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Made by a Fabricista: Army Green Linen


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 taking it one little baby step at a time. Well, she lost steam before this post needed to go up and was so relieved that I was working on a few things with the leftover fabric. She is so very close to finishing her jacket.  She just has to finish attaching the collar, the sleeves, and then the hem band! I cannot begin to tell you how proud I am of her and how she has stuck with such a detailed sewing project. She's off at a camp for a couple of days this Thanksgiving week, and then she said she's so excited to get back and finish up her Hampton Jean Jacket! I'll keep you posted when she finishes this project!



Here are the things that I sewed with her leftover fabric. I'll start with the shorts. These are the Lander Shorts, a pattern that I have sewn again and again. I love a high waisted shorts pattern and these fit the bill! I made one tiny little modification, making them a side zip pattern, eliminating the front button fly. I like this change, however, I think this fabric is just a little too lightweight for shorts.




The next thing, and I am in love with this one, is the Calvin Wrap Top. This fabric matches so perfectly with this pattern! This is another True Bias pattern, and as always, it is so, so good! I have made this wrap top once before and noticed I needed to make a few changes. Kelli's patterns are designed for a C cup and I am an A cup. A small bust adjustment was very easy to make, and really helps the fit of this top look so much better!





The Calvin Wrap Top is a true wrap, with a small little buttonhole on the side that the ties slide through. There's a small snap that's hidden in the middle to help everything stay put securely without any worry of things coming unwrapped! 



There are bra slides that attach the straps, which are just bias binding. One of the greatest things about this pattern is that it uses such little fabric. Just a yard is all you need, making it a perfect project to use up all of your sewing leftovers!

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving and I cannot wait to update you on my daughter's linen jacket progress!

Here's a quick recap of all the materials I used in these projects!

Jacket pattern: Hampton Jean Jacket
Shorts pattern: Lander Pants
Tank pattern: Calvin Wrap Dress

P.S. I'm also wearing a pair of Lander Pants (the jeans paired with the Calvin Top) and an Archer shirt (paired with the Lander shorts) all made with Fabric Mart fabrics (click on the links to see the Fabricista blog posts about these two makes)!  Thanks Fabric Mart!

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