fabric – Stacey Stitch

Well as you know we’re in the new house, all is unpacked and yesterday we had our nearest and dearest over for a housewarming. So lovely to have our friends over and the next generation ( not star trek – just our mates awesome kids).

Now the dust has settled I’m in the mood to SEW!

I took a little trip out to my local John Lewis last week and picket up this gorgeous fabric for half price but now I’m stuck on what to make with it.

A dress? Yes, but which one?

These are the three I have to choose from:

(View 1)

(also considering making the coat in the heavy gold satin I brought back from Vegas)

(with sleeves)

I’m favouring the Simplicity or Vogue at the moment, the Butterick is gorgeous but it’s quite a similar shape to other dresses I’ve made in the last year and I’d like to try something different.

Any feedback/help in making my mind up will be appreciated. What would you make?

Let’s not sugar coat it; Fabrics for Fashion: The Swatch Book is expensive with the RRP £60. I got it for around about £37 and even then I could only afford it due to the stroke of good luck I’ve had recently.

It is however, for someone like me who doesn’t yet know her batiste from her shantung, priceless.

I am one of those people that walk around a fabric shop hanging her head in shame, confused about the properties of various fabrics and all too often drawn to the cotton blends as I know them well.

I am oh so typically British in my embarrassment in asking anyone anything, my husband refers to it as “the shyness”, wherein if I find myself in a situation where I don’t know something the normal me (friendly, chatty, enthusiastic) reverts to the painfully shy and not wanting to attract attention me that I was in my formative years.

This swatch book is perfect for me for a few reasons:

I like to order pretty fabrics online but with limited knowledge I find myself stumbling about in the dark, googling dresses made from certain fabrics to get an idea of drape and weight and then fearing the postman will delivery something that I simply can’t work with (this has, so far, not happened as I have been cautious)
I’m quite a tactile person when it comes to fabric. I am also one of those annoying people that keeps you in a fabric shop for too long because I’m busy stroking everything. Shop in Abakhan in Manchester? I’ve probably touched your fabric (don’t worry – I have very clean hands).
I find prints and colours far too distracting, often considering them more than how the fabric will hang and drape when the garment is made.

There are 100 swatches in the book and with exception of a few they are in their natural, undyed state. The samples are a good size, giving you a true impression of their feel, weight and structure and all have a description alongside them.

Each section is accompanied with information on fibres, the basic construction of fabric and weave comparison. There’s a fantastic glossary in the back which helps with the terminology used throughout.

All in all, a great reference book that I know I will use time and time again, will save me many future headaches, make purchasing fabric online so much easier and will add much diversity to my future home sewn wardrobe.