NEW SPRING FABRICS! // THREADBARE FABRICS

Spring has sprung, at least here in Southern California, and I could not be happier to wear dresses and bright colors. I have so many things on my spring to-sew list, ranging from dresses, tanks, skirts and colored jeans! I have plans for all of our new fabrics, and I cannot wait to cut into them.

We have three new fabrics in all, one of which has almost infinite possibilities! You can read more about each fabric below.

10.5oz S-Gene Cone Mills Denim in Natural

I get a lot of questions about colored denim, however, it seems to me that colored denim tends to be lower quality. This fabric is the same Cone Mills S-Gene denim like some of our other denims, but has its natural color and is prepped for dye. While it's beautiful on it's own, you can totally make a pair of jeans (or skirt, dress, etc) in any color you like! You can use natural dye methods (it might be time for me to actually read my copy of The Natural Modern Dyer), or simple store bought dyes - the possibilities are endless.

I made the colors at the top of of this post using RIT dyes, and they even have a cool color library for mixing custom colors (including Pantone seasonal colors!).

Product info >>

12oz S-Gene Cone Mills Denim in Indigo
First up is our newest S-Gene weight: 12oz S-Gene Cone Mills denim in Indigo. Many people have inquired about our sold out 11.5oz weight, however, we are currently unable to restock. This new denim is officially our replacement! The weight difference is unnoticeable in person, and it features the same great quality and spandex content everyone loves in the 11.5oz.

This denim also features a broken twill weave, which helps prevent leg twist in skinny jeans (if you're an avid wearer, you know what I'm talking about!).

Product info >>

4oz Tencel Denim Shirting in Light Blue

We're very pleased to offer a new shirting weight fabric, eco friendly 4oz Tencel Denim Shirting in Light Blue. This tencel is soft, with good drape and would work well for dresses, shirts, pajamas, and even soft woven pants like Luna or modified Hudsons. In fact, I recently made a pair of Carolyn Pajamas from this fabric, and I need to get them posted before I grow out of them!

This fabric is made in the USA from cellulose fibers and is similar to rayon and bamboo fabrics.

Product info >>

As always, please feel free to email us with any questions about these fabrics or our other products!

NEW JEANS IN JAPANESE DENIM

Hooray for new fabrics! We recently updated our stock at Threadbare Fabrics with four new arrivals, including our first foray into Japanese denim. And of course, I tested it for myself!

Pattern: Closet Case Patterns Ginger Jeans
Size: 10
Modifications: View A (low rise) at waist, View B (skinny leg) from the hip down
Fabric: Japanese 10.5oz black-on-black denim from Threadbare Fabrics
Worn with: An unblogged Sewaholic Granville in chambray from Michael Levine

Japanese denim is known for its quality, and Jeremy and I were interested in exploring fabric from outside of Cone Mills (which is the majority of our current stock). From reading various blogs and talking to some people, I realized there was a desire for not only Japanese denims by the yard, but also black denim with black threads. What better way to address both of these issues than to stock Japanese 10.5oz black-on-black denim?

Of course, it was important for me to do a test run with this fabric. It's sourced from a different place than what I'm used to (I know I can expect great quality and recovery from Cone Mills denim), so I made up this pair of Ginger Jeans. I've made Ginger so many times, it was really easy to compare the final product to that of my other pairs.

To start, I decided to do something a little different, and I made a low rise version with the skinny leg (View A at the top, View B from the hip down). It was really quick and painless to blend between the sizes, although I'd really love to give Heather Lou's recent mid-rise tutorial a whirl sometime.

The low rise is... very low. But I really do like that I have another option from the high rise. Next time I'll probably raise the front and back rise by about an inch and call it a day. Currently, these really need to be worn with a belt - which I've gotten used to not wearing due to better fitting jeans. Also, I may have accidentally made the waist too big, and was too lazy to unpick everything.

The real test of these jeans, however, is the quality of the denim. To say that this denim is fantastic is an understatement. I easily wore these jeans 4 or 5 times before washing, and they held up just fine. In fact, they almost never seem to "relax" and feel fresh from the wash until about the 4th or 5th wear. That's actually something you may want to keep in mind if you decide to make jeans with this denim... Our S-Gene fabrics relax a bit after one wear, so making them tight is no problem. But the Japanese denim takes longer - so I'd definitely baste before sewing to check the fit (and don't over-fit them).

