mmmm...Tastey fabric

So, I haven't posted for a really long time. I mostly blame that on work, and my own laziness. Also, I'd rather be sewing than blogging about sewing, but I also want to share the awesome fabric I find. Anyways, I am back, and hopefully this blog shall not waste away entirely.

My latest project involves some fabric that is not only adorable and colorful, it's practically edible. Although anything I bake never looks this perfect (except maybe my cookies). Pictures of the work in progress to come soon!

Fabric Stats- Purchased at: Beverly's in Fair Oaks Fiber: cotton, probably quilting cotton Selvedge text: VIP by Cranston www.cranstonvillage.com and Robert Kaufman Sweet Tooth Screen Print D#6828

The skirt I made yesterday

This skirt took me approximately 5 hours to make. I got the idea when my friend picked out the patterned fabric and wanted me to make her a skirt out of it. For her skirt we did the yoke in a matching red cotton. I ended up having her buy twice as much printed fabric as needed, and I fell in love with it so I bought the remaining from her. The fabric was sold bye the "section", each section being the equivalent of two rectangles (approx 26 inches wide by 45 inches). This skirt required two sections. For my yoke I used a stretch denim that I had on hand, and for the tie some red knit fabric I had on hand. I wanted to use up some red rick rack that I had lying around, and it seemed to go with the whimsy of the patterned fabric. I gathered the fabric into the yoke so as not to loose any of the awesome pattern. I believe the selvage called the fabric "Recesss - Fun with Dick and Jane Collection" by Moda. I threw it away before I could copy it exactly (silly me).

I also added a square pocket approx 12x12 inches on the right hand side of the skirt. The volume of the patterned fabric mostly hides it, although it does want to stick out just slightly. The trickiest part of this skirt was figuring what order to sew the pocket on so that the rick rack would look continuous. I drafted a pattern for the yoke, and let the bottom fabric become its own pattern.

I really enjoy the length and the lightness of this skirt!

Visions of pleather all through her head...

This is one of the 3 fabrics that rendered me insomniatic on Thursday night. It is a chocolate brown pleather with flowers and paisley shapes embroidered into it. I purchased this fabric back in 2005 with the intention of making pants. At the time I had pretty much no experience making pants and no free time, which meant I put the fabric in my closet and forgot about it. When digging through my stash for a specific blue upholstery last week, I rediscovered this fabric, and again the desire to make pants immediately seized me. Since I just wore out a pair of well-fitting jeans, I tore them apart to use as a pattern base. I am a little uncertain as the jeans had some stretch to them and this fabric doesn't, but I figure I can add extra seam allowances and hope for the best! I need to remember to buy blue thread for this fabric; all the ones in my stash are entirely too teal.

Yipes! Stripes! Part 1

I enjoy stripes. Not nearly as much as I enjoy Polka-dots, but that's ok. I especially love when stripes are used creatively, going different ways in one pattern or garment. However, I have not done too much sewing with stripes, so I can't moan and complain about how difficult they are to match. Yet!

The top fabric is one that I only have about a foot of. It was an interior design sample that was given to me when the fabric was discontinued. What you can't really see from the picture is that the blue stripes are actually chenille, which adds a great texture and draws me to the fabric. I also like the width of the stripes. The rest of the fabric is just a medium-weight cotton. I could see making a fun summer suit out of this material, especially one with tails.

The second fabric is a very light cotton, and is far more subtle than my usual taste. However, this fabric has proved to be a great complement fabric for me. I have used it in a couple of patterns where the main fabric is so crazy that the edging or bands should really be solid-colored. However, just plain solid is so boring, and !volia! the color-on-color stripes are the perfect solution! One layer of this fabric is very see-through, so I tend to double it. I believe I still have about 5 or 6 yards of this left. I started out with at least 10 yards that I inherited from a friend about 10 years ago.

Blue cravings....

I'm Back! I haven't posted here in a couple of months as I have had lots of changes going on around me that kept me hopping: new part-time job doing alterations, family visiting, some decent weather around here finally, new church, some new friends, developing some new bag patterns for me business, injuring a thumb, just all sorts of new things. However, I am excited to have carved out some time three times a week to post here (probably Tu/Thurs/Sat). Anyways, enough about me, back to the fabric!

