fabric

An Alternative to Silk

April 18, 2011 · 10 comments

I had a very interesting question emailed to me from a reader and I thought it was worthy of a post, especially as I posted about working with silk last week. “What’s an alternative to silk?” she asked. She has her reasons and I think many others might as well for not wanting to work with silk and that’s fine. But what’s a good alternative? Silk has many, many wonderful properties which make it a great fiber for several different sewing projects, seasons and occasions. So what is a fabric that has some similar qualities, but perhaps isn’t as hard to work with, doesn’t harm silk worms and is plant derived instead?

georgette rayon from Fashion Fabrics Club

Well…..what about RAYON?! Let’s have a chat about rayon. Rayon is a terribly cool fiber and personally for my money, if I was concerned about the above silk related issues rayon is a very good alternative to the queen of fiber herself (silk is queen, in my humble opinion). I’ve worked with rayon on a few different occasions and worn it on several. It’s so soft, has fantastic drape, is usually reasonbly priced (at least the ones they make nowdays, vintage 40′s rayon is terribly expensive at the moment) and not too bad to handle, work with and sew up. It’s also breathable. This is my biggest beef with synthetic fibers. Wearing a polyester top in the dead of Utah heat, which can be an almost unbearable 100+ degrees, leaves you hotter than ever with a blouse that just ends up sticking to your sweaty skin. It’s a dry climate here too, so I can’t imagine what polyester does in a humid climate. Ugh!

funkadelic paisley jersey from Gorgeous Fabrics

Rayon is a semi-synthetic. What does that mean? Rayon is produced from cellulose which is a naturally occurring compound found in plants, however the compound undergoes extensive processing to become the fabric rayon.

rayon organza from Fashion Fabrics Club

And rayon comes in many different weaves and types. There’s challis, probably the most popular, suiting, jersey, shantung, organza, shirting, etc., etc. The list goes on and on. What’s more, it can be rather successfully mixed with other fibers, such as linen, wool, even silk and lend a certain drapability to those fabrics if needed.

Being as its nearing on the rayon season here in the States, this fiber is at a peak too. Perfect timing to start, perhaps getting in the groove with a Shift Dress, don’t you think? Speaking of which, tomorrow, I’ve got a shift dress muslin to show you. I’m terribly excited to have a shift dress. Might even have to make up two, just because I’m thinking now I need a rayon one too!

Happy fabric hunting!

xoxo,

Sunni

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this Girl’s Tips & Tricks on Working with Silk

April 11, 2011 · 14 comments

After posting my Modern Geisha dress on The Sew Weekly, I saw a few comments and received a few emails about working with silk. Totally petrified to work with silk? Let’s see if we can’t change that a bit. I’ll give you some of my tips on how to handle this beautiful cloth.

Silk is harder to work with and handle than say, cotton or wool, though each have their own vices as well. Why is silk harder? Well because usually it slips around, sometimes its hard to puncture with your needles and when you do it can snag or worse, create unsavory drag lines and it can fray like nobody’s business. So how do you combat all that? Surprisingly there are several things on the market that really help. Let’s go about this from start to finish as if we were making a garment out of silk, alright? OK.

~ Cutting ~

For silk fabrics, especially the slippery ones, it’s nice to have a very nice and very sharp pair of dressmaking shears and a very sharp rotary cutter. I have two separate sets of dressmaking shears, both Gingher. I have them sharpened every so often and one pair I use only for cutting out delicate fabrics like silk. I’ve found that certain fabrics, like wool especially, can dull the shear knives and since I work with both silk and wool quite a bit, I like having two sets of shears. I also have a very nice Gingher rotary cutter which I also use, but not as much. I find that the shears are less hard on my wrists and I have wrists that have seen years and years of flute playing so there you go. After I’ve laid out my pattern on the fabric, I also use pattern weights to stop the fabric from sliding around as I cut. Nothing really exciting either, but canned food! They really work too! Easy and very inexpensive! Just make sure you wipe the cans down before use. Cut away and there you go!

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Fabric Shopping in SLC

March 14, 2011 · 24 comments

This past Friday, I was out fabric shopping. Now, I know that you know that I need fabric like a hole in my head, but this was for very specific projects which are coming up here and here. With these events in mind, I needed fabric for a dress and buttons and odd notions here and there. It doesn’t help that I had to go to four different places either. That’s just the way of things though in Salt Lake City, Utah. Aaaarghhh!

the wing needle I waited 30 minutes in line for

First stop – Nuttall’s Bernina. This is not a favorite place of mine. I’ve never had a good experience from this store, not even buying simple things like zippers and thread. I bought my sewing machine from them and stupidly, have had it serviced there twice. The last time it sat in the shop for a week. I was never contacted to come and pick it up and finally I called to see if it was finished and the lady on the phone said “Oh yes, it’s been finished for awhile now, we were wondering why you haven’t come and picked it up.” Humph!!!! I wanted to try out a wing needle and this particular Bernina store is the only one that I’ve found that carries them. I waited in line for 30 MINUTES!!!! while a lady in front of me was having about 15 bolts of minky cut. Did I mention that they don’t have a cutting counter either? It’s the same station as the register. Yeah. It’s really fun. Finally another employee asked if I was buying fabric, I replied, “No, I just need this one needle.” It was very embarassing for everyone. And I was a bit on the mad side. One employee at the cutting counter which also happens to be the register and I am not pleased. Nutall’s Bernina of SLC – you get two thumbs down!

