Better Grey than Never - Part 4

Although I have begun spring sewing in earnest, I had a few pieces of the Better Grey than Never Capsule that I haven't posted about yet.

I made a Loes Hinse Bianca top to go with the onionskin Tango skirt that I posted about a while back. Now I can wear the top and skirt together for a two piece dress look or the pieces can be used as separates. To finish off the edges of the top (hem, wrist and neckline), I just plain old serged them, with is the same treatment I used on the hem of the skirt. No muss, no fuss.










I made a Loes Hinse Sweater Set from some polyester knit fabric purchased from Emma One Sock a couple of years ago. At the time I bought several pieces of this "buttermilk" fabric intending to make a bunch of easy-care work garments. That was until I tried wearing this fabric in warmer weather. I literally felt like I was stewing in my own juices inside an oven bag (yeah, I know - eww). Apparently my thermostat runs a bit too high to be comfortable in this fabric year-round. So, I will be keeping these two pieces for cooler weather. (The cardigan has large sew-on snaps for closures).





I also made another Loes Hinse Bianca top (I love the way this baby fits me - I can't stop making them!) from a olive wool knit purchased from Timmel Fabrics. To add a bit of interest to this top, I added three strips of fabric to the front. The edges of the strips were serged with a contrasting thread and then attached with two parallel lines of stitching to secure the centre. Easy-peasy with neato results (see photo the right for a close-up shot of the strips).





ETA: I was asked what buttermilk and onionskin are called in Canada (for instance, what to ask for at Fabricland). They are both just polyester knits. Buttermilk is opaque, substantial and smooth to the touch, while onionskin is lightweight, usually pebbly textured and typically transparent.

I Shop, Therefore I Am

In the comment section to my last post, Dawn writes, "Shannon the fabrics are beautiful. Being stuck in a Fabricland wasteland I have wondered about ordering from FM. Could you share your experience of the cost of duty in getting fabrics across the border? I may have to succumb!!"

I am in much the same boat as Dawn. The only fabric store within 20 km of me is Fabricland, which is a Canadian chain store. Fabricland has a rather hit or miss assortment of fabrics - I have found some beautiful silks, wools and linens there, but to say that the quality of the offerings is inconsistent is an understatement. Not to mention, the prices are sometimes insane - for instance, Fabricland sells mid-quality silk dupioni (with a permanent crease down the middle of it!) for $35/m CDN. Online, I can purchase high quality dupioni for $10.50/yd US. Even with the exchange, shipping and customs money grab (which isn't always charged), it makes more sense to buy online.

So, over the years I have increasingly turned to online shopping for my fabric purchases. In today's post I wanted to list out some of my favourite US haunts (in reverse alphabetical order).

Vogue Fabrics
Vogue Fabrics has a wide range of knit and woven fabrics - silk, wool, linen, cotton, rayon and blends. They also sell trims, notions and patterns. The fabric they offer is available in a range of prices and quality, so a rudimentary knowledge of textiles is helpful to weed out the great bargains from the junk. Although I am not a member, I still appreciate the Vogue Fabric by Mail swatch club, as the coordinating fabrics they put together are inspirational. I have never had a unfortunate purchase from Vogue Fabrics.

Thai Silks
Thai Silks has a huge assortment of silk fabrics - from chiffon to georgette to organza to charmeuse, in a wide range of colours and prints. This is the place where I buy my silk organza for underlining. I have also made a few other fashion fabric purchases too.

Textile Studio
Textile Studio carries fabric and their own line of patterns (the original patterns in this line were designed by Loes Hinse). The fabric offerings are unique and interesting and much of it is the drapey, spongey fabric that is superbly suited to Textile Studio and Loes Hinse patterns. A large portion of my stash has come from Marsha, the proprietress of Textile Studio, who truly understands the meaning of customer service.
ETA: Textile Studio will no longer be carrying fabric. This wonderful resource is another casuality of the economic down turn. So sad.

Sawyer Brook
Sawyer Brook is a purveyor of beautiful, higher end fabrics, as well as buttons, lining and interfacing. The fabric selection here is not huge, but it is exemplary. The quality of all the fabrics I have purchased from them is astounding. However, you do pay for this privilege - be prepared to shell out between $10 to $100/yard. However, if your budget allows, this etailer cannot be beat.

