 Welcome back to the prep work for the sew-along that we are working on simplicity 9642. If you're just finding this sew-along with this video, you've missed a couple of them. We're just getting ready to cut out our fabric. Today we're going to talk about fabrics that are suitable for this pattern, but you've already missed how to pick your size and how to make alterations to this pattern. So in the description box, you will find a list of all the different episodes so far, start at the beginning obviously, and work your way through. But for those of you that are keeping up, we are going to be looking at our fabric options today. So when you are going to make your shopping list, when you are filling out your project materials, fabric options, any of those things within the workbook, this is the video for that. If you don't have it yet, this is the free sew-along workbook that I designed to work in conjunction with this sew-along. I'll be referring to it all week long as we keep finishing up tasks and starting new ones. All right, so let's talk about fabric. This pattern, the more that I have thought about it, is like the unicorn of sewing patterns. So it was obviously released in the fall or sometime fall-winter because of her styling with the tights and the velvet. So you know that it's suitable for heavier weight woven as well, velvet being one of them. In addition to that, on the back of the envelope for the suggested fabrics, it also suggests rayons, not heavy weight at all, silky types, and soft cottons. So I know how I like my clothes to feel when I wear them. This is going to become sort of a very tangible type of choice for you because this pattern can accept so many different types of fabrics. We've got everything from the lightweight rayons, mid-weight cottons, and then all the way up to the heavier weight velvets. So if you're making this video in real time with me in like late March as the seasons are changing from winter to spring, then you're going to want to focus on fabrics that are sort of lightweight to mid-weight. Drape can vary, and I think mostly you're probably going to be looking for breathability and just general comfort, you know, because it starts to get hot. All you want to do is be comfortable. So in thinking about this, I decided or I pulled three fabrics from my stash, including the one that I'm wearing today that I think would be suitable for this. I'm going to have links for everything in the description box. If you want to purchase any of these fabrics, I'm 99% sure they're all still available, but I wanted to show you them sort of as they drape, as they wear, and things like that to help you get an idea of what you want to make your dress out of. The lighter weight and the more drapey the fabric is, the more dressy, the more sort of, I don't want to say elegant, but the more classy of a vibe you'll get. You'll get more of like an Easter Sunday dress than you will like, let's go to Target dress. So I put together a Pinterest board just for this pattern, showing you very similar style lines in ready to wear dresses in a bunch of different fabrics. So you can see how they all wear. The first one I want to talk about is the lightweight drapey fabric. Now this, I know they say rayons and that's true and they say silky types and that's true, but that's all still very vague because within those two categories is about a thousand different substrates. So what I would look for is something that is drapey, but has a little bit of weight to it, you know, something a little bit substantial. This is a vine print that I got from Joanne's silky type section. I do believe that it is rayon crepe, but it's heavier, it's meatier, it's not as flowy as like a, you know, rayon shali would be. It's going to be easier to work with, but it's also going to give these princess seams and this sort of closer fitting skirt some teeth, you know, it's going to give it a little bit of substance. So it's not just like onto your body. Same thing to consider when we look at the under bust darts and this massive sleeve that we have. We need something that has a little bit of weight to it, a little bit of structure to it, to really show off the gathers and also stand up to the, all the pleats that are in this sleeve. Now this version I also think would be exceptional for view a, which is the long sleeve with the elastic. That would be even prettier that I think than the short sleeve version just because this lends itself so well to like a beautifully draped sleeve. But you can see how it's going on me. It's very drapey, but it's got some weight to it, which is going to allow it to kind of stand up on its own when it needs to, but also be drapey and flowy in the areas that it needs to as well. Moving on from the lightweight drapey fabrics would be your mid-weight fabrics. What I'm wearing today is a rayon, like a mostly viscous rayon blend from Joanne's linen look, linen, linen look section. You can see how it's holding up to the sleeves and, but, and is like falling in on my body, but not too much. I mean, this is a dolman sleeve for all to instance and purposes, drop shoulder situation. So if it were very stiff, then, you know, it would be very boxy on top because it has a little bit of drape to it. It is falling in on my body in all the right places. This skirt is a similar silhouette as that one through the hip in terms of ease. It is a wrap, so it's a little bit hard to tell, but this is how that kind of skirt would look fitted through the waist and then kind of gradually making an aim line as it goes out. This is a cotton linen blend. This came from Stoutmaker Fabric's recent spring release. If you haven't watched this watch video for that, you're missing out on a really good time. So like the rayon linen, this is a cotton linen, so it still has all the breathability and the structure of linen, but instead of it being super, super drapey like this one is, it's going to be a little less so. So it's this sleeve, if I use this, this sleeve would be massive because there's nowhere that it's going to fall in at all. It's going to stand up to the high heavens, no matter what I do to it. So you can get an idea of the drape of this guy here. It's also heavier than what I'm wearing and you can see that it's going to be a very kind of more structured dress than even what I'm wearing, and even though they both have some form of linen in them. I think this one's mostly cotton and this one's mostly rayon, so they really are opposite ends of the linen blend spectrum, but this one is just really beautiful and feels really good and still very breathable, but also still structured. So the bust cups are going to look great and as it floats away from the body, it's really going to stand away and kind of as you walk and that ruffle flows, it's just a beautiful moment. In between this and this is a 100% cotton, so something like a shirting. You might remember this from the Style Maker fabrics video as well, sorry about the sun. This one comes in four different colors. I think black background, red background, green background, and then this blue one, but I just could not resist this blue background. I even got my nails to match for you guys, for the sew along, so this is clearly the one that I am using. And I chose a shirting for this because I wanted it, think about a shirt dress, okay? Think about how it's like the