Fabric Archives - ChCh sews

Seersucker Searching

It’s official, I’m a sucker for seersucker! That delicious texture, that purposeful scrunch- I can see much more of it in my future now that the weather is warming up.

You know I love to shop local when I can, and that I’m also forever keeping up with what’s-in-stock locally, so I thought I’d round up a few of the seersuckers that I’ve spotted recently!

Fabric Box in Auckland added some seersuckers and I’ve never purchased so fast!

I love this pink one where the seersucker pattern is floral. They also have quite a few ‘self stripe’ fabrics which end up having a similar texture to seersucker.

The Fine Cloth Company have their finger on the pulse and have continued updating their seersuckers

Miss Maude has seersucker options– don’t be fooled by the seersucker category on her website being empty!

The Fabric Store currently has seersucker options, including this rainbow gingham!

Drapers Fabrics currently has quite a few seersucker options at the moment- lots of stripes!

If you’re after textured fabrics but searching for ‘seersucker’ brings no joy, you can try searching webstores with phrases like crinkle, self stripe, textured to see if you get fabrics with similar qualities.

Fab Fabrics in Auckland has 2 seersucker options, including the rich red to the left!

Joan’s Fine Fabric has a black and a white Japanese seersucker.

Valley Threads has this lovely cotton lawn seersucker among their shirting-weight fabric offerings.

Spotlight has some seersucker options in stock, including the fabric that I used for my hack of the M&B Melba Dress that I added a gathered skirt to.

I used the large gingham seersucker but there’s also a smaller gingham option.

Definitely not in NZ, Fabric Godmother in the UK has a lovely little selection of seersuckers (including some great colours).

Closer to home (and with $20 shipping to NZ), The Drapery in Adelaide has a nice selection of quite lovely seersucker

What to sew with seersucker?

Seersucker is a woven fabric that’s generally made from cotton, linen, or a blend of the two. Here’s a few roundups of patterns, many of which would be perfect for using with seersucker!

Want to get printing?

Email your PDF pattern files through to hello@chchsews.com to get started. A0 printing is $6 per sheet and A4 from $.15 per page

Boiled Wool Patterns

It’s that chilly time of the year where boiled wool returns to shops! Last night I spotted new boiled wools on the For Fabrics Sake website (I particularly like the pinks and plums they’ve got)- and since I already ordered myself some of the plum fabric, it’s safe to tell you about it now!

Of course, boiled wool can be a bit confusing. It’s a knit, but it’s for jackets, but it doesn’t fray so you don’t have to overlock or finishes the edges? Here are some patterns which work in boiled wool- some that are even specifically for boiled wool fabrics!

The Loden Sweater

Free Loden Sweater from Dressmakers’ Guild

“The Garden at Bougival” by Berthe Morisot

Leila and I have released 5 outerwear patterns together through Muna and Broad!

Our Mallee Jacket, Shoalhaven Shacket and Belmore Jacket are all great with boiled wool

“Villa with Orange Trees, Nice” by Berthe Morisot

The Boxwood Hoodie

The free Boxwood Hoodie from Mood Fabrics

The Foreman Jacket

This boiled wool jacket uses The Foreman Jacket from Merchant & Mills

The Tobin Sweater

The Tobin Sweater from Cashmerette is shown here in boiled wool!

The Big Easy Top

The Big Easy Top from The Maker’s Atelier

Harry

The I Am Harry cape

The French Dart Shift Tunic

The French Dart Shift tunic from Maven Patterns

The Eve Jacket

The Eve Jacket from Schnittchen Patterns

Ursula Coatigan

The Ursula Coatigan from SewgirlintheUK

Bianca Coat

The Bianca Coat from Sew Me Something

Jocko pullover

The Jocko pullover from Ready To Sew

Ninot Jacket

The Ninot Jacket from Pauline Alice Design

Boiled wool scraps?

I’ve been a bit obsessed with these boiled wool cushion covers, and I’m sure I have enough extra bits of boiled wool in my scrap stash to make myself a few throw cushion covers.

Here’s a tutorial from thehomesihavemade.com

Want to get printing?

Email your files through to hello@chchsews.com to get started!

Cosy Autumn Sewing

Summer sped by and it’s basically time for Autumn. I’ve already purchased my first wide-wale corduroy fabric of the season, so it seemed the perfect time to roundup some cosy projects for you!

Want more pattern ideas?

Belemnite Dress

The Belemnite Dress from Marilla Walker would look lovely with tights and a cosy coat for chilly weather!

One of the recommended fabrics for The Belemnite Dress is Double Gauze, which is sometimes called Double Muslin (the orange dress above uses this fabric)

Miss Maude has some with great patterned double gauze. For bargain prices, Backstreet Bargains has a lovely wedgewood blue double muslin, and The Fabric Shop in Otara has some lovely colours for $12 p/m. For Fabrics Sake also has some lovely colour options.