Lucy's Fabrics
Lucy's Fabrics is my go-to place for excellent knits - cotton and rayon being my favourites. They stock a wide selection of solids and prints, suitable for children through adults. You can also find lingerie fabrics and notions, as well as trims, buckles and purse hardware. Laura, the owner of Lucy's is a master of customer service and I have never been disappointed by her. She is also a dog lover which earns her an A+ in my book.
ETA:  Lucy's Fabric no longer carries a large selection of fashion fabrics.  This has been a major blow to my stash of knits.

Fashionista Fabrics
Fashionista Fabrics has a small, but impressive section of fabrics - in the categories of wovens, wools, cottons, silks and knits. Melody, whose customer service is simply the best, also stocks the latest Burda magazine and an assortment of notions and vintage patterns. I have been known to go on some major hauls thanks to this wonderful online resource of succulent fabrics.

Fabric Mart Fabrics
What can I say about Fabric Mart? There is a reason why this etailer is near and dear to the hearts of many a seamstress. Their fabric selection is constantly changing, with an assortment of silks, wools, linens, cottons and blends available on any given day. A knowledge of fabrics is certainly helpful, as the textiles range from high end beauties to low end garbage. However, my hits at this site far outweigh my misses and I wouldn't give them up for anything. I can easily say that a good half of my (1 100 m) stash has come from FM. They also carry buttons and other basic notions. One of my favourite things is their free bundle that gets sent along with your order if you make a minimum purchase (usually $75) - I love the surprise of mystery fabric and the bundles have provided me with some inspirational pieces.

Emma One Sock
EOS is not for the bargain hunter. Linda, the owner, scours the NY fabric scene looking for unique fabrics, often designer in origin. You must be prepared to pay for these exceptional fabrics - there are no $4/yard offerings here. However, if you are looking for something interesting and certainly not run-of-the-mill, this is the place.


So, these are the online US retailers that I stalk most often. As of late, because of the decrease in the Canadian dollar and a lack of storage space, I have greatly diminished my fabric buying. Lastly, let me say a bit about Canadian customs. It is random. I have had $200 parcels make it through customs with no charges and I have been nailed on packages $20 in value. For the most part, anything over $40ish is going to get nabbed by customs and I will have to pay. As an example, my last order from Vogue fabrics was for $157 dollars and customs asked for $14.30 (sales tax + $5 custom's processing fee). Considering, I can't find fabrics like this locally, especially at such good prices, I feel the online experience is worthwhile.

Bead There, Done That - Part Three

Skirt: The skirt is a full circle skirt, cut in three sections - one large piece for the front and two pieces for the back, which allows for a back zipper. The skirt was lined/underlined using silk organza and my TNT method (see Construction section).

Since so much of the skirt has a hem on the bias, it was allowed to hang overnight. Although the dupioni remained stable, the organza underlining did droop a bit. The organza was then trimmed to match the length of the dupioni. To hem the skirt, I attached rayon seam binding around the entire bottom perimeter. With a skirt this full it is difficult to turn up a nice smooth hem because so much fabric must be eased in. One way to remedy this is through the application of the seam binding (or actual hem tape). Apply the binding along the hem edge (on the right side of the fabric) and be sure to pull it taut as you sew, leaving the fashion fabric relaxed. Place the fashion fabric against the feed dogs. The combination of the taut binding and the natural easing ability of the feed dogs against the fashion fabric will slightly gather the bottom edge of the hem. Thus, when the hem is turned up (1" in my case), the excess fabric has already been dealt with and a nice smooth, perfectly eased hem results. I also choose to trim away the excess fashion fabric from beneath the seam binding to reduce bulk and produce a clean edge (see photo at right).

As an afterthought, just before I began to hem, I decided to jazz up the bottom of the skirt a bit. The hem is sewn to the organza underlining to create an invisible hem. However, every 1.5", a small seed bead was tacked to the front of the hem (see photo at left). I like how it provides another subtle embellished element to this dress.

