My First Piece of Fabric

My friend Carolyn posted a blog that really inspired me to think about something that I have a tendency to do, and that is collect fabric, or fabric stashing.

I have enough fabric and patterns in the house that if I didn't buy anything but thread and buttons for the next year, I could probably happily sew at least three garments a month.

Yet I still buy more fabric. I just love it! The look, the feel, the vibrant colors. I can't leave it alone. I love the planning of projects...the imagining of what the fabric could be.

But really, I have a relatively small stash. There are a lot of sewers that have a significantly larger fabric collection than me. Also, I tend to purchase fabric that can be made into "everyday" clothing, and don't buy very high-end fabrics (well, there is that one piece of Liberty that I have hidden away...) because my sewing skills just aren't at the level yet that I can justify spending that much. For the most part, I spend $5.00 or less per yard, $10.00 is my self-imposed limit for something that I really want. I figure, once I get past $10.00 a yard, I am getting into the range of what I could purchase something for in the store.

Because of this, I tend to think of myself as a "stasher" and not a collecter. If I had more high-end fabric, or if it lived in the stash for longer periods of time, perhaps I would be a true collector. But I do understand collecting. I could easily become a collector. In fact, there may be a little bit of latent collector in me.

I "collected" my first piece of fabric long before I ever had my first sewing machine.

When I was in graduate school, all of my research was done in Syria, Turkey, Egypt, and Morocco...all places that produce wonderful textiles. Each season, I would find myself in the fabric shops and carpet shops wondering just what in the world I would do with such wonderful things.

One year, I finally gave in. I was in Damascus for some R&R after a hot, dusty, and beige season at an archaeological site in northeastern Syria. After three months of beige grass, beige dust, beige dirt, and wearing beige clothes it was overwhelming to see the colors and vibrancy of the wares in the shops of the Souk Hammdiyeh.

I was relating how overwhelming it was to my friend Sultan, who owned one of these vibrant, overcrowded shops, as I sat drinking tea on the tiny balcony overlooking the shopping street below. Sultan, ever the salesman, offered his help by pulling from a cabinet bolt after bolt of hand-loomed silk brocade...two-color, three-color, five-color, seven-color....with abstract designs, florals, turquiose with peacocks, oh, and here is Saladin on his way to Jerusalem....

I couldn't help myself. I finally asked...how much? $50.00...per meter. How much would I neeed? What did I want to make? Could I ever bring myself to cut into it? I finally gave in and purchased two meters.

That fabric stayed with me for many years. I carried it from one grim graduate student apartment to another. Ocassionally I would open the package and roll out the two meters and admire it..marvel at how if I looked at it this way it was gold, but if I looked at it this way it was red. Then I would roll it back up and put it away, knowing that I did not have the skill to do anything with it.

But I finally got tired of just looking at the fabric, year after year, and decided to do something about it. I was living in Champaign, Illinois at the time and found a woman there who made custom wedding dresses. I assumed that someone with the skill to make wedding dresses would know what to do with the silk.

I took the silk to her, and we talked about what could be done with it. We settled on a knee-length sheath, which she lined with a decadent gold silk that was pretty enough to be on the outside of a dress.

Here is the dress at New Years Eve two years ago:


So, I can understand the collector. I understand because I collected my first piece of fabric before I had even an inkling about what to do with it. It was another eight years after that dress was made before I even embarked on sewing a garment for myself. Sure, I sewed curtains and slipcovers...but never working with anything so decadent as $50.00 a meter silk. And it never crossed my mind that I might be able to take those skills at sewing curtains and pillows and slipcovers and actually apply that to making clothing for myself.

But now I am building skills every day, and as I learn more about how to fit my body properly, and finish garments more professionally, perhaps one day soon I can justify working with more high-end farics, and then...I will be a collector.

A New Way of Doing Things-For Me...

So the last week I haven't sewn a single thing. I have decided that to increase efficiency, I would cut a HUGE number of projects so I could just get down to some serious sewing.

So, in the past few days I have cut out the following projects:

The muslin for Vogue 8280. Now, admittedly I normally don't use muslins. I am incredibly lucky in that most patterns fit me with minimal alterations (if I would just remember to do flat measurements and cut the right size). I read on PR about people doing FBAs and sway back adjustments, and forward shoulder adjustments, and lowering bust points, and slash and pivot and I just shudder with fear. I could never figure all that out!!! I am incredibly fortunate that that my proportions, even when heavier, tend to fall within a single size. Which is not to say I don't make the occasional misstep...I make plenty of wadders!


