Fabric Mart Fabricistas

I had been thinking about making some new turtleneck sweaters, when I saw the Talvikki Sweater pattern in the Fabric Mart's Indie pattern section.  It had some really interesting shaping darts at the neckline, and I liked how boxy it was.   So, I decided that it would be a fun take on a turtleneck and gave it a try- actually three tries! The pattern has been discontinued on the Fabric Mart site, but you can get it directly from the Named website .   It doesn't require a knit with a lot of stretch, so I used two different ponte knits and sweatshirt fleece for my versions.  I styled all of my Talvikki sweaters with wool coats that I've made over the years with wool bought from Fabric Mart.  If you've been a customer for a number of years like me, perhaps you will recognize some of the fabrics! Even though these particular wools aren't available now, hopefully they will give you some inspiration for your own coat ideas. This first sweater was...

  As soon as the temperatures start to drop all I want to wear is something warm and snuggly.  I also love comfortable layers that can be dressed down or paired with a cute skirt to dress them up.  My wardrobe was just begging for a few tops that checked all these boxes, so I got to work! I had my heart set on some new versatile and comfy sweaters and these three are a success! The first is the Grainline Linden sewed up in a really nice quality ponte.  Its sold out but there are some great choices still on the site, especially a couple of really beautiful Ralph Lauren pieces.  This sweater has been really versatile and I've worn it layered over a button down and paired with jeans.  The Grainline Linden is a super straightforward pattern and I have used it many times creating basics that I wear on repeat.  I sewed the Linden up entirely on my serger.  If you don't have a serger you can make this on a regular machine with a zig zag...

Hey all!  Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Now that the turkey and pumpkin pie have been consumed, it's time for Christmas cookies, latkes and holiday parties of all sorts! But, what to wear?  Maybe something from the Sequins & Sparkles section! That's where I found this Betsy & Adam sequinned stretch velvet, which is unfortunately now sold out, but you can find similarly adorned gorgeous textile goodies here . This is Butterick 6415 .  I'd originally planned for a knit dress with this fabric, but it turned out that this stretch velvet knit wasn't quite as stretchy as originally indicated.  I wasn't too surprised, since it's completely sequin encrusted; how COULD it stretch more than 10-20%? And so onto this Plan B: this Butterick, which is intended for woven fabrics.  The plus of using a highly stable knit fabric with a woven pattern is you have just a little more give and fitting doesn't have to be quite as precise. Le...

Happy Thanksgiving week! Today's fabricista post is loaded with a whole army of green linen clothes...every pun intended! This sewing blog post started with my daughter who wanted an army green linen jacket! I bought one for myself a couple months back and she absolutely loves that jacket! I told her I could buy one for her, and she asked if instead, she could try and sew one for herself! Of course, of course, of course! My mama heart was proud and my maker heart was so excited! I hopped onto the Fabric Mart website and searched for the word army. This linen/rayon/spandex army green fabric popped up and I knew it would be perfect. Since it was listed "as is" I ordered a bit extra to make sure we could work around the slight imperfections. I washed it up, and just found a few spots we needed to work around!  My sweet girl (who is 15) found the pattern she wanted to use, the Hampton Jean Jacket . She printed, taped, and cut out the pattern, all tak...

“To overcome fear, here’s all you have to do: realize the fear is there, and do the action you fear anyway.”  - Peter McWilliams Happy Monday All, I am so happy I finally made a fully lined garment.  One of my sewing goals for 2019, is to create a lined jacket.  I kept procrastinating for the past few months due to fear.  I literally made every single excuse in the book not to tackle the project and even rescheduled my November post.  I then realized fear was holding me back and all I needed to go was give it a try. The fabric I chose f or the project is a beautiful crimson red jacquard metallic fabric  here  which has a raised pattern design and would work for the basic jacket pattern I had in mind.   I honestly did not do my research prior and realized that this particular fabric had to be lined even if I decided not to create a jacket based on the fabric texture.  I did not want to feel defeated and went straigh...