Fabric Mart Fabricistas

As 2014 comes to a close, I like to think about all of the things that have happened over the course of a year in both my personal and professional life.  In my professional life, I am excited to see another year in the record books. I did a lot of traveling this year seeing some of our wonderful wholesale customers. I went to NYC, Austin, Portland, OR, Seattle, San Francisco, Miami and a few smaller areas. It give me a rewarding feeling know that they were successful trips and it helped shape and grow. I'm also thankful to have enough going on that I needed to hire an assistant.  In my personal life, I worked on making things simpler in my life. While I haven't made a ton of progress, I've come to understand what is important and what can be put aside for another day. It's baby steps... As for the blog, I took over as the main moderator of this blog in the beginning of 2014. Already being busy, I knew I needed some help! So after some sew-alongs and challen...

Silk charmeuse.  Aahhhh.  Just the thought of it brings me bliss.  Is there anything as light as a feather, shimmery as a star, and fluid as a mountain stream?  All wrapped up in one glorious fabric. Sometimes I look at the prices of clothes in the stores, and wonder "Why am I sewing?” But one touch of silk charmeuse and I remember. This is the stuff that you can't buy a top made from silk for less than $200, but you can make it for $50 or less. When I saw this stylized animal print silk charmeuse at Fabric Mart, I grabbed up 3 yards of it right away. One of silk charmeuse's best qualities is its drapability, and I'd been looking for a fabric with fabulous drape to make a crossover draped front blouse pattern from Style Arc- the Dotty Blouse. Dotty is really designed for a fabric that looks the same on both sides, as the pattern piece for the front is just one piece that flips at the hem.  Since my fabric is different on the reverse, I decided to ...

Although the mention of Frankenstein conjures up scary images of Igor and bad posture, Franken-patterns are quite different. Sewists have coined the term to describe combining more than one sewing pattern until a new look materializes. Ahhh, the joy of creating something new and unique. “It’s Alive!” It’s time for a winter dress and I’ve been drooling over this fabric  for quite some time, both because I love the print and because a double crepe can be difficult to find.  It has a pebble like texture, beautiful drape and “mechanical” stretch, meaning that although it is a woven fabric without lycra, it still has a slight crosswise give.  The stretch makes this fabric easy to sew and even more comfortable to wear. The print is sophisticated but still really fun and lends itself to a simple style. The skater dress silhouette is quite popular right now and I thought a modified version would be perfect.  There are plenty of skater dres...

I kept seeing all these amazing suiting fabrics pop up over at the Fabric Mart site and I definitely knew that one of my makes for the Fabric Mart blog HAD to include these fabric, so I let them know that I would love to create Vogue 8910 (a gorgeous blazer made entirely with bias cut fabric ) from a very pretty oyster colored striped stretch wool suiting.  I had visions of making the shorter version, view A, to look a lot like the version that Vogue made up in the longer length.  I loved the minimalist styling of the jacket and the cool chevron effect the stripes made with the bias cut pieces. I just knew that I had to make it up shorter so it could as easily work with skirts and dresses as it could work with jeans and trousers.  (I don't care for the look of longer jackets with skirts and dresses.) Before I started, I did my usual hunting on the internet for information on the pattern so I could learn more about how to create it for myself, and I hit a goldmi...

Hello Sew Family! For my first official post with Fabric Mart, I wanted to share with you my Denim Frenzy outfit. There is nothing more timeless than denim. With multiple styles, colors and weight, denim provides endless possibilities to your wardrobe! The denim used for this outfit is sold out now, but HERE are some other denims available.   I used about 3.5 yards and am in love with the weight of this denim as well as the color. It sews like a dream and can be worn in both warm and cold weather. My shirt was constructed using Simplicity Pattern 2255 . This garment was very easy to construct and from start to finish took my just under 2 hours.  I often have issues finding a denim shirt that fits me correctly.  This was my first attempt at creating my own and I will do so moving forward! I cut this pattern according to my bust size and used 5/8" buttons. No adjustments were made, but I think I will slim the sleeves on my next shirt. ...

Every December I want to sew up at least one dress I can wear to holiday escapades and even wear in those official annual family photos with the official fancy photographer.  I assumed it was going to be red this year but this decadent green cashmere/viscose knit (sold out now) grabbed my eyeballs immediately while shopping Fabric Mart's site. It's a drapey, super soft knit that moves like a dream.  The inspiration for my dress was drawn from two gorgeous dresses, one from Pucci and another from Issa (the blue version of this dress was made wildy famous by the Duchess of Cambridge as her engagement dress.) Viscose is simply another term for rayon, and I've sewn up innumerable rayon knits before, but this one made me very nervous since it was labeled "dry clean" AND it's a cashmere knit-- this is the unicorn of fabrics and it's not easy to purchase yardage otherwise.  But still I decided to pre-treat my fabric at home after doing a swatch te...