cover buttons, hook & eye closures, china silk fabric and covered boning from Hancock Fabrics

Next stop, Hancock Fabrics. Now, I actually like Hancock’s alot. It’s a sewing store chain, but usually a) there is no one there shopping, so the lines are completely bearable b) the staff are not overworked and there are plenty of people around to man each station and they are pleasant, cheerful and quite helpful and c) they have some fairly good apparel fabrics. The girl who cut the silk I needed for lining was very sweet and really nice. The lady who checked me out, she knew her stuff and we had a short conversation because she used to work as a seamstress for a local theater. Hancock Fabrics of SLC – you get two thumbs up!

white linen and thread that took me 45 minutes to get

Next up, Joann. Hmmmm…..I’m sorry but I hate going to Joann. I’ve been to all of the locations here in the Salt Lake Valley and have always found the same thing. The employees are overworked and usually rude, there’s not enough of them working and manning the stations and the customers there are always butting in front of you acting like they’re out to get whatever you are after which in turn makes you do the same thing to them. Oh my GOODNESS! I had a gift card there otherwise I would never have made a stop. Not to mention Friday, I needed 2 yards of a single fabric cut and I waited for 30 MINUTES!!! to get the darn thing cut. When it was finally my turn I was a little exasperated. The girl cutting the cloth could tell and apologized. When I got to the check out line, I waited another 15 minutes and the girl at the checkout was rude. At least they have a separate cutting station. Joann of SLC – you get one thumb down.

hair canvas, grosgrain ribbon and polka dot linen from Yellow Bird Fabrics

Last and very best of all, Yellow Bird Fabrics. This is a very quaint and lovely shop. The small space is filled to the brim with GORGEOUS fabrics of all types. And when I say gorgeous, I mean gorgeous. There is not a single synthetic fiber in the whole joint. I walked in and was greeted with the pungent odor of lovely fabric and the welcome of the very sweet owner. Oh my goodness she was so wonderful! I was wearing my Bella jeans and she immediately complimented me on them and said she had been wanting a pair like that herself. Then she pointed out that they carried Decades of Style patterns, which I did not know and drew my attention to those wonderful high waisted trousers they have out. She asked if I was looking for something in particular and left me to look around. I took a look around and found this positively perfect polka dotted linen. Aren’t you just jealous? Not only that, but they actually carry hair canvas, buckram, real grosgrain ribbon (you know, the kind made of rayon with the scalloped edge) netting for millinery work and various other little things. On top of all of that everything in the shop was 20% off during the month of March. Now, I’m here to say that Yellow Bird doesn’t sell cheap sewing supplies. Their fabrics and notions are very high quality and you pay for that. But I’m also going to say that with the outstanding customer service I received and the luscious linen I got, I’m more than happy to pay it. Truly. Yellow Bird Fabrics of SLC – you get 5 GOLD STARS!

I thought you might find this sort of an interesting little study. I know I did. I usually can’t find everything I need in one place and I’ll grant you that I scour the streets for great deals too. I used to do this on my lunch hour at my day job and was never able to actually go to all the stores I needed in one day. Having done it all in one day, I’m a little bit frayed (I was frayed at my day job too and now I know why) and wondering if some of the deals that I get and find are actually worth it when it takes such pains to get them. I was very unhappy with my experiences in Joann and the Bernina store. And what’s even sadder is that I went to Yellow Bird Fabrics last when I should have gone first because they had the exact fabric I wanted along with everything else (except the winged needle and the hook and eye closures) which I ended up going to 2 different stores for. Tell me, do these experiences ring bells for you? Feel a little frayed after fabric and notion shopping? What’s your solution?

Happy Sewing Trails, especially at the shops you frequent!

xoxo,

Sunni

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For All You Fabric Addicts Out There

September 30, 2010 · 21 comments

If you’re going to sew, you’re going to want to buy fabric. Fabric is my Magnificent Obsession, and if you’ve ever seen that movie, you know what I mean. I really love fabric. I love everything about it from the selection of it, to the purchasing, to the pre-washing, ironing, cutting into, sewing and wearing. I am a true fabric addict. Lately I’ve been receiving quite a few emails about where I buy my fabric. I think you all know what you want in a fabric, the problem is finding it.

My purple dress fabric found in a different color scheme at Super Buzzy

If you live in a place like me, it seems that quilting cottons have taken over the fabric world. These are sweet and fun, but many of these are a little too overwhelming to make into garments. I have yet to find a physical fabric store locally, dedicated to fashion fabrics for garment sewing. I mean there are Joanns and Hancocks here, all with a very mediocre selection of fashion fabrics. The funny thing is that these stores tend to have more fashion fabrics than quilting cottons, but the polyester content of nearly every bolt in the store is overwhelming. At Joann’s, they have an interesting and very small assortment of dupioni silks and wools. And I’m talking about 100% natural fibers here, not synthetics. It is rare that I use a synthetic or synthetic blend fabric and that because I don’t like the feeling of them against my skin, I hate the way they iron up and their drape is rather funky. So if you are anything like me, you’ve had to take your search online.

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