Fabric Mart Fabricistas

Hello Sewing Friends!  It’s Sharon from Sharon Sews with another Fabricista make.  When I saw this linen blend designer fabric on the Fabric Mart Fabrics website, I was intrigued.  After all, I, like many of you, love to find designer fabrics at an affordable price. It is a linen/nylon/rayon/Lycra blend, and I wondered what the designer had created with the fabric as I wasn’t familiar with that combination of fibers.  Surprisingly, I discovered a sleeveless, lined, mid-length vest in the same color with an almost identical fabric composition. Perfect! I’ve been wanting to sew a longer vest with matching pants, and that discovery confirmed this fabric would work beautifully for the look I had in mind.  The vest I’m wearing, from the June 2026 Burda Style magazine, it is not what I was originally going to make.  You see when I found the designer’s vest, I remembered seeing a Butterick pattern that was almost identical.  I ordered the pattern excited to...

Sometimes a sewing project begins with a beautiful piece of fabric or a pattern you just have to make. This one began with my closet. Recently, I did a major closet purge. I took a good look at what I actually wear, what I kept reaching for, and—maybe more importantly—what was missing. Once the pieces I no longer loved or wore were gone, something became very clear: I want to be more intentional about what I sew next. Instead of sewing individual pieces that I love but don't necessarily wear together, I want to build a wardrobe where my handmade garments coordinate with the clothes I already own—and with the pieces I'm planning to sew next. For this month's Fabricista project, this beautiful lightweight shirting from Fabric Mart turned out to be a wonderful place to start. The Fabric That Started It All Fabric Mart provided this beautiful oatmeal and black heathered shirting , along with the matching thread for my project. One of the things I love most about this fabric is ...

I am continuing with my Home Clothes Project. The goal of this was to give me versatile pieces that I could easily wear for various events and occasions. Halfway through the project, I decided to keep the stiffened bodice and the skirt separate for maximum versatility in my historical wardrobe. Both patterns were pulled from the Modern Maker Vol2. This gave me a solid baseline to work from, and I've used these patterns before, so I knew I wouldn't have to fuss too much with the fitting.  The skirt is a basic A-line, with the most complicated bit being piecing the front and back panels together to get the fullness I wanted on the hem. I also took the time to face the skirt with cotton flannel to pad it out and provide the weight I like. This also provided maximum swish. And when wearing early Renaissance clothing, if your skirts don't swish, did you make them properly? The bodice was also fairly straightforward. It has been years since I put boning in the front of a bodice a...

Have you ever fallen in love with a fabric and immediately envisioned exactly what you wanted to make, only to realize halfway through the planning process that the fabric had other ideas? That’s exactly what happened with this project. I used Fabric Mart’s Black/Dark Cobalt/Smoky White Poly Foliage Print Chiffon , and while I initially had plans for a detailed dress, the fabric ultimately led me in a completely different direction—and I’m so glad it did. When I first saw this gorgeous chiffon print, I was immediately drawn to the rich color palette and beautiful movement. The dark background paired with the cobalt and smoky white foliage creates a striking look that feels both dramatic and versatile. My original plan was to make a dress with princess seams, buttons, and more structured design elements. However, after spending time with the fabric, I realized that all of those seam lines and construction details would compete with what makes this chiffon so beautiful: its drape, moveme...

I have been wanting a Hill House Home Nap Dress for the longest time, but when I saw the reviews that the fabric was too sheer and the price tag—often well over $200—I decided it would be much more fun to make my own! I found this gorgeous abstract navy and white cotton voile from Fabric Mart and knew it would be perfect for the light, floaty dupe I had in mind. Cotton voile is soft, lightweight, and beautifully suited for a shirred dress like the infamous Nap dress. This abstract print gives the finished dress a more modern feel. I love a floral fabric, but I was excited to find this abstract print in my favorite color of navy.  Rather than using an entire dress pattern, I followed Just Lauren Johnson’s YouTube tutorial on how to create a Nap Dress from rectangles. Lauren walks you through how to use your own measurements to calculate the dimensions of the bodice, skirt tiers, and other pieces. I loved this approach because I could create the dress specifically for my measurement...