The folks at the Costume and Textiles Department at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)worked with Thomas John Bernard, a theatrical costume designer, to draft several men’s clothing patterns, including this man’s waistcoat. Originally made in silk plain weave (faille) with silk embroidery, and circa 1740, we crave this in iridescent brown taffeta lined with cool wintergreen silk....marvelous for a starry late night riverside picnic. Download this PDF for an annotated pattern.

What a fantabulous idea; Brookelynn from CraftZine has a tutorial for spiffing up old shoes with fabric. All you need are 1/2 yard of fabric, and a pair of sad, ugly shoes. We’d like to make like an urban Marie Antoinette, and cover a pair of sky-high wedgies with this lithesome embroidered silk fabric.

Kathleen from Fashion-Incubator has a wonderfully detailed post on making bespoke men’s neckties via reverse engineering. I am practically enamored with the photo of her father’s military necktie, and the nifty idea of sewing button-holes in the back of the tie in order to keep it in place by fastening it to ones shirt.

Julie from QuilterGeek made this awesome Tetris quilt, and then created a Tetris quilt tutorial so you can make one too. Julie says, “I'm still practicing my machine quilting, but I really like this freehand design. I approached it like a curvy meander, but turned 90-degree angles instead. I was a bit wary of using the variegated thread, since any wonky quilting would show up very clearly on the back fabric, but I really like the way it turned out.”, and we agree!

There are hoodies, and then there are hoodies par excellence! Joel "J-Man Rocketscience" made this black and blue hoodie from sports fabrics from Britex Fabrics. He said, “I started with a basic hoodie pattern from The Green Pepper. From there, I added seams, shaping, and a lining that was different from the shell. The only original line is the front pocket opening, everything else has been changed. The hood was too complex to flat draft so a made a styrofoam mock up of my shoulders and head. From there I used a wire frame to locate the seams and laid paper patterns on them. After about 9 weeks of design, practice, and rework, I came to what you see now.” Who says sportif designs can’t also be uniquely fashionable?

Thank you to everyone who joined us on March 15 for our Bridal & Evening Wear open house, the first event in our Designer Spotlight Series where we invite customers to meet and mingle with a select group of seamstresses, tailors and designers. It was an exciting night of eye candy and information at Britex Fabrics with a plethora of talented designers, along with samples of their beauteous bespoke work.....all surrounded by the amazing silks and wools on Britex Fabric’s first floor. These events are the ideal situation to choose a designer for your custom garment needs. We would love to hear your feedback! Let us know what you thought if you joined us, or what kind of themes you'd like to see in future events. Don't miss our Upcoming Events -- Wardrobe Essentials (Thursday, May 31, 2012 from 7 - 9 pm), Costume & Corsetry (July 26, 2012), and Tailoring & Shirt-Making (September 20, 2012). See more photos on Britex Fabric’s flickr page! Photography graciously provided by Nadine Priestley.

Thursday, March 29th to Friday, April 13th, enjoy 20% savings on the entire online Silk Print Fabrics category! From feather-weight crêpe de Chine, to textured twill, to gossamer china silk, our silk prints are the perfect way to welcome Spring! Line a chic peplumed jacket, whip up a vintage-style blouse, or add a rolled hem to a silk square for a care-free scarf! (this sale is for online sales only)

A little bird tweeted in our ear that the Quilters Anonymous 31st Annual Show, “Alive with Color!” will take place in Monroe, Washington on March 16, 17 & 18, 2012 at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds. There will be 500+ Quilts Presented by the Northwest’s Largest Quilting Guild, with the featured artist, Dorothy (Sally) LeBoeuf. Depicted is their 2012 raffle quilt, “Flowers in my Garden”, made by Linda Tellesbo all members of the Judy Niemeyer Satellite Group.

We are crazy enamored with these art dolls made by the uber talented Mimi Kirchner from Boston! She imbibes each doll with amazing spunk and personality…..with a sly nudge towards old-fashioned rag dolls, but with a steampunk twist. We think that her technique of over-dying toile to make tattooed bodies is brilliant! (and yes, Britex carries toile)

Here is another easy-peasy and inexpensive home decorating project with tons of graphic impact. Theresa from Apartment Therapy and Design Sponge made a tutorial on how to tuft a dining room chair. Wouldn’t this be great in a stark urban geometric black and white print? We love the vintage meets très modern air that tufting provides!