Fabric Mart Fabricistas

Hello Sewing Friends! I’m excited to be back on the Fabricista Blog to share my latest projects with you all. I’m on a mission to unfrump my pajama collection and here are two sets to get me started on the journey.  Now, I have some nice pjs but they are clearly pjs. They aren’t something that I can pop on a meeting wearing or leave the house wearing. I want to add some pjs to my sleepwear wardrobe that really sort of look like clothes. So they needed to be comfortable enough to sleep in but be pretty about and have style features that weren’t typical of pjs.  I pulled two patterns from my collection. And as you can see, they are not pj patterns but are clothing patterns.  I selected knit fabrics from Fabric Mart Fabrics that would be soft and comfortable to sleep in.  The red solid fabric is a sweater knit that I would wear outside for sure. The floral knit is one that I love as it’s pretty and bold.  I was able to cut three pieces from the red floral: pants, a...

Hello everyone and Happy Holidays!! This month for my Fabricista makes, I wanted to sew something like a capsule wardrobe but just for the holidays. I took two yards of ruby red heathered sweater knit and three yards of plaid rayon shirting and turned them into the holiday mix-and-match outfit of my dreams. I started with a sweater made with Simplicity 8982. I made view B, but added a cuff to the sleeve. This is a lovely simple sweater pattern that is great on it's own but loose enough to layer. This sweater knit is the softest, coziest fabric and I cannot recommend it highly enough. It's light weight but plenty warm enough for winter. From the rayon shirting I made a plaid blouse from a 1968 Simplicity pattern (no. 8399). This seems to have been a fairly popular pattern at the time as it is widely available. It's a pretty basic top with a one piece collar. I like the clean lines and the easy construction of it. Also, the envelope illustrations are just delightful. Finally ...

This time around, I used the Fabric Mart website filters to help me sort through types of fabric by content. I knew I wanted to make with knits because we are well into autumn around these parts, so I went to the “Knits” category and narrowed it down by content. I selected 100% cotton, rayon, viscose, wool, and their blends, as these are known to be more eco-friendly at the end of their lives--but it’s important to note that looking only at end of life is not looking at the full picture of sustainability. I also encourage you to look into how various fabric types are produced as you make your fabric decisions. I settled on rayon blends in two kinds of fabric for this post, that are so different, but both feel so sumptuous and comfortable. I also shopped Fabric Mart’s indie paper pattern offerings for this post. They stock several indie designers, and I chose Sew Over It London’s Heather Dress for this first make. A big reason why I chose Sew Over It is because their 18-30 Size Range i...

Hello Everyone, Today’s post is all about my new fall/winter layering piece: a poncho with tasseled hem. The Fabric. I selected a heavy weight wool/polyester chunky knit sweater. The fabric is a plaid print with colors perfect for the winter season. It has a one way stretch and nappy textured. The Pattern. I used McCalls 8241 for this project. It is a knit poncho with wide sleeve bands and options for turtleneck, crewneck, cropped, shaped or  tassle hems. I made view C without the turtleneck detail. I modified it by skipping the sleeves, it would have been too thick trying to sewing multiple layers. The Sewing Process. This poncho sewing process was relatively easy and straightforward. I decided to omit the sleeves portion as it would have been too bulky to sew with the weight of the fabric. I made tassels using knitting yarns and attached it to the hem of the poncho. Since I had extra fabric left after cutting the poncho, I used the rest to cut a long chunky scarf. The Styling. Fo...

For my last post of 2021, I wanted to go a bit bigger and ended up creating a few pieces for my look - two clothing items, and a headpiece. I was inspired by the artist Jinxies.JJ on Instagram, and created a look based on her original character, Fauna. Fauna sports an airy white mini-dress, green vest, and most notably an antlered flower crown and doe ears. I had a lot of fun getting back into more conventional cosplay (although this is still in-keeping with my comfy cosplay plans) and doing some crafting as well as sewing this time around.  For this project, I used suede suiting and jacketing for the vest, and organza with a sheer cotton lining for the dress.  Check out the video below to see how I made my pieces! I started off the project by creating my patterns. I used an existing bodice and sleeve pattern and modified it by splicing it together with a pattern created using a mini-dress I own. I cut out all of my pattern pieces, serged the raw edges for the dress pieces, a...

Sometimes you want to do something outside of your comfort zone. I haven't tried to do evening wear since I made my prom dress in high school. I've grown a lot as a person and a sewist since then so, I thought I'd give it another go. I don't know when the idea to make evening dresses based on the Greek Pantheon came to me. But I do know that it's been fueled by the Princesscore aesthetic that's been Poppin up everywhere on my Instagram feed. Plus, who doesn't love a pretty dress? This dress is for Artemis, the Goddess of the Hunt, and Moon. Going in I knew I wanted a cowl back, a sleek silhouette and the moon phases on the back. This dress turned or more elegant than I could have imagined and is a wonderful start to this series.  I hope you all love it as much as I do. MARTY   |  @ scrapsandsequins Unfortunately Fabric Mart Fabrics sell out quickly! You can find similar fabrics by shopping the following category, VELVET .