Today on a Colleterie blogpost a discussion ensued about what inspires you to sew. Well, before I even read that post I became duly inspired! What does it for me? Cleaning and organizing!
It's that Spring cleaning time again and after the denim work shirt was finished, except for buttonholes, it was time to clean. On a subconscious level I am sure I was just procrastinating about the buttonholes but a recent arrival of lots of fabric goodies, at least a lot for me, had me wondering what patterns to pair the fabrics with. One thing led to another.
This blurry pic is the obvious result of what happens when organizing at the same time one is enjoying their favorite essence of fermented grape. There are lots more pattern boxes around the corner in the closet. What started as a "what can I make with this knit?" turned into a full fledged pattern re organizations. Wow! Did I find the duplicates! Those 99 cents sales are just doing me in. No More! Now that I have gone through everything and re organized I am ready to put pattern to fabric, chiefly the new fabrics I just got as part of my birthday gift cards.
Buying fabric on line is fairly new to me, at least in the quantity I recently purchased. I buy once in a while as I need things. That is pretty much how I always purchase fabric. Once in a great while I have the "I will never see this again if I don't buy it now and will kick myself all the way into eternity if I don't?" feeling but most of my fabric purchases are for specific projects or a once in a while bargain. For my birthday this year I received a fair amount of Amazon gift cards, much of which has been used for fabric. I won't buy fabric for a while other than something needed like maybe a lining or interfacing. Fabric buying on line with this amount of cash to spend was a fun time consuming challenge. With Amazon gift cards you can shop at Fabric.com, Denver Fabrics, the Fabric Exchange and others including a lot of home dec vendors. I had no lack of options. I must say everything I got from Fabric.com exceeded my expectations. My one piece from Fabric Exchange, not so much.
First there was white and a carrot Brussels Washer Linen. This is actually a blend of rayon and linen which I really like. You can see it all washed and fresh out of the dryer here. I wash it on hot, dry it on hot and I'm good to go. I love the dimply texture that happens after washing.
This is an ITY crepe knit that is quite graphic and the pink you see is really quite orange. Maybe a tunic?
Who can't use some snakeskin? And in this royal blue, white and black, it was love.
My personal favorite is this stripey rainbow of color, another ITY knit. This is going to be an assymetric knit top and probably the first thing I make from this haul.
There are other pieces I have and at this point I'm pretty well set for summer sewing. Oranges and blues/purples are the colors. Now it is time to match patterns. One thing at a time!
It's that Spring cleaning time again and after the denim work shirt was finished, except for buttonholes, it was time to clean. On a subconscious level I am sure I was just procrastinating about the buttonholes but a recent arrival of lots of fabric goodies, at least a lot for me, had me wondering what patterns to pair the fabrics with. One thing led to another.
Buying fabric on line is fairly new to me, at least in the quantity I recently purchased. I buy once in a while as I need things. That is pretty much how I always purchase fabric. Once in a great while I have the "I will never see this again if I don't buy it now and will kick myself all the way into eternity if I don't?" feeling but most of my fabric purchases are for specific projects or a once in a while bargain. For my birthday this year I received a fair amount of Amazon gift cards, much of which has been used for fabric. I won't buy fabric for a while other than something needed like maybe a lining or interfacing. Fabric buying on line with this amount of cash to spend was a fun time consuming challenge. With Amazon gift cards you can shop at Fabric.com, Denver Fabrics, the Fabric Exchange and others including a lot of home dec vendors. I had no lack of options. I must say everything I got from Fabric.com exceeded my expectations. My one piece from Fabric Exchange, not so much.
This is an ITY crepe knit that is quite graphic and the pink you see is really quite orange. Maybe a tunic?
My personal favorite is this stripey rainbow of color, another ITY knit. This is going to be an assymetric knit top and probably the first thing I make from this haul.
There are other pieces I have and at this point I'm pretty well set for summer sewing. Oranges and blues/purples are the colors. Now it is time to match patterns. One thing at a time!
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The denim work shirt is complete other than buttons. I will do those tomorrow before starting cut my next project. My big ole' Kenmore will be lugged out for that duty. It makes a mean buttonhole.
I used the Zieman Collar tute and the Collar band tute that are in the right sidebar to finish up the collar. Here you can see how the undercollar is triple zigzagged and it stays nice and flat. Hopefully pics tomorrow!...Bunny
Just learned something new...I didn't realize that you could use Amazon gift cards on Fabric.com or Denver Fabrics. Is there a listing of fabric stores that take Amazon cards? How did you learn about this?
ReplyDeleteBunny said Fabric.com is owned by Amazon, so I would assume you can use their gift cards there. I'm not sure if Amazon owns Denver Fabrics.
DeleteCaroline, I just saw that the fabrics I searched on amazon were coming from Fabric.com. I then went to Fabric.comndirect thinking I would have a larger choice. I contacted them to see if I could use the cards and they told me no. I then went back to Amazon and was able to see everything the same but from the amazon site. A friend told me she used her cards to buy fabric through Amazon. I tried it and it worked. I think the trick, if there is one, is to access the fabrics through amazon itself, not directly on the Fabric.com site. I still have some cash left and am thinking of getting some dyes.
DeleteJust wanted to add that do a search for a fabric first, say linen. Thumbnails will come up. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you will see links to other vendors.
DeleteLove your fabric choices! And I didn't know that about about Amazon and fabrics either.
ReplyDeleteBunny, I am so impressed with your findings. Just so HOT, aren't they? Have fun with them, and I look forward to seeing the results!
ReplyDeleteYou have me salivating already!!!!!
ReplyDeleteOne thing to watch out for - I liked a sale fabric on Fabric.com (almost half price.) So, I copied the fabric's name, searched for it on Amazon.
ReplyDeleteI found it on Amazon OK, but it was not offered at the sale price.
It's an evil happy thing. I take the spare change jar, dump it in Coinstar, pay that out in Amazon script (no fee) and buy used sewing books. So in a way, the stuff from the family pants pockets is buying me hobby time. Evil happy thing.
ReplyDeleteI was going to start my New To Me pattern dress today, and decided it might be nicer to clean out the cave first. Which is why I'm here reading your blog!
Oh, my, someone has practices my Coinstar secret! All the change is from hubby's pockets. It's amazing how it mounts up. I didn't realize I could get Amazon script. I may empty the jar tomorrow!
Delete