The postman always rings twice

How high does your heart leap when you’re expecting a parcel of fabric and the doorbell rings? This high? Thiiiissss high? After spending all this week under starter’s orders whenever the doorbell goes (and by the time I’ve thrown myself down two flights of stairs to the door the postman has usually already rung twice and is filling out one of those “we’re desolate with despair to have missed you” cards), today I thought I’d play it cool.

So when that familiar ding-dong sounded, I simply sat back and let Robin get it. “It’s for you” he said, clutching a fat parcel with an amused and tolerant look that said “we both know what’s in this, don’t we?” “My faaabbbbric!” I exclaimed with high glee as I relieved him of the squashy parcel. Hurrah!

The parcel is from Trim Fabric (an online store I’ve never shopped at before, but I would again- this was dispatched the day after I ordered its contents). Inside was a mixture of sensible fabric and wild card fabric designed to jangle the old optic nerves. The sensible fabric is a yard of a linen cotton mix jersey in navy blue. It’s so sensible it’s hardly worth me showing you a pic, but in the interests of thoroughness here it is on the right. Well, there we go.

The desire to work with cotton linen mix jersey grew out of buying a T-shirt in that fabric combination from Toast. It’s cool. It’s quite soft, and it’s a total swine to iron. It also has a very low level of stretch, which will be interesting from a design perspective. The T-shirt I acquired is to the right. Sorry- they’re sold out now apparently. (But there’s loads of good stuff left on sale at now almost affordable prices…)

The pic at the top of this post is the wild card. It’s an oatmeal coloured 100% linen ground, with the most amazing embroidered roses, all done in cross stitch, in pink and scarlet and mustard and chocolate. The colour combination means that the embroidered roses are very far from being at all “twee”. (I’ve re-photographed this fabric, as the pic on Trim Fabric’s website has more of a yellow/orange tone, although that could be my monitor.) The linen is I guess a skirt/dress weight, with a quite open weave (I think it would probably need lining). Of course I have absolutely no idea what to make this fabric into, but am very much enjoying looking at it every time I walk past it. What would you chaps do with it?

Quick Update

This is just a quick update on Hettie’s Bridesmaid’s dress, before I run to catch a coach down to Kent for the weekend… Because this is written in haste, I haven’t really tweaked the overdress on the dummy so that it hangs right, but here it is:

At the moment, the finished skirt is only pinned to the sash facing (which you can’t see) which is thin cotton and interfacing. The bodice shoulder and side seams have been sewn as hairline seams. I realised that one layer of fabric in the bodice was probably going to be too sheer, so I’ve made two bodices out of the same fabric -one will be the lining- and at the moment they are pinned together inside each other at the neck edge. The dress doesn’t have a sash yet- the bumpy fabric round the middle is the hefty seam allowance I’ve left on the bodice for adjustments…

Another view:

The fabric for the underslip has arrived from Farmhouse Fabrics, all tied up with a ribbon!

So, discerning readers, here are the burning issues which I’ll be mulling over while I’m away. Your artistic input, is, as ever, much appreciated in the comments!

1. How to finish the neck and armhole edges? Satin bias binding? And if so, what colour?

2. The sash, what colour and what fabric? Perhaps to match the neck and armhole binding?

A whiter shade of pale

I finally splashed out and bought the entire sample pack from fabric supplier Whaleys of Bradford. Whaleys specialise in fabric for dyeing, natural fabrics and fabrics for use in the theatre. So, basically, any fabric as long as it’s white, or shades of. With a few blacks thrown in. Which is all well and dandy for a Bridal dress :)

The swatches (of which there are far more than those shown above) are an education. I never realised there were quite so many different kinds of fabric. There’s some really interesting ones in there that have me dreaming up new projects, but all in good time, all in good time…

So, six metres of heavy silk crepe de chine arrived from Whaleys yesterday. It’s glorious. I realise that a photo of white fabric is pretty low on excitement, but you can see the glorious soft sheen the silk has:

It has a hot (or cold) date with some pink cold water dye (I couldn’t find pale pink silk crepe de chine without paying more in shipping from the US than the cost of the fabric, and even the necessary swatches alone would have set me back a ridiculous flat shipping fee). When it’s pink it’s destined to be the outer layer of Hettie’s Bridesmaid dress. The fine cotton for the underslip of Hettie’s dress is coming from the US, from Farmhouse Fabrics, along with trimmings. (Don’t you just love the word trimmings?) The skirt of the underslip will have a an overlay of this embroidered tulle which comes from ebay store Lindy Laces:

This is pale gold on ivory. I also bought some in silver on white and couldn’t decide between the two, but with Hettie’s help we’ll go for the pale gold- it does look more antique and less glittery.

