Our First Blog Post! Welcome :O)

Fabric Mart is celebrating 35 years of business. We were in business when bellbottoms were popular and people danced the night away at Studio 54. We've been through the crazy 80s with acid washed denim, big hair and loose sweaters to our knees. And the 90s styles of plaid flannel shirts and penny loafers. The 21st century rolled around and we stayed up to pace with it! We launched our website while keeping in the fashions of preppy polos, peacoats and ponchos.

Fabric Mart Retail Store Front - Sinking Spring, PA

We've changed our business structure as much as fashion has changed. Robert Richin, owner of Fabric Mart, started the business in 1977 at a store front in Manheim, PA. Today we house thousands of different fabrics in our warehouse and retail store in Sinking Spring, PA, just 30 miles away from the original storefront. We've gone from being solely a retail store, seven franchises, back to one retail store with expansion on wholesale fabrics and developement of a retail website.

New Website Design Created in May 2012
www.fabricmartfabrics.com

All of this would not be possible without the 17 full and part-time employees we have today. Throughout this summer, you will get an inside look at Fabric Mart and how the business comes together because of its employees. Don't worry, we're going to be adding a lot of fun things (tutorials, tips and tricks, inspiration, etc.) in between the "history" so be sure to stop back often to see what's going on.

The blog is run by five women ages 20-45 all with various sewing skills--beginner sewers to intermediate seamstresses. We all have different positions at Fabric Mart, but share the same love of fabric. That's why we're calling ourselves the Fabric Mart Fabricnistas!

We hope you enjoy following our blog!

Made By A Fabricista: Why Sew A Muslin

Here it is, my September blog post featuring Newlook N6692 and this pretty rayon challis from Fabric Mart! This pattern style is so in right now. The square neckline, cute puff sleeves and the tiered skirt are all exactly what I was looking for in a summer dress. As always I started with making a muslin first! Let’s get into why it’s important to start with a muslin. A muslin is basically a practice garment. It prevents you from cutting into your good fabric prematurely. I usually use a muslin fabric (natural cotton) but you should also consider using a fabric that is the same weight as your fashion fabric. This will give you a truer gauge of how the garment is going to lay in the final fabric. Anytime I try out a new pattern company I make a muslin. This was my first time using a Newlook pattern so I need to know what the ease would be like for this pattern. Also I need to see how the bust would fit me and where I would need to make adjustments. Plus there were some new techniques

Made By A Fabricista: The Love of Sewing - Basic Pieces for a Beginner

Happy Friday All! It has been a while since I made myself a dress. I am excited to sew after not making anything since my last post (whew) and finally sharing some photos. This past summer has been a roller coaster journey with plans to release a small collection and then deciding that right before the launch to postpone. Sewing has brought me joy over the past 8 years and the mere fact to sew daily for orders had me in a panic mode. I really don’t want to walk away from my craft due to burn out and decided that if I do sew for others, it would be only for local clients. Moreover, If next year I decide to launch, it would be seasonal and not year round. I really want to share my talent and love for sewing with others but don’t want it to be a full time job and lose the passion in me. After a bit of soul searching, teaching and sharing my talent with my community will always be my first love. For the past 2 summers, I was blessed to partner with two nonprofit organizations’ local sum

Made By A Fabricista: End of Summer

Summer is nearing to an end but here where I am in Texas the heat isn’t letting up any time soon! I still have plenty of time to get a few more summer looks out of the way. In this blog I will be sharing two separate projects. The first project is this denim set; I had the inspiration saved on my list of makes to make. For this project I got this gorgeous denim and matching thread to start my project. Yes, Fabric Mart will match the thread to your fabric perfectly and with my favorite thread brand Gutermann. The denim had a very great weight and wasn’t too stiff. It was very starchy when it arrived, so I did a prewash before working with it. I’m so glad I did because it had a lot of dye saturated in which would not have been great for the skin and other clothes. For the first part of the set, I drafted a corset with the scallop edge cups, such a cute detail! To start I used my bodice sloper to make the corset, I was not worried about the design details and focused more on

Fabric Mart Fabricistas

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