raw materials

The pattern is only a quarter of the dress, really. A dress is made up of four parts: the pattern, the fabric, the making, and the wearing. If any are off, then you really don't have a whole dress -- you have a fractional dress.

Lately I've been focusing more on the patterns than the other three parts. It's not that I don't have a big enough fabric stash to clothe a small ZIP code, it's more that I'm not finding a match between the fabric I've got and the patterns I want to make.

For the dress I posted yesterday, I'm thinking of this vintage cotton fabric, which I bought last night on eBay, from someone in Sussex (and yes I'm getting slapped by both the exchange rate AND the shipping but it's still less than $10/yard):


I'm also thinking of this fabric (click on it to see the equilter.com page), which has giant 6" dandelions on it.
It's also available in a cream/spice/garnet colorway but the picture there (at jcarolinecreative.com) is very small, although their prices are better.

Now back to work so I can get some time to sew!