Planning -- Making Garments Using Border & Panel Print Fabric

 February is the border and panel print contest on Pattern Review. 

In 2024, I committed to sew every contest as if it was a month long seminar with a particular challenge as the focus. I really enjoyed sewing along with others. So I decided to continue to do so in 2025.

Designing for the monthly challenge is half the fun. When the rules of the contest are announced I revisit my pattern and fabric stash to see what might work. 

I also like to revisit past work to get inspirations from “me made” garments that I particularly like. As it turns out, last year I made both a panel print and a border print dress. Both were sewn using TNT sewing patterns. And both were among my most worn, favorite makes of 2024.

The first is an incredible yummy silk charmeuse border print I found at Mood. I’d made a quick stop at Mood before my train, saw this lovely fabric, took it home and sewed it up the very next day. I used a favorite classic pattern. The formula worked. Really well. I love wearing this dress. It is a very versatile summer dress. Great for travel. It takes up very little space in the suitcase, can be worn day or night in most situations and can be hand washed in a hotel sink and hung to dry. The silk is delightful to wear. 

The second dress is a panel print I bought from Emma One Sock. The panel reminded me of an Oscar de la Renta dress I lusted after…  it did not fit me… because while Oscar’s designs are amazing, sadly Oscar does not make RTW in petites. Whenever I walk by the Oscar de la Renta shop, I am in awe; but I have to treat the shop like a museum. I can look, but I’ll never be able to buy since the sizes are not made for me.

Since I made the panel dress in November for the  Barganista contest, I made the dress with long sleeves. I like to wear my makes immediately. The plan is to cut the sleeves of the panel dress to 3/4 or short sleeves when the weather warms up. I suspect I will enjoy the dress even more as a spring and summer dress.

Although I used both a border and a panel print last year, I've not made many before. 

I made a dress with a border print a few years ago with really nice denim fabric I bought from Fabric Mart.

And I made a jumpsuit that had a really interesting border/panel print for DD. In that garment, I used the border print as an accent on both the front and back of the jumpsuit. 

I used leftovers from the jumpsuit as a wearable muslin when garment making. But that's it.  Not a lot of border or panel prints


I have a couple of stash/border prints in stash that I have not yet used because I was not sure what to do with them. The fabric spoke to me, but it did not tell me what it wanted to be. This contest will stretch my imagination.

Happy sewing!



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Top 10 Sewing Patterns List by Garment Type

Pattern Review just introduced a feature called My Top 10 List as a feature of the pattern stash. Last year alone I sewed over 200 different patterns. I can pick only 10? Challenge accepted. I began by listing patterns be type. Then I evaluated how often I sewed the pattern and even more important, how often I wore the garments.  My most sewn, most worn patterns are all dresses. Not a surprise. Dresses are my most worn garment. For business. For casual. For travel. I love how I can put on a dress and be done. I also love how I can vary my look by changing shoes, scarves, jewelry and toppers. In a world where there is too much to do, I like easy decisions when getting dressed. Pardon the bad pun. Since I had a difficult time confining my list to just dresses, let alone 10 patterns period, I present my favorite patterns by type: Tops: I have 41 tops reviewed on Pattern Review. Of those, these are the patterns I've sewn and worn again and again: Simplici...
Read more

Pattern Review -- Making a Vegan Leather Sling Bag with Simplicity 9803

Image
This project is my entry for the bag contest. It is the 4th time I've now sewn this bag. This month. The project is also part of the January 2025 Pop-up Sew-along: Nothing but Stash and a part of my yearlong commitment to the 2025 Fabric fast and 2025 50 Yard Dash . I've never made a handbag before, and I wanted to use this contest to learn how to do so and to duplicate a bag style I love.   Reversible Ergonomic Bag Worn as Healthy Back Bag I made three wearable muslins for this project: • V1: S9803 Sling Bag made with Upholstery Scraps  with Matching Makeup Bag and Matching Coin Purse • V2: S9803 Sling Bag w/ snap front pocket also made with Upholstery Scraps • V3: S9803 Reversible Sling Bag w/ zipper front pocket made with Blue & Printed Denim Scrap The project was made to replace a favorite bag that I used for years until it finally fell apart. The lining was torn and soiled. The hardware of the bag was broken. My cobbler told me to get a new bag. You can...
Read more

Sewing Tip -- Sewing with Silk

Image
Silk Georgette Gown  Silk is wonderful to wear but it can be tricky to sew. These are my favorite tricks when sewing with silk (based on experience with silk chiffon, silk charmeuse, silk dupioni, wool/silk blends and silk jersey): (1) Be sure to have a very sharp rotary cutter and/or scissors. When I sew with silk I always sharpen and/or change blades. Silk slips. A lot. So sharp tools make precision cutting easier. (2) Use a presser foot designed for a straight stitch. (3) If that is not adequate, use a presser foot designed for slippery fabric. I use a plastic roller foot. I've tried my walking foot but I find the walking foot cumbersome when working with slippery fabrics. (4) Start with a fresh needle. Sharps needles work best. (5) Use a fine needle. I typically use Schmetz universal size 70/10 (6) If the fabric is really fussy when cutting, you can tame the silk by laying a piece of tissue paper over it. (7) Press with LOTS of steam. Finger pressing with a stea...
Read more