Style Maker Fall Blogger Tour

Let me brew a pumpkin spice latte before I sit down and chat with you! Can you smell the spice?!  Come closer and read further to smell ;). From one sewist to another let me confess that not only do I love pumpkin spice, but I want all the pretty fall things.  Specifically sewing and wearing fall clothes. Give me warm colors, soft textures, and warmth! It’s exciting putting one season behind you and planning for the next.

I was honored to be a part of the Style Maker Fall Blogger Tour this year. I’ve heard good things about Style Maker Fabrics. Like, how they carry such a wide variety of fabrics and it’s all excellent quality. This season there was a huge addition of fabrics to the shop. A wide variety of different types of fabric.  Of course, I’m going to be all over wanting to try. Out of the fall collection, I was drawn to the heavier weight fabrics. If you want a more in-depth look at all the new fabrics, I would suggest going over to Lindsey Youtube channel. She made a video reviewing all the swatches from this season.

HERE’S THE PATTERN THAT PAIRED PERFECTLY…

A pattern stood out to me awhile back. I knew I wanted to sew it for the cold months. It’s the Envigado Vest from Itch to Stitch. The Envigado Vest is a vest with front and back princess seams for a fitted look.  Front pockets with snap flaps, waist drawstrings and optional hood with drawstring. The pattern’s fabric suggestion called for light-weight to medium-weight woven fabrics. My aim was a woven fabric that would be medium in weight but not too stiff.

LET’S LOOK AT THE FABRIC…

I wanted a color that I could pair with lots of other colors. A grey hue sounded like the best color partner. Imagine a dark grey paired with a neutral color or even dark jeweled tone. Perfect right?! You can dress it up or wear it with a casual outfit. Then I saw the brushed charcoal herringbone bottom-weight fabric… it looked gorgeous! This fabric is made of cotton in a twill weave, I love how the different color fibers in this twill weave can give the fabric some dimension. The herringbone is quite small. You would have to look up close to see the herringbone.

(I made a video and documented me making this. You can click this link to check out my video on YouTube.)

When the fabric arrived I was so happy by how soft the fabric was. The brushed texture really helps with making the bottom weight fabrics feel comfortable to wear. It was easy to bend and scrunch in my hands. (See video on Youtube of me doing that.) Didn’t take easily to wrinkles which was a relief.

Pre-washing the fabric didn’t change anything. I found it didn’t shrink too much. I used Tide brand detergent, warm water, normal cycle in the wash. After the wash, I threw it in the dryer on medium heat. I felt lucky that this was the fabric I chose. It’s beautiful and the perfect weight for this pattern. The pattern’s pockets called for a lining of a lightweight woven. I ended up using the primary fabric to line it and there were no issues at all. It wasn’t too bulky to topstitch.

LETS TALK ABOUT FIT!

Let me talk to you about something I learned when it comes to identifying fit issues. It’s really important to use a fabric that is just like the fashion fabric you will use or close to it. Also preparing your muslin is important as well. Like checking the grain lines of the fabric. Blocking your fabric. Even stay stitching your seam allowances on the neck and armholes then clipping them. Now I have to admit I’m kind of a hypocrite because I use unbleached muslin fabric to muslin all my woven makes. So the muslin fabric I used is not exactly the same weight as this fabric. But I feel confident, through my experience and learning that  I’m able to identify what is actually a fit issue and what is not.

Here is what I mean…

This is an example of why you should stay stitch seam allowance and clip neck/armholes. They can produce a false fit issue. In this picture (the Envigado Vest muslin), I show you on the left I did not stitch and clipped neck/armhole seam allowances.

The picture on the left is the muslin not stitched or clipped on the armhole. The picture on the right is after I had removed the seam allowances.

With the picture on the left, you can clearly see there is some gaping in the armhole. I knew it wasn’t a fit issue and that it would go away once I sew the garment. Basically removing the seam allowance will help this case. The key things that help me identify why this wasn’t a fit issue are by the volume of the gap and the distance of the gap (How wide across the shoulder it was small. About 1/2″ past the seam allowance). After removing the seam allowance on the armhole (pictured right) you can see there is no more gaping.

So next time you muslin try to stitch and clip your seam allowances on neck and armholes.

Another adjustment I made that is not shown is I added back hip-width.

MY FINAL THOUGHTS!

I’m so proud of this whole project. Everything came together beautifully. I have picked such beautiful fabric to be paired with a great pattern. Also, it’s so nice to have a well-fitting garment that I can wear confidently.  

A huge thank you to Michelle from Style Maker Fabrics for inviting me to join the blogger tour this season. It has been such a wonderful experience and so impressed with the customer service and quality of the fabric.

The fabric used:  link

Find us on Instagram:

Style Maker Fabric: @stylemakerfabrics

Me: @winmichele

Also, check out the rest of the wonderful bloggers on this tour.

Disclaimer: In collaboration with this company, the company did compensate me for this blog post. (Compensation can be in all forms of gifted items, monetary, or something else.) All opinions and all words in this blog post are of my own and honest. Please visit the FTC laws of the United States of America to see all disclaimer guidelines.