Bonjour a tous!

A few months ago, I was contacted by Katia Fabrics to work with their fabrics for a Christmas/seasonal challenge

Katia Fabrics are based is Barcelona, Spain and have beautiful fabrics, yarns and sewing patterns and trade in 6 different languages. French, Spanish, Italian, German, Dutch, and of course English.

I’d say a lot (but not all) of their fabrics are geared towards kids garments but surprise, surprise, being a selfish sewer and always keen to experiment, I decided to sew for myself. Can a kiddies fabric work for an adult?

The fabric

I picked their prehistoric landscape sweat fabric and toughen it up by making a hoodie. I choose to make the Stella hoodie by Tilly and the buttons Stretch book.

I take fabric choices very seriously from a behaviour point of view, of course, as well as an overall look idea and cannot praise that sweat fabric enough. I was right to keep it for myself! eheh!

Receiving my package at work felt like Christmas. Gorgeously soft and plush, cute and fun colours. It definitely brought a smile to my face. I remember going round all my colleagues, cheekily asking them if they wanted to stroke something soft. That got a smile out of everyone.

Composition: is 95% Cotton – 5% Elastane. It is described as a “Sweat fabric with a warm and soft plush interior. Ideal for sweatshirts and warm garments. Amusing geometric print”

So, SO satisfying to work with. It rolls a little, like most jersey, I pre-washed it because I really wanted to feel safe and not ruined it but nothing changed.

Stella hoodie

With all the babygrow experience I have, Stella was super quick and easy to make!! A project to easily knock up in just under 2 hours (not including cutting time)

Tilly’s instructions are super simple for a non English native, it’s clear and well explained as usual. I read the instructions once and cracked on with it, no hiccups whatsover.

My favorite part was making the hoodie and the cord casing because it was new to me. Seeing a piece of flat fabric turning 3D is fascinating.

The liniing of the hoodie is from Saheed Fabrics in Walthamstow London. They have an extraordinary range of jersey:and ribbings in all the colours of the rainbow. I think I may have bought them all already. I went for a petrol blue for the lining.

The cord was a happy find.. I was looking for blue but this dip dyed combination was perfect. Also found in Walthamstow, in the market. It has all the colours of the print!

Dip dyed a cotton cord (nylon won’t work) is a good idea actually, to match to what you want.

Styling

The colours of the print are of a playful palette, lively, exuberant and an invitation to play. It bring a smile and is recognisable by both kids and grown ups who are young at heart (like me!). It is fun print.