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Made By A Fabricista: What to Wear?

What to wear? Do you ever find yourself standing in your closet asking yourself what to wear? Lately, I’ve been struggling due to my changing body and the changing seasons. I’m halfway through my second pregnancy, and it seems like most of my clothing just isn’t working for me. With Spring just beginning, it isn’t warm enough to wear most of the bump-friendly dresses I made during my last pregnancy. I’m no longer able to wear regular pants, and most tops are unflattering. So what do you do in this situation? If you are a seamstress, then you sew your way out of the “what to wear” hole. Since I have a couple of pairs of store-bought maternity pants, I figured my priority should be to make a couple of bump-friendly tops. After falling in love with two different rayon challis fabrics on the Fabric Mart website, I placed an order and started planning. With a lovely royal azure, white, and gray rayon watercolor floral-print challis , I would make an Ellie and Mac Patterns Shantelle Shirred ...
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Made By A Fabricista: Spring Has Sprung

It’s that time of year again! It’s spring time! That means it’s flower dresses for everyone! Yes, I needed three consecutive sentences that ended in exclamation points. Lol If you didn’t know, spring is my favorite time of year because it means my birthday is coming.  Last year I chose to make a dress for my birthday and I loved it. I probably should have made something for my birthday again this year, but this fabric was calling my name.  I wish there was more of this fabric so we could be fabric twins, but it’s sold out.  The fabric I chose for my make is a dark imperial blue floral print challis . Again, it’s sold out, but I bet if you wait a little bit the challis will go on sale.  I loved this fabric the minute I saw it because blue is my favorite color and I love a good floral print.  Also, it’s screaming springtime! This fabric washes and dries really well. I pulled it right out of the dryer and folded it right up until it was time to cut into it. I didn’...

Made By A Fabricista: Spring Into Bold Closet Core Mitchell Trousers in Linen Cotton

Hello Sewing Friends! It's Tira from Tira Cooks and I am so excited to share my very first Fabricista make with you all! When I spotted this white linen cotton blend with bold black and green printed illustrations I immediately knew it was the perfect way to welcome spring. The combination of linen and cotton keeps you cool during the day and comfortable as the evening cools down truly the ideal spring fabric. Can we take a moment to appreciate this print? Cheetah print, a sun face, long stripes, and flowers all in one design. Everything you would not expect to see together, but somehow it just works. What really drew me in is the scale of the print it is bold enough that you can see every single detail. Unexpected, maximalist, and done right. Before cutting into anything, we cannot skip fabric prep! Linen cotton blends must be pre-washed before cutting to prevent shrinkage. I also recommend serging or zigzagging raw edges immediately to control the heavy fraying that linen is...

Made By A Fabricista: Sewing for Comfort: Two Easy House Dresses for Knee Replacement Recovery

As I prepare for an upcoming total knee replacement, comfort has been on my mind quite a bit. Recovery will mean plenty of time resting, icing, and focusing on physical therapy, so I wanted to make sure I had garments that would be easy to wear while still helping me feel put together. Rather than relying solely on pajamas or lounge sets, I decided to sew a couple of comfortable house dresses using beautiful fabrics from Fabric Mart. Loose-fitting dresses are ideal for recovery because they are easy to pull on and off, have no restrictive waistbands, and allow for comfortable movement. They also feel a bit more polished than traditional loungewear, which is always nice when you’re spending time at home but may still have visitors stopping by. For this project I chose two different dress patterns and two lovely woven fabrics: a lightweight broadcloth and a soft rayon challis . Vintage Butterick 6161     The first dress I made was from Vintage Butterick 6161, a pattern tha...

Made By A Fabricista: All’s Well that Ends Well or The Story of My Romantic Two-Piece Dress

“All’s well that ends well” That phrase popped into my head (in my mother’s voice of course) as I sewed the last stitch on this two-piece dress.  Why, might you ask?  Because I made so many silly sewing mistakes along the way.  Hello Sewing Friends! It’s Sharon from Sharon Sews with my latest Fabricista make.  As I started to plan my next make, I knew I wanted something that would work for those early spring days in Texas that begin cold and gloomy but end warm and sunny. I decided to use a lightweight rayon crinkle challis, in a darker floral print, to sew Vogue 2127, as I fell in love with the pattern cover illustration.  I pictured myself wearing this romantic top paired with that flowing skirt catching the breeze just right as I ran through an overgrown meadow filled with flowers, butterflies and songbirds. However, any overgrown meadow where I live would likely be filled with baby snakes this time of year, not something I wish to encounter wearing a dress a...

Made By A Fabricista: Over the Rainbow

This time around I didn't have a specific cosplay in mind I wanted to make, but while doing my usual window shopping on the website, I found the perfect blue and white gingham shirting fabric and knew what I had to make! I wanted something a little extra with it, so I opted to get in addition to the gingham, this novelty weave suiting  in yellow and finally got to use one of the colorways of the large floral voiles  that reminded me of the poppies in Wizard of Oz, as well as the orange poppies in my home state of California. Since I was making this more for my wardrobe than a cosplay, I opted to make two pieces that could work independently or together. The poppy fabric got cut into three panels to be a knee length skirt for me, and since I was just pleating the width into a skirt, I had no excess to use for pockets, so for now this skirt has no pockets, but would be easy enough to add them at a later date since I was able to use the selvedge for the seams making this an easy...