This beautiful fabric is one that I found at Bolt Fabric Boutique (see link in sidebar) a couple of months ago when they were having a sale. At first I was going to buy 5 yards of it because I thought it was on sale for $5 a yard, but then it turned out not to be (I believe it was more like $12 a yard), so i just bought 1 yard. It is a lightweight cotton or linen, 60in wide, and the colored rectangles all have eyelash edging, which makes my texturephillic hands very happy. Can't you just see this as a cute summer halter dress? Or a short-sleeved button-down man's shirt? I can! Maybe when I have more money I will go back and buy more so that I can make that dress....

"Practice" Fabric

So, I purchased this fabric about 2 weeks ago when Fabric Depot was having a 40% off all fabrics sale. Usually when I purchase fabric, I don't have a specific project in mind. However, that is not the case with this particular purchase. After purchasing an amazing fabric at Mill End the week before (which will be the subject of another post), I was inspired to make a halter dress. Now, normally I am not a fan of wearing a halter anything. You see, I am...ample-chested. Halters really work best on smaller women (think A or B cup), because the deep V is not quite as scandalous on them, and the pressure on the back of the neck is less. When purchasing a halter top or dress in a store, there often isn't enough room for bigger than size C breasts, which makes the item sit funny,a nd it's just all sorts of bad. Trust me on this one. But! Halters can look sooooo cute if fitted properly. Custom sewing to the rescue!

Anyways, so I had this fabric, and a pattern that I wanted to try. But I knew that I was going to want to make alterations to the pattern, and I didn't want to try those alterations out on the final (amazing) fabric. Which means that I had to purchase a practice fabric. Now, if I had been smart, I would have just looked through my fabric stash and found something that would look cute if it worked out, but that I would be devastated if the dress turned out to be all wrong. However, at that point my Stash was in such a state of disarray, that I decided to take advantage of a good clearance section instead.

This fabric is a lightweight cotton, 45 inches wide, and I purchased the last of the bolt, which I believe was about 4 and 1/4 yards. It was 50% of of about $10.50, so you do the math. I chose it with this specific project in mind as a fabric that I like enough to wear a dress made out of it if the mock up turns out well, but that I am not too emotionally attached to the fabric if it has to become spare scraps instead.

Lesson of the week: Sometimes purchasing one fabric will necessitate the purchase of another. Fabric begets fabric. Kind of like bunnies.

Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun, Please Shine Down on Me

This fabric....makes me smile. Look at those suns! I mean, just look at them. They are so bright and cheery and smiley and, well, sunny! Maybe if I concentrate really hard I can channel the power of those smiles into convincing the real sun to come out and stay out for more than 30 minutes at a time. I purchased this fabric about 6 months ago at a smaller fabric store that specialized in quilting cottons called Fibers in Motion. I believe I paid $2.50 for a fat quarter (for explanation of what a fat quarter is, go here). This fabric is so cheery and makes me smile so much that I kinda wish I had purchase more now. It's a great spring fabric, and would be great for children (or anyone who likes cute suns). If the weather outside continues to insist on being unpredictable and grey, at least my current fabric makes me feel warmer. If I had more of this, I think I would make pajama pants out of it. It is a very lightweight flannel. Even though I despise wearing flannel, this is soft enough and so happy that I think I could forgive its flannel-ness and wear it with aplomb.

Polka Dots, Part 2

This fabric is one the I saw at Joann's for the first time last week. It was on sale for 40% off (I think it was originally about $9 a yard). The dots on it are variegated in color and regularity, which I really like. The size of the bigger polka dots is about the size of a dime (sorry, it's hard to take a proper scale picture when you are taking the photos in the store). It's a fun lightweight silky fabric that would probably make a nice airy dress for the summer. It two big downfalls/reasons I didn't purchase it (besides being on a tight budget): 1. the white background. White backgrounds are hard for dresses for me, and the hand/feel of material wanted to be a dress, but the coloring on it wanted to be a skirt or a lining. It would make a great lining for a jacket. 2. It's 100%polyester. While that actually isn't really a deterrent for me personally, it would be for quite a few sewers I know. Mostly I can sit and admire this fabric for it lovely colors and uneven spacing, but don't feel the need to Make Anything out of it.