Apparel fabric?

jessicaclare

I'm going to be making a flower girl dress for a friend and I have no idea where to look online for fabric besides fabric.com. Most of what I make for my girls is casual so I just use basic knits or quilting cottons. All we have close is a Joanns and Hobby Lobby, and I'd like something a little nicer, maybe some sort of silk? Any website suggestions?

Shortcake2675

Fabric.com has duiponi silk. I've ordered samples and been pleased with what I got.  I decided making a toddler dress out of a dry clean only fabric was not what I wanted to do, so I haven't sewn it yet.

http://www.fabric.com/apparel-fashion-fabric-dupioni-silk-fabric.aspx?Source=LeftNav 

TheBridesMom

I'm not sure that I would go with silk for a little one, but if I did, I would probably buy it from Dharmatrading.com and if I needed it in a color I would dye it.  Silk is super easy to dye and acid dyes come in such gorgeous colors. 

There are so many fancy apparel fabrics, even from JoAnns or Hancock,  that I would think that it wouldn't be too hard to find something nice to make the flower girl dress out of.

jessicaclare

TheBridesMom:

I'm not sure that I would go with silk for a little one, but if I did, I would probably buy it from Dharmatrading.com and if I needed it in a color I would dye it.  Silk is super easy to dye and acid dyes come in such gorgeous colors. 

There are so many fancy apparel fabrics, even from JoAnns or Hancock,  that I would think that it wouldn't be too hard to find something nice to make the flower girl dress out of.

What kind of fabric would you recommend? The skirt is layered nylon chiffon, netting and tulle so its very full. I'd only need something for the bodice and sash. I've never made anything "fancy" before, just dresses, skirts and pants for every day wear. 

hindsight's_a_biotch

I guess it depends on what you want. If you're doing a layered tulle skirt, I'd line it with batiste or broadcloth and use wide ribbon for the sash. You could also make the sash from organza which is what I did for my daughter's bridesmaid's dress.

Are you sure you want to use chiffon though? It's a very wispy fabric, not very much body at all. I'd go for organza and/or tulle. Depending on what colors you want and the fact that you're putting this on a small child, I'd go with the Casa Collection from Joanns. Try the crepe for the bodice and the casa lining for the underskirt. I'm about to make a similar style dress for my daughter using Joann's not-linen for the bodice and wide ribbon for the sash.

If you're looking for higher quality fabrics and ribbons, I order my silk dupioni from here http://www.silkbaron.com/Default.asp 

My favorite place for ribbon is Farmhouse Fabrics, especially the polyester satin ribbon which is absolutely gorgeous. I have so much of this stuff and just ordered a ton for my daughter's Easter dress. The silk satin ribbon is gorgeous too. I used the Victorian Rose color for pinky's Easter dress two years ago. http://webstore.quiltropolis.net/stores_app/Browse_dept_items.asp?Store_id=198&Page_Id=17&categ_id=12

 

jessicaclare

The pattern I have recommends the first layer be nylon chiffon, the middle layer netting and the top layer tulle. I think they recommend the chiffon on the bottom just for comfort.

 Thank you so much for your recommendations! I'm pretty excited to be doing this dress :-)

hindsight's_a_biotch

What pattern do you have? I've just never seen that suggestion before. But I've never seen it called nylon chiffon though either so maybe it's different than the chiffon I'm thinking of. IDK

 

ETA: But I just looked it up and yeah, it's different than the chiffon I was thinking of.

 

adhdfashion

I order bridal silk from here all the time.

 http://thaisilks.com/