This denim is getting major love in our house right now, and I'm almost done with a pair for Jeremy to replace his fading black Levi's. So despite the stretch factor (and the lighter weight), I think they make a nice pair of men's jeans. The texture is great, the recovery is great, and the color is uniform and dark. I love them, and everyone needs a great pair of black jeans! :D

Check out this item in our store!

NEW ARRIVALS AT THREADBARE FABRICS!

It's new fabric time at Threadbare Fabrics!! My initial goal was to begin offering more fabrics sooner, but I wanted to choose really carefully. I'm really proud of how our little store has been doing in the last few months, and I didn't want to overrun it with new fabrics just for the sake of having new product. So you can rest assured that I very much love these fabrics, and all are currently/will be a part of my wardrobe.

There are four new fabrics in total (with more planned for spring), and I've included some information below.

10.5oz Cone Mills S-Gene Dark Indigo Denim
Introducing our newest S-Gene denim weight - 10.5 ounces! It's the perfect middle ground between the heavier weight 11.5oz and the lighter 9oz S-Gene denim. This denim will work for low rise skinny jeans (like Ginger and Jamie) as well as other shapes. Be sure to note the spandex percentage, and baste your jeans to test the fit accordingly.

I've had a few trusted jeans makers tell me they prefer stretch denim in this weight range - and we're happy to offer it!

10.5oz Japanese Black-on-black Denim
Another popular request I've heard is for both Japanese denim and black-on-black denim. Japanese denim is considered to be extremely high quality, and I can vouch for it! I recently made my first pair of jeans with this denim, and they hold up just as well as my Cone Mills pairs.

The black-on-black is also new for our shop - this denim boasts only black threads (rather than white), and the fabric is very dark. The reverse side of this denim is a really nice dark charcoal, which could also be used for a slightly lighter pair!

10oz Cone Mills Non-stretch Indigo Denim
Calling all boyfriend jeans! We currently stock 12.5oz rigid non-stretch denim from Cone Mills, and while it's perfect for men's jeans and heavyweight applications (check out Darlene's apron!) - it might be a bit too heavy for most women's taste in jeans making. Enter this 10oz Cone Mills Non-stretch Denim! It's the perfect weight for boyfriend jeans, and other non-stretch patterns. I'm currently making Jeremy a pair in this weight, so it's great for men too!

I think jeans made from this denim would look great distressed or even bleached (like Lauren did here).

4oz Floral Denim Shirting
This gorgeous lightweight floral denim shirting is our first foray into light weight fabrics. It's perfect for collared shirts, popovers, shirt dresses, and even men's shirts. It has a very soft hand, and is completely opaque. It presses, sews and wears like a dream. I've already used this fabric to make a McCalls 6885, which I'll be posting soon.

This fabric is also extremely limited stock (around 20 yards), and can possibly be reordered depending on demand.

As always, if you're making jeans from any of our new denims, please baste together your pieces and try on before committing to permanent stitches and topstitching. All denims are different! Also, if you have any questions, need swatches, or have fabric suggestions - shoot us an email!

HAPPY 2016!! // WINTER WEAR

Happy New Year, everyone!!!! It's been a very busy few months! It all started back in November when Jeremy and I traveled to Indiana for Thanksgiving, came back to LA for 5 days and then went off to Germany. Somewhere around August, that all seemed like a good idea... At least we had fun!


In December, we spent two amazing weeks in Germany and Austria (you can see some of Jeremy's awesome pics here). We spent 3 days in Germany in 2011, and we'd been craving a trip back ever since. This time we did 4 days in Munich, two in Hallstatt, Austria, two days in Salzburg, 4 days in Mittenwald, and back to Munich for two days. It was a great balance of city and country, long stays and short - and we hit up many a Christmas market. All in all, we had a great time and I'm sure we'll get the itch to return again in the not-so-distant future.


I feel like I've spent the last few weeks recovering from travel and the holidays - so I'm just now getting around to posting some new handmade clothing - finished just in time for my trip! I made several new items, and these are the best of it.

Also - the pictures of the first three items were taken in Hallstatt, Austria, and the last set were taken in the beautiful Englischer Garten in Munich.

