April Fabric Haul

Hey, hey!

How are you all doing? I’ve been itching to get back to the sewing machine, but because Life is happening I’ve had to put sewing on the back burner for a bit. I’ve been pretty busy this week and I have a lot to do in the upcoming weeks ahead. But I’m gonna try my best to fit in at least one project. Fingers crossed!

Also, since my last sew (My Tamzin dress that I wore for Easter) I have not had any new fabric to work with at the time.

Until now.

Over the past month or so, I’ve been spending lots of my free time just perusing the internet and ooh-ing and ahh-ing over all the different “Spring-y” fabrics that are out at the moment. I think Spring is such a perfect time of year for wearing dresses! And of course, Spring is the perfect season to get some great prints and light colors into your wardrobe. While I don’t normally wear light colors in general, I’ve been trying to get out of my comfort zone and start using more “bright” hues, like yellows and pinks. And also, while I could never say no to a good floral print, I’ve been itching to sew with plaids and stripes.

I’ve been able to get my hands on some really cute fabrics this time around, and it felt somewhat like Christmas in April because all the pieces I’ve purchased over the past couple months have all started arriving at the same time. Here is my fabric stash that I’ve been accumulating over the past month:

It was a very gloomy morning the day I took this photo, so all fabric is shown under fluorescent lighting, with as much natural sunlight as I could get coming through both my kitchen windows. Individual photos of yardage are taken in natural light. Either way, seeing the fabric in person, I was so pleased to see how vibrant and beautiful each shade really is, which can sometimes be hit-and-miss when you buy online.

Fabric Details:

• Flower Market in Daisy by A Beautiful Mess: Like I said, I could never say no to a good floral print. That, and the fact that it’s a 70s floral print?? I. Am. OBSESSED. I had the hardest time picking which print to order because they are all so fabulous! But in the end I chose the large flower petals in Daisy. I wanted to be “adventurous” with color and I adore all the muted yellows, browns, greens, and oranges together. So 70s!! I love it! Yardage for this fabric was purchased through fabric.com.

• Sevenberry: Nara Homespun Indigo in Clouds by Robert Kaufman: If you’ve been following my blog so far, you may have noticed that I really love using Kaufman fabrics for sewing. From the prints to the quality of the fabrics, I’ve yet to say anything negative about them. When I opened up my package and saw my Nara piece for the first time, I was immediately in awe. The print and color of this fabric is stunningly gorgeous in person! At first glance and depending on the light, the background looks black, but it is actually a beautiful, deep indigo blue. And the cloud print is so pretty! This fabric has a little bit of stiffness in it, so I plan to copy and create a pattern from one of my existing kimono tops and recreate it with this print. Yardage for this fabric was purchased through fabric.com.

• Mammoth Flannel Plaid in Walnut by Robert Kaufman: Ok, this is technically not for Spring sewing, but I had ordered this fabric waaaay back in the end of February, and the first time I ordered it from Hancock’s of Paducah it went on back order for the longest time. I ended canceling and tried waiting for it to come back in stock on fabric.com, but that took forever-and-a-day as well, so I kept researching until I was able to track down enough yardage through Fat Quarter Shop. It also took a while to ship but it’s finally here! I’ve always wanted and had been meaning to sew a good plaid Fall/Winter dress, but totally missed the opportunity last year because I kept holding off until I found the perfect plaid print. I just couldn’t find The One. I know. I’m picky and I don’t apologize for it. But of course, Robert Kaufman came to the rescue once again with the Mammoth Flannel Plaid collection. I’m glad my waiting and research paid off. The brown background with tan and green detail is really nice in person. And again with the quality! It’s not a scratchy flannel. It wasn’t too thick or too thin like other flannel I’ve seen before. It’s a good shirting weight. I think this will make a really nice dress for when Fall rolls around again. At least I’ll be well ahead of schedule this time!

• London Calling in Princess by Robert Kaufman: Yes, another Kaufman print! I’ve used this floral pattern before when I made my Lulu dress a while back, only it was in the green Sweet Pea shade. My favorite color is purple (as you will may have noticed from the number of purple shades in this stash) and I’ve been wanting to sew a purple dress ever since I accomplished sewing my first one. I’m pretty sure this print will manifest itself into a kind of 60s or 70s inspired frock, just like the other. We shall see! Yardage for this fabric was purchased through hartsfabric.com

• Kaleidoscope Stripes and Plaids by Alison Glass for Andover Fabrics: Because of my desire to sew a purple dress, when I first saw the Kaleidoscope collection, I absolutely could NOT pass it up! Every single shade and pattern is so colorful and gorgeous! But I was especially thrilled to see both stripes and plaid in shades of purple. Now, not only can I sew just one purple dress, but I’ll have many purple dresses! I’m really liking the feel of the fabric as well. It feels slightly lighter than quilting cotton and has a soft drape to it, so I imagine it will work beautifully for dress making. I want to gain more experience and skill with pattern matching, so I’m excited to see what I can do with these two. I’m thinking along the lines of fit-and-flare dresses for both prints. The plaid will make a really cute Spring or even Summer dress.

My goodness I’m so in love with the stripes. It totally reminds me of Fruit Stripe gum–not the regular “chewing gum” package-but the other one, in the purple sleeve. That one was the “bubble gum” Fruit Stripe. Anyone remember those? I can just smell and taste them in my mind right now. Yum! Yardage for both cuts were purchased from Hancocks of Paducah.

Fruit Stripe Bubble Gum, not to be confused with Fruit Stripe Chewing Gum, with the red, green, and yellow packaging

Needless to say, with all my beautiful fabrics in hand, I’ve got a whole lot of sewing projects to choose from! The only thing I need now is to find the perfect time to set aside to start sewing. I recently took inventory of all the sewing patterns I’ve collected so far, and I have soooo many that I have yet to even open up and look at, let alone sew! I already chose some pattern selections for each piece of fabric I have on hand. As I said, I’ll try to get at least one done this week, if I can! But for the now:

Get your sew on and have a great day!

Love,