Fabric Mart Fabricistas

My daughter lives in Chicago, about 3 hours away from me, and sewing for her long distance has been a challenge because I've really needed her to be present for fitting.  Of course, everyone dreams of finding a pattern that will fit perfectly right out of the envelope, but that becomes even more important when you are making something for someone when that person can't be there in person! In my quest to find such a pattern, I decided to try out Cashmerette patterns.   These patterns are designed for sizes 12-28 and have three cup size options for C/D, E/F, and G/H- one of the only companies that caters to larger sizes and includes variations for cup sizes!  I was very excited to see if this could be the "one" that I've been searching for! I started out with The Upton Dress - a fit and flare dress with neckline and skirt variations.  We decided to go with a black and white color scheme, and I had this fantastic graphic cotton print with big black and whit...

Hi! Hope all is well!  There use to be a time when I always made sure to have a few suits on hand for interviews, meetings, or work presentations.  Somewhere along the line I stopped buying suits and started wearing more "career separates".  In other words less matchy-matchy 2-piece suits, and more blazers that could be worn with any coordinating skirt or pair of pants.  I never cared for wearing my 2-piece suits as separates.  I felt that if you wore one item more than the other, then that item would appear faded compared to the other piece from getting washed or dry cleaned more often. Career separates allowed me to mix and match my wardrobe without that worry. Lately, I have become obsessed with menswear looks for women and matchy-matchy pant suits in prints and bright bold colors again.  When I saw this bold pink poly/lycra suiting, I figured it would be a good time to get going on making a few suits.  So let’s get into this month’...

Sewing just got a little cooler! I love wearing skirts in the summer time. To get ready for that, Fabric Mart will be hosting a Skirt Challenge throughout the month of May! Here's how it works: Post a photo of a skirt you made on Instagram  OR  Facebook using  #sewcoolskirts  and tag Fabric Mart in your post. Then each week in May, we will pick a winner at random to win a $50 gift certificate to Fabric Mart! There's also a few other prizes that will pop up, so watch for more details!  The skirt must be handmade but doesn't have to be made during the month. The photos tagged must be posted in the month of May. Sorry, no backdating or tagging an old post. We encourage newly made skirts because it's just more fun that way! (But not required.)  Winners of the $50 gift certificates will be announced on May 8, 15, 22 & 29. There will also be other prizes available and we will announce what they will be at a later time.  On top of that, we w...

It has happened to all of us a least once right? You see a pattern and you KNOW you have to make it, like ASAP! Well that is the feeling I had about this new Summer pattern from Vogue. As soon as I saw Vogue 1546 I knew I had to have this pattern as well as a few others (see my blog for my thoughts on the whole collection). The unique design of this dress really grabbed my attention. I love the halter neckline, the back cut out and the full pleated skirt... all of it! So while I originally had something else in mind for this months post I quickly ditched those plans to make this dress. from fabricmartfabrics.com The pattern calls for medium weight twill, poplin or linen, so I immediately thought to use Fabric Mart's amazing designer linen . I have used this linen before (see here ) and I knew it would be the perfect texture and weight. For that reason selecting the fabric was the easy part, the tricky part was deciding on a color! I mean, come on, there are 23 col...

HI Fashionistas: This month I made another mommy and me dress. I did a franken-pattern with the bodice of McCalls M7121 and the skirt of McCalls M7386. At first I wanted to make a maxi dress for myself, but as I got into the construction of the garment, I wanted to be able to wear just the maxi skirt, so I ended up making 2 pieces, that can give the illusion of a dress when worn together belted. This first look is quite summery. I plan on wearing it to our upcoming family trip. The fabric is a 4 way stretch knit that is 92% tactel Nylon Microfiber and 8 % lycra. This fabric comes in a couple different colors and can be found HERE . Look for the items from designer, JudyP Apparel. Or search JudyP Apparel in the search box on our website . Side view if I wore these as a 2 piece. I ended up putting in a facing on the skirt since I decided to keep it as a skirt instead of sewing it to the bodice: If I wear this as a one piece, I use the facing of the skirt as a waist ba...

Hey, guys!  I'm baaaaack!  And look at me, I am totally on trend with my sassy new cold shoulder top.  I have never put one of these sort of tops on my body ever in my life until I finished sewing this one, I had no clue if I'd even like it.  Surprise, I think I do?!   I used a pattern from BurdaStyle magazine-- it's 3/2017 #116.  I cut my usual size 42 to fit my shoulders, and of course no grading for a fuller hip on this flowy and roomy top.  I added 1" to the hem of the bodice to account for my slightly taller height at about 5'8".  The sleeves and bodice are very, very, very full and loose, perfect for stupid hot summer days to come.    I chose this double border rayon challis print.  I was so nervous I'd ruin everything with my pattern matching, so I ordered 3 yards.  Likely I only needed 2 1/4 at most considering I was able to take advantage of the fact it was a double border... each side was a mirror ...