Made by a Fabricista: Fall Travel Separates

For my September post, I wanted to make a mini travel wardrobe.  Something I could pack for a couple of days, take a jacket if necessary, and mix and match.  I think I succeeded!

I chose four fabrics and decided to create a skirt, pants, sweater, and top. I chose easy to make garments as I didn't want anything fussy or that would require a lot of pressing.  For me, fussy construction means lots of pressing later on.  Anyone else feel that way?

The Fabrics: 

The pant fabric is from the designer section of Fabric Mart.  This is fine Stretch Twill Suiting by Milly.  It's polyester and lycra and feels like you are wearing your favorite comfy pants!  

This fabric is machine washable and hang to dry.  I'm normally pretty rough on my fabrics and I threw this into the dryer.  It behaved beautifully!   Here's a link to the fabric: Milly suiting

The navy sweater, seen below, is made from another Milly fabric.  This one is an open weave sweater knit.  I wish you could see this and feel it.  It's pretty amazing!  I knew with this loose weave, I needed a simple design with few seams.  I cut my seam allowances 1" wide and stabilized the neckline and shoulders with SewkeysE woven stay tape in beige.  Have you ever used this stuff?  It's amazing!  

Fabric Mart sells this and I am a huge fan! For the lower hems and sleeves, I simply serged the edges.  That's it. Here's a link to the fabric I used.  Navy open weave lace

There wasn't a lot left as I wrote this post, so I am also including a link to all the other fun laces that FM carries!  Lace Fabrics

The navy crepe is another dreamy fabric that's reasonably priced.  I am so loving wearing and sewing navy this summer!  This again washed and dried beautifully and was a pleasure to sew!

Here's a link to the fabric: Navy Crepe  

Lastly, I picked up this single brushed knit.   Paisley knit   These brushed knits are just amazingly soft and so easy to use!  This one was running low, but here are some other choices: burgundy-soft-pink-green  cobalt-scarlet-black-mint  black-wine-goldenrod-white  With so many color options, you can surely find one you like!   

In case you are wondering, here are the patterns I used.  First, let's talk about the paisley top.

I love this super simple pattern that you can make numerous styles from.  

 I made the tie back option, without the ties!  Spend time fitting the patterns and you'll get garments you are eager to wear! This scoop back is just low enough to give you a fun look but not so low that you have to worry about it falling from your shoulders.  It also stays put.

Now....

How about these pants?  Here's the pattern I used from StyleArc. 

I so love StyleArc patterns.  This is the Fifi Woven Pant.  I love the simple style and the full leg.  With this fabric, they feel like pajamas!  

Next, how about the pattern I used for this beautiful navy loose weave knit?  

As I mentioned previously, I needed something very simple with few seams.  I thought this Jalie Dolman sleeved top was perfect. 

What also drew me to this was the fact that the ivory top is made from a weave similar to what I used.

This navy skirt!  I used this so pretty navy crepe that I am quite smitten about!  It sewed so beautifully and would you look at that drape? 

Here's the pattern.  

This is from StyleArc and is called the Sorrento Skirt.  The pattern suggests Crepe, so I knew I was making a good choice using this fabric.  Honestly, with this pattern and fabric, it took longer to hem both layers than to cut it out and sew the rest together.

So that's it.  A simple to wear travel wardrobe that feels great requires little ironing and I can mix and match.

Thanks for reading!

Sue

Ilove2sew!