The Good, . . . . . .

Last weekend I attended the 'Creative Stitches' show in Calgary.  I am glad I went as it always fun to see so many creative people together in one place - and of course I love seeing all the new fabrics, patterns and machines.  The really sad part though is that only one, yep, I can repeat that again, only one stand dealt with dressmaking/fashion/apparel fabric.  The majority of the other stands were promoting/selling scrap-booking and quilting supplies.  Thank goodness for Linda MacPhee, a Canadian designer who publishes her own patterns based around a fabric that she heavily promotes called slinky.  It is an acetate knit that comes in a large range of colors and patterns.

This is the second time that I have seen Linda, and she puts on a 'fashion show' of the garments made up from her patterns and slinky.  She is full of ideas to make items 'your own' and suggestions to for embellishments.  And yep, you guessed it, I was hooked!  I bought about 8m of slinky and half a dozen patterns - I was prepared to be wowed by this fabric that did not need ironing or hemming, was crease free and promised to make me look at least 10lbs lighter.  Sign me up, quick!

So here we are, one week down the line, and I have made the culottes (in black):

 the 'salsa skirt' (in black):

 a TNT top based upon Kwik Sew 3752 and Simplicity 3790, (also in black):

 the 'slimming jacket' (solid black and grey print - photos to follow) and finally a cardigan in a fabulous 'cheetah and rose' print.

The fabric is certainly easy to work with - I did not have any of the issues that we were warned about (fabric shifting during cutting out etc) and it certainly sewed up a dream.  For the cuffs on the the jackets, and the hem on the cardigan I used 'Stitch Witchery' - I did not feel comfortable leaving those hems 'raw' but I did not finished off the bottom of the skirt and culottes and they look great.

All in all I am really pleased with these garments, the slinky fabric has 'weight' to it, and it hangs and swings beautifully.  The fit is great due to stretch  The cheetah cardigan feels wonderful - I just love everything about it.  The skirt and culottes are very slimming - particularly around my butt!!  I would like it if the (black solid) fabric did not look so shiny - I think it looks a bit cheap.  But not really.  I don't know if that makes sense, and it may be because I prefer to sew and wear natural fabrics, so maybe it is because this fabric is outside of my comfort zone.  I have received compliments already though, I wore the culottes (- really, they should be re-named gouchos), a red cotton jersey version of view A, Kwik Sew 3752 (cut about 4" shorter), and the leopard cardigan.  And they felt good!  I will certainly be using the patterns again, and if I see Ms. MacPhee at another show, I am sure that I will buy some more of the patterned slinky!