Made by a Fabricista: Jungle fun!

Animal prints are e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e! So much so, that my hubby noticed and commented. :) Not one to try and be left out, I drooled over this cute print!

It appears to be sold out, so here are some fun choices! Animal prints

I have been wearing so many light layers lately since the weather can't decide what it wants to do this time of year. I knew I wanted a cardigan and to make a sort of 'modern' twin set sort of look, I grabbed enough to make a top I could wear underneath or by itself.

I love how textured this knit is!

Let me show you, and tell you what I did to accommodate a textured knit fabric.

Here is a photo of the back. You can see what the back looks like to imagine what the texture looks like on the front.

Don't let ridges scare you! They are easy to sew. Here's what I did.

Use a lot of pins or clips. Personally, I love the clips. They fasten easily and unclip easily.

Sew a few inches, lift the presser foot, and repeat. Sometimes the fabric behaves better when it gets a short breather. Try it, once you see what happens prior to lifting the presser foot and afterwards; it is pretty telling. :)

This pattern also required a knit band finishing at the back neckline. Instead of fiddling with the same knit for the top, I used a lightweight black poly-lycra blend for that. This was to ensure it did not get too bulky. I do think this was the right choice.

For the sleeve and lower hem, I used SewkeysE hem tape. FM sells it and it is worth it's weight in gold!

If you are interested, here is a link to the top pattern: Sinclair Macy Top

Here's a photo of the cardigan again with a purchased tee. This fabric is just lovely!

Here is a link to the cardi pattern I used. The cardigan is FREE! Harper Cardigan--FREE!

Thanks for reading!

Sue

Ilove2sew!

Comments

Made by a Fabricista: What to Make with Silk Taffeta

You may have noticed that Fabric Mart has a *HUGE* selection of silk taffeta right now. A lot of it is either large plaid or large stripes. I was curious about it, and not really sure what I could make with it, but I just knew it would be gorgeous fabric and had to play around with it. Turns out, it's actually great for quite a range of projects! The dress above is my third project. Let me show you the first two. My first was to make some queen size pillow shams. They are the plaid ones in the back of the photo. I also made the two printed ones in the center from another Fabric Mart home dec fabric special! I wanted to make the covers removable with a zipper, and include a braided trim. As luck would have it, I found a whole card of braided trim at an estate sale that worked with my taffeta for just $2! To start, I used a zipper foot to stitch down the braided trim all around one side of the pillow. Then I serged ...

Made By A Fabricista: Mechanic Chic!

When it comes to buying ready-to-wear garments as a sewist, I only ever spend in three categories: heavy duty winter jackets (life in Maine!), bras… and jumpsuits! I love a good jumpsuit, but unfortunately the ones I used to buy have been impacted by the tariff situation and I can’t get them affordably anymore. This can only mean one thing, folks: it’s time to roll up my sleeves and sew my very first jumpsuit! When I started planning for this project, I knew I wanted to use a heavyweight linen for cozy comfort in the fall and breathability in the summer. I wanted something that would wear beautifully and soften with age, and something with neutral tones that could go with everything. Naturally, when I came across this 100% linen canvas on Fabric Mart, my heart skipped a beat! I love the ikat-inspired geometry and something about it reminds me of leopard spots too. Bold yet wearable! I am pretty sure this fabric was intended for home decor which I don’t mind at all and in fact of...

Made By A Fabricista: Tried and true summer basics that fit.

Happy Summer Friends! As I am writing this, we are headed into a nasty heat wave…so the timing could not be better to share two of my favorite summer patterns and fabrics. But first, let me tell you about the fail I had heading into this month’s blog… As Fabricista’s, we get to pick out fabric for each of our blog submissions. I fell in love with this gorgeous lilac jacquard knit that I thought would be perfect for a pop of color in my summer wardrobe. But I made a fatal error - I grabbed a pattern I haven’t made for years, quickly went up one size to account for a few new pounds, and sewed them up. And they don’t fit, will NEVER fit, and will never be worn. Sigh…when will I learn?? Here’s a flat lay pic so we can at least look at the lovely fabric: The lesson I learned (relearned!) is that just like with off the rack clothes, the things that worked well for me years ago don’t work well for me today. And that’s the case with both tops and bottoms. So I went back to two patt...

A Yard And Change

Do you have a fabric that you love and has been hanging around but is too small to use? Maybe you found a wonderful fabric with a super cute print but there's only a yard left. I've got a few projects I worked on all with roughly a yard of fabric. And I have a few tips for making that yard and change go further! Cutting Layout: You can get a lot more mileage out of a yard of fabric if you can get creative with how you lay out your fabric. Cutting things single layer will give you the most control. My favorite thing to do is unfold the fabric and fold the selvages in to meet in the middle. That gives me two folded edges to work with. I had to overlap these to get enough width for the tank top. Just make sure that your pattern pieces don't also overlap! This one was especially fun for me because I really loved the print on this swimwear knit but am not yet up to sewing swimwear. But a nice flowy hiking tank is perfect for this! In the future I'd love to experiment with...

Fabric Mart Fabricistas

Search This Blog