Our Austin Sample Fabrics & Recommendations
Choosing the right fabric for a new pattern is one of my favorite parts of getting ready to make a new garment but it can also feel a bit fraught. If you’re lucky enough to have a fabric store that stocks a variety of garment fabric near you the process is much easier, you get to feel the fabric and, even if you’re new to garment sewing, you have the assistance of the experts working in the shop. For those of us who have to shop online for our garment fabric it can be a bit more trying, especially as more and more online stores stop offering swatching services.
With that in mind today’s post is all about the fabrics we used to create our sample Austin Dresses. My hope is that by walking you through the fiber contents, weights, and drapes we chose it will help you make a more informed and confident decision when choosing a fabric for your own Austin Dress!
For Priya's View A Austin Dress we used a deadstock Japanese plain woven tencel from The Fabric Store NZ. This is a lightweight fabric at only 2oz, so we were really excited to see how it would drape with the A-line skirt. As you can see it creates a very soft skirt that floats around the body.
Dani’s View A Austin was made up in this 6.48 oz 100% linen twill from Fancy Tiger Crafts. Although it’s noticeably heavier than Priya’s version, it still has great drape due to the weave of the fabric. We love using a fabric with a beautiful drape for View A to keep the skirt from standing away from the body.
We used Robert Kaufman’s Essex Linen purchased from Hawthorne Supply Co. for Priya’s View B Austin. This 55% linen / 45% cotton fabric is 6.2oz but due to the plain weave it has less drape than the linen twill. It holds the gathers of View B really nicely and we love how it’s more durable, everyday dress in this fabric.
Finally Dani’s View B Austin Dress was made in this Mind the Maker Viscose Twill that we grabbed from Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics. At 5oz it’s in the middle weight wise of all of our sample fabrics, but it has so much drape due to it being viscose, twill, and the weight. Whereas the Essex made more of a day-to-day dress, fabric like this really elevates the Austin into something more.
Hopefully this information is helpful in choosing the perfect fabric for your own Austin. If you have any questions let us know in the comments below!
