Hi fellow sewers,
Because we've posted so many new Ends of Bolts on the website, I wanted to add another idea about combining fabrics to the suggestions I posted in the newsletter and on the Home Page.
In those spots, I showed you garments you could make from a short piece of fabric like an End of Bolt. For instance, make a shell or even the pencil skirt from the Putting It Together pattern.
I also showed you patterns that are intended to use more than 1 fabric, like Pick Stitch Perfect.
MY FABRIC COMBO SHIRT
What I'd like to show you today is a shirt made from the Easy Ageless Cool pattern. Typically, this relaxed campshirt would be made from one fabric. But I had a small stack of fabric leftovers that I didn't want to discard, so I put on my thinking cap and considered what I could do with them.
USE ONE FABRIC FOR EACH GARMENT PIECE
Here's the result of my brainstorming. I cut each front out of a separate fabric and combined 2 fabrics to make the collar. I also used different fabrics for each pocket. Another fabric made the front facings. The sleeves were cut from the same fabric as the left front.
I made some of my decisions based on how much of each fabric I had. That pocket on the left front used all but a few threads of the fabric scrap I had!
COMBINE FABRICS TO MAKE A GARMENT PIECE
In the back, I was forced to take a different approach. I laid out the remaining pieces of fabric and decided what looked good where. I straightened all the edges with a ruler and rotary cutter, then began sewing the pieces together. Once I had a large enough block of combined fabrics, I laid the pattern piece on top and cut out the back. Here's what that looked like when done:
A couple more views so you can see the entire back:
I really had fun playing with the pockets. Here are their close-ups:
MODIFY THE COLLAR
If you've used our patterns for a while, you know that our collars are cut as 1 piece, on the fold. That means the entire collar must be cut from one fabric. But-of course!-I didn't want that. (Nothing like looking for trouble.) So I traced the collar pattern. Let's look, then I'll explain.
On the left side of the photo, the original pattern says, "Center back on fold." I added a 5/8" seam allowance there. I also traced the pattern and added a 5/8" seam allowance in the same place. The seam allowance is already included on the other end of each pattern. Now the 2 pieces can be sewn together on both ends to form a complete collar which you can finish according to the instructions in the pattern.
THOSE POCKETS
Start digging through your stash for those small, special pieces of fabric you've been treasuring. An End of Bolt from the website could give you a headstart. Put together a plan to make your own combined-fabrics garment.
I'll post another blog in a couple of days to explain in detail how I made the pockets on my campshirt.
I hope that I'll soon start seeing the garments you've made from combined fabrics. Post them to the Facebook Forum and let's do some distance celebrating!
