Two New Makes (And an Online Fabric Ordering Update)

A few months ago I talked about my fear of online fabric ordering and you all offered some great advice, both here and on Instagram! My concerns about ordering fabric online were mostly about the risk of not knowing exactly what the fabric would be like. I know I’m not the only one who’s spent money online for fabric thinking it was one thing and it felt or looked totally different. But, it’s not like I haven’t had in person fabric mistakes too, so I really just needed to get over it.

My other issue is that I’m on a tight budget. I’m so happy I have Hobby Lobby locally, but while their fashion fabric quality and prices are great, the selection is limited to two new collections per year. I also have Joann, but the fabric there has gotten very expensive (in my most humble opinion) and I just can’t plan my life around their coupons, so I’m usually limited to the garment fabrics I can find in the clearance section (and sometimes I do find some real gems!)

SO, I took the recommendation of some of you lovely readers and placed my first order from Fabricmart! They were having a great sale and I got six pieces totaling 8 yards, for $50 shipped. That’s a pretty great deal and the fabrics are very nice. I found the fabric photos and descriptions to be sufficient for me to know what I was getting and since I was mainly shopping for fabrics for t-shirts, I didn’t think I could really be super misled anyway.

So far I’ve made two shirts with two of the organic cotton/poly knits I bought and I really like them both, so I’d call my online fabric purchase a success so far!

First I made Simplicity 8790 using the green color. I only bought a yard of each of the knits, so I didn’t have quite enough, which is why I used the gray to add long cuffs to the sleeves. The contrast ended up being my favorite part!

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P.S. You can NOT beat Sorel for snow boots! Mine are 3 years old and still look and function like new.

I cut the size medium of this pattern and didn’t make any changes that I can recall. I’ve made this pattern once before and can see myself making more versions in the future, so it’s a winner for me!

Next, I used up the gray fabric and made Butterick 6690, a pattern I’ve been wanting to try for awhile now. I love the finished product, but I have a small beef with how the pattern is marketed. I already talked about that on Instagram and you can read my thoughts on it in this post, so I won’t repeat myself here. In the end, I like this little t-shirt. I rolled and tacked the sleeves because they stuck out too wide on me, and I lengthened and curved the hem too.

I still have more fabrics from the order that I’m excited to use! Two of them are pretty Summery, so I’ll wait until Spring, but I have the same knit in purple to use and a rayon jersey to use too. I’m happy with my first purchase from Fabricmart and I will definitely buy from them again in the future! There are so many beautiful fabric stores online currently, and for a person on a budget, I think Fabricmart is a great option (FYI, I am not currently affiliated with this company, I’m just passing along my good experience :)

Here are the other online fabric stores you all recommended:

• Califabrics

• Fashion Fabrics Club

• LA Finch Fabrics

• Fabric.com (they also sell on Amazon and I’ve had good experiences with them.)

• So Sew English

• And Fabricmart, like I’ve been saying throughout this post, haha.

I know there are many, many more, but these are tried and trusted by Pin, Cut, Sew readers and I know that I don’t like to be overwhelmed with choices, so I didn’t want to post a long, exhaustive list. However, if there’s a shop you love and have good experiences with, please let me know and I will add it to the list!

Cheers :)