The Teddy Dress

From Make by TFS (Auckland)

A playful every-day knit dress pattern, designed to suit a variety of knit fabrics for all seasons, the skirt has subtle paneling to allow for maximised fabric yield.

Muna and Broad

The Hexham Dress and the quilted Grainger Coat from Muna and Broad

Quilted fabric in NZ

One way to make a super speedy quilted coat (like the ) is to purchase pre-quilted fabric! I’m not going to advocate for chopping into a heirloom quality blanket but purchasing quilted bed spreads is a great choice (and since they’re usually so wide, the per metre cost can be really great).

Spotlight & Lincraft have pre-quilted fabrics online (usually poly with poly batting), and many of the local Christchurch bricks-and-mortar stores stock pre-quilted fabrics in basic colours.

You can get quilted-ish jacquard from Merchant & Mills at Miss Maude and Revology. Nick’s Fabric also has black pre-quilted fabric with an unusual quilting pattern.

Jennifer Lauren Handmade is a Dunedin-based pattern designed who makes patterns with a vintage twist.

These two patterns, the Dulcie Pinafore and the Willa Wrap-Coat are available in her new Curve Size Range.

Twig & Tale

NZ-based Twig & Tale has a lot of outerwear for kids and outerwear for adults (including maternity and baby-carrying wear).

Hove Jacket

The Hove Jacket from Aussie-based In The Folds has a great look and a hood! If you love the hem and pockets, you might also like the Flynn Jacket.

Bottom-weight fabrics?

The two jackets from In The Folds call for bottom weight fabrics (think canvas, drill, etc).

Check out this blog post on shopping denim in NZ, the selection of ‘bottom weight’ fabrics at Auckland-based Fabric Box, the canvas selection at Backstreet Bargains.

The Kimball Bomber Jacket

from Cashmerette

Can’t find the right zip? Sometimes I’ve needed a zip which I just couldn’t find in stores- did you know that you can contact YKK in NZ and they’ll sell you zips?

I’ve heard that you can send them a swatch of fabric and they’ll even colour-match for you, if that’s your struggle!

The Cloud Set

The latest pattern offering from The Fabric Store is a cosy sweatsuit ensemble! The sweater has 3 views (including a hoodie and a classy funnel neck) and the pants have a jogger view (with gathered ankles) and a wide leg (right)

Thinking knits and sweaters?

Not usually one for Facebook, I’ve found quite a few bargains on french terry and t-shirt knit fabrics on the Fabric Stash From Factory (NZ only) | Facebook Facebook Group. Most things are pre-cut into metre bits but I just plan ahead for that!

Also check out this loopback sweatshirting from Nick’s Fabrics which is a bargain price! Fable Fabrics stocks a very cute selection of sweater knits (including some of those cute euro prints)! The Fabric Shop in Otara has a range of printed sweat fabrics (at toile prices).

As always, my list of NZ fabric shops is a good place to start.

The Adeline wrap dress and top

from Forget-Me-Not Patterns is a lovely option for cooler weather!

The Reznor Skirt

The Reznor Skirt from Elbe Textiles desperately wants to be layered over tights for chilly weather.

Want to get printing?

Email your files through to hello@chchsews.com to get started!

Shopping Denim in NZ

If you spotted the Jeans Sewing Pattern Roundup Blog and then thought ‘fine Jess, but where do I get fabric from in NZ?!?’
…. well this blog is for you.

What kind of denim do you want? Your project will inform the weight of the fabric, the stretch (or lack of stretch) of the fabric and also whether or not you can buy narrower selvedge denim.

Shops to start your search

Miss Maude
Always a good place to start your search, Miss Maude always has a lovely curated selection of fabrics, and the denim situation is no different!

Backstreet Bargains
Often the first place I look, especially when I’m hunting for toile fabrics. Backstreet separates their denim offerings into stretch denim and non-stretch denim categories

Fab Fabrics
The Auckland-based Fab Fabrics has frequent sales, with the codes heading out through their email newsletter. At the time of writing they had 40% off denim!

Fabric Box
Want coloured denim? Fabric Box in Auckland have you covered with a large range of 9oz coloured denims (and the usual indigo denim too)

Shops with less selection

The Fabric Store has a small selection of denim fabrics (including Liberty denim), as does Moreland Fabrics. The Fabric Shop in Otara has some excellently cheap selvedge denim, and Nick’s Fabrics has an interesting stretch denim that’s a different colour on each side. Drapers Fabric always stocks selvedge denim, and Revology has 2 lovely Merchant & Mills denims which have a great texture.

Across the ditch?

A+R Fabrics near Melbourne has a great selection of rigid and stretch denims, Maai Designs often has denim and currently has a great range of heavy drill in nice colours. Potter & Co is based in Perth and has a decent selection of denims to choose from.