Fabric Reviews

30 June, 2026

Pattern Review: Style Arc Barry Pants & iTokri Fabric

beckarahn2026-06-30T11:57:34-05:00Fabric Reviews|Comments Off on Pattern Review: Style Arc Barry Pants & iTokri Fabric

This post is going to be a double review! Today it’s 90+ degrees outside and I finished these pants and I might wear them all week. These are the Barry Woven Pants from Style Arc with a little modification and they are made from some beautiful cotton jacquard fabric from iTokri.

Barry Woven Pants

I made another pair of these in a rose colored linen but I decided those needed a few tweaks before I was really going to wear them, so this is the second attempt at this pattern. The major modification I made was to take out 5 inches from the length. They are drafted to be a slightly above the ankle length on someone 5’6″. I am only 5’4″ and when I made the first pair following the pattern exactly, they just look a little out of proportion on me. I should have shortened them, but I didn’t think to look at the height the pattern was drafted for until after I finished.

So for this one, I took 5 inches out at the lengthen/shorten line printed on the pattern. Easy! I like a capri length pant better than ankle length anyway, so these are really more my style. I wear about a size 10; I made the 16 in this pattern and I think that’s about right.

I also removed the faux fly and reduced the “ruffle” at the top by about 1/2 inch. The faux fly just seemed like a silly detail so I cut the center front seam straight and just removed that section. I like the paper bag waist detail but the ruffle on the first pair just felt too bulky (and no one wants bulk around the middle) so I just took an inch out of the waistband depth.

Things I love:

they went together so fast.
the pockets are nice and deep and stitched into both the side seam and the waistband so they aren’t flopping around.
the dart in the bottom of the leg gives them a slight balloon shape, which I like. It might be too comical from a stiffer fabric, but it works in this one. The extra room around the knee (since I shortened them) makes these feel really practical and movable.
Style Arc lets you purchase a pattern in a single size at a slight discount and when you download the PDF it includes the sizes one up and one down from what you chose (14/16/18) which is great if you need to grade between sizes or tweak the fit.

Things I didn’t love:

When I read the pattern reviews, several people mentioned that the instructions for attaching the waistband were dumb. I have to agree. I did it differently on this pair and I will tweak it a little more on the next pair. I didn’t change much about the waistband itself, I just stitched it in a different way.

iTokri fabric

I got really frustrated recently about being able to find clothing that wasn’t 100% polyester. I just don’t like to wear it and I won’t buy it anymore. So I took a chance and ordered some fabric from a place called iTokri in India. This piece was from my second fabric order and this green jacquard was just $5/meter. It is my absolutely favorite shade of green and it has a woven in stripe of creamy white.

Ordering from iTokri isn’t like working with an American company. There are tariffs and the receipt is shown in rupees so there is some currency conversion and you don’t know exactly what the total is going to be. But they ship things super fast, they are packed carefully, they have great communication, and I have been really happy with both of the orders I have placed. The tariff amount turned out to be $17 from the shipping company and about $9 in tariffs on a $150 order.

Their website says to hand wash the fabrics, but I am not going to handwash pants, so I threw it in the washer and dryer and took my chances. It washed up great; no regrets. I have another piece of cotton jacquard in a kind of olive/brown with a charcoal stripe that I will make into another pair just like this.

2 June, 2026

Fabric Review: Spoonflower’s Seersucker

beckarahn2026-06-02T10:52:46-05:00Fabric Reviews|2 Comments

I am just going to come right out and say it: I think this might be my favorite Spoonflower fabric for clothing. I had ordered several pieces of seersucker after they introduced it about 2 years ago and even wrote an intro post when I first ordered a swatch but this is the first real project I’ve made from it.

The print quality is crisp and vibrant. I think the one caveat about this as a fabric is that the design you choose has to lend itself to being layered with that narrow stripe texture of a seersucker. I don’t think a strong geometric print might look as nice with the texture lines fighting with the design lines. But this batik style floral is perfect. (This is one of my designs called Nutmeg.) The fabric washed up beautifully with very few wrinkles and little fraying at the cut edges. It pressed well when I was sewing it. It’s not a super drapey or flowy fabric because that texture gives it a little body, so that’s something to keep in mind when choosing a design to make. Why is it my favorite? Seersucker is really designed to be a clothing fabric so I think it looks more sophisticated than something sewn with quilting cotton. I’ve talked before how I don’t love how the cotton lawn and poplin fabric wrinkle easily and feel too crisp for the kinds of shapes I like to sew. This was a great fabric to match up with this pattern.

I made a top from a pattern called the Bondi Top from Sew to Grow. I love this pattern because it has only three pieces, which is great to show off a fabric print since you aren’t chopping it up into a bunch of smaller pieces. (I usually wear a size 8-10 and I made the size 12 in this pattern with no alterations.) I love the curved hem on this one which I think makes the shape look a little more put together than a plain t-shirt. The curved hem takes some patience to sew, but I used a bias binding technique I saw in this instagram reel for this one and it turned out perfectly. The back has a yoke piece at the top which you can do in a contrasting fabric. I’ve made several from this same pattern, so also played around with cutting that piece on the bias with stripes, adding some ribbon and hand embroidery to make that piece have a little extra detail. Because this fabric is a little extra wide (52″) I have enough scraps that I am going to also make a Bucket Hat from Betz White from the leftovers.

