Fabric Mart Fabricistas

Just like that, the end of May is here!  How did the first five months of 2021 go by so quickly?  This time of year is the busiest for me, as I spend all of my free time in Spring setting up my garden so I can enjoy it all summer long. Summertime is also peak time for travel, but this year travel time will still be limited. So I’m trying to create a very laid back, carefree energy at home this year so we can enjoy and relax as much as possible-a total bohemian summer. My plan is that our summer will be filled with as much time outside as possible, eating al fresco, picnicking, painting and drawing and even napping in the garden! We will have a totally Bohemian Summer!  Summers can be hot here and the only thing I really ever want to wear when the heat of summer sets in is a dress. A cool, breezy and airy dress, usually long and flowy, helps to keep me cool but still feeling dressed. So for my May Fabric Mart Fabricista make, I knew I wanted to make a maxi dress.  As ...

After a year in yoga pants and sweatshirts all I want to sew are dresses. Big, over the top, wonderfully floaty dresses. I loved this fruity chiffon border print from the moment I saw it and knew it had to become one such dress. Much like florals, I absolutely adore fruit prints on fabric, so to find a fabric with both was a real treat. Chiffon is one of those fabrics a lot of sewists seem to be afraid of, and I don't blame them, it can be very tricky to work with. However, I strongly believe in doing difficult things, because the end is so worth it and you have the chance to learn new things along the way. I've only sewn with chiffon a couple times before so I decided to go with a pattern that didn't have any tricky closures and or require a lot of careful fitting. I ended up settling on Simplicity 8872, view A – a maxi length pullover dress with a tiered skirt and cap sleeves. I started with a small bust adjustment (SBA). I do this with nearly every pattern because I tend...

Hi there Sewists!!  Let me talk to you about this summer skirt.  Warm summer nights are just around the corner and this fabric is perfect for a wrap skirt. This fabric drapes very nicely and the color is this beautiful vibrant green with small white flowers. This fabric is a Polyester Crepe Blouse Weight Woven .  I decided to do French seams. If you don’t know how to do a French seam it’s easy! This is what I did:  Sew 1/4” seam allowance WRONG SIDES TOGETHER , then, Sew 3/8” seam allowance RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER. (See pictures down below) The sewing patter I used was Simplicity 8606 View B. No alterations made. This pattern is pretty straight forward. For view B there are a total of 8 pattern pieces. Making the flounce was a little challenging for me because they are pretty big pattern pieces. I don't have a big enough table to cut it all at once. I had to cut in on my floor by sections with my cutting mat underneath.  For cutting, I recommend using a rotary cutt...

May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in the United States. For this post, I wanted to create an outfit to celebrate my Filipinx-American culture. The Filipino flag consists of four primary colors: blue, red, white, and yellow. The first Filipino flag was actually sewn in Hong Kong by Marcela Agoncillo, a Filipino seamstress, while in exile during the 1896 revolution against Spanish colonizers.  It was brought back to the Philippines and first displayed in 1898, the year the Philippines won independence from Spain. My initial plan was just to make a lovely, non-themed dress. However, when the Atlanta spa shootings happened in March, I experienced an extreme emotional upheaval. All of the aggressions and microaggressions I experienced as a Filipinx woman growing up in the states came flooding back in a mass of anguish and collective grief, as the Asian-American community mourned the death of these women. I, like many in the Asian-American community, had been watching incident...

Hello Everyone, I am so excited to share my first summer dress and it had to be in yellow (my favorite color). The Fabric. I selected a bumble yellow silk/cotton blend fabric. The fabric sews beautifully but one thing to note is that it frays easily so make sure your serger is on standby. It’s also “dry clean” only and I prepped the fabric by using steam to pre-shrink it. The Pattern. I selected the newest pattern called Davenport from Friday Pattern Company. Davenport is a casual dress that features full sleeves with an elastic ruffle hem, shoulder flutter detail, and gathered neckline with elastic. It also has a drawstring waist and no closures. I made a size medium with no modifications. It’s a pretty simple dress to make and I love all the style details added to the pattern.  The Sewing Process. The process of making this dress was pretty straightforward to me, I didn’t even follow the pattern instructions. Instead, I used the sewalong tutorial posted on YouTube and followed i...

I’ve been thinking a lot about waste and sustainability lately. As a cosplayer, I often create costumes for events and only wear them a few times before moving on to my next project. For this month’s Fabricista project, I wanted to create something simple that could be used for multiple cosplay looks or as regular clothing.  I chose a beautiful cherry blossom pink 100% silk shantung shirting for my fabric this time around. It’s light and airy, and perfect for a breezy ‘goddess’ inspired maxi.  Check out the video below to see how I made my piece! I created my pattern using an oversized shirt that I had in my stash and using measuring tape to plan out the length of the dress and sleeves. I used some spare newspaper to draft out my pattern pieces, and cut them out of the silk.  I first finished off the side seams on my serger, and then stitched together the sides of the dress pieces and the sleeves. Then I created a channel for the elastic at the wrists by folding over app...

Sometimes you get to choose the time period of your project and sometimes it chooses you.  When I saw the trend among my fellow Costuming YouTubers of doing historically inspired Disney costumes I lept at the chance. I've had this idea for a Belle dress floating around in my head for a few months now and was excited to bring it to life.  This Rococo/Marie Antoinette dress knew what it wanted to be, but I didn't want to put forth the effort to make an entirely new set of foundation garments for just one outfit. So, I took the historically inspired route. Shortening the hem, using modern seam lines and completely neglecting to pad out the hips in the fashionable shape of the time were just some of the conscious design choices I made.  I hope you all love this dress as much as I do. MARTY   |  @ scrapsandsequins Unfortunately Fabric Mart Fabrics sell out quickly! You can find similar fabrics by shopping the following categories: SATIN & SHANTUNG

YouTuber Vivmom Sews shares with us her most recent Fabricista Make in today's blog post. She sewed up Simplicity 8951 in a beautiful brushed hacci sweater knit. Make sure to click play to hear all about her make. And maybe click on over & leave her a little Fabric Mart Family love!  VIV    |   vivmomsews Unfortunately Fabric Mart Fabrics sell out quickly! You can find similar fabrics by shopping the following category:  SWEATER KNITS .

Hello everyone! I am so excited to be back for my second blog !!! Every Mother’s Day I treat myself to a new dress (ok… shoes, too!) and my husband treats me to brunch.  For inspiration this year, I watched several runway shows online.  I liked the comfortable laid-back look, but not the Little House on the Prairie or tiered styles.  I was attracted to the floaty, loose fitting maxi-length tent dresses with big sleeves; they reminded me of the 1980s.  The silk dresses I liked cost thousands; the discounted ones were priced over $500. No way was I going to pay that much for a dress, especially when I can sew it for less!  Besides, the colors were not for me. I decided to make a similar dress; Vogue V1699 maxi was the right silhouette.  I searched the Fabric Mart website for several days until one day, THE fabric came at me - a silk and lycra stretch Charmeuse in geometric print of black, white, and pale yellow!  The colors were energizing, bright, and h...