December at Plush Addict

Its a busy month for making and busy for posting too so I am going to squeeze my three monthly sponsor visits into the next few days week to give you time to find presents and supplies- should you be so inclined and to give the shops time to get orders out before the Royal Mail gets swamped!  So first up is Plush Addict.  

I'll start with some dressmaking choices.  I ordered this Cross Fibre Chambray from Plush Addict

I checked the weight and ordered a sample first and Kellie sent me her helpful guide to denim.  Plush Addict offer a colour matching service so I added the Guterman sew all thread in too.  I would describe this as dress weight.  It will make a great long gathered skirt- I have a Maxi Opale planned.  It would also be suitable for a  substantial shirt, or a full skirted dress but if you were making a pair of fitted trousers or pencil skirt, you would need to use a lining to add more body. It is also available in a lighter blue.  You can find the concealed zips here and the Gutermann sew all thread- my go to for dressmaking- here.  The colour matching service is at the checkout- just say what you need matching!

Cotton lawn is one of my favourite dressmaking fabrics, especially for shirts.  I really like these large polka dot lawns in dusty blue:

And also in pink:

They are 60" wide too so great value.

This lawn with its Scandinavian Contemporary patterned lawn also caught my eye, its slightly narrower at 55" but again, a very good price:

Fancy something cosier?  Plush Addict has an exceptional selection of fleece, plush and specialist fabrics.  This Scandi polar fleece would make a lovely simple poncho or sweatshirt, PJ pants or if you are more ambitious, a onesie?

Fleece is not the easiest fabric to sew.  I've only done it once but here are my thoughts:

It is very thick so its easier to cut in a single layer.  

Treat it as a 'nap' fabric so that all the fleece pile lies the same way.

I find it blunts my scissors so I tend to use older scissors rather than my best- although the do need to be pretty sharp to cut through it.  

I don't iron- I fear it will melt!   Use something to flatten seams, I use a tailors clapper. 

Wonder clips are easier than pins.

If you can, reduce the foot pressure on your machine.  

You tend to make more active garments from fleece so you may want to use a zig zag rather than a straight stitch, or even a stretch lightening stitch if your machine has one.   

On the plus side, it doesn't fray so no seam neatening is required.

On to quilting cottons  now- there's still time for Christmas makes and Christmas fabrics.  I love this little tree geometric print from Makower:

This heart print will take you from Christmas through to Valentine's day (bit of a bargain too):

And I love the steely blue/grey in this wintery print (also bargain priced).

Maybe you are looking for presents for yourself?  May I suggest a few FQ bundles.

Love this Flower Patch stack, the wonderful Lori Holt's Flower Patch range for Riley Blake:

A great mix of Kona solids and Michael Miller Ta Dots in this bundle:

And let's end with something I think all of use would be very happy with:  Vintage style sewing storage drawers: