Barb's Fabric Blog

More on Cotton and Metal

I've had several very interesting questions about this new fiber combination.  If you check comments under the previous post you'll read about the possibility of rust.  Our conclusion:  If you wash it repeatedly and allow it to air dry, there's a possibility this could happen, but our wash tests so far have not shown anything to suggest this.

Priscilla emailed me with questions about dulling the shears or needles. Here are my best guesses. I would think after repeated use, the shears and machine needle could dull. The filament is very fine so I don't think you'd see a huge impact doing one garment, but I always suggest a new needle for each garment anyway. I would liken this to working with polyester which can also dull your needle much faster than natural fibers. When you are dealing with a synthetic fiber, there is more resistance to the blade and thus causes dulling. In our sampling process if we have a synthetic in the group it is much more difficult for the blade to penetrate the whole stack of fabrics. I am not aware that Evelyn found anything like that with this group.

We continue to see this fiber blend and would appreciate your input as you work with it. 

Innovative Fabrics

We were so intrigued when we received this fabric from a West Coast designer. At first glance it is a stable white cotton. The color grabbed us right away since it is a soft summer white as opposed to the more typical optic white.  On closer examination we saw that the fabric is woven in a half basket weave (two over one) to produce a subtle texture.  But the most interesting fact that got our attention was the fiber content, 95% cotton/5% metal. 

  We generally subject our fabrics to a burn test before marketing them unless we have a mill tag with exact fiber content.  When I told Judy there was 5% metal in the fabric she looked at me like I was crazy or at the very least mistaken!  But our supplier had assured us that indeed designers are adding a small percentage of steel filament to their fabrications to reach the desired effect--more on that in a minute.  So we did the burn test and guess what we found!!!!!

You can see in the picture the typical brown tinged edge that results from burning cotton, but the fibers that are left are indeed metal.  Way coooool!  The filament steel is woven in the cross grain of the fabric. The warp is all cotton and most of the weft is cotton with these very fine metal yarns mixed in.  The resulting fabric has just a hint of crunch to it.  Does it wrinkle? Yes, but most of the wrinkles are soft similar to what you would get with any textured cotton. We think the interesting use of this fabric comes in the sharp crease you can get from folding on the lengthwise.  We suspect the designer was looking for that quality.  How nice for a sharply creased pant leg?  We also surmise that the wrinkles you would normally get on the crosswise of the fabric are more subdued since those yarns are stabilized by the wire. We'll go forward with more experimentation, but this fabric is headed for my sewing room based on color and texture alone! 

We've started seeing this fiber blend on lots of casual ready-to-wear.  In a recent browse on the web, I found an anorak jacket, cargo pants, short skirt and a raincoat all fashioned from a blend of cotton and metal producing a very chic wrinkled look.

Parchment Crunch is on its way to subscribers next week.

White Cotton is Always in Style

Back to talking about fabrics.  We have some wonderfully unqiue pieces this spring that I wanted to share with you.  This delicate lovely was imported from Italy.  Notice the fine weave of the sheer cotton.  The tucks are created as the fabric is woven and then caught in the selvage as part of the weaving process. 

The result is a smooth back and a neatly tucked face that is then finished with a glisten for added elegance.  Although this would work beautifully for evening or special occasion, the fact that the fiber is cotton makes this versatile enough for daywear as well.

Love's Philospophy 

An English Tailor

For those who love tailoring, you'll enjoy this short video about a Savile Row tailor who moved his business north to the countryside.  There's a delightful visit to a cloth merchant which showcases a cashmere suiting along with some nice close ups of the cutting process.  Just a fun romp into that world.

For more from Thomas Mahon, follow his blog at www.englishcut.com

Nestle into Texture

Choosing the right interfacing is so important as we all know.  I do not believe in an all purpose interfacing.  The concept is counter-intuitive to my understanding of the purpose of interfacing.  I have always chosen the interfacing for my project depending on the task it was expected to perform in the construction process or in the finished product.  For instance, I might underline a silk tweed with GridWeft (more on that in a minute) but stabilize the buttonholes with patches of Armo Weft on top of the GridWeft and then crisp up the hems with a bit of sew-in hair canvas or a fusible poly/cotton, i.e. something with body.  So I stock a number of different interfacing types in my personal resource center. However, one of my favorites has always been a gridlike fusible that works well with textured fabrics.  We recently brought into stock our own version of this interfacing in 60" wide goods.  We think it is perfect for underlining and for detail interfacing on any fabric with texture from a fine pique to a nubby silk to a heavy yarn wool tweed.

Here's a close up of a fused silk tweed that will show you why we like it so much for this type of fabric.   You can see how the grid lines of the interfacing actually nestle into the texture of the fashion fabric.  This is what makes the interfacing perfect for underlining, because it becomes one with the fabric.  It has enough body to provide stability for shaping, but doesn't overpower or flatten the loft or texture of a specialty weave.  We love it!  We're selling it at three different price points.  Click here for details.

If you have fabric that will ravel or fray, GridWeft is a great choice for stabilizing the yarns...Fuse the entire yardage before cutting your garment pieces.

Nuts for Nutz!

A few months ago we brought a new button into stock...a dramatic dyed corozo nut, sliced in irregular, potato chip shaped disks with the outer bark intact.  What a stunning statement for a one button jacket or vest or multiples on a richly textural sweater.  Well, turns out we weren't the only ones who loved the button...along with being very popular with our customers, our supplier recently introduced an additional range of colors!  We were ecstatic when we opened the delivery package!  Oohs and aahs all around for the rich fruity colors that will work so well this spring!  Dixie made a bee line for the camera and got the pics up in the web store right away!  Enjoy!!!

Starting at 12:05   Spearmint, Tomato, Olive, Mocha, Almond, Raspberry, Lilac, Strawberry, Mustard, Cornflower and the yellow in the center is Butterscotch.  Yummmmm!

Remember, as with all natural buttons, the shapes vary quite a bit.  We can try to hand pick for you if you give us some guidance, but the variance is part of their glory!

Nutz

Versatility

Someday we will have to start using a real-time web cam here!  When a new fabric comes into stock you would love to hear the oohs and ahhs from our staff! 

Carole has been receiving a lot of our Spring goods and she works right outside my office! 

This is amazing!  Wow, the colors!, the texture!  I HAVE to have this one! 

It's fun to hear someone respond so immediately to purchases we've made.  Recently we've brought in a group of silk and silk/blend tweeds.  They are all different, but share one common trait and that is multi-colorism.  I know the word doesn't exist, but you know what I mean, don't you?  These wonderful tweeds go with so many things or just jazz up a classic or neutral color.  It is well worth the time to create a jacket because it will be a workhorse in your wardrobe.  Carole already made her choice, What's yours?  Most are posted in the web store now or will be within a few weeks.

We always have our eye out for more, but they need to meet our strict requirements.  First and foremost they must be "to die for" beautiful.  After that, they need to be natural or mostly natural fibers and third they need to be a notch above the run of the mill silk tweed.  We think all of our current ones exceed these minimum standards.  We hope you agree!

See It, Sew It

What fun to see a fabric we carry, made up in a darling outfit!  We love it when we get pictures from our customers and we try to share so all can see.  But this time, we spied the fabric in Threads Magazine. 

The adorable blouse by Betsy Ross Patterns is elegant in the silk charmeuse we stock, #70701, Chantou. We love the placement of the pattern pieces to complement the winding nature of the fabric print.

Anyone tried these patterns?  Some of our staff are looking into them.  We'd love to hear your experiences... either comment here or in our Salon.

A Wintry Mix??

Ok, I know I've been silent for too long.  It's not that I'm not thinking about fabric, nor is it that I'm not buying new fabrics, it's just about the ever present challenge of time!  But as I was pondering the weekend ahead of me and balancing holiday prep with on-going SBDF tasks, I listened to the forecast for New England.  We've just had our first snow, my favorite of the season!  It's still pristine and white outside our window and it was light and fluffy so my back is not screaming at me.  All is well until tomorrow! 

They are predicting a Nor-easter which in any form can be daunting.  For our area, Central Massachusetts, it's supposed to be a wintry mix.  This is the euphemistic term that is used to describe an unknown assortment of precipitation!  It reminded me of our term "European melange"  to describe fabrics that are milled in Europe and contain up to six different fibers, some of them luscious like wool, viscose, linen and cotton, others a little less desirable like polyester or nylon.  Just as we always hope for more snow than ice, we look for fabrics that lean heavily to the natural fibers with only a sprinkle of the synthetics.  The synthetics have their place in today's fabrics because they offer up strength, easy care and color variation that are often missing in the natural fibers. 

We are in the process of building the Spring '08 collections right now.  We watch content carefully to the extent that it is available to us and to the extent that we can check it with our simple tests. We have a number of textural pieces that would fall into this melange category.  When I get to the warehouse next week, I'll include a photo here for your inspection! 

We hope your wintry mix is more snow than ice this year! 

Head Turningly Gorgeous or Subtly Rich

Fabrics come in all incarnations of beautiful, whether they are head turningly gorgeous or subtly rich, pragmatically neutral or dramatically colorful. These are just ends of a continuum of visual and tactile pleasures. I thought you'd enjoy a couple of our newer fabrics that illustrate this point.  First to the head-turningly gorgeous!!

These stunning velvet crinkles are breathtaking in their color and texture.  Shades of purple (Fragonard above) or Copper (Watteau at right) are overprinted with darker tones for depth and character.  The rayon/silk velvet is sensuously soft and drapey.  We definitely see an elegant scarf, a statement unstructured cardigan or an opulent robe.  This fabric hit a cord with everyone here at the warehouse!

Rococo Velvets

As quiet as can be, this neutral toned silk tweed is elegant in its own way.  Carole and I drooled over the receiving table when this arrived!  We are both fans of the practical neutral and the go-with-anything jacket!  Depending on the silhouette you select and on the coordinates and accessories you choose, this subtle, but sophisticated fabric will put you in the realm of of the aristocrats!

Coming in January.