Fabric Confusion and a Gift

I am just not ready to quilt yet, but I needed to do something with my clothing patterns. I decided to re-trace the Classic T-shirt Dress pattern onto fresh tracing paper. I had cut and taped the first version to move the bust dart and the tape doesn’t always stick well to that Pellon Easy Pattern. While I was at it, I decided to make an actual T-shirt version of the pattern, too. And once that was done, I decided to test my pattern and make a muslin out of some double-brushed poly remnants from the stash. (If you give a moose a muffin…) I think I’ve got this one dialed in. I made it long enough that I could fold up the fabric to see where the length was most flattering—which is about 4” longer than anything in stores—and adjusted the pattern to match. I still have to attach the neckband and hem it, so you won’t get a picture until that’s done.

I still can’t decide how I feel about double-brushed polyester. DBP just doesn’t breathe. In the winter, though, it’s toasty warm (because it doesn’t breathe). And it doesn’t drape well. It’s actually kind of “sticky.” DBP seems to be the in thing, though, and fabric suppliers have a lot of it. DBP makes up the bulk of Joanns fall and winter knit fabrics.

Shopping for fabric frustrates me. I would prefer to see (and feel) it in person, but I can’t even find decent clothing here in Kalispell, Montana, let alone fabric with which to make my own. I make a point of looking at the fiber content tags on the pieces of RTW that I do like. I have a Liz Claiborne tunic from a few years ago that I love, but I am going to have to retire it soon because it’s starting to look faded and worn. (I still have a Liz Claiborne T-shirt from about 20 years ago that I only wear around the house because I cannot bear to get rid of it, but my kids said I shouldn’t wear it in public.) I would hack the tunic into a pattern and make myself a few more, but I am having trouble finding a similar fabric. The tag says 95% rayon/5% spandex—a blend I sew with a lot, actually—but it’s much heavier than any rayon knits in my stash.

I went in search of heavier rayon/spandex blends, but how do I know what is “heavy” without being able to feel it and see how it drapes? Some suppliers will give the weight of the fabric, but that’s useless to me without a frame of reference. And some suppliers give the weight in ounces and some in grams per square meter (GSM). I think I’ve finally found one online fabric store from which I can order swatches in each of the weights of rayon/spandex they carry so that I have something tangible for reference.

T-shirt fabric is another conundrum. My favorite store-bought T-shirts are a blend of polyester and cotton, usually 60% cotton/40% polyester or vice-versa. Can I find that as yardage anywhere? Nope. I can find cotton/spandex and polyester/spandex, but it appears that the only way one can get the kind of T-shirt fabric I’m searching for is to order it from overseas on Alibaba. I am not planning to go into garment manufacturing.

The husband has zero problems finding clothing. Just sayin’.

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I was in town yesterday getting groceries when Sunnie texted me that she was at the thrift store in Bigfork and was I interested in this?

I have picked up several little Janome machines at various thrift stores, including one that went to live at DD#1’s house in Alaska and another one that I take to quilt classes. They have plastic cases but the insides are all metal. This model retailed for $199 and Sunnie said that it had just arrived in the store yesterday. She brought it home and gifted it to me because she said I wouldn’t let her pay for fuel when we went to Missoula.

I have a bit of an ulterior motive here, too—I am going to schedule some beginner sewing classes at the community center up the road. I’m thinking classes of six students where I teach them how to make a burrito pillowcase. I have plenty of sewing machines, but I’d rather take plastic machines than 40-pound all-metal vintage ones, and these are sturdy little models.

I am going to start with one Saturday morning sewing class in October to see if there is interest. Susan offered to help me. We’d really like our community center to be a place where people can come to learn new skills. We’ve already had some classes on making soap, starting seeds, and making pie crusts.

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DD#2 texted me a copy of the welcome e-mail that Nordstrom sends out whenever someone gets a promotion and joins a new team. She was promoted to Assistant Buy Planner recently. As she explained it to me, the buy planner is the person who comes up with the budget and the buyer is the person who chooses and orders the products. The e-mail included a summary of her four-year work history with Nordstrom, starting with the Retail Management Internship she did when she was still at Gonzaga. She’s accomplished a lot in that time. Nordstrom does a really good job of training its workforce and promoting from within. She’s still working primarily from home, although she has to go into the office two days a week. As frustrated as I am personally with clothing, it’s fascinating to hear about what she does every day.