MFT and PTI felt comparison Part 1

Since I'm into felt stitching projects these days, I have bought a few Papertrey Ink felt. They are high quality and I absolutely love everything about it. It's 100% wool as listed (hence high quality) but if there's anything negative about it, it has to be the price. One 5"x30" roll sells for $6.

I was hoping there are other comparable products with "lesser" price tag. I've found My Favorite Things (MFT). Being stamping/crafting company offering great quality products I was hoping MFT also offer high quality felt that is similar to what Papertrey Ink (PTI) offers. And five 9"x12" sheet of MFT felt is only selling for $4.99! Really, it's almost 1/5 of the PTI price. Of course, the MFT felt is not 100% wool it's a mixture of wool and rayon, unlike the 100% wool felt that PTI offers.

I decided to purchase both and give them a try.

Packaging:
The PTI felt comes in 5x30" roll while the MFT felt comes in 9x12" sheet (of 5) in a bag. Left: PTI Pure Poppy. Right: MFT Wild Cherry

These two are very similar in colour. One thing I don't "understand" is that on the PTI felt packaging there is no "name" of the felt colour. I would need to guess which colour I have used?

Thickness:
Thickness seems to be the same. In the picture, top roll is PTI, bottom is MFT.


Colour:
The PTI felt comes in 29 different colour, while MFT comes in 22. Both match to their specific brand ink colour. I didn't get all felt colour but the MFT jellybean green I got, look much darker than the website picture.

Texture:
PTI felt feels a touch more sturdy than the MFT felt. Perhaps it's due to the different material (100% wool vs mixture of wool/rayon).

Die cutting (my cuttle bug sandwich from bottom up-A, metal shim, C, felt, metal die, B):
Die cutting with my Cuttle Bug machine, PTI felt seems to give a slightly better result. It gives a cleaner cut edge but not by much. The green piece on the left is PTI, the brown piece on the right is MFT. As you can see, the green one gives cleaner edge, than the brown one.

However, the red MFT felt I use does not have the same issue when I die cut a larger shape. The apple edge is cut sharp and clean.

So perhaps the quality varies a little bit between different colour of MFT felt? I can also feel that I need more strength in order to let the PTI sandwich to go through (the cuttle bug machine), than the MFT sandwich. To me that does mean the PTI felt is more sturdy in nature.

Verdict:
Overall, I love PTI felt quality. MFT is great too. PTI felt does feel a bit more sturdy so if I'm making a project which requires sturdiness, such as a large coin purse, I would pick PTI felt over MFT. If I'm making smaller scale projects (such as hair clip embellishments), I would say they are both just fine. With the price being another consideration factor, MFT felt is much more desirable. Of course, if you need specific colour, you would always pick the colour you like, regardless of the which company. And I do believe they would both work great for my stitching projects.