Clothing Engineer

Why is it so hard to find lightweight black cotton/lycra knit?

I
checked just about every fabric source I know of. Fabric.com, Wazoodle,
Denver Fabrics, The Rainshed, Spandex House, Vogue Fabrics, Fashion
Fabrics Club, etc. Either they have black cotton/lycra knit, but it is
mid to heavyweight. Or they have lightweight cotton/lycra knit, but it
is in just about any color other than black. I just don’t understand
it…one would think that black would be easy to find since it is such
a basic, match-everything color. But it is very difficult to come
across.

I did find that Stretch House had black cotton lycra,
along with many other colors, but their online swatch request form
would not work. When I called them, a man with a thick accent told me
I’d have to fax in my request. I don’t have a fax machine, and told
them this; they told me I’d have to go online to request the swatch. I
told them the order form did not work, they told me to fax it *bangs
head*. I decided that if it was that much of a hassle to even get a
swatch, it would be a mistake ordering from them.

I saw that Fabric.com did have a rayon/lycra knit, with 4% lycra and 50% stretch across the grain, in black.  I immediately ordered 10 yards.  At 60″ wide, this should last for quite a few pairs of Kwik Sew 2908,
the reason for my black cotton/lycra search. I will have to wait to see
until it arrives, but I don’t see why a rayon/lycra knit wouldn’t work.
I already plan on hand-washing, since I’m replacing the elastic waist
with a stretch lace trim, and washing machines are brutal to stretch
lace trim.

I actually made these back in January, but just got around to taking
a picture and writing a review. They’re made out of a lightweight wool
broadcloth I picked up on the cheap at Jo-Ann Fabrics.

One
thing I do remember about these pants is how tight they were! In this
photo I let them out considerably. Next time I think I would use a
stretch woven. I have a feeling though that this is user error, since I
did not include seam allowances on the pattern, and opted to instead
try tracing them onto the fabric at the time of cutting (along with
eyeballing the seam). Big mistake! That’s why I now use a seam tracer before cutting out my pattern pieces.  It is a much more accurate way for me.

Read my review here.

Just completed Kwik Sew 3524 with the View A neckline but View B length.  I used a midweight red cotton/lycra print from The Rainshed.  It is so comfortable…I love it!  This is my first project using the Baby Lock Evolve.

Read the pattern review here.

The finished project, made from a fuchsia and pink print cotton
broadcloth I picked up from Thimbles. (It is actually quilting fabric.)

And a view from the back, showing the ties:

The magazine pattern photo…

Read my review here.

I’ve been going crazy lately, sewing as much as I can.  Here’s my latest, which is the Vogue V2925
jersey shell top. I bought silk jersey for this, but at $25/yard I
really don’t want to take a chance on screwing up with it. So in the
meantime I made a wearable muslin from some four-way stretch
cotton/lycra jersey knit. It is really stretchy, but is
buttery-soft and has a nice drape, like the silk jersey. I’m thinking
of using the scraps for a small lingerie project.

There’s
about 4 inches of ease built into the waistline. I expected it to be
tighter in the waistline, but after looking at the pattern I guess this
is supposed to be. Then again, my knit is much more stretchy than the
suggested silk or matte jersey.

My finished blouse, made from a coral cotton batiste with a texture polka-dot pattern:

And the original photo in the magazine:

This
is such a comfortable, cool top. I’ve already gotten many compliments
on it. What makes it nicer is that it sewed rather quickly and easily.
Read the pattern review here.

When I started sewing as a college sophomore I had a limited budget,
but managed to create some beautiful clothes for a minimal amount of
cash. The key is to be organized and watch the sales. 
By thinking ahead and doing a little record-keeping, you can have fun
sewing fashionable garments on a shoestring budget.

1. Always browse the clearance racks. This
   is obvious, but every time you go into a fabric store, browse the
   clearance section. There are tons of ugly polyester creations to sort
   through, but at my local Jo-Ann Fabrics I’ve been able to pick up silk
   for $2/yard and 100% cotton stretch twill for $1/yard. At the cutting
   counter of some Jo-Ann’s, they will offer the rest of the bolt at a
   discount if there isn’t much left after they’ve measured out your
   order. Another plus to clearance fabric? It allows you to test patterns
   and create very cheap “wearable muslins”.
2. Inventory all on-hand fabric. When there is a sale on thread you can stock up on matching thread for fabric you’ve already bought.  I’ve posted a printable fabric inventory sheet that has a section in each entry for swatches.  This is also useful to have when buying linings and trim on sale.
3. Consider subscribing to the Burda magazine.
   Even though it is $70/year, this is an amazing value because it
   includes anywhere from 30 to 50 patterns per issue. Usually there’s
   plus sizes included as well as a few children’s styles. As a plus, Burda includes
   some of the most fashion-forward styles I’ve ever seen - at least six
   months ahead of American pattern fashion, and at least a year ahead of
   anything in a department store. Even though the styles tend to be very
   trendy and European, there are also plenty of classic styles included
   that make excellent basic-wardrobe pieces.
4. Buy interfacing in bulk.
   Just about any sewing project requires interfacing. Jo-Ann Fabrics has
   50% off all interfacing sales every few months, and this is when I
   usually stock up. Most shirts, blouses, pants, jackets, and skirts use
   light to mid-weight interfacing, so buy a little of every light and
   mid-weight interfacing on the shelf. This way you have some on hand for
   your next project, and don’t have to spend more than absolutely
   required. The interfacing section also has pattern-tracing cloth - make
   sure you pick up plenty of this for tracing out Burda patterns.
5. Buy button grab-bags. Even
   though buttons aren’t a very cost-prohibitive part of sewing, buying
   them when they are not on sale adds up. Places such as Home Sew have button assortments available by weight (like 1/4 pound), as does eBay.  Another place to look for button assortments is an estate or tag sale.

