Choosing Fabric with Sarai Mitnick

It's around this time every year that we all start getting a little hungry for Spring. I don't know about you, but March is when I start fantasizing about flowers blooming in my garden, eating fresh picked fruit, and trading in my scarves and rain boots for light and easy dresses.

I find March to be the perfect time to begin sewing for warm weather. The temperatures might not be climbing quite yet, but that just means more time indoors to prepare for the warm days ahead. Who wants to be stuck inside sewing when it's actually warm out?

In the spirit of Spring fantasizing, I thought I'd roundup some of the fabrics I've been admiring lately, and the kinds of fabrics I look for when making Spring and Summer garments.

●      Linen: Wonderfully soft and breathable, linen is a fabric that screams summer. It has a casual, elegant appearance and comes in some beautiful colors. Linen wrinkles easily, so it tends to work best for loose garments.

●      Rayon: Rayon has a cool feel to it and is also quite breathable, which is why you often see men's summer shirts made from it. It's wonderful in summer.

●      Cotton twill: Twill is a great choice for making shorts, capris' pants, and skirts.

●      Cotton eyelets: Eyelets are one of my favorite fabrics, and they are just so airy and light. You can have lots of fun playing around with border eyelets too.

●      Seersucker: The weave of seersucker gives it that familiar puckered look, and nothing says summer better than seersucker stripes.

●      Other light cottons: Batiste, voile, and gauze all work beautifully for warm weather, have a causal look, and come in amazing prints.

●      Lightweight silks: Crepe, georgette, and chiffon are perennial favorites for me. The great thing about silk in summer is that, because silk takes dye so well, you can find the most absolutely saturated, bright colors.

(Top Row: simply gorgeous georgette in salmon pink, citrus lemon charmeuse, Floral eyelet in peach, premier prints gotcha corn twill

Middle Row: yellow polka dot rayon shirting, mint eyelet, mint green linen broadcloth, blue pen and ink floral twill

Bottom Row: purple painterly floral crepe, purple ditzy floral silk crepe,  ivory nani iro double gauze cotton, white flower vines eyelet, black and white gingham)

Click here to register for a FREE DOWNLOAD all about choosing fabric from The Colette Sewing Handbook.

And be sure to check out this great deal: This week only, to help you celebrate National Craft Month, a fabulous selection of individual Colette Patterns are on sale here, at the Martha Pullen Store.

Sarai Mitnick is the founder and designer behind Colette Patterns and author of The Colette Sewing Handbook. She is passionate about garment sewing and shares tutorials, sew-alongs, and tips through her blog The Coletterie and her weekly tips newsletter, Snippets.