Made by a Fabricista: Fast Sews and Cool Summer Fabrics

Happy Friday everyone! Today I'm sharing a few things made with my favorite summer fabrics - cotton, linen and rayon - and as an added bonus these are all super quick sews.

Each of these projects took me no more than 2-3 hours to sew. My house gets too hot to sew some summer days, so projects I can whip up quickly are great for that limited amount of time that I have.

The first two items I made up as a set, but of course they can also be worn as separates.

The top is the I Am Patterns Gaia tank made with a stunningly gorgeous cotton challis. Call me naive but I had no idea cotton challis was even an option! I'd only ever seen challis in rayon. This cotton though is simply a dream to work with, and if you run across it I highly suggest snagging some.

The top is a simple V-neck with a facing but what makes it special are the gathers at the shoulder, made by simply adding a bit of ribbon or fabric in a tube. The combination of this pattern with this light cotton fabric is the perfect wardrobe staple for these last weeks of summer.

To go with it I picked up this green linen which I thought went nicely with the bits of green my other fabric. From it, I made the Helen's Closet Winslow culottes. Folks, I am fully on the culottes train now. All the comfort of shorts and pants, all the look of a skirt. This pattern in particular sews up super fast for a pair of pants. I decided to do french seams since I didn't have matching serger thread and even with that and installing the invisible zipper it only took three hours of sewing to have these gorgeous pants.

And of course linen, we all love linen. Breezy and breathable. Gets more comfortable as you wear it. Wrinkles if you just look at it. Embrace the wrinkle people!

Pro-tip: when ordering from Fabric Mart there is a little box underneath your items in the cart that says “add matching thread” and it is so handy. With it, you get a very affordable spool of perfectly matched thread. I failed to account for the thread color when I ordered this fabric and had the hardest time matching it. Learn from my mistakes.

The last thing I sewed was a simple gathered dress made from this very sweet floral and paisley striped rayon jersey. I used the Sophie Hines Axis tank as my base and added a simple gathered skirt. The axis tank is one of my most used patterns - I have half a dozen or so that I rotate between every day as workout tanks – so I knew I would feel confident in it.

Since this fabric has plenty of vertical and horizontal stretch, I was able to rotate the fabric for the bodice. I added a cotton lycra lining to the bodice to add stability and prevent it from stretching out from the weight of the skirt. Rayon jersey is a thin fabric it but can get weighed down rather fast as you add length to it.

So there you have it. Two looks made up of three garments in my favorite summer fabrics. Happy sewing everyone!

Unfortunately Fabric Mart Fabrics sell out quickly!
You can find similar fabrics in the following categories: CHALLIS, LINEN, & JERSEY KNITS.