It was fun to read all comments and see what people like and what they would make with those prints. There are definitely some favorites. The winners, with 6 mentions, are “Fleurs d’été”  (the red one having 3 mentions) and “Dot Power” (with 3 mentions of the purple version). Then there are “Ecorce” in purple and “Pois perdus” (3 in blue, 1 in pink) with 4 mentions each. I think the blue “Pois perdus” was the most ordered motif during the jersey sale. Then “Jungle” was mentioned 3 times. And with 2 mentions we have “Indian summer”, “Pétales de cerisier”, “Tulipe”, “Flower power” and “Pois fleuris”. There were also diferent fabrics of the “Arlequin” series. As to what you’d do with them, as could be expected you talked about dresses and skirts, sometimes retro inspired A-line shaped, blouses and tops (the Datura pattern by Deer and Doe being considered by 2 commenters) but also about bags (3 times) or cushions (2 times). And of course you talked a lot about swimsuits, which is not suprising considering the current sale. You seem to like the Soma pattern from Papercut, which was released not long ago and is totally cute, so I definitely understand (did you see Lauren’s versions? You definitely have to!). I’d love to make a swimsuit but it won’t be for this year, I won’t have enough time sadly… If you want to read everyone’s suggestions I suggest you go read the comments directly. As for me, here are the motifs I ordered during the jersey sale, the two on the right to make matching tops for my skirt and the Dot Power in purple just because:

On a more personal note I hope you all had a nice week-end. It was a three days week-end for us here, and I really enjoyed it: we had a sewing party with some friends, it was wonderful! During one and a half day all we did was sew, eat (lots of yummy food) and chat together. There were 5 of us in total, plus my friend’s father since it was at her parents house. It was the first time I did something like this, we had a blast and are totally planning to do it again! As a result I will have a few things to share with you soon. Here is a small teaser…

Last Saturday it was my blog’s birthday. As you can see I took a few minutes to celebrate during a short escape to the coast. ^_^ Yes, it is supposed to be a birthday cake that you see drawn in the sand. ;p Mr E. [my 10 months old son for those who are new around here] discovered the sand on the beach, it was funny: at first he was scared, then skeptical, then intrigued and by the end he was covered in it as the result of his playing. XD

I have to say that I’m not even sure how old this blog exactly is. I wish I’d find time to write more often but I like it however it is. Through the years it became a part of who I am, just like sewing is, and I like spending time here with you. I made some nice acquaintances thanks to it and I hope to make more in the future. So here’s to another year of blogging!

And since blogs are about community and connecting, I’m celebrating with you by doing a giveaway! You probably realized I’m quite smitten with La Modette‘s cheerful prints. I want to share the love and support a local designer, so I’m offering a 20 euros credit to her store. Here’s your chance to test her fabrics. ^_^ If you haven’t read it already, you can find my test garment from her poplin here and the links to the others testers on La Modette’s blog. The website is still in French only, but she sends her fabric everywhere in the world (and you can pay by Paypal). If there are enough entries from non-french speaking people and a need for it I might post some explanations in English on how to order, but I think it shouldn’t be too difficult.

How to enter? Go check La Modette‘s website and come back here to let me know which motif you would get and for what project (if you already have an idea). You can earn another entry by sharing this on your blog, Twitter, Facebook (with public access) or other places and coming back here to share the link to your post in another comment. Giveaway is open until next Tuesday (that’s June 10) 7pm10pm Paris time. I will randomly pick a winning comment shortly after that so you have time to use the code on the next fabric order if you want. I got swatches for those: the voile is super soft and the polyamide seems indeed perfect for a swimsuit, soft, thick enough and stretchy with good recovery.

As for me, I’m going to think of the perfect use for the poplins I just received. I can’t wait to play with the different sizes and search how to combine them in projects. ^_^

Giveaway is now closed, thank you for your participation.

As you can see from the above picture (taken from La Modette’s facebook page with Sandrine’s permission), all fabrics from this first batch are really nice and colorful. I thought for a moment of making something with this umbrella print (cause umbrellas are fun and I still can’t forgive myself for not getting some of Alexander Henry’s April Showers print), but in the end I decided to stick with the checker print (which you can see better here) that had first caught my eye. Since I don’t have much available time lately (perhaps you’ve noticed?) I knew a simple project would be best. I thought I could make another skirt similar to my brown skirt with the lace print. It has few sewing lines and it’s based on rectangles, which would work well with that kind of print, and it’s a skirt I wear quite often so I’d probably make good use of another one in the same style.

I realized it wouldn’t be so easy when I measured the fabric after washing it. I also measured my original skirt and here is how it went: my skirt has two 52×99 cm panels (not counting the seam allowances) and my fabric was 94x155cm. They was no way I could cut two panels high and large enough to make the same skirt. Since I didn’t want to chance the skirt shape, my only option was either to mix fabrics (I’m sure it would be nice mixed with a plain black) or patch smaller panels together to create the length I needed. I figured the skirt would be easier to coordinate if I didn’t add yet another color to it, so I went for the latter.

