Fabric Mart Fabricistas

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...

The temps in the south have finally cooled down and I have began to sew some fall/winter items like this cape! I love capes and find them great for chilly weather that don't quite call for a coat. McCalls 7477 has been on my "to sew" list for years and I'm so glad I finally whipped it up. The pattern itself is a quick and straightforward sew and this wool really sewed up nicely. I chose this 100% wool suiting mainly because I loved the checkerboard weave. Additionally it was a listed as a medium weight which was perfect for this cape as it was heavy enough to create some warmth yet still light enough to have some drape. There are still a few yards left so grab yours quickly! here   If you love the checkerboard weave also see this heavier  coating . I also love this houndstooth suiting . Or just check out ALL the suitings as there are several great options. The only issue you may have with this fabric is fraying due to the loose weave, to prevent this I ...