Skip to main content

Made by a Fabricista: Experimenting with Percale

Image
By
Don't know about you, but this time of year, I like to start thinking about sewing some garments for fall.  I love the colors of fall, the browns, oranges, greens, and purples.


I found this brown, floral percale on Fabric Mart's site and wanted to try it for a garment. There are lots of choices on their site, which you can see here: Percale/Sheeting




This fabric has a very crisp hand, perfect for a pair of cropped pants.  Back in my day, these were called gauchos.  Anyone else remember that phase?  Here is the pattern I used, if you are interested! 
Simplicity 8175


This fabric was a great choice for this pant as it holds its shape, is crisp, and is comfortable.


I only made a few modifications, the most noticeable was to lengthen the tie.


Let's talk about my bright green top for a moment.  This is some of FM's linen, this is the avocado green.  I had just enough left in my stash from a previous project to make a fun top to go with these wild, floral pants.


I modified this pattern, by leaving off the flange of the sleeve.  Simplicity 8642


I love how these fabrics go together!




I hope you are all enjoying summer and creating some great makes!
Thanks for reading!
Sue


Comments

  1. Carolyn (Diary of a Sewing Fanatic)August 11, 2018 at 5:52 PM

    These are cute and I was wondering how those percale fabrics at Fabric Mart sewed up! And yes, I remember the term gauchos!

    ReplyDelete
  2. marjenannAugust 11, 2018 at 5:56 PM

    Wow! Another outstanding outfit! Fabulous!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ann BrodskyAugust 12, 2018 at 12:27 PM

    Great color combination! Love your shoes and accessories too!

    ReplyDelete
  4. EileensewsAugust 12, 2018 at 9:25 PM

    Love the top! Never even thought of leaving the ruffley thing off.
    I remember wearing gauchos !

    ReplyDelete
  5. Pat GottshalkAugust 13, 2018 at 4:34 PM

    Thanks for showing the percale. I have been looking at the beautiful percale prints in the FM website.

    ReplyDelete
  6. rylee787August 29, 2018 at 10:20 AM

    I actually had 2 of those picked out to sew up some tunics, but was worried and scared off by the fabric. Would this be a good choice for early fall? I am new at fabric choise and always worried I am going to waste my money since I can't feal it in person. Super cute pants by the way...

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for leaving a comment! All comments are reviewed before posting to help us eliminate spam. Your comment will be posted within 24 hours.

Popular Posts You Might Like

Made By A Fabricista: Three Bengaline Basics – A Jacket, Skirt and Vest

By
Hello Sewing Friends! It’s Sharon from Sharon Sews excited to share my latest Fabricista makes with you.  When Fabric Mart offered an array of stretch bengaline suiting fabrics , I choose three different fabrics to sew myself a few basics to be worn as the season transitions from winter to spring. The bengaline fabric I used is a woven rayon/nylon/lycra blend fabric with the stretch running vertically (lengthwise on the fabric) instead of horizontally (selvage to selvage).  It lends itself well to fitted and structured garments, such as jackets, pants, skirts and dresses. Because of the vertical stretch, I folded the fabric cross grain to cut out my fabric pieces so the greatest stretch would go around my body.   I used a stretch needle size 75/11 due to the lycra in the fabric. I also eliminated the interfacing as I discovered this fabric did not like fusible interfacing and I did not have any sew-in interfacing on hand.   Now let’s talk about the garments...
6 comments
Continue Reading »

Made By A Fabricista: FROM FABRIC TO FASHION: - The Saguaro Set with Fabric Mart Fabric

By
The weather in Southwest Florida is finally starting to warm up.  With the warm air and bright sunshine, I have been thinking about refreshing my “at home” wardrobe with some fun easy pieces this year.     I have wanted to make The Saguaro Set for some time now.   When I saw the beautiful selection of rayon challis on the Fabric Mart website, I knew now was the perfect time to get it started.   THE FABRIC I researched a lot to see which fabric would work the best for this pattern.   I chose the Deep Amaranth Pink 100% Rayon Twill Challis for my project.    It is a beautiful color that to me looks more coral. The fabric is light to medium weight and has beautiful drape.  The care instructions said gentle wash or hand wash.   I prewashed the fabric in cold water on the delicate cycle.  However, after drying it on the delicate cycle, the fabric had an almost vintage distressed look.   I was a bit co...
15 comments
Continue Reading »

Made By A Fabricista: Revisiting a Pattern After Five Years

By
Have you ever used a sewing pattern and then immediately vowed never to sew it again? Well, I have. It all began in the spring of 2020 at the start of the pandemic lockdown. I tackled sewing projects that were more challenging to help me grow as a seamstress. There was one pattern in particular that almost did me in, the Seamwork Penny shirt dress. The Penny dress pattern has a classic button-up dress shirt style bodice with a gathered skirt and pockets. It is a beautiful take on a shirt dress, and my sister and I loved it. The only downside is that it was recommended for intermediate-level sewists and I was only an adventurous beginner back then.  I think I had only ever made one button-up shirt before attempting this Penny Dress and it didn’t even have a collar! Despite all of this, I thought “Why not try it, what’s the worst that can happen?”  Thankfully the worst didn’t happen, and the dress turned out surprisingly wearable, but I had some intense frustration at the end. I...
8 comments
Continue Reading »