Some fabric I didn't like - and how to avoid it!

Do you ever get a project that's bad from start to finish? This was one of them. So my only purpose in blogging about it is to help you avoid the same mistake. The mistake was buying this fabric in the first place! I had bought quantities of some fabric I thought was very pretty on the internet - in two colourways. And as soon as I started using it, I hated it! But I'd committed to make two of my grand-daughters dresses out of the wretched stuff, so I persevered. And finally, the end result was OK - for a while. Pretty, aren't they?

So if you have also given in to - I don't know what to call it - the urge to buy something without thinking it through - you may have sympathy with me. If you have also fallen into a desire to buy this type of fabric - then you can find out below what I've learnt.

Yes, this is the fabric. It looks very pretty. It's stretchy, and it has little frills of fabric all over it. I bought this kingfisher coloured version, and one in deep pink - you could perhaps call it magenta, or raspberry, similar to the pink flowers in this kingfisher version. So what's not to like?   If you want to find out, read on!

It was when I first started laying the fabric out to cut out my specially designed pattern that I realised this was a nightmare. Well, perhaps that's an exaggeration, but it wasn't going to be fun. Perhaps you can see even in the above picture that the frills don't lay down in the direction you want. Well, of course, they are frills, so that's in their nature, perhaps the beauty of them - so what's the problem? The problem comes when you try to cut a curve, or anything, in fact other than a straight line parallel to or at right-angles to the selvedge.

There is only one line here that is parallel to or at right angles to the selvedge, and that is the one on the right, which is in fact on the fold, so not cut at all. 

Perhaps I can try to illustrate the problem. Imagine this below is a piece of the fabric, with all the pleats shown in place. You can also see the intended cutting lines. I've marked one of the frills in red.

 Now, suppose that before you cut it (remember, your pattern piece will be on top, so you can't see what is happening), the red pleat folds upwards the wrong way. Like this. (And believe me, it will.) So imagine your cutting line, going straight down diagonally.

 So what happens to that pleat when it floats down again into its proper place? That's right, you've cut it too narrow at the bottom, because the bottom was at the top. So you then are not going to be able to catch the raw edges into your seam.

I had cut out most of the red dress, having tried my best to pin the pleats in place, before I realised all my efforts weren't working. I ended up having to bodge some of the seams, tacking the raw edges and attampting to oversew the bits that were sticking out wrong.

So when it came to making the blue one, I re-doubled my efforts to wrestle with the wretched stuff, and hand-stitched down all the pleats around where the cutting lines would be.

Once I'd cut it out, I even made a lining for the top to try and stabilise the neckline.

It sort of worked. Here's the inside of the finished dress (the blue one).

I made nice little button loops for the back of each dress.

So for the big try on. The red one was slightly too big for Rose when it was finished, so put aside for a few weeks. In the meantime, Jane was delighted with hers. She loved the stretchiness .........

 .... and so practised her curtseys stretching it out fully.

 

 A happy ending, you'd think? Hmm - well, sadly not. After a very few weeks of wear, the two dresses started to deteriorate in the washing machine, with shreds of pleats coming away from the fabric. Heart-breaking, really - and the first time I've every told my daughters to just throw away the dresses I'd so painstakingly made for my grand-daughters!

Oh well, you live and learn. And what I've learnt is - just don't buy this awful fabric, however pretty it looks. At least my pattern was proved to work, and I've now ordered more material so I can make two replacement dresses. Watch this space.