Faberblog

I tend to only wear dresses in the summer but living in the UK doesn't always mean warm weather! Having a family trip to Spain planned I leapt at the opportunity to sew this fun fabric up into an easy 'throw it over a bikini' style beach dress. This Tatouee Pour La Journee fabric has a great quality stretch and is easy to sew, I didn't use my overlocker, just a regular small zig-zag that works so well on stretch fabrics. I couldn't find the style I wanted in a dress pattern so I chose a top to extend into a dress. Settling on...

Those of you who follow me on Instagram already know about my memade outfit for a special wedding in Spain. As usual I swapped and changed my mind, stressing about the heat (main issue in August!) The one thing I did settle on early was linen. I then eventually settled on making a Saltmarsh skirt and a Willow tank, both in lush laundered linen from Merchant and Mills. The skirt is from the Work Book by Merchant and Mills. I've made a few things now from this book, I love the simple and timeless classic designs. The skirt felt fab, keeping the length super maxi...

I made the perfect breezy top out of our Spot Mono Ikat fabric! Indian handloom fabrics are always easy to sew, the loose slubby weave moulds just nicely into whatever garment you're creating. I love the Willow Tank and for this cropped version I followed the online tutorial on Grainline Studio (one of my favourite sewing pattern designers!). It's quite simple and quick to make, the binding for the neck and sleeves is a little fiddly but quite satisfying. Perfect to wear with my jeans as always!

The ever so popular Grainline Scout tee is one of my most worn handmade things, it's super easy to sew and quick. Here I made it up in our Japanese double gauze Parallels Fabric by Kokka which works really well for this. On first glance you might think this print is a bit full on but it's really not the case at all. I styled it with our solid black double gauze fabric from the same Kokka range, this was my intention all along when choosing this exciting range by Ellen Baker. I'm glad I finally got around to sewing...

When I came across Anna on Instagram I was totally struck by her amazing sewing skills, especially when I realised how young she is - almost the same age as my daughter! Anna has started a wonderful blog called 'Let's Get Sewing' - she's an inspiration for young people everywhere and I wanted to help her out by offering her some of our fabric to play with. As expected, Anna's creative wizardry came up with something special, I mean, just check the hemline! Anna chose a pattern hack of the Coco Top by Tilly and the Buttons for our Pluie D'or fabric....

I had to build myself up to cut into this one, our very own ikat fabric design of 2016! Our handloom Derwent Ikat has a lovely soft feel and I thought would really suit this Merchant and Mills sewing pattern The Fielder. I had thoughts of a dress shirt or tunic at first but then I wanted to make something I'm more likely to wear, a lot! As I started the process I had little pangs of guilt that I was not doing this fabric enough justice with a statement piece! I live in jeans and tees and I've had my eye on the...