trousers, that I cannot believe how easy the patterns are to follow, with full instructions if needed, and how well the items fit. It is easy to make adjustments to sleeve length, neckline or to add pockets, etc. and, if in doubt, there is always a video or two to assist. Also, it’s great to see what other makers have made and which type of fabric they have used for best effect.

The fabric choice is extensive and Minerva Exclusive and Core ranges are all good quality fabrics. Of course, the Print-on-Demand fabrics take longer to arrive so it is best to be prepared and plan ahead if choosing these. They are well worth the wait and look superb!

A big thank you to customer service for answering my queries promptly!

I have been shopping with Minerva for well over 20 years. My recent experience was for an order of their Print on Demand fabric. I was aware of an extended wait time of 14-42 days when I placed my order on 5 October but I had to wait 10 weeks for my fabric (finally received 13 December) with no updates from Minerva regarding delays or progress of my order. Absolutely appalling service and its such a shame as the fabrics they offer in their POD service are amazing. That being said, one of the fabrics I ordered didn't not match what I had expected in terms of colour. I ordered it expecting a black background and it's come through as a charcol grey. Again disappointing. Apparently it is only certain base cloths that are experiencing extended delays but this latest experience has put me off ordering any more and they're not cheap either - £23.99 for viscose twill - and they don't offer their standard viscose twill - only the ECO VERO which is more expensive! I can't fault the staff though, every time I emailed to chase them, they were apologetic and it is quite clear that the printing is done overseas so has to make it here in a container ship I guess but even so, it's definitely putting me off buying anything else in this range. Come on Minerva - sort your suppliers out. It is not good enough to wait 10 weeks for an order with silence on your part.

They're a fair bit more expensive than most other sewing shop options. I don't ever buy fabric here for this reason but sometimes I can't find haberdashery items I need anywhere else as they do have a very big catalogue. The website stating "in stock" is quite unreliable, on several occasions I've ordered something marked as in stock only for it to not show up until weeks later because it in fact wasn't in stock. It's good in a pinch but with the pricing, won't ever be my go-to.

I have recently taken up sewing and Minerva was recommended to me. Minerva has become my go to company for essential supplies and excellent fabrics. I cannot fault the service or the beautiful range of fabrics and patterns. The new content and inspiration from other sewers is proving essential to me as a novice. Thank you.

I ordered plush fabrics in five different colours on the 11th of November, and four were delivered relatively quickly. However, I was told that two were out of stock and the estimated date of restock was the 2nd of December. I was disappointed as I was hoping to use the fabric to make Christmas presents, but that would still hopefully be possible. I received an email on the 3rd of December saying that one of the two fabrics has been dispatched, but now the estimated restock date for the remaining one is the 23rd of December! I went on the Minerva website to look at the remaining fabric to attempt to colour match it with a different fabric somewhere else perhaps, it comes up as “back in stock and able to be ordered.” I’m very disappointed with this experience and won’t be ordering again.

I have bought numerous fabrics and patterns from Minerva and have never been disappointed. The service is always prompt and the fabric true to the online description. Also their U Tube videos on fabric, pattern choices and sewing techniques are amazing. I am new to sewing and have learnt so much from the videos.

My order on 15 9.25 included sample fabrics and a pattern. I was informed that the samples would take 3-4 weeks and I have still not received them. That is now nearly 3 months although I am told they are on their way. I contacted Minerva after 4 weeks as nothing had been received by then but I was not permitted to cancel the order. I have still not received the dress pattern.

Ordered some very basic items - calico, zip, etc and because it was urgent (I needed it in three days!) I paid the extra for expedited delivery. I had noticed that some items said a longer time period was required for delivery, but assumed that expedited delivery would mean that this wouldn’t apply because surely you would state underneath that express delivery does not apply! Anyway, part of my order - a zip - was expedited but considering that I had ordered on a Sunday so they had clear working days to process the order, it still took them two day to process my zip - I had an email on Tuesday at 4pm saying the order had been processed! IM STILL WAITING FOR THE OTHER PART OF MY ORDER AND ITS NOW FRIDAY! RUBBISH! I WILL NOT USE MINERVA EVER AGAIN AS THEY ARE ALWAYS LATE.

