Travel Wardrobe – Fabric
This week I went to Darn Cheap Fabrics in Glenhuntly, (by now you probably think I live there!), and I bought a whole heap of fabric for my new travel wardrobe. I've tried to stick to natural fibres only, given what the heat/humidity will be like but there are a couple there poly-blends. I've been trying to minimise the cost of this as much as possible. The above fabrics cost me just under $100. This is what I bought in more detail, (listed in no particular order):
2 metres of printed cotton at $2 per metre. Thank-you bargain bin. This skirt has a beautiful printed pattern complete with border at the base, so it's only naturaly that I use this for a nice simple gathered wrap skirt using the same pattern as this skirt I made in January.
3 metres of this poly-blend fabric, (the tag had fallen off this roll so I have no idea what the fabric is other than it feels somewhat synthetic), at $2 per metre, (also from the bargain bin). This is a really light fabric so I'm going to turn about 2m into a dress & use the rest for a top or something. I wanted to use the Heidi pattern from BurdaStyle, but I'm afraid the fabric might not have enough stiffness, I'm thinking of interfacing it with an organza to give it the right level of stiffness, but that might make it pretty thick & hot. I will have to ponder this one some more.
Here are the linings I'll be using for the skirt & dress. The one on the right is a poly cotton & will be used as a lining for the skirt (as the cotton I bought is so thin you can see through it), it was 6.95 per metre & I bought 2m. The one of the right is a silk & will be used as a lining for the dress. I chose silk for the dress & not the skirt as the dress will be a lot more fitted than the skirt & I wanted something nice & light.
This is a silk cotton blend (I think, possibly only cotton but ever so soft…). It is SO light & wispy & angelic. I thought it would make the perfect light breezy shirt for a hot summer's day. It was $9.95 per metre & I bought a metre.
Finally my favourite of all (and my big splurge) 2m of this STUNNING silk linen. Unfortunately the picture just doesn't do it justice. I can't wait to make something with this fabric. It feels so lovely & light & silky, but it has a real rigidity to it, just like linen. OK the reason this was a splurge. It was $20 per metre. I think it's pretty good value for such a lovely silk linen, but compared to the rest of the fabrics, this is hugely expensive.
I still need some material for a light coat or trenchcoat, some cut-off pants & a couple of stretch tops. I'm hoping I can get that fabric for under $100 too. I figure that would be pretty reasonable value.
