New fabric!

I was very restrained when I went to Global Fabrics in Wellington - I had limited time before we had to get back to the meeting point and was trying hard not to make any rushed purchases that I might regret later......you know the ones I mean!

I knew I wanted some fabric for a maxi dress (I think I want to make one, not 100% sure though!) and something for a couple of spring/summer garments. Here is what I came away with...........

First up was this lovely cotton canvas - it was the second thing that caught my eye as soon as I walked in the door (the first thing was a beautiful olive green leather skin! I have always wanted to make a leather jacket as I can never find one in a colour/style that I like....it will have to wait but at least I know where I can get leather skins from!) Anyway, back to the fabric I did buy! This is quite a wide fabric and on closer inspection I noticed that there is a line through the pattern in the very centre of the width - I am not sure if this is intentional or if the fabric is flawed.



I decided to work with it and make a skirt that shades from the navy/white at the top and have the turquoise at the bottom, using the width of fabric as the length of my skirt. It is 150cm/60" wide and so I will have plenty of width to cut my skirt from, in fact I may have to shorten it a bit as this will be for summer! I will make a very simple style with a facing - possibly a yoke but not sure yet, it might be too fussy with one.

Here is a close up of the line through the middle. If I have any fabric leftover I think it will make a great bag for a Christmas gift.

The second piece I bought is this cotton/lycra fabric, I will use it to make a shirt. I like shirts but rarely make or wear them, this summer I plan to make a few shirts and short sleeved jackets to wear. No idea of a pattern for this one yet.

In the close up you can see that the print is quite large and the colours quite bright but the white makes it fresh and clean looking. I have a pair of emerald green patent wedge sandals on lay-by that will go beautifully with this fabric, I think it would look great with denim.

This is my 'will it/won't it be a maxi dress' fabric! It is a lovely knit that I think has rayon in it - I am annoyed at myself for not taking down the content. It has a lovely hand and drapes beautifully. I love the colours in it and the hem design. If I decide not to make a maxi dress I may make a wrap dress or even a t-shirt and skirt that I can also wear as seperates. I will probably change my mind many times before I make it up! I thought it would be lovely for our holiday to Oz in February but I don't want to make something that I will only wear on holiday - I don't have that many Lol!

Here you can see the scale of the design and, if you look closely, the fruit in the centre of the ovals. The dark colour in the background is actually quite a bright purple! I have a purple knit that will go perfectly with this for bands etc.

A close up of the hem design.

Lastly, a pic of me wearing my silver trench tied. It is still a little crumpled from being in my bag after the weekend. On reflection, I don't think it is as flattering as my RTW trench coat (it doesn't have a belt) but I don't really care - I love it anyway! I forgot to look for buckles when I was away, I probably wouldn't have had time anyway so may look online. In the meantime I have put a temporary button on the sleeve tabs and will tie the belt.

On Friday I plan to have a tidy up in my sewing room and plan a few new projects. I also want to finish off my two skirts from the August Wardrobe in a Week! I am embarassed to say that one just needs a hem! The second one is cut out and should only take a few hours to put together!!

I also need to make a start on making my Xmas cards, I have two new stamp sets to use so have no excuse!!