Skip to main content

Made By A Fabricista: Silky Prints for a Tropical Vacation


Hello again!  I want to share with you my latest project using silky prints. My family had been planning to go to the Virgin Islands for a vacation. For this trip I wanted loose-fitting outfits.


When the summer Vogue patterns were released, I fell in love with the vintage Vogue V1886 caftan. It is ankle length and the sleeves fell elegantly to the hemline, hitting the arm slightly above the elbows. It has a scooped back, which would make it comfortable in hot weather. There are side panels, but no seams. I could wear this relaxing under an umbrella during the day or for an evening stroll to enjoy the breeze on the beach.


FM’s polyester lightweight charmeuse silky prints caught my eye. Even though I swore I would never again sew slippery fabrics, the coastal mountain print on the fabric (SKU UQA7666r) was hard to resist.  The moonstone blue/berry pink/medium blue/taupe were cool relaxing colors.

While looking at the first fabric, I saw another silky print (SKU UQA7667r) that was hard to pass. The lapis blue/cream/red salsa/lemon medallion palm print was bold and the colors give a carefree retro vibe.  They would look good against solid garment pieces.  I decided this would be the right fabric for Vogue V1706, whose asymmetric overlay on the bias would tone down the circles and its wide legs would show off the softness of the fabric.


I prewashed the fabrics.  As expected, they would slip off the cutting table and the ironing board even with pattern weights.  They frayed much, too.  I used almost a can of spray starch to stiffen them so I could control their movement.

I cut a medium size for the caftan and used French seam to minimize the fray. Still, threads would peek through the seams.  I meticulously snipped them off. The sleeves were finished with narrow hem and the hemline were hemmed by hand. The pattern itself had 4 main pieces and was very easy to sew. Modifications: I omitted the buttonholes in the front to avoid disturbing the print. I also omitted the dart on each side panel; they were not necessary. I used a storebought bias binding to finish the front and back neckline.


The V1706 top and pants were also easy to sew.  I cut size 14 for the top and size 16 for the pants.  Because this fabric was a smidge thicker than the other one, serging the seams instead of employing French seam was enough to control the fray.  Machine blind hem stitch finished the pants’ hem. Modification: I omitted the top’s back zipper because the neckline was wide enough for my head. I increased the armhole size.


Dare I say my outfits are unique! Lightweight charmeuse silky prints are not the easiest to sew, but the drape is awesome.  My vacation feels luxurious already.


Til next time,

MARY ANN  @anasewperfect

Unfortunately Fabric Mart Fabrics sell out quickly!
You can find similar fabrics by shopping the following categories DESIGNER SILKY PRINTS & CHARMEUSE.

Comments

  1. Happy to see these fabrics made up. I loved both of them when I first saw them, and hoped they would immediately disappear! They are very tempting, but I have no place to wear them, and an island vacation is the perfect place. Your pattern choice for the second fabric is IDEAL. So well done, especially considering the challenges of working with silk charmeuse.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your vacation pieces are amazing. You will look so stylish and beautiful on the beach or enjoying the sites. Have a wonderful time.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your Caftan is fabulous and I also like your palazzo pants. Enjoy your vacation in style!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Everything you have made is just gorgeous. Enjoy your trip.

    ReplyDelete
  5. They are all beautiful and look very comfortable.

    ReplyDelete
  6. You look lovely and exotic!!

    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: 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