Finding the right fabric for the right project. That is on my mind. It seems to be more and more difficult for me, the demise of brick and mortar stores make on-line shopping almost essential. I prefer to see and touch the fabrics, to gauge the drape and the creasing. Of course I could wait for the mail to bring my 2 inch square sample..........
This subject has been bouncing around in my head for a while. After reading a post from Gwensews on the All My Seams blog http://allmyseams.blogspot.com/ it "set up" so to speak. Gwen is working on a rain-wear project, an Amy Butler project. Her fabric choice was a cotton laminate. Sounded like a great idea to me. Her word to describe the project was flop. The fabric was stiff, draped poorly and way too shiny.
Recent others have lamented their fabric choices as well. Fabrics that fray or actually disintegrate, fabrics that are clearly intended for purposes other than garments and are much more trouble than they are worth. To me, my sewing time is very important, wasting time on an unsuitable fabric just adds insult to injury.
For example. I made this apron from a substantial weight cotton, but it would likely have been better suited for home dec treatments, not multiple washings.
the shoulder seam has separated, the serged thread has pulled away from the seam. On more closely woven fabrics this has never happened.
Fortunately I keep all those little left over bits for mending projects like this. I would normally leave something like this for a Mending Monday but the whole fabric choice issue has been cropping up more and more.
A simple fix was to wrap the seam with seam binding and just stitch it over the separation. I could have taken it all apart, removed the binding, re-sewn the seam, re-attached the seam binding..............just joking. This is a simple mend on a utility piece. I think that using a fabric like this would have been OK with a closely woven fabric used as a lining. I could have even made the apron reversible, it is a tabard style. see this post.... http://sewtopia.blogspot.com/search/label/aprons
Part of the reason this has been stewing for me is that I had been sorting through some fabrics looking for the "just right" piece for a dress for an outdoor event this weekend. I had already scoured the local fabric stores and nothing worked for me. I needed a cotton in a light color. No luck. No dress. Even though I have no resolution for my immediate problem I have some conclusions:
Gratuity Moment: central air conditioning, absolutely, beyond any doubt, priceless, yes
This subject has been bouncing around in my head for a while. After reading a post from Gwensews on the All My Seams blog http://allmyseams.blogspot.com/ it "set up" so to speak. Gwen is working on a rain-wear project, an Amy Butler project. Her fabric choice was a cotton laminate. Sounded like a great idea to me. Her word to describe the project was flop. The fabric was stiff, draped poorly and way too shiny.
Recent others have lamented their fabric choices as well. Fabrics that fray or actually disintegrate, fabrics that are clearly intended for purposes other than garments and are much more trouble than they are worth. To me, my sewing time is very important, wasting time on an unsuitable fabric just adds insult to injury.
For example. I made this apron from a substantial weight cotton, but it would likely have been better suited for home dec treatments, not multiple washings.
the shoulder seam has separated, the serged thread has pulled away from the seam. On more closely woven fabrics this has never happened.
Fortunately I keep all those little left over bits for mending projects like this. I would normally leave something like this for a Mending Monday but the whole fabric choice issue has been cropping up more and more.
Part of the reason this has been stewing for me is that I had been sorting through some fabrics looking for the "just right" piece for a dress for an outdoor event this weekend. I had already scoured the local fabric stores and nothing worked for me. I needed a cotton in a light color. No luck. No dress. Even though I have no resolution for my immediate problem I have some conclusions:
- as sewers who love to experiment and stretch our creative muscles, we need to do more testing of our fabric choices. A few minutes draping a fabric might save a lot of time and fabric waste. The plastic laminate I considered for the same rain poncho that Gwen made will be better suited for place mats, or tote bags, or shoe bags.
- if I choose to use a home dec type of fabric for a wear-able I will line or underline or choose another fabric
- I need to find a on-line fabric source with large samples. any suggestions are welcome.
- now I need to find something cool to wear, it will be 95 here with a heat index around 110 or I will skip the event. Vintage car races are fun, but not if you melt.
Gratuity Moment: central air conditioning, absolutely, beyond any doubt, priceless, yes
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