Project Photos:
Conclusion: With the completion of this dress, I am officially done my SWAP. Hallelujah! Now, I just need pictures and a write up to send to Julie by April 16th. Hopefully, the weather in my part of the world will cooperate. It seems like it has been rainy and cold forever and I want to take photos outside, as there are no good places inside to do them.

Bead There, Done That - Part 2

Bodice: The bodice has princess seams, on which I did a princess SBA (I will get a tutorial up about this SBA soon). The princess bodice has a twist - the front, side front piece and front sleeve pieces intersect each other to form a point, which is an interesting feature. This feature does require some very precise sewing however, to ensure that the point forms properly and lies on the chest nicely. Thank goodness for the muslin I made - I really helped to work out the kinks, so sewing of the bodice of this SWAP dress was a breeze.

Recall that the bodice fabric is a beaded and embroidered paisley printed silk. Silk...good, embroidery...good, paisley...good - beading...PITA! Anyone that has worked with beaded fabric knows that it can be a bit persnickety. Beaded fabric requires that all the beads be removed from the seamline, so that the needle will not hit them. It took me close to 1.5 hours simply to remove these beads, yet I still managed to break five needles on this project. I swear the beads grew back into place when I wasn't looking.

When the bodice was finally constructed and attached to the skirt, I realized that it wasn't quite right. The sewing looked great, but the bodice and the skirt fabrics were not as compatible colour-wise as they seemed in flat fabric form. The problem was that the skirt fabric is a dark, rich orange and most of the orange in the bodice was lighter in colour. The bodice, although covered in beads and embroidery seemed to fade into the background compared to the skirt. I mulled over what to do and finally, after rooting around in my notions stash, I found some lustrous dark orange embroidery yarn. I embroidered running stitches of this yarn around each of the paisley designs, which provided the dark orange accent the bodice needed.











The before and after shots of the bodice fabric can be seen above, with a close up of "extra embellished" fabric below.

After the invisible zipper was inserted, the bodice was lined with cotton batiste. I really like the batiste as lining for silk - it provides body to the silk, but keeps the garment cool and breathable.

Up Next: Skirt Construction and Project Photos

Bead There, Done That

Pattern: Vogue 4209 (copyright date 1961)

Size: size 10 (bust 31", waist 24.5", hip 33")

Fabric: For the bodice - beaded and embroidered silk from Emma One Sock and for the skirt - orange silk dupioni from Fabric.com (this picture makes the dupioni look far more red than it is in real life - it actually perfectly matches some of the embroidery on the EOS silk).









Inspiration:
As soon as I saw this dress at Vintageous, I knew I had to do a "knock-off" of it for my SWAP. I love the full skirt, the nipped-in, belted waist and the fitted bodice with small cap sleeves. I like the difference in texture and lustre between the bodice and skirt fabrics.

However, I knew I would look washed out in head to toe creamy white. When I saw the paisley beaded silk at EOS, I decided to make a dress based on the orange in this fabric.

Although the Vogue pattern I choose is not exactly shaped like the inspiration dress (although it is pretty darn close), I really liked the interesting lines. The points at the top of the front bodice intersecting the sleeves is such a nifty detail, rather more unique than the typical set in sleeve.

Up Next: Preparation and Construction of the Bodice

It Called My Name

This fabric has been singing its siren song to me ever since I first laid eyes on it at Emma One Sock. After days of resisting temptation, I couldn't stand it any longer - I had to have it.














Since I also had a 40% off coupon to Fabric.com, I figured I really should use it. It seemed like a shame to let it go to waste. So here are my acquisitions:


A beautiful silk dupioni called "Autumn Sunset". I'm thinking a full skirted party dress with a bodice of the EOS fabric (above). I should also be able to get a small bolero jacket out of the silk.









I also picked up a luscious chocolate silk dupioni (ETA: I was just informed that the brown silk has sold out, so I won't get any - oh well, you win some, you lose some) and a coordinating scalloped lace. I think I must have been in a lace kind of mood, because I also got two others. The first is a champagne coloured scalloped lace and the other is a black stretch lace:

While I was there, I couldn't resist this nifty embroidered pleather:












All in all, not a bad haul. Ahh, I love online shopping!