Hettie came to try on her test dress at the weekend- thanks, Hettie! I think we just about got it to fit after a few adjustments! I was so concerned with fitting it I forgot to take any pictures- sorry about that. I guess the finished dress will be even more of a surprise!

Gratuitous Fabric Post

I couldn’t help it. I was in the fabric department of the Bluewater branch of John Lewis (the British department store), and I came over all dizzy and when I regained the power of rational thought, I was standing at the checkout clutching a bag containing 2m of this gorgeous green chiffon:

And 2m of this silk charmeuse:

(The colour of that one is a kind of dove grey meets taupe with a hint of lilac thrown in.)

I’m afraid this is all just gratuitous though, as John Lewis doesn’t sell fabric online (I think they’re missing a trick there, personally). But to make up for that, here’s a more accessible fabric. I was googling around attempting to find a Japanese print silk fabric that isn’t a kimono silk (ie. one that is actually more than 35cm wide) and found this crinkle silk from Candlelight Valley fabrics, and what’s more it’s ON SALE:

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to give up impulse-buying fabric without a pattern and project in mind. I didn’t even make it through January. Sheesh.

Le geek, c’est chic

I generally like a bit of curvaciousness and softness in fabric prints, but this season I’m surprised to find myself being drawn to geometrics like the print above. Which is why I now have two and a half yards of this silk jersey draped over a dressform dummy in my living room. I look up as I type and am mesmerised by how wonderfully this print works when really, all things considered, it shouldn’t.There is something about the colour combinations and juxtapositions (all autumnal greens and russets and browns…hmmm….maybe a fabric to save for next fall….) which make this fabric fascinating rather than just an assault on the eyes. It’s a little bit Orphism, a little bit Sonia Delaunay. I could literally look at it for hours (but then I start to think I can see faces in it and have to be led gently away).It’s called “Tetris” and it’s available from Sawyer Brook (clicking on it will take you to their website).

I love the fact that this fabric is inspired by a computer game. Le Geek, c’est chic…

You can click on the pic above to visit a free and highly addictive online playable version of Tetris. [There is no such thing as playing “a quick game of tetris”- you have been warned.]

I have a sinking feeling that I may not have bought enough Tetris fabric to put it to best use. It’s only 45 inches wide, and silk jersey demands drapes and cowls which consume vast swathes of fabric. I guess it’s really false economy to scrimp on the fabric front. Although you save money in the short term you just end up with a wardrobe of T-shirts…

My fabric and other animals

Stop, don’t adjust your screen- simply allow your eyes to adjust to the fabulousness of this fabric. Are you there yet? Now when it comes to fabric there are two factors that trigger me to impulse buy- fabric that is “clever”, and fabric with animals on (although no animal that would be better off in a Disney film and not just markings that you’d see on the animal themselves, eg. leopard spots- ugh). Actually, wait, make that three factors. Anything that’s silk also usually induces a state of swoon and this, this, is an Italian silk chiffon *sigh*.Its available from Emma OneSock, and as Linda, who runs Emma OneSock, points out, it’s very M. C. Escher. I’m sure Escher would have approved of this fabric, as he seems to have had a sneaking fondness for lizards.

Above is “Reptiles” by Escher which shows the tessellation technique he used to such effect. (Clicking the pic will take you to a bigger pic at World of Escher.) The fabric below, also from Emma OneSock (no, I don’t work there, I just love their fabric ), is another I keep eyeing up. It’s also silk, although this is a jersey. However, the trouble with animal print fabrics is that I never know exactly what to do with them, other than look at them and feel all… happy.

I have a swatch of this one sitting on my desk and its gorgeous, so silky and so…so…. zebra-ey, but every time I look at it I think- “might I not look a little eccentric with a horde of zebras swathed round my torso?” I have a particular soft spot for black and white animals. Zebras, badgers, more badgers, oh, and penguins…

Which is why I own two and a half yards of this cute cotton twill from Farmhouse Fabrics (can’t see it left in stock, but here’s their site) and have absolutely no idea what to make it into. It’s almost worth having kids so I can run them up some penguin-covered dungarees and then fifteen years down the line they can roll their eyes at the photos and whine “I can’t believe you made me wear those!”

Or not. I haven’t found any fabric with badgers on yet. If anyone does, do let me know. Also, all suggestions as to what to make the penguin fabric into gratefully received!