Hey guys, it's Haley at Seamwork and today I want to take you behind the
scenes and give you a peek at the fabrics I chose for the November issue.
We have two patterns this month: we have the Oliver sweater, I really love this
sweater, I think that it's really fun it's really simple in construction, it's
a boxy style sweater, but it has this little cool secret surprise. It has a
lantern sleeve. A lantern sleeve is typically has a seam at the elbow and it
gives your sleeve kind of this like lantern-y type shape. It's really pretty
and geometric, and for this reason you're gonna want to choose a medium to heavy
weight knit fabric so that it shows off the silhouette of this sleeve really
well and so it doesn't kind of collapse onto your body. So for my first sample
here I have this really great quilted knit. It's a pretty stable fabric that
does have a little bit of stretch, which is really nice for movement especially
across your shoulders as you move throughout the day. This sweater has a
facing so something to keep in mind is that if you're using something that's
super heavyweight you could always opt for something that's a little lighter
weight for the facing to just save you on some bulk. You'll see a sample where
I'd do that next. Next up we have this really cool cotton sherpa fabric from
Birch Fabrics. This is what I was talking about earlier, this fabric is really
fluffy and amazing but it would make for a super duper bulky facing, so in this
case we used a little scrap of Ponte to make our facing and it helps that
neckline just lay really flat. I love this neckline construction because it's
super easy and you don't have to wrestle with a knit band, I know that's a
technique that a lot of people struggle with and on special fabrics it can be a
huge, huge pain. This sherpa is great because it has an
awesome texture and it has that body that shows off the shape of this sleeve
beautifully. Next up we have the hack. The hack for this month adds a funnel neck
line to the Oliver sweatshirt, which I think is super cute. If you want this to
stand up a little bit more straight, definitely opt for things more on the
heavyweight side than the medium weight.This is a cotton and hemp fleece
sweatshirt fleece fabric. Super beautiful, really, really soft on the inside, the
hemp really gives it this really luxurious soft hand that I love and this
is a great fabric because it's super accessible sweatshirt fleece you can
pick up a ton of fabric stores all over the place and I wanted to make sure to
show you guys something that was easy to access as well. In
addition to the Oliver sweatshirt we have the Dezi skirt. I really, really like
this skirt I think it has a lot of special things going for it.
So the Dezi skirt is an elastic waist skirt but has another secret surprise:
it's cut on the bias. If you are someone who loves the glamour and the look of
bias cut garments but are really intimidated by it, this is a really
really great place to start because you don't have to fuss with closures or any
fancy techniques, has the elastic waistband. To help you save on fabric
layout we wanted to add a seam so you're not using just yards and yards and yards
of fabric for a skirt. But we didn't want it to just be like any seam we put a
little diagonal seam here, in the leopard print it's a little bit hard to see. It's
diagonal runs from about hip down to the lower quadrant of the skirt
and this helps you save on fabric when you're cutting out. It's also just a
really pretty design feature. Because this is cut on the bias you're gonna
want to avoid fabrics like twill. Twill is not ideal for the bias because it has a
diagonal type weave structure, so look for something with a plain weave. You're
not gonna want to cut this skirt on the straight of grain either because it has
a little bit of negative ease because the bias is, as you can see here,
super duper stretchy. For this first sample I have a rayon challis. I think
that rayon challis is like a really great option if you want something really
flowy but don't want to fuss with silk. This is where it's at - it comes in a ton
of different colors, ton of different prints. Just keep in mind when you're
shopping for a print you may have to match it up if you choose something like
a stripe. also think about print placement if
you're choosing a really big print you are gonna have that diagonal seam right
down the center of your skirt. So just be cognizant of that when you're choosing
your fabric and make sure that you're gonna be happy with that seaming.
For our second sample here we have this really great slub fabric I think I got
it at Stonemountain & Daughter. It's called the Mora Slub. As the name suggests it's
really slubby and textured and I think that this has like a really pretty look
up close but then from far away looks like really soft and diffused. Little
bit something different from just your like plain weave fabric. This is really
great because it has that great bias diagonal stretch to it so it really
molds to the body as you wear it and hugs your curves. I think it also is
really drapey but has a little bit more body than the rayon challis
so the fluted shape doesn't collapse quite as much and I think that's a
really pretty look. And then we have our bonus for the month. If you
have something in your stash that you're just like dying to use but it's a twill,
skip the main pattern move on to the bonus because this guy is cut on the
straight of grain. This essentially is kind of a whole different pattern. We
have a gathered skirt and it has this subtle shirttail kind of hem. It's really
pretty still maintains that easy to sew elastic waistband but you might have a
little bit more options when it comes to your fabric choice in terms of print and
in terms of weave so this could be a really great option again if you have
like a really big print that you don't want to seam in the middle of or if
you have a twill fabric. This fabric is a rayon crepe. It has a little bit of a
crinkled texture to it and I think that the vertical lines of that really
accentuate the gathers and make it feel like extra swing-y and gather-y and
soft. This fabric is a really great option for this particular sample.
So those are all of our November fabrics. I hope you learned a few tricks and got
inspired to sew your own Oliver and Dezi. Thanks for joining me and happy
sewing!