SWEATER KNIT CARDIGAN

Pattern: McCalls 6996

Size: Large, View C
Modifications: None
Fabric: Teal tweed double knit from the LA Garment District
Worn With: My first knit hat - the Magic Hat in Madelinetosh Nebula

Cardigans used to be a major staple of my wardrobe, but since I began sewing - my cardigan collection has aged because they're almost all from my RTW days. McCalls 6996 seemed like as good of a choice as any - plus it's easily picked up in a Joann's sale (although I may have ordered this from McCalls during a $3.99 sale due to impatience). 

This pattern sews up quite quickly, and I easily made two of these in one day (the other is a very thin, white sweater knit that's been dubbed the "Ghost Sweater" and likely won't make an appearance here). The sizing, however, as McCalls tends to be - is a little on the large size. I made a size Large based on my measurements, but easily could've gone down to a medium if it was included in my envelope. The overall effect isn't too large, but in a bulky double knit - it's bigger than I'd like. 

The fabric was a lucky street-side find that I came across while rolling with my Katie gang through the LA garment district (made up of me, my friend Katie, and Katie of What Katie Sews). It's a fairly thick double knit, with a teal tweedy textured (say that three times fast) outer layer, and a black inner layer. It probably has a bit of poly content, but it's really soft and super warm. 

PLAID POPOVER

Pattern: Pauline Alice Carme Blouse

Size: 44 with a 1" FBA

Modifications: Slimmed the sleeves, omitted sleeve tab, used different cuffs
Fabric: J.Crew Plaid Shirting from Indiesew

My second winter make today is also my second version of the Pauline Alice Carme Blouse. I've made this pattern up once before, but I was never that crazy about the outcome, although it fit pretty well. My main issue on my first version was the sleeve pattern - it's a bit billowy at the wrists, and it's gathered into a narrow cuff - but I get too many Shakespeare vibes from it. 

For my second go around, I used my Archer sleeve pattern (which is a 12 graded down to a 2 at the wrist) to slim down the Carme sleeve, and I used the Archer cuffs instead of the narrow cuffs included in the pattern. I also did a 1" FBA (2" total), and changed the position of the dart - and I really like the fit. I also changed up the front panel by eliminating the pleats, and cutting it on the bias. 

The fabric is a navy and red plaid J.Crew shirting from Indiesew. The fabric has a really nice feel to it, but the plaid was terribly off grain, and lining everything up was a serious headache. Such is the life of a sewist who wants matching plaids and stripes :D With the placket, front panel and band collar - Carme is a great alternative to my regular uniform of Archers and Granvilles. 

SKINNY JEANS

Pattern: Closet Case Patterns Ginger Jeans
Size: 10, View B (high rise)
Modifications: Added 1/4" at the top of each leg piece side seam, grading to nothing below the pocket. This added about 1" and helps my waistband lay flatter.
Fabric: Cone Mills Denim in 11.5oz Indigo, from Threadbare Fabrics

Ah, another pair of Ginger jeans! Can there ever be enough?! I've been wanting another pair of indigo Gingers for a little while now (I've worn this pair basically every day for over a year). The denim is, of course, Cone Mills Denim in 11.5oz Indigo (available at our fabric store, Threadbare Fabrics). The 11.5oz, in my opinion, is the perfect denim weight for a pair of skinny jeans. 

I chose to make this pair with silver topstitching, to make them a bit different than my pairs with gold topstitching. I like the look, and they are effectively different. It's also funny how much darker they are when the denim is fresh, rather than being lightened by washing over a year. 

There's one slight issue with these jeans - a few pairs of jeans ago, I decided to add a bit of room through the hips and waist on the pattern. This works okay for a stiffer denim, but the 11.5oz has such a nice stretch, that it was a bit of a mistake to leave that extra room in this pair. They fit great straight out of the washing machine, but as the denim relaxes a bit with wear - they become a bit too big in the hips and waist. My other pair can be worn for basically two weeks straight without washing or bagging out, while these need to be washed more frequently to tighten up the hips/waist. Note to self - when using the Cone Mills S-Gene... leave the sizing alone :D 

MEN'S BUTTON UP

Pattern: McCalls 6613, view D
Size: Large
Alterations: Diagonal yoke and pockets
Fabric: Plaid flannel shirting from Michael Levine

Jeremy's been itching for a new flannel shirt (this one has been worn completely to death) - so I made him one just in time for our trip. The flannel is from Michael Levine, but I'm not sure of the brand (I had my eye on some Robert Kaufman Mammoth Flannel, but this one isn't it). The fabric is super thick, and was super warm for our trip - as well as Jeremy's motorcycle commute to work. 

