French Fancies
The inspiration for these boxes came as soon as I saw the bundle of Paris themed fat quarters; the colours, the prints, those bicycles.. absolutely gorgeous.
It’s always interesting to see how each box takes form. Inspiration can come from various sources such as the time of year, a particular celebration, a certain fabric that I know I want and then have to work out how I can tie other things in to create a theme.
I had great fun this month sourcing all the beauties for this box from further afield, particularly for the Luxury Box, so without further ado…
Yep… très belle! The fabric this month was sourced all the way from France itself. This absolutely gorgeous rayon viscose is from Atelier Brunette and each box contains 3.3 meters of the beautiful ‘blossom coral’ fabric. The colours are perfect and the weight of the fabric means it will be great for all sorts of summery tops and dresses.
Talking of dresses, the pattern this month comes from French designer Pauline Alice. With a nod to the 50s this shirtdress buttons to the waist and is fitted with front and back waist darts. The high waisted, gathered skirts gives it that 50s silhouette and comes with two sleeve options.
This pattern is perfect if you want to take part in one of the Instagram challenges that is currently running, #sewtogetherforsummer which you can read more about at Sarah’s blog. I am totally excited to be one of the sponsors of the challenge and cannot wait to see all the gorgeous shirt dresses on Instagram. I’m currently making mine out of the fabric from last months box.
The fabric that went into the Classic and Mini boxes turns me into a bit of a fabric magpie, stroking it and making cooing noises. The floral georgette fabric is absolutely gorgeous, with silky like properties. The fabric was named after the early 20th century French dressmaker Georgette de la Plante, a lovely little knowledge bomb for you today.
This fabric will make some gorgeous, floaty dresses and blouses but is pretty slippery so I will be creating a blog post in the future pooling together some resources on working with slippery fabrics. But to start you off the boxes also come with a new set of sewing machine needles, some are a mixed set and others are size 10/70 which is pretty fine. Using a new, fine needle will help to stop the fabric puckering in the sewing machine.
As well as the regular matching Gutermann thread each box also comes with the most gorgeous buttons and 1 meter of spaghetti cord from Frou Frou, another french fabric brand that also make lovely trims and accompaniments to their fabrics. The cord is ideal for making straps on your summer dresses and tops or tie into a little bow for a decorative detail.
Make sure to check the fabric care page to get washing instructions.
As always I cannot wait to see what you make using the goodies in your box. Don’t forget to email me a picture or upload them to Facebook or on Instagram and use the #sewhayleyjanemakes to help spread the word.
Happy Sewing!