I hope you got to take look at the clothes I made with quilting cottons in Part 1 of this post and learned which patterns are best to pair with them. Now let's get to my top 5 tips for sewing with quilting cottons, interspersed with pics of these two adorable sets I made for sisters! Tip #1: Prewash. Many sewists don’t prewash their fabric. I think this is partly because ...
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You know that drawer you have in the kitchen with all the random stuff in it? Rubber bands, pens, stamps, coupons, playing cards ... ours also has a plastic baby from a King cake and a ball that looks like a bloodshot eye. Well this post is the kitchen drawer of the Cali blog today, a random assortment of goodies connected by nothing but the fact I made them recently ...
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Ah, pregnancy. It's that magical time in a woman's life where everything is uncomfortable and nothing fits. But in truth there's a lot to be excited about and thankful for - including spandex! Califabric's double brushed knits are truly a gift from the fabric gods and not just for those who are expecting. They are incredibly stretchy, so buttery soft, plus there are tons colors and prints to choose from. I ...
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How many of you pick a pattern, not paying close attention to the details, only to discover you’d be forced to learn a new sewing trick? What, just me? Haha When I picked this pattern, I did so based on the casual silhouette and the detail of the interesting back pleat. If you follow my blog as well, you may recall I used this pattern for my purple lyocell shirtdress. This ...
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It’s time for Halloween sewing! Costume sewing is a perfect way to get out of your comfort zone because you can always fall back on “well, it’s just a costume” that will only be worn for a short time and probably not closely inspected. And, for costumes, hot-glue is totally fair game if you find yourself in over your head or need to fix any boo-boos! My daughter and I got ...
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Hey friends! I’m Kendra, from the blog MiekoMade. I’m coming at you today to share my absolute ride-or-die, “I don’t know what to wear” outfit formula. I’ve attended a great many events with my wonderful significant other, who is absolutely terrible at discerning an expected dress code, and stressed out about what to wear for hours/days/weeks before hand. So in the interest of my sanity and relationship, I’ve figured out an ...
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Hey, Sewists! I have been a busy bee sewing away this month. I hope you have been sewing this month too. This time around I am sharing another new summer dress. Dresses are pretty much my summer uniform and this one fits in so well. First, let me just talk about this fabric! I used the cactus print double brushed poly in navy. Unfortunately, this colorway is not available, but there ...
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Hey Sewists! I am excited to share my newest dress with you. It is no secret that one of my favorite fabric fibers is rayon. Rayon jersey and rayon challis being my two favorite fabrics at the moment. Today, I have a new rayon challis dress to share. This particular kelly green rayon challis to be exact. Hurry and pick some up quick. It is almost gone. I promise you won't ...
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Typically when I think of fabric for children's clothing I tend to gravitate towards the ones that are low maintenance yet can stand up to some pretty tough play. Or maybe I'll select fancy fabric for those special occasion outfits that are only worn a handful of times because I don't want them to get ruined. Well, I think I may have found a fabric that falls smack dab in ...
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One of my absolute favorite things about fabric shopping is getting all touchy feely with it. I really love texture, so my hands are all over the bolts, pulling out just enough fabric to get a good feel for its texture and drape. This is impossible online for obvious reasons (although you can always order a swatch if you're patient enough!). CaliFabrics does an excellent job though when it comes ...
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I love Califabric's Double Brushed Polyester! It is an unbelievably soft fabric, and has a lovely drape for a maxi dress. Califabrics has so many lovely prints which would all be suitable for a this type of dress. My best friend and I live in different cities, so we try to get together each year for some girl time. This year we choose New Orleans as our meet up, and what ...
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Hello again, friends! I hope you've all been enjoying Chambray Week so far! When we first started planning this theme, I knew I'd be prepping for a trip to the French Quarter Festival in New Orleans, so of course, a loose, casual dress was in order. I'd had a grey linen option on my queue, but when I saw this blue and white micro stripe (now sold out, sorry!), it jumped ...
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Hi sewing friends! Lisa here from Tie Dye Diva patterns talking to you about the gorgeous color-changing sequin fabric known as two-tone, reversible, or flip sequins (or mermaid sequins as my daughter likes to call them!) If you “pet” them one way (and you will), they are one color, but brush them the other direction, they are a different color on the other side! You’re probably seen them in stores ...
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When I told my Mom that I was making a stretch velvet dress for Christmas, she wasn't too sure about my creative decision. I assured her it would be a magical throwback to the '90s where velvet skater dresses reigned supreme. I made sure I didn't disappoint: I've had an itch to make something in stretch velvet ever since I saw Tami's awesome silver shirt and Becca's inspiration post on how to ...
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So, I have to tell you, this dress, this gloriously bright and breezy dress, is the simple result of a rabbit hole and incredible timing. I don't remember exactly how I ended up down said rabbit hole (Shocking, right? Who ever does remember?), but I did and I came across this gorgeous, bright pink crepe sleeveless dress from Phillip Lim. And as was the usual case, the model looked so chic ...
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I should begin my post about sewing up this olive floral stretch sateen by letting you know that I don’t like florals. I mean, I appreciate them from an aesthetic standpoint, like when Cali Fabrics gets a beautiful group of designer stretch sateen in stock, but I know I won’t like the way I look and feel wearing florals. So I say “ooh that’s pretty” and move on. And yet, ...
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Look, friends! Color! Haha Contrary to what one might think scrolling through my past posts for Cali Fabrics, I love color and am a particular sucker for blue and white prints. For me, it’s a combination that’s easily wearable year-round, can be dressed up or down, and evokes memories of east-coast summers. So, I’m sure it’s not hard to imagine how quickly this print jumped in my cart! Isn’t it amazing?! ...
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Hi everyone! It's Gina here for Tie Dye Diva patterns. Today I want to share with you a beautiful dress that I made for my girl and wish I had for myself instead! As I was perusing Cali Fabrics the other day, because I never stop shopping for fabric, I was thrilled to see that they had Robert Kaufman's London Calling cotton lawns in a variety of prints. When my eyes ...
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One of my favorite things about sewing is pattern testing. I love watching the process as the designers perfect each pattern and the fun environment a group of testers creates. I've made so many great relationships with designers and other testers that I can't help but sign up when the call comes. One of my favorite designers to test for is Tami at Love Notions patterns. She is so thorough in ...
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I always love to see what Pantone comes up with each year as the hot and trending colors. This year's color of the year is Greenery- a vibrant shade of green, somewhere between lime and olive. I'm a huge fan of all things green and was excited to incorporate this color in our wardrobes. My daughter was the lucky winner of the first piece in this gorgeous color. I used this ...
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