There's not too much more to say about this shirt (I've made it about 15 times or so) - it's made exactly as instructed in the pattern. There's only one pocket - I had a bit of a fabric shortage, and messed up the pocket plaid matching a few too many times. The inner yoke is a red chambray - again due to fabric shortage. 

The one part I'm most proud of is the plaid matching. I've always had stripe matching across the fronts and seams down, but I've struggled with matching the plaid. This is probably the first shirt where I feel like I truly nailed the plaid across the entire front, including the button band - keeping the main plaid stripes balanced vertically (I think I did pretty good with this shirt too, actually). Jeremy loves this shirt, and so do I!

I hope everyone is having a great new year so far!  Slowly but surely, I'm getting back into sewing - but I am currently loving knitting (I'm working on the Rosemont Cardigan from Home & Away). Has anyone else suffered from a lack of post-holiday sewjo/motivation? Any tips on dealing with it?

THREADBARE FABRICS // HOLIDAY SHIPPING SCHEDULE

The holidays are almost here (yay!), and I wanted to announce the shipping schedule for Threadbare Fabrics.

The actual store will remain open throughout December, however orders placed between December 5 and 27 will ship beginning the week of December 28. We'll be traveling and spending time with family and friends, so shipping will be delayed.

If denim is on your holiday wishlist, please make sure to order before the end of day on December 4.

We've been really thrilled with the support everyone's given to Threadbare Fabrics these last two months, and we can't wait to bring some new fabric into the store for the new year. 

Please feel free to email me with any questions, and don't forget to sign up for our newsletter to hear about new fabrics, news and discount codes first. 

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RIGID DENIM JEDEDIAH JEANS (WITH A SIDE OF JUTLAND)

As some of you may know, my husband and I recently opened an online fabric store - Threadbare Fabrics - currently specializing in Cone Mills Denim (including 11.5oz and 9oz Indigo S-Gene, and 12oz black). I'll be completely honest in telling you that our 12.5oz Rigid Denim has not been super popular - but maybe this will help people envision how to use it.

When we first thought about carrying denim, rigid was a must... for men's jeans! You can totally use the rigid denim for jean jackets, other outerwear, accessories, etc - but I think it looks great in jeans form. The denim comes raw, so if a man in your life (or you!) is obsessed with raw denim then this is just the thing.

Pattern: Thread Theory Jedediah
Size: 34
Modifications: Used the Jutland pattern to turn Jedediah into jeans
Fabric: 12.5 oz Rigid Cone Mills Denim from Threadbare Fabrics

The pattern I used is the Thread Theory Jedediah pattern. Jedediah makes a great slim jean - but you have to make a few adjustments first. The pattern comes with slash pockets in the front, and the option for welt pockets in the back for more of a chino look. Luckily I also own the Jutland pattern, which has more traditional jeans pockets in the front. I used that pattern, along with a healthy knowledge of Ginger jeans construction, to reshape the front pockets. I also drew a coin pocket from scratch, based on a pair of Jeremy's favorite jeans (mostly because I forgot to print the Jutland one). I also took the opportunity to shape the pocket bags to his liking - based, again, on his favorite jeans.

For sizing, I ended up cutting Jeremy's RTW size, but you should definitely check measurements against the given size chart. Men seem to be so much easier to fit, but you don't want pants that are too big or too small.

After all of my modifications (easy - really they are!), I got to work on the construction. The instructions that come with Jedediah seem slightly complicated, and because I was creating more jeans than chinos, I actually used the Closet Case Files Ginger Jeans Sewalong as my guide.

