Making Clothes Exactly As I Want Them | Fabric Wholesale Direct Review

Disclaimer: I received the fabric used to make my top in exchange for this post, as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own

During the first lockdown, I purchase a sewing machine, part of it was a birthday present from my lovely Mum and Dad, and it was the best investment ever. While in school, I took A-Level textiles but never actually did anything with those gained skills after leaving school. With so much time on my hands, I decided it was time to rediscover those useful techniques and make clothes for myself and the kids.

With my income being limited now – thanks lockdown, shopping at some of my favourite sites, such as Lunya wasn’t doable for a while, and with the shops being closed it made picking out clothing for them difficult and they certainly couldn’t try them on so making them solved those issues. I could measure the kids myself, get them to pick on fabrics online and turn my hand at making customised clothing for us all. The kids love it and I have pretty much fitted out their wardrobes entirely with Mummy made clothes – all to their specifications. Extra pockets, patched trousers to use different types of fabrics, longer cuffs added to Emmy’s jumpers with thumb cuffs to keep her hands warm – they are forever asking for new and wonderful items for me to whip up.

Of course, making them does take a little time but with practice, I have gotten faster and can make a jumper from scratch in a few hours. The most I have managed is 3 jumpers and 2 pairs of joggers in one day – that’s including cutting out all of the fabric which is often the most time-consuming thing. You can see many of the clothes I have been making here on my Instagram highlight.

My wardrobe has been updated and added to as well, the kids aren’t hogging all the pretty fabrics!

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Fabric Wholesale Direct Review

Recently, FWD (Fabric Wholesale Direct) got in touch and asked if I would like to pick out a couple of yards of fabric to try out and make something with. Of course, I jumped at the chance and spend a rather long time looking through all their wonderful selections.

I was instantly drawn to their stretch velvet because it was described as being higher quality than the industry standard stretch velvet and I wanted to test this out for myself. Having used stretch velvet in previous makes of tops and leggings I love the feel of it when worn but it can be hard to work with do to the slippery nature of the fabric and the previous purchase from a different online site wasn’t the best quality. FWD advertise theirs as 350 GSM meaning it is a heavier quality/grade and with such a great selection of colours I couldn’t wait to try it.

I had just the top in mind when I chose this fabric – the Cuddle Tunic from Ellie & Mac – I had made the children’s version for Emmy and had to have one for myself. It is a lovely tunic style top/jumper with a huge oversize front pocket that allows your hands to fit all the way through so you can ‘cuddle’ yourself.

I choose 2 yards of purple stretch velvet and 2 yards of black. When it arrived I was so glad I had opted for this material – the shine to the velvet is lovely and it is really heavy and amazing quality – the heaviness of the material means it has a great drape to it, and while it was slippery to sew – that is the nature of the fabric and I knew this was going to be the case.

This stretch velvet fabric has a smooth back, textured polyester velvet front and hemmed edges. This stretchy fabric also features significant vertical stretch with a slight horizontal give. This means it does have 4-way stretch to it but you’ll want to make sure you cut your fabric with the most stretch going in the direction you mean it (usually stated on your pattern)

Stretch velvet has an extremely soft texture and drapes very well. The polyester content also makes the fabric machine washable friendly.

This is a medium weight fabric of approximately 350 GSM (or 533 grams/yard) with a 90% polyester, 10% spandex content and 58/60″ width.

I noted the quality as soon as I started cutting this fabric, there was no fraying and very little mess left on my cutting mat – after previously using stretch velvet the bobbling and mess left over the mat was the worst and it left fluff all over my machine when sewing meaning I had to constantly keep opening it up and cleaning out – this stretch velvet didn’t do that at all, in fact after I had finished my top I opened my machine and there was no mess inside at all.

The top sewed up beautifully, the clips I use to hold the fabric in place while sewing didn’t slip and slide around as they sometimes do with some different materials and the top was finished in around 2 hours including the time taken to cut out the fabric.

I have washed this material twice already – once prior to cutting and making it into a top – this is just in case there is any shrinkage as you want that to happen before you have cut it out and made into an outfit in your measurements. I don’t think it shrunk at all and certainly hasn’t since making my top.

I was so impressed with the quality of this fabric that I am certainly going to make a few repeat orders very soon – next time trying a few of the cottons ready for my summery makes.

They have a huge selection of various fabrics available to buy, not only for dressmaking but upholstery projects too – take a look over at their website for yourself – www.fabricwholesaledirect.com