Made by a Fabricista: Diane's Border Print Wrap Dress

When I was little, I loved when my mom took me to the fabric store in the pink building (by the way, my kids have never "loved" going to the fabric store). I would go up and down the aisles with my hands outstretched so I could feel the fabrics. My love for fabrics started when I was very young and I admit, I can get nostalgic about fabrics.

My mom was a sewer and I remember many of the things she made, but one blouse in particular really impressed me. She took a design class at a local college when I was 7 or 8 years old and made a two color tunic with an ogee print at the neckline and on the cuffs. I thought she looked beautiful in it! When I saw this cotton print on Fabric Mart's website, it took me back to that blouse and I knew I had to have this fabric.

Border prints can be scary for sewers because we never know what to make with them aside from the typical dirndl skirt with the border at the hem. When I saw this black and magenta ogee print with hot pink floral border I knew I wouldn't use it as a border on a skirt, but I would put it on the neckline....just like my mom did.

I used new McCall’s pattern 7119, view C, a maxi wrap dress with short sleeves. I chose it in part because it has a neckband with a shape that would fit within the width of the border but also because a wrap dress is really comfortable.

It can be difficult to determine how much fabric is needed on a border print so a little extra is always a good idea. I ordered 4 yards and used all of the border print (down to 2”!) primarily because the waist ties are very long. However, I have plenty of black fabric left over to make another small project.

The dress went together quickly and the instructions were well written. I chopped the maxi length to a midi length because making the dress go all the way to the floor would've looked heavy. This pattern is a great choice for a beginning/intermediate sewist and certainly something I will make again.

This is my first dress of the season and I'm looking forward to making it again. Next time I'll make the sleeveless version because I know some hot weather is on the way.

Do you have any summer dress patterns on your cutting table? I'd love to know what you're making.

Happy Sewing!

Diane - Gatorbunnysews

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

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