Everything came together really easily, and was looking good until I got to the front fly. For some reason, I sewed the outside curved lines a little wide of the center front, and managed to miss sewing down the fly extension and fly shield. I didn't realize this until Jeremy tried the jeans on the first time, and the fly pulled towards the middle in a really bizarre way. Unfortunately by this point, the jeans were all sewn together, and I couldn't really unpick/resew the topstitching correctly because of the zipper. The solution was to sew a line of topstitching next to the existing two, but it resulted in a wobbly *design feature* that isn't my favorite solution. Luckily he still wears the jeans and his shirts generally cover it. I considered using a navy thread to do the fix, but I worried that if these jeans last the long haul, then they might fade lighter than the navy thread, and it'd still look weird. Either way - I'll be correcting my mistake on the next pair!

And speaking of the next pair, there are some more tweaks to make. The Jedediah pattern creates pants that sit a little higher on the waist than Jeremy prefers. One solution would be to measure your intended recipient's favorite jeans at the fly, back yoke and back curve to see what looks best. In Jeremy's situation, I'll be lowering the front rise by at least 1", and lowering his back yoke by the same. His other jeans feature a much shorter yoke, and I like the way the pockets/back curve sit - so I won't be adjusting those.  I'll change the waistband to match.

Overall - Jeremy is really really happy with these jeans, and so am I! The denim worked out so well, and it's crazy how solid and heavy (in a good way!) the final jeans feel due to the denim's quality. As soon as Jeremy tried these on, I said, "Well these are officially the nicest jeans you own." And he agreed.

Any of you brave souls out there ready to try men's jeans?! If you have made Ginger jeans (or another pattern), they really are a cinch. And if you haven't made jeans, the forgiving nature of men's fitting might make these easier than you think.

INTRODUCING THREADBARE FABRICS! (+ DISCOUNT CODE)

I am really, really excited to announce today that Jeremy and I have opened an online shop - Threadbare Fabrics!!

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Threadbare Fabrics is an online fabric store based in Los Angeles, California. Our goal is to provide high quality fabrics to the modern sewist. Sewing clothing is something that we're passionate about, and we look forward to sharing the fabrics we love with you!

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When I re-discovered sewing 3 years ago, I also found a real love for not only apparel sewing but fabrics as well. Because I sew as a replacement for RTW clothing, it's really important to me to use fabrics that I would find in store bought clothing. This includes soft knits, cozy French terry and sweater knits, flowy dressmaking fabrics, and of course high quality denim.

In my natural habitat - photo by Kyle Peters

About two years ago, I started shopping for fabric in the Los Angeles garment district, and I felt like it opened up a whole new world. The sheer amount of choice was outstanding, and my stash grew and grew (oops!). However, the first time someone asked me where I bought the fabric used in a garment posted on Instagram - the answer was "the Los Angeles garment district" and sadly it was not available online.

Because of moments like that (and my total devotion to fabrics), Jeremy and I thought it would be wonderful to open an online fabric shop so could make some of our favorite fabrics available to people all over the country (and world!).

While the goal is to stock other fabrics in the future, denim seemed like an easy choice for our initial launch. My love affair with denim started when I made a pair of Ginger Jeans for the first time - using, of course, high quality stretch denim from Cone Mills.

Currently in stock, we have two weights of Cone Mills S-Gene denim (11.5oz and 9oz), stretch black denim and rigid indigo denim. The S-Gene denim is amazing - the fabric snaps back into place, and doesn't bag out after a day of wearing. The jeans I've made with this denim can be worn 4 or 5 times before washing, and often that's because I feel they're dirty and not that they're stretched out. All three stretch denims would work great with the Ginger Jeans, Jamie Jeans and Angel Jeans patterns!

The rigid denim would be a great choice for men's jeans (including Jedediah and Jutland), jean jackets (like Kwik Sew 3251 and the StyleArc Stacie), other outerwear and accessories.

Long story short - we're so excited about Threadbare Fabrics and happy it's open that we'd like to offer a discount code for the first week* - DENIM15.

We'd love to hear from you - so please feel free to email us (threadbarefabrics@gmail.com) with feedback and even your requests for what types of denim and other fabric you'd like to see in the shop! Also, please sign up for our newsletter if you'd like to receive notifications of new fabrics, and most importantly - future discount codes!

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Thank you so much for joining us on this journey (or at least making it to the bottom of this post)!

*discount code expires Sunday October 11, 2015 at 11:59pm PST.