Finally finished the Burda #108 blouse from the March 2007
issue.  I used fuchsia eyelet as my fashion fabric.  Here it
is:

I
should have been finished with it a long time ago, but had to stop a
few times due to not having 1/4″ elastic on hand, not having the right
color thread, and being confused about the sleeves.

See my pattern review.

Silk jersey is the recommended fabric for the Vogue V2925 top, but it is difficult to find.None of my usual fabric sources seem to carry it.

After
much searching on Google and on the Pattern Review forums, I have
finally found a place that has silk jersey in a wide selection of
colors: Mood Fabrics.
It is $25/yard, but this is the lowest price I could find for this
fabric. One woman on Pattern Review ordered it and was very happy with
the quality. It might be worth taking a trip to the city one weekend to
visit the store.

UPDATE: Late yesterday morning I placed an order from Mood Fabrics for one yard of white silk jersey. 

Mood Fabrics has incredible turnaround
time!  My order was shipped within hours of placing the order, and
it arrived at my doorstep (in CT) this afternoon.

As I mentioned
above, I ordered the jersey in white. The description said winter
white. I’m not exactly sure what winter white is, but I would say the
silk is more like like cream or ivory than the average run-of-the-mill
white. I was perfectly happy with this; I did not really want a bright
white for the suit shell I plan on making with this jersey.

The
selvage edges are serged instead of finished with the usual stiff glue.
They do not roll inward or outward unlike cotton or cotton/rayon
jersey. The texture is a lot like one of my store-bought tank tops,
which is a nylon knit: thin, a bit shiny, with excellent drape. The
silk is not as buttery soft as a cotton or rayon knit, but is still
softer and thinner than nylon or matte jersey.

At $25/yard, if I
were doing a more complicated style I would first make a muslin out of
matte jersey. The drape is very similar, and the matte jersey is much
cheaper. The matte jersey is a little thicker, but both are such stable
knits that I imagine the fitting difference would be negligible.

Overall
the silk feels durable and well-made. Like matte jersey or nylon knit,
it is vulnerable to picks and snags, but at the same time feels like it
could stand up to many years of wear in the typical office environment.

I
never dry clean, so my preshrinking treatment will be hand-wash in cold
water with a bit of shampoo, and air dry on an indoor drying rack. I
don’t believe in dry cleaning silk. The Chinese have for thousands of
years cared for silk garments without dry cleaning chemicals, and even
today most Chinese women own silk garments and care for them by gently
hand-washing in cold water. I own several silk garments and have cared
for them this way without any ill effects. I’ve also had good luck
preshrinking wools this way.

I’ve been instead going through my sewing and fabric stash lately,
and picking out the interesting stuff: silks, linen, twill for shorts.
I also found a Wicking Fabrics Color Swatch Set from The Rainshed that I ordered last year.

Coolmax
Doubleplay knit can be described as a cross between a regular t-shirt
knit and mesh. It isn’t as soft as a t-shirt knit, but is easier on the
skin than a typical mesh. It is as light as a feather, with tiny
mesh-like openings and a shiny finish. Be careful when sewing seams
with this one, since it doesn’t recover well from picks. The texture
also makes it difficult to see stitching. Otherwise, it is stable and
can be sewn on the serger like any other knit.

I have a good
friend that bikes a lot during the summer, so I wanted to make him a
t-shirt that would be breathable and keep him relatively dry. I ended
up using Kwik Sew 3299
as my pattern, and the red Coolmax Doubleplay Knit in The Rainshed’s
wicking fabrics collection as my fashion fabric. It was a quick
project, taking less than two hours total to complete. He loved the shirt.  The fit matched the pattern photo shown in the PDF
- not too loose, not too tight. He said it is so lightweight that it
feels like he’s not even wearing a shirt, while at the same time
wicking away the sweat. A year later, it still looks like new. This is
good stuff!

Now that it is in the mid-90’s during the day, I
wish I had ordered some more for myself. There’s lots of nice little
knit summer tops in the latest Burda magazine, and most call for a
2-way stretch knit (like the Coolmax Doubleplay). Usually I shun
polyester, but Coolmax is one of the exceptions.