Sewing : Fancy Fabric - 27 July 2024

I’m very pleased because my friend approved the toile, test shorts, I made the other day. She’s now given me the fabric she’d like me to use to make them. She’s very keen on Halloween. I've taken a photo to show you:

_{The image is sideways here to show the name of the design.}

The only problem is that because she’s so keen on the fabric I’m a bit nervous about cutting it. What if I spoil it ? The fabric was not cheap either, at around 93 Steem per metre.

As you can see in the photo above there’s like a white selvedge (the edge of the fabric) with some text that reads ‘Lewis & Irene threaded with love Cast a Spell D #719'. The temptation to search the company, designers and ‘fabric’ was a bit too much and naturally I had to investigate.

Fortunately I quickly managed to find the website for the company Lewis & Irene, and the about page tells you about its origins:

The late Lewis and Irene were much loved parents and grandparents and we are delighted to pay tribute to them both by naming our company in their memory.

I thought that was a very personal touch about the background of this UK-based design company.

I was also able to find the specific page for this design which is one of a series and it became available in 2023. It was also interesting to see the colour variations they've used : white or purple background, turquoise highlights and so on.

There were also other designs in the series : witches, bottles and potions and so on. Two important points to notice include the content of the fabric; as it's cotton I should wash it before cutting it in case it shrinks. Secondly, it's a ‘directional’ design which means that you need to place your pattern piece in a certain way and make sure, in this case, that the birds don’t end up being upside down.

_{⭐Cauldrons, Crows and Ravens, Snakes, Stars and Moons⭐}

There’s a saying I always try to remember ‘Measure twice, Cut once’. This means that you really need to make sure that it’s all accurate so you don’t have to cut more than once, particularly if you don't have a lot of spare fabric.

I find that compared to knitting, sewing is more precise and often less forgiving. I make many mistakes when I knit, but I can just unravel and knit again. Sadly in sewing that’s not often feasible, especially if the fabric is not yours or if you don't have a lot of it. One possible option I thought was that if I spoilt it, I could buy the material myself and then my friend would not be disappointed. Let's hope that course of action is not needed though.

I’ll come back to tell you how I get on.

Thank you for reading !