Made By A Fabricista: Fabric Mart, Flannel, and Friendship

Have you ever fallen for flannel? Maybe that sounds weird, but let me explain. It all started back in October during an in-person Fabric Mart shopping adventure with my sewing friend, Connie. If you've ever been to the Fabric Mart retail store you know how amazing it is! I mean, what could be better than rows of beautiful, steeply discounted fabrics that you can touch, see, and pet (yes, I pet fabric)? If you think the Fabric Mart website is amazing, try taking an adventure to their shop and prepare to be wowed by the special in-store only fabric!

After Connie and I spent over two hours petting all of the pretty fabric and wandering around the different rooms of the store, we found ourselves in the basement. The basement contains a lot of the designer website fabric, and I happened upon this beautiful midnight, eggshell, and red cotton plaid flannel fabric. I stopped dead and stared at it, scheming about the best way to bring it home with me. After what felt like an eternity of just staring at it, I decided I already had too much fabric so I let it go. At that moment, it felt like a good idea to walk away because Connie and I ended up purchasing around 80 yards of fabric (and you think I'm kidding!)

This next part will sound crazy, so go ahead and laugh at me if you must, but for the next few days after that trip, I couldn't stop picturing that beautiful midnight plaid flannel that I left behind! You can say that I had fallen for flannel! After a couple of days of waiting and stalking the Fabric Mart website, a cotton sale dropped and I knew it was my time! I snatched up a few yards of the beautiful midnight plaid flannel fabric, some 1/4 inch wide elastic, and two yards of interfacing to make a flannel shirt dress.

I knew I wanted to make myself a flannel shirt dress with a straight-fitting skirt, elastic waistband, and buttons down the front. I just had this vision of a comfortable flannel shirt dress worn to do all kinds of fun holiday activities like picking out a Christmas Tree, exploring a Christmas Village, or seeing a Christmas light display. After quite a bit of research to find the perfect pattern, I found the Seamwork Bertie dress and knew it would be perfect! I loved the tied sleeve cuffs, V neckline, and elasticated waist.

I also loved how easy the Seamwork Bertie pattern was to sew! I didn't need to make any modifications to the pattern other than grading in between sizes to accomplish the correct fit for my measurements. After sewing the dress, it came time to sew the buttons and buttonholes. I picked out some adorable little red-covered buttons that matched the red color in the flannel perfectly. These buttons were purchased from Fabric Mart's Bargain Bin a couple of years and I was amazed at how well they matched the dress.

When I went to sew the buttonholes, my sewing machine had a meltdown and decided to strike. I do not give up easily, so I tried the second buttonhole and that one was just as bad. After about 20 minutes of seam ripping (you all know how painful ripping out buttonhole stitches can be) I decided to scrap the button idea and switch to plastic snaps. In the same amount of time as seam ripping those two dilapidated buttonholes, I had all of the snaps on the dress! Yay snaps for the win!

When I finished making my flannel dress, I shared a quick photo of it with Connie and told her about my dreams of wearing this dress to fun holiday activities. Thanks to Connie, her desire for adventure, and her photography skills, I now have tons of fun photos of my flannel dress!

Connie was there at the start of my flannel obsession and there at the end, taking photos of the finished flannel dress for me. I'm so thankful for Fabric Mart and the amazing deals, flannel for its softness and warmth, and a wonderful sewing friend!

Special thanks to Connie from @thealiensewist for her photography skills!

SHAINA | @shaina_sews