Today I’m sharing three of favourite sewing resources!
Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links. All affiliate links are marked with an *. All opinions are 100% my own though.
First up, Fabrics A-to-Z: The Essential Guide to Choosing and Using Fabric for Sewing
Fabrics A to Z is jam packed full of useful information. It’s separated into two sections: Selecting Fabrics, and Notions and Tools. Section One: Selecting Fabrics discusses hundreds of types of fabric. This section is further separated into five sections based on fabric type: woven, knit, specialty, blended and patterned fabrics. As you can see in the picture below, the Woven section is even further subdivided and describes over 100 types of woven fabrics. For each type of fabric the author not only looks at the origin of the term and describes the most common uses for that fabric but also describes the properties of that fabric, how to work with it and the usual care instructions (see the middle pic below). Personally, just having the care instructions makes this a great value.
The second section, Notions and Tools looks at lace, trims, elastic, pressing tools and more. This section is much smaller, but there is still quite a bit of detail on how to best use each tool or notion.
My next, somewhat new-to-me resource, is Threads magazine.
I discovered this magazine back in February when I went back to work and I realized that the dépanneur (aka convenience store) in the subway station on my way to work has a great selection of magazines. Around here the only magazines in English I can usually find in the depanneurs and pharmacies are the usual Cosmo or Vogue magazines. This one actually has a huge selection of craft magazines and mostly in English. Awesome! (For my reading time, not so awesome on my wallet!) Anyway, I started buying Threads magazine and it has been sooooo helpful. I have a couple of sewing resource books but I find the magazine layout with the big pictures are easier for me to follow and understand. In this particular issue there are tips on how to fit a pattern to your shape before even cutting the fabric and I understand the fitting process so much better now. Threads is a great resource to have! And if you can’t find it locally you can sign up for a subscription on their website.
And finally the last resource I’ve been finding super helpful is Vogue Fabrics Coordinated Fashion Fabrics swatch club.
Inside each issue is a selection of fabrics that coordinate well together. There are swatches of each fabric, with a description of the fabric along with care instructions. As well, there is a short paragraph describing each fabric in a bit more detail. They also show examples of patterns using a few of the fabrics. If you do a lot of online fabric shopping but want to be able to feel the fabric first you might find this helpful.
I’ll be honest, I haven’t gotten around to purchasing fabric from them yet, so I can’t attest to how quick their shipping is, but I never had any problems receiving issues from them after signing up for the swatch club. Once I decide on what pattern I want to try next and pick a fabric from the latest swatch club issue I’ll be purchasing from them for sure.
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