Fabric
Stash, stash, stash
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Mine consisted of an 11-day trek to Missouri to visit my family, then Carl and I drove down to Biloxi, MS/New Orleans, LA for two days, then back home. My machine is still in the shop, and we’ve been gone for essentially two … Continue reading … Continue reading Organza vs. Organdy
Is your fabric organza or organdy? What is the difference? The similarity in names for these two fabrics causes a lot of confusion. Both are sheer, crisp, plain-weave fabrics. The difference comes down to the type of yarn used to create the fabric. … Continue reading What is this Sheer Silk Fabric Called?
Chiffon. Gauze. Georgette. Organza. All four of these fabrics are loose-weave, semi-transparent fabrics that are traditionally made of silk and often confused for one another. Small differences in the yarn used in weaving and the weight of the fabric can help you tell them apart. … Continue reading What is a fat quarter?
Back before I started this whole quilting endeavor, the quilting section of fabric stores was quite a mystery to me. Sure, I’d wander about because patterned cottons can come in handy for other types of sewing, but one section of fabric really confused me: the fat quarters. I had no idea what that meant. But now, the mystery is solved. … Continue reading Using Jacquard iDye
I mentioned in my last post of project updates that I am working on a dress for a wedding (now little more than a week away. Eek!). My original plan was to use the ivory/gray linen I have sitting in my stash, but kept being bothered by how bland it is for such a happy affair. The only other usable (for the style/pattern) length of fabric I have is some very bright white ramie linen. A conundrum. … Continue reading
Find Deals on Specific Fabrics at Fashion Fabrics Club
I’ve had good experiences with buying at Fashion Fabrics Club. The fabric I’ve bought has been good quality, the shipments fast, and the descriptions pretty accurate. One thing on the site really bothers me as a user and a front-end Web developer: their user interface design for browsing. There's no way to filter down to specific prices or fabrics. But, I’ve found a workaround to browsing through their sales list trying to figure out if the perfect fabric is in there—modifying the URL with different categories. Hopefully this can help you as well. … Continue reading
Copyright, IP and… Fabric? Oh My!
My various projects in the world of sewing, web, and life are legion, but I’ve now got it in my head to start quilting. We’ll see how that goes considering I’m 48 hours into this plan, and I’m already being surprised. Not by the process of quilting but by something I found as I quested into the rarely-explored (by me) section of quilting fabrics at the local JoAnn Fabrics: non-commercial, home use-only fabrics. What? … Continue reading
Modifying Layouts for Maximum Yardage Savings
For the novice sewer, the cutting layouts supplied by most pattern manufacturers are a boon. Not only do they help approximate the most economical way to cut pieces out, they ensure that your pieces are being cut in the right direction—either on the grain or properly on the bias, on the right or wrong side of the fabric—to ensure correct draping and fit. But there are trade-offs involved: those layouts generally take into account the different gradings of the multi-sized patterns, so smaller sizes will have many more scraps of odd sizes than will the larger. As you gain experience, it might be time to start developing your own cutting layouts. … Continue reading
Ramie Fabric—the New (Old) Linen?
I’m a big fan of natural fibers, mainly because they feel better against the skin. I especially like linen, which is cool in the summer, has a nice weight and hand, and is also historically accurate for costuming purposes. Unfortunately, linen is uncommon in fabric stores and relatively expensive here in the US (especially when your only local fabric shops are JoAnn Fabrics and small quilting-only places). And when you’re really trying to be a frugal sewer and the average prices online ($8-15/yd for average quality) are still too much (like, say, always), one often has to make sacrifices. My recent sacrifice was trying a fiber I’d never heard of, ramie, and I must say, it doesn’t seem like much of a sacrifice at all. … Continue reading