perfect balance between drape and structure. I want this skirt to stand away from my body, first and foremost. That's just what I prefer. That's what's comfortable to me, especially something that only has what was it seven inches of ease, but I don't want it to be so stiff that it just sticks out and there's no movement in it. I wanted it to be a little bit of like a baby of both of those concepts. So that's why I chose this cotton. It's really nice, breathable, you know, the heavier side of lightweight cotton. It's not see-through or sheer in any way, like I can't even see you guys at all. So I know the one-layered skirt and bodice, I believe, I think we only have a facing on the bodice, are going to be great. It's going to do wonders for that sleeve, is really going to want to stand up and hold itself up and still kind of float away from the body and give you, give me the comfort level that I'm looking for. Can you see my arm into here when I move it out of the way? It still drapes in on itself, but it also still holds itself out. So fabrication is one of those things, you guys, it's not black and white, you know, it's not like you just learn a lesson on it and then you know what to do. It's as much art as it is science and the best, best, best way to learn is through just absorbing as much information about it, seeing as many different fabrics as you can, that's why we try and do the swatch videos for you guys so that you can see them, you know, move and how they act and all of that as best you can in video. I also recommend swatch catalogs are a really, really great option. That way you can actually touch the fabrics as well. So if you want some help and more resources on, you know, how to learn more about fabrication and learn more about how to look at a pattern and know what fabrics would be good for it, just let me know and I can put something together for you guys. But I also wanted to note that if you're making this pattern, not with us like you found this some months later, and it's turning fall, winter, those kinds of temperatures, you can still definitely make this dress. You saw the pattern cover had the velvet, some other really good options would be some kind of like lighter weight denim, twill would be great, cotton satin would be amazing. You could even go like light brick corduroy. I mean, this pattern really can withstand lots and lots and lots of different types of fabrics. You could even go into knitwear. I would recommend something like a lightweight ponty, something with the structure to it, just know that your those sleeves are going to be like linebackers. Okay. So in addition to the fabric choice, like I said, check the description box. If you want links to all of these, they will be in there and you can shop and purchase those of course. But in addition to that, our fabric requirements also require a netting or an organza for this sleeve head. So it's really just like an extra layer of fabric within the sleeve head itself to ensure that it stands up. Some of you might not have that problem depending on how structured your fabric is. So if you're using the ponty, for example, you don't need a sleeve head. If you're using a lightweight drapey fabric like this rayon and you don't want those shoulders, those sleeve pleats just to fall down, it will look sloppy. It will look, it won't look bad. It just won't look right. The organza and the netting is going to be what helps hold those things up, making them look a little bit more purposeful. So I don't have any netting. I don't have any organza. What I have on hand is tool and to me tool and mid-weight netting kind of feel like sisters. So I didn't want to just go out and shop for a new fabric just for the sake of a sleeve head. I mean, you need like this much of it. So I'm going to be using tool for mine and I think that that'll be just enough. Now remember too, I'm using that cotton fabric, which is a little bit structured already. So I don't need a lot of help with mine. So do some test runs, plead up some fabrics, put the sleeve head in, see how it's holding up on its own if you're nervous about how that's going to end up. Alright, so that is fabric. There's no lining fabric for this. You do need some interfacing and you guys know I have my little file folder of interfacing here because I'm pretty picky about the interfacing that I use. I prefer heat and bonds interfacing over any other brand of interfacing because they offer interfacing by the yard online and then in the stores they have the little packets that you can buy. The selection is usually pretty limited so I will go on their website and buy it but they offer a woven interfacing which you don't see very often but it looks like this and it just acts a lot more and feels a lot more like fabric does. If you can see how it's not very papery at all. It's really, it's like fabric. It's like a little thin muslin with you know the glue dots on the back. So I much prefer a woven interfacing. Heat and bonds woven interfacing comes in heavy weight and lightweight and feather weight. No, no feather weight but it also comes in black and white so they do have a couple of options. The back of this fabric is whiter, whiter than it is darker even though the outside is that blue. So I'm going to go with a lightweight woven interfacing for mine and that is going to be in the facing of the bodice and I think that that's it so you don't need a ton but if you've never tried heat and bonds interfacing before, if you've never tried woven interfacing before, give it a go. You might be surprised how much you like it. They also have stretch interfacing there which is really nice. Just a lot of really good options for in my opinion more professional better quality interfacings than some of the other stuff that you can buy in the fabric stores. So pick out your interfacing that you want. It really depends on the fabric that you're using. For a lighter weight fabric you're probably going to want to bump up to like a medium weight interfacing. For a heavier fabric you can go with lower weight interfacing and all that's doing is giving that extra little bit of stability and structure to the bias seams through the neckline so that it doesn't stretch out a ton and also so that that facing really lays nice and flat on the inside of your garment but that is gathering all of your supplies for this pattern. So on the very first page of the workbook under project materials you'll be writing all those down sourcing them pricing them checking them off as you get them and then as you come into the project checklist you'll be able to write down your fabric that you chose. You can cross through lining fabric because we don't need it. You'll write down the interfacing the netting and organza I added in here so you can write that down as well as your elastic and your zipper. So you can start checking off this whole list all the way down to pass the zipper and then come back to the next video where we will be cutting out our fabric. So we're going to your fabric needs to be pre-washed and be ready to cut into it. So that also means all your pattern pieces need to be cut according to the size that you chose and the alterations that you made and then you'll be ready to go for the next video. So yeah that's it for this video part three of the prep work and I'll see you back here where we will be cutting out our fabric.