Fabric Mart Fabricistas

During my first Fabricista post in February 2021, I dedicated a make to the Pantone colors of the year: Illuminating (a yellow) and ultimate gray. I thought it would be fun to continue the tradition and dedicate this February’s make to the 2022 Color of the Year: Very Peri. This marks the first time Pantone has created a color for their Color of the Year series. Blue with violet-red undertones, Very Peri “displays a spritely, joyous attitude and dynamic presence that encourages courageous creativity and imaginative expressions”. I’ve also been inspired by the recent trend of making quilt coats, so I thought I’d pair the two trends and make my own quilted coat. I’ve always considered myself firmly on team garment sewing, but I thought this was a great opportunity to dabble in quilting. I scoured the Fabric Mart website for ideas and found a really beautiful grape-colored linen which, in my head, was the closest I could get to Very Peri. It’s a yarn-dyed chambray linen and very lightwei...

I’m thrilled to be back as a Fabric Mart Fabricista for 2022! This year I’m challenging myself to sew Fabricista projects that either expand my skills or are stylistically different from what I have sewn or worn in the past. At the end of this post, I’ll tell you how this make met that goal. Here in the North, we’re watching the snow fall and know that we have a few more weeks of the white stuff and freezing temperatures but we are planning for warmer days! For this Fabricista make, I made an anorak that will get me through late winter and early spring days.  A couple of years ago I bought Simplicity 8843 (an unlined anorak) and that seemed like a great project for this time of year. I looked through Fabric Mart’s catalogue for the perfect fabric and stopped when I saw this 100% cotton twill in a fun and colorful floral and skulls print.  The brilliant tones in this print are nothing like traditional pale spring colors! Those greens, blues, corals and pinks will pop against sn...

Hi everyone!  Today I am sharing my Noemi dress #M8091, by McCalls patterns. This is dress is perfect for the summer & the winter. It originally is displayed as a summer dress, & I love that the fabric I chose can be worn in both seasons. You can style this up with boots, heels, or sandals. I chose view C, which is a longer version of the dress with bow for straps.   When creating the dress, I had to adjust the pattern to fit my measurements. I find it hard sometimes to grade McCalls patterns; for some reason when I adjust & add to it, it tends to get messy during the production of it. This dress was relatively simple to make, however, the numerous alterations really held me up. Sometimes it’s hard for me to judge the accuracy of a pattern, simply because I have to alter every single “big 4” pattern. I have many years in pattern making, but it can be hard when it not a pattern of your own, or you don’t have a mannequin to rely on.  On a better note, the f...

Hello Gems! One of my go to fabrics for the winter is stretch knit. I love wearing fitted knit dresses with high necks that hug the curves and make you feel so snuggled and wrapped up when it's cold. This year, for some reason, quilted fashions have also caught my eye and I have been dying to create more quilted and puff pieces for my Winter wardrobe. I'm not sure if it's the snow that dumped on us this year or just trending fashions that I have been subjected to, but I have definitely been inspired.  So for this month's Fabricista Feature I have chosen two great coordinating fabrics from Fabric Mart's spotted fabric collection that have inspired my Winter wardrobe pieces, and I am excited to share them with you. I spotted a very cool cotton poplin fabric with a large scale graphic circular print on it. It's a very Retro fabric that reminds me of the snow balls in Winter. I also couldn’t resist a black and white Dalmation print stretch knit fabric . An animal pr...

So happy to be back this year, posting on a blog that has taught me so much! If you have read any of my previous posts, THANK YOU! If not, let me make a quick and honest introduction. Actually, these three last words can define my sewing tendencies: quick (I love instant gratification projects), honest (I acknowledge flaws and errors), introduction (I am far from being a pro). And one last thing: I love colorful and flowy fabrics that go so well with the eternal Floridian summer.  The project I am sharing today has all these qualities! I made it a couple of years ago with one of my first Fabric Mart purchases. I found the fabric sticker to tell you precisely what it is: a great Polyester/Lycra Tropical Floral Print ITY Knit. At the time, I was an absolute beginner, so I purchased fabrics by just trusting 100% of the website description. Let me tell you: it works! The ITY Knit Fabric section on the website says that “ITY knits are easy to sew with and quite popular for tops, dress...

Welcome to my first post of 2022! Hopefully your year is going well so far. My first post this year lines up with the Hallmark holiday that I have found most folks either really love or really hate: Valentine’s Day! Now I’m not much of a believer in the holiday itself, but I’d be lying to you if I said I didn’t love fun goodies that come with it, like the glittery cards, cutesy candy and heart shaped ice cream cakes. Who doesn’t want a one-pound heart shapes Reese’s heart candy?!  Because I love a good challenge project that makes me say “why do I do this to myself?!” repeatedly, I decided to dedicate this post to not only make things I’ve never made before (lingerie) but to also use colors I never, ever gravitate towards (so much pink!). Enter the Lawren Bodysuit by Made by Madalynne and the Maris Bralette & Panty by Made by Madalynne. To really drive it home, I decided to make three pieces instead of just testing out my skills and luck with one and see how it goes.  Ne...

Can you be wrapped up and stylish at the same time? The answer is yes when you're wrapped up in wrap tops and sweaters! With only four and a half yards of fabric from Fabric Mart, two sewing patterns, and my serger; I ended up with two fabulous wraps to carry me through the cold weather.  For the first wrap, I used two yards of gold 100% polyester metallic printed jersey. When I saw the metallic printed jersey on the Fabric Mart website, I thought it was so fun! It's not every day that you see a gold metallic printed jersey so I snatched it up thinking it would make a cute top for date nights or festive gatherings.  I used the Ellie & Mac Tres Belle pattern for my gold wrap top. The Tres Belle pattern is a faux wrap design that is super cute and as easy to wear as it is to sew. Having made a Tres Belle dress before that I love, I thought it would be fun to hack the pattern a little bit and make a peplum top. I used the bodice, sleeve, and sash pieces from the original patt...