Skip to main content

Made By A Fabricista: Shades Of Brown

Are you stuck in a color rut? I know I am! I am such a creature of habit when it comes to the colors of my clothing. After walking into my closet recently, I observed that I didn't have a single brown-colored item. I don't have anything against brown; in fact, I like brown and have multiple pairs of brown shoes, so why the lack of brown clothing? I think my problem is that I like pink, blue, and black fabrics so much that they tend to dominate my closet. 

With fall in the air, I set out to add some shades of brown to my color palette. When I popped over to check the Fabric Mart website, I was in luck! It was fully stocked with beautiful apparel fabrics in brown. I ended up purchasing two yards of an umber brown floral thermal knit, two yards of dusty brown mesh knit, and two yards of brown faux leather knit fabric all for $53. I’m constantly amazed at just how much fabric you can get for your money at Fabric Mart! 

When my new fabric arrived, I set out to make two tops and a skirt. For the first top, I used the Ellie & Mac Be Captivating Top and Dress pattern. I envisioned the top in the umber brown floral thermal knit fabric. The sewing pattern features a lovely faux wrap neckline, making it breastfeeding-friendly. This was the first time I had ever made this pattern and it was extremely easy to make. I was impressed with the front bodice instructions and that I didn't have to finish the wrap neckline with bands. The top came together quickly and I didn't need to make any adjustments to the fit of the pattern. You'll see that I paired my finished top with jeans and loafers.

For my second top, I used the Seamwork Farah Wrap Top pattern. This pattern gives off ballet top vibes, which would match nicely with the floral stretch mesh fabric. Naturally, I wanted to wear this top with a flowy skirt to complete the ballet-inspired streetwear vision I had for the look. 


I used the faux leather knit fabric to make a Seamwork Wallis Skirt. This is the second time that I've made this skort pattern, but I loved my first skort so much, I thought "Why not make another!" The drape of the stretch leather worked well for the pattern. I used a nude stretch athletic fabric from my stash of previous Fabric Mart purchases for the shorts under the skirt. 


In my photos, you'll see that I wore my Farah top and Wallis skort with knee-high boots. It would also look cute with ballet flats to further bring home my ballet inspiration. 

I had fun making these new pieces and adding shades of brown to my handmade wardrobe! I’m definitely not out of my color rut yet, but at least these three new pieces are a start! If you’ve also found yourself stuck sewing and wearing the same few colors lately, Fabric Mart is the best place to branch out and try new colors. You won’t regret it! Happy Sewing! 

SHAINA   @shaina_sews 


Unfortunately Fabric Mart Fabrics sell out quickly!

You can find similar fabrics by shopping the following categories: KNITS.

Comments

  1. I've had my eye on this brown floral fabric for sometime. I think I just needed to see it made into a blouse. This will definitely be on my order list!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very nice outfit !

    ReplyDelete
  3. Beautiful tops - and look great on you!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I enjoyed the breast feeding tip :-). While that phase of my life is long gone, I still remember how hard it was to dress nicely and have breast feeding access. I also apreciated that the top had a higher wrap. Normal front wrap patterns are too low for my bras to stay hidden.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for leaving a comment! All comments are reviewed before posting to help us eliminate spam. Your comment will be posted within 24 hours.

Recent Posts You Might Like

Made by a Fabricista: What to Make with Silk Taffeta

You may have noticed that Fabric Mart has a *HUGE* selection of silk taffeta right now.  A lot of it is either large plaid or large stripes.   I was curious about it, and not really sure what I could make with it, but I just knew it would be gorgeous fabric and had to play around with it.  Turns out, it's actually great for quite a range of projects!  The dress above is my third project. Let me show you the first two. My first was to make some queen size pillow shams.  They are the plaid ones in the back of the photo.  I also made the two printed ones in the center from another Fabric Mart home dec fabric special!  I wanted to make the covers removable with a zipper, and include a braided trim.  As luck would have it, I found a whole card of braided trim at an estate sale that worked with my taffeta for just $2! To start, I used a zipper foot to stitch down the braided trim all around one side of the pillow. Then I serged ...

Made By A Fabricista: Mechanic Chic!

When it comes to buying ready-to-wear garments as a sewist, I only ever spend in three categories: heavy duty winter jackets (life in Maine!), bras… and jumpsuits! I love a good jumpsuit, but unfortunately the ones I used to buy have been impacted by the tariff situation and I can’t get them affordably anymore. This can only mean one thing, folks: it’s time to roll up my sleeves and sew my very first jumpsuit!  When I started planning for this project, I knew I wanted to use a heavyweight linen for cozy comfort in the fall and breathability in the summer. I wanted something that would wear beautifully and soften with age, and something with neutral tones that could go with everything. Naturally, when I came across this 100% linen canvas on Fabric Mart, my heart skipped a beat! I love the ikat-inspired geometry and something about it reminds me of leopard spots too. Bold yet wearable! I am pretty sure this fabric was intended for home decor which I don’t mind at all and in fact of...

Made By A Fabricista: Tried and true summer basics that fit.

Happy Summer Friends! As I am writing this, we are headed into a nasty heat wave…so the timing could not be better to share two of my favorite summer patterns and fabrics.  But first, let me tell you about the fail I had heading into this month’s blog… As Fabricista’s, we get to pick out fabric for each of our blog submissions. I fell in love with this gorgeous lilac jacquard knit that I thought would be perfect for a pop of color in my summer wardrobe. But I made a fatal error - I grabbed a pattern I haven’t made for years, quickly went up one size to account for a few new pounds, and sewed them up. And they don’t fit, will NEVER fit, and will never be worn. Sigh…when will I learn?? Here’s a flat lay pic so we can at least look at the lovely fabric: The lesson I learned (relearned!) is that just like with off the rack clothes, the things that worked well for me years ago don’t work well for me today.  And that’s the case with both tops and bottoms. So I went back to two patt...

A Yard And Change

Do you have a fabric that you love and has been hanging around but is too small to use? Maybe you found a wonderful fabric with a super cute print but there's only a yard left.  I've got a few projects I worked on all with roughly a yard of fabric. And I have a few tips for making that yard and change go further! Cutting Layout: You can get a lot more mileage out of a yard of fabric if you can get creative with how you lay out your fabric. Cutting things single layer will give you the most control. My favorite thing to do is unfold the fabric and fold the selvages in to meet in the middle. That gives me two folded edges to work with. I had to overlap these to get enough width for the tank top. Just make sure that your pattern pieces don't also overlap!  This one was especially fun for me because I really loved the print on this swimwear knit but am not yet up to sewing swimwear. But a nice flowy hiking tank is perfect for this! In the future I'd love to experiment with...