I ordered some fabric which I washed, I then discovered it had numerous faults in. I contacted customer service. Because I had washed it I was not allowed to return it. I think this is really shoddy and I will not be ordering from them again

Minerva is such a great website- lots of fabric choices and lots of helpful information. I’m a regular customer and have never been disappointed.

(Edited 25th November 2025. It’s now arrived after 10 weeks. Whilst very frustrating I am pleased I hung on and didn’t cancel the order. It’s lovely material and worth waiting for but I would still advise that you don’t order POD fabric if you want it for a specific occasion.)
Whilst I really like the concept of POD fabric the experience of receiving the fabric is disappointing. I ordered two POD fabrics on 14th September and there is still no indication of when it might be despatched. It is currently 9 weeks since I placed the order. I have been told on several occasions that it is due but nothing materialises. After many years of excellent service from Minerva, I am now reluctantly looking to purchase from other sites as there is now no way that you can rely on getting your order in time for special occasions.

I love the variety of satin options, the communication from the company is fantastic! Excellent quality fabrics

My only complaint is the rise in postage price, i usually need the 1-2 day working delivery option which is now priced at £7.99 which does put me off, i will still purchase fabrics when needed but i do tend to shop around now for a cheaper option as i need to purchase so often and for me personally i am unable to order in large quantities as i order my fabrics as my customer orders come through.

Overall i do highly recommend Minerva and the quality is excellent with so much variety, just the postage and slight increase in fabric prices have recently put me off 🙂

I’d give no stars if I could, I’ve been a loyal customer for a while and spend 100s of pound with them. Placed an order for fabric on the 23rd September chased 8 times still no answer on where the fabric is. As a ‘gesture’ of goodwill (gee thanks) they sent the remainder of the order at no more postage cost (wow I’m so thankful SIX weeks later) and two item are missing.Mitch PROMISED to get back to me about the Issues over the print on demand fabric yesterday and guess what… nothing Their customer is absolutely pitiful. Hang your heads in shame you money grabbing clowns. AVOID this company at all costs. Go to Fabric Godmother instead.

13th Nov still no fabric just called them and its another few weeks. Shocking service

15th Dec gave up and cancelled the order

BEWARE if buying from overseas. I have an order in my cart valued at £91.72 GBP exc. shipping. When I try to check out, a pop-up informs me to "switch the currency to USD (not my currency) in order to dispatch to New Zealand". I did this, and the value of my cart is now USD$152.62, which when converted back to GBP using several different banks' conversion tools, comes out at around £113.04 GBP - an increase of 24% and an ENORMOUS £21.32 GBP more than someone living in the UK or paying in GB Pounds would pay for the same items. Don't take my word for it, check it yourself.
I contacted them again this week to ask if I could pay for my order in British Pounds, and this is the reply I received this morning: "Thank you for contacting Minerva. I am terribly sorry we are no longer able to do this. Only orders for UK customers can go through in GBP."

This also happened a few weeks ago, but I didn't realise until after I had paid for my order. I contacted the company and their reply was "We are aware of this problem and we're doing our best to get it sorted for all our customers as soon as we can" but this contradicts the reply I received today.

I am living in NZ and always use local currency to buy anything from overseas, in this case GBP. I feel what they are doing is very unfair, forcing me to use USD (not even New Zealand Dollars) and incurring a ridiculous 24% increase in the cost of my goods for paying in USD when I am happy to pay in GBP at no expense to them. This is not fair OR transparent. This company has a fixed rate international shipping fee and I feel they are using the currency conversion system to make up the actual cost of international shipping. I have reported this to the Citizens Advice Bureau who inform me they are passing this on to Trading Standards UK.