by Yvette Chilcott Hello sewing enthusiasts! I’m Yvette, writing a guest post here. Usually you’ll find me at www.sewwhatyvette.com, where I post about my sewing adventures (and other stuff).
That’s why I’m here! Some of Fabricville’s newest fabrics from their flyer intrigued and excited me, and I sewed a few things! From the flyer I chose 1 “bottom weight” and 2 coordinating “top weights” to become a 3-piece mini capsule. Then, as a Jalie Creative Ambassador I chose to use 2 patterns that are my TNT’s (tried and true); Eleonore Pull-on Jeans #3461 for the bottoms and Doman #3352 for the 2 tops.
The fabric I chose for the bottoms was described as “Printed Stretch Sateen”, sku # RR4137-007 with 3% lycra. For the tops I chose co-ordinating colours in “Stretch Gauze“, sku # RR4131-004.
(First step was to wash and dry my fabric which I do with ALL garment fabric, using the same method as I would use for laundering them. Washer and tumble dry with heat.)(The Sateen washed well with minimal shrinkage. The Stretch Gauze washed well, but the trip in the drier caused a lot of shrinkage.)(More about that later.)
My chosen pattern, (Jalie Eleonore pull-on jeans) is designed for a woven fabric with 20% stretch.
When the fabric arrived, I checked the actual stretch against the pattern icon, there wasn’t quite enough, so I went up one size. This fabric is quite “busy” so I skipped the faux fly and combined the back and the yoke into one pattern piece. Most of my seams were serged using a 4-thread overlock stitch, and my top-stitching was done with regular sewing thread, using a “triple-stitch” lengthened to 3mm, built into my sewing machine.
They turned out GREAT and will become part of my Spring/Summer wardrobe.
Upon inspection of the Stretch Gauze fabric, it is a woven gauzy kind of fabric with elastic thread woven into it, which you can see on the wrong side. It’s very soft to the touch.
The way I pre-washed these cotton fabrics caused them to pucker up and become very dimensional. In order to cut the sleeveless version Dolman out of the 1 meter of pink fabric I had, I steamed, flattened and stretched it quite a bit.
That also means I have to remember to not put it into the drier or it will likely shrink back up. The neckband is “self-fabric”, cut 2 inches wide and 80% of the neckline, measured at the seam line.
The selvedge is kind of “ruffly” so I omitted the curved hem and cut the pieces on the cross-grain. The selvedge became the hem.
For the white top, instead of the Dolman, I used Jalie 2805 “Women’s Tee Shirts“. The fabric was folded on-grain and I was able to get all the pieces out of 1 meter. I DID have to make the sleeves quite short though. The neckline has been lowered a bit to suit me better. The neckband was done the same way as on the fuchsia one, cut 2 inches wide and 80% of the neck at the sewing line.
For the white top, instead of the Dolman, I used Jalie 2805 “Women’s Tee Shirts”. The pattern pieces are smaller so I could play tetris with them on the fabric.
The fabric was folded on-grain and I was able to get all the pieces out of 1 meter. I DID have to make the sleeves quite short though. The neckline has been lowered a bit to suit my body better. The neckband was done the same way as on the fuchsia one, cut 2 inches wide and 80% of the neck at the sewing line.
Hemming was a challenge. For both the sleeves and the bottom. I couldn’t press it or it flattened. My solution was to first serge the edges with my differential cranked up to 2. Then I applied elastic using a triple zig-zag stitch.
I’m happy with the result. It pulls in a bit on the dress-form, but sits neatly on my hips when I wear it straight, or blousy when I put it at my waist.
I hope this post inspires you to try some new fabrics, and then how to deal with fabric challenges.
(Disclaimer; I received the fabric and thread at no charge from Fabricville in exchange for sewing the garments and creating this post. The Jalie patterns were also provided to me in exchange for sewing and promoting their perfectly drafted sewing patterns. My experiences in sewing these 3 garments are my own opinions.)