Technical details:

• I cut a first rectangle of 52 (+ sewing allowances) x 155cm, and made a second one measuring 52 x 50cm (+ allowances) by sewing together two smaller rectangles of 26 x 50cm (+ allowances). As a result 3/4 of the skirt don’t have any seams, and the last quarter has two vertical seams and an horizontal one around the middle. I did my best to sew on the squares to hide the seaming.
• as the fabric is rather light I was concerned about show through so I decided to line the skirt in a very soft cotton fabric (maybe a blend?) I’ve had for some time. Maybe it wasn’t necessary, but it had the added benefit of providing another layer to catchstitch the hem to, so that I wouldn’t have any hem stitch showing on the right side.
• the waistband is a simple 6cm height band folded and sewn with 1cm seam allowances, for an elastic band that was 1,5cm large. It was a little tight for the elastic but I think it may have to do with me not reducing my allowances after sewing.

A nice hem without any stitches showing on the outside

So what about the fabric? As a tester I have to give my opinion about it (although it’s probably easier to review a pattern…). I found it nice and easy to use and found the colors to be really nice in real life too (at first on my computer I thought the light squares were white but they’re a sort of pale salmon pink). It creases normally for a cotton poplin. I prewashed it at 30°C, Sandrine says we can even wash it at 40°C. The colors didn’t fade or bleed. It seems the fabric shrank a little bit in the direction parallel to the selvage: the squares are supposed to be 4cm by 4cm according to the website, but mine were a tiny bit less high. The fabric doesn’t fray much. There was a tiny flaw in the print in one place, but I guess it happens sometimes. Unfortunately I saw it after I had already cut my pieces, but I managed to hide part of it by moving a seam a little bit and I don’t think it’s really noticeable on the skirt.

The good:

• it was a great opportunity to take part in a nice project, test new fabrics, and promote and support a French creative woman.
• the resulting skirt is fresh and cheerful.
• I succeeded in getting the skirt I had planned, which has the right size, even if it seemed at first that I didn’t have enough fabric. It was an interesting challenge. The easy to match and regular motif clearly helped.
• The motifs match almost perfectly at the seams.
• I’m really proud of my catchstitched hem. I’m quite lazy usually when it comes to hand hemming, but I felt it would be a shame to ruin the lovely check motif with visible stitches. My stitches aren’t perfect, they’re still not quite regular, but it could have been worse, I’m getting better. It’s funny because they vary a lot in size at the beginning: first they were tiny as I was hesitant, and then as I got scared that it would take forever they got huge. XD After that I decided to be more focused and they got better.
• The lining is super soft on my legs it’s a pleasure.

First stitches: from tiny to huge

The not so good: I’m not entirely sure I made the best choices…

• I should have cut to rectangles of 47cm by 102cm and add a band at the bottom rather that cut the right length and add a vertical band with a seam in the middle of it. It’s not balanced and even if the checks match from up close you can see the seams. And I’m afraid if might alter the way the skirt hangs.
• I feel like the waist on this skirt is thicker than on my brown skirt. It’s probably because of the added lining and the fact that I didn’t cut the allowances.

Can you spot the seams?

Mr Robots says he really likes this skirt, which he finds fresh, and he thinks it fits me well. I’m wearing it right now with a black tank top. The top is fitted so it’s hiding the elasticized waistband and makes the skirt flares a little bit more under it, it looks nice. I think it looks better like this than with the shorter top I used for my outdoor picture. And it made me think of another use for this fabric: a dress in the 20′s style, in black, with a flounce in this fabric at the bottom. What do you think, would it be nice ?

I still have a little bit of fabric that I’m keeping for the perfect use. I’m even thinking about getting more of this same print in the same colors to try another idea or two that I had during this project. So maybe you’ll see more checks here soon? What about you? Will you fall into check love (this fabric is available in several colorways)? What would you make with such fabric?

Today I’d like to introduce a new French independent fabric brand: La Modette. I first hear about it a few weeks ago when Sandrine, the designer, posted a call for testers on Thread & Needles. I went to check La Modette’s Facebook page to learn more about it, and was instantly seduced by her joyful fabrics. Here is the teaser we could see on the page:

Aren’t they nice? They’re printed on cotton poplin, and since La Modette’s official website is now up and running, you can order them for yourself. Although the website is in French only, so maybe it’s best if you understand French to order. Especially since the way she works is a little bit different from what we’re used to… It’s all explained (in French) here. There will be more types of fabrics available later: jersey, cotton voile, cotton sateen, polyamid (for swimsuits!)… I love that La Modette offers fun prints in fabrics meant for clothing and made in Europe.

I’ll be back in the coming days with the pictures of the test project I made with one of her nice fabrics…