June at Village Haberdashery

My theme for this month's vista to Village Haberdashery is 'substrates'.  Its a word I don't remember hearing in my Needlework and Textiles O'level, nor when I did a HNC in Fashion in my late 20s- I suspect it is more of an American term when applied to textiles.  I think of Anna Maria Horner as queen of the substrates with her quilting cottons, cotton voile and velveteen.  With the release of her 'Pretty Potent' collection, she's added a few more in the mix and they have just arrived at Annie's shop.

The Echniacea print is the stand out of the collection, the one that I imagine will sell out and people will spend the future In Search Of with ISO pics on Instagram.

 

This is the 'Outloud' colour way in quilting cotton.  Here is the same print but a different colour way and substrate:

This time the 'Echinacea' print is in 54" wide voile and the colour is 'Sparkle'.  Voile is lighter weight, a looser weave than similar lightweight fabrics like lawn although sometimes the difference is hard to tell.  Anna Maria Horner voiles have a slight sheen to them and a silky buttery quality which makes them lovely to wear and colours seem to be more saturated on voile and remind me of boiled sweets and stained glass windows.  The Little Folks voiles were a big favourite of mine and I have used them in clothing (see here and here) and quilt blocks: I have an ongoing Swoon in voile and Kona Snow.  The School House tunic would work well in voile:

As would the Victory Roxanne pattern with its multi pleat collar detail:

And the newly released as a paper pattern, Mathilde by Tilly Walnes would be very cute in voile.

This is 'Preppy' the green voile colour way:

And this beauty is the rayon challis substrate in 'Float'.  

Rayon challis is a beautiful dressmaking fabric.  it pours onto the body and has a magical drape quality where it will hang artfully.  It is tricky to sew- think of it as a sensitive child that must be treated gently and keep styles relatively simple.  It is great for long flowing garments like the Sewaholic Gabriola (although it would need careful handling on the bias areas) or a maxi length ByhandLondon Anna dress.  Rayon challis is used in the cover pic for the Date Night dress by April Rhodes. 

There are more variations in the quitling cotton/rayon and voile Pretty Potent substrates- find them here.

Other multi subtrate collections include Arizona by April Rhodes for Art Gallery- you will find voile, knits and quilting cotton in this mini collection all on pre-sale  so you can order now.

Jungle Avenue by Sara Lawson for Art Gallery has the same mix of quilting cotton, voile and knit.

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Nani Iro prints feature a variety of substrates and there are some new prints just arrived. There is a linen cotton blend featuring a delicate version of the Pocho print- Pierre Pocho in Mother of Pearl Cloud:

The whites are shimmery in a lovely contrast to the linen.  This would make a lovely A line skirt- Colette Ginger maybe, with a lining. 

You know I love double gauze, (more on double gauze later this week).  Another new Nani Iro print from the Spring 2014 collection is Mountain Views, this version in neon hues is called Ibuku

Double gauze works best in simple shapes.  There is a great free scarf tutorial on the Village Haberdashery blog by Fiona of Poppy Makes and I have one on here too- the perfect way to buy a little fabric and create a big impact. 

Enjoy!