But, back to Vogue 8280. After reading all the reviews on PR, I couldn't get a good handle on whether the pattern ran large, small, true to size, just that it could be a real booger. So, I decided since it was a straight skirt, and that needed to FIT, I would do a muslin. Fortunately, Yo Momma cleaned out her closets and bequeathed to me an entire trashbag full of old sheets that I can chop up and use for muslins.

I have a second muslin cut out (from I believe my old sheets from grade school!) is for a dress for my niece. I let her pick out fabric for a dress that she could wear to our wedding in February. She picked Butterick 4385, after a prolonged battle that involved me taking away the Vogue catalog, as well as McCalls because that Hillary Duff stuff is SKANKY.

She is a bit larger in the hips than the largest size on the pattern, so I put a little extra room in the side seams. I may also need to add more of a curve to the princess seams at the bust, because she is starting to get her boobies, oy vey. She picked out some cute fabrics, though. Pink and blue, and age appropriate. The pink and blue brocade is for the jacket and the band around the top of the dress, the blue is for the lining of the jacket, and the main part of the dress is a satin with a relatively low sheen.


I also got the fabric cut out for Vogue 8409. This is a pattern that is for both a knit and a woven, so I did flat pattern measurements before hacking into the fabric. No muslin, it's a simple dress, I can alter on the fly if I have to.


I am using a gray doubleknit from Fashion Fabrics Club, it was super-cheap, so I'm not too worried if I mess it up.


I also cut out a version of the Hot Patterns Wong-Sing-Jones Kimono Wrap Dress. I am making a version for a friend, but before I cut into her fabric, I want to learn how to put it together. That way if I mess it up, I mess up my own fabric.


For my "muslin", I am using a light grey knit for the main part of the dress and the trim will be in a black and grey print picked up from Fabric.com. For her version, the main part of the dress will be red, with the trim in heather grey.


And last but not least, I cut out McCall's 5468. I did make some changes to the pattern, though. I preferred the sleeve from View B, but the scoop neck from View D. But, if you look, the sleeve is set in very differently in B and D. So, if I wanted the scoop neck, I had to draft that onto the front pattern piece for View B. I also got rid of the ties, because that looked just a little too twee for me. Since I wouldn't have the tie to cinch the waist, I did flat pattern measurements and decided to cut a size 14.

After slicing and dicing the pattern, who knows if it will actually work out, so I decided that the fabric that I would cut it from would be my least favorite of my new acquisitions. If it works out, I'll cut another from fabric that I like better.


I also have Jeremy's coat to work on, but that involves about 400 hours of hand stitching to get the padstitching completed. I only work on that one a little at a time, because I don't want to get fatigued and screw it up, since it's about $150.00 of materials.

I still have some to cut out, but my back is screaming from cutting on the dining room table, so it's off to the sewing room for a while!

Keep Me Off the Interwebz!

I made a some great internet scores the past few days, but now I probably need to stay off the interwebz for a while!

The first thing that I got was a buttonholer for my Singer 401. It is super-cool, and even makes keyhole buttonholes. Not to mention, it came in a cool retro case.


My other scores were some awesome knits from Fashion Fabrics Club. They were having a $4.00 a yard sale and I snagged a few for fall dresses.




At least one will become McCall 5468 and I will probably make at least one of the "old standby" Vogue 8379.

I also got 6 yards of black jersey, because, well, you never know. I don't actually have a project in mind, but you never know. You always need black jersey. And I got two yards of swirly purple charmeuse.


The charmeuse will probably become Butterick 5284, if I manage to catch it on sale! Otherwise, I might grab the Hot Patterns Metropolitan Criterion Blouse.

I also need to figure out something to do with this hot mess I found in my stash:


There is only a yard and a half, so I I'm pretty limited. I'm seriously thinking about making a little batwing shirt for my niece, who loves all things sparkly and tacky. That kid...all her taste is in her mouth!

I also bought my first REAL vintage pattern. I saw this one online at Out of the Ashes and just could NOT pass it up! I have no idea when I'm going to make it, or where I would wear it, but dammit, I'm going to sew it up!