30 January, 2025

My favorite scissors for mixed media art

beckarahn2025-01-30T15:57:57-06:00An Artist's Life, Fabric Reviews|Comments Off on My favorite scissors for mixed media art

I shared a photo of my studio table in my newsletter today while I was in the middle of a project and I noticed that all of my favorite cutting tools were on the table, so I thought I would talk about what they are and why I like them.

I work with both fabric and paper often in the same project, so I unlike many fiber artists, I don’t have a dedicated pair of fabric-only scissors. My cutting tools include scissors, thread snips, and a utility knife.

I have two pairs of Fiskars scissors. The large pair has a non-stick coating on the blades. I love this classic bent handle shape; I know you’ve seen ones like that before. The small pair are a style they call Microtips. If I had to have only one pair of scissors in my entire studio, it would be these microtips. I use them for everything and the very fine pointed tips make them especially good for cutting fine details in felt or paper. Both of these are nice and sharp, hold an edge well, and work equally well on fabric, paper, threads, or cardboard. The best part is that they are super affordable and you can find them nearly anywhere. When they get too dull for my art, I retire them to the garage and the kitchen where they still work great for those things.

The utility knife is one I found because I was looking for a sturdy handle that was easier on my hands when I was cutting things like bookboard, which is very dense and hard. This is a handle which holds standard box cutter/utility knife blades. It’s aluminum and folds up with a push button latch. The photo shows it folded closed, which also protects the blade. It is THE BEST. It’s comfortable in my hand and holds the blade really steady unlike some of the xacto handles I’ve used. And it comes in about 10 fun colors.

Finally, there is my favorite pair of thread snips. The thing I like the best about these is that they are so simple. I have several other pairs with fancy molded handles and loops and this pair is the one I love. They came from my local yarn shop but these look nearly identical to the ones I have.

18 June, 2024

Spoonflower Fabric Review: Seersucker

beckarahn2026-06-02T10:26:46-05:00Fabric Reviews, Spoonflower & Fabric Design|Comments Off on Spoonflower Fabric Review: Seersucker

I was really excited to see Seersucker as one of the new fabrics that Spoonflower introduced recently. Seersucker is one of my favorite fabrics. I ordered a swatch printed in my Sea Stars design.

Print quality

The print quality looks great! This is a textured fabric, so I have a feeling that designs with very fine lines might not be as crisp as some other fabrics like sateen. This design printed great! The base fabric is a bright white, so the colors printed exactly as expected. I didn’t find the stripe texture to distract from the design, but that is definitely something to keep in mind when you choose a design to print. I suspect that a design with a strong narrow stripe in the design might fight a little with the woven texture of the fabric.

Fabric

Seersucker is a woven striped fabric, with the stripes running with the grain of the fabric. This is 100% cotton and prints 54 inches wide. The stripes are just about exactly 1/16 inch wide. They alternate with one stripe that is a tight weave and the next stripe is more open weave with a little space between the threads, so those stripes look slightly translucent. When you run your fingertips across the fabric, you can feel the texture of the stripes.

You can see that translucency a little in this photo. I put the fabric against my deep green cutting mat, but slipped a piece of white paper behind part of it.

Some seersuckers have a very pronounced rippled texture in the stripes, but this version is pretty smooth. I washed this swatch and it softened up slightly, but didn’t change texture or feel very much between washed and unwashed.

It is lightweight and has a nice drape. It feels very soft both on the printed and unprinted sides. It barely frayed at all on the cut edges when I washed it, which I like because it shows me that it’s a sturdy weave that should stitch up really nicely.

Shrinkage

I measured the swatch before and after washing. There was no shrinkage across the width of the fabric, but quite a bit lengthwise. My swatch was about 7 5/8 inches after washing, which is about 4-5%. That’s close to Spoonflower’s estimate on their fabric spec page.

Overall impression

I can’t wait to print some more and make some summer tops. This looks and feels like a really high quality fabric. The 54 inch width is a nice bonus because it means I can potentially do more with a single yard of fabric (vs a standard 42 inch quilting cotton). I think seersucker is best for light weight clothing. It could also make nice semi-sheer curtains or a shower curtain (with a liner behind).

7 August, 2023

Pattern Review: Itch to Stitch Santorini Tank

beckarahn2023-08-07T12:47:53-05:00Fabric Reviews, Sewing & Design|1 Comment

It’s been about 5 years since I have sewed something just for myself, just for fun. That seems crazy to me, but I think the last one was a dress for my sister’s wedding. I do a lot of sewing for my business, so the machine has put in the miles, but the only things I have made have been basically business related.

I realized that I wanted to just spend a day sewing for me. So I went on a search for some fabric that was not something I had designed and was something a little special. I have had great luck ordering some Indian cotton fabrics on Etsy. I ordered several yards of block printed cotton from this shop. It’s lovely. Smooth, soft, washed beautifully. Exactly what I wanted for a blouse.

I was going to make a favorite tank pattern (Gemma by Made by Rae) which I have made several dozen of over the years, but I needed to do an adjustment to the pattern because my body just isn’t the same shape it was 10 years ago and I was just feeling like I wanted to sew and not do math. So I was doing a little searching and this pattern popped up in my feed and I had to try it.

The Santorini Tank by Itch to Stitch. So much to love: the interesting seam lines, the button detail on the side. The fact that this pattern comes in sizes 00-40 and 4 different cup sizes! I’ve made one other pattern by Itch to Stitch before and I loved it, so I was pretty sure it was going to be great.

It took me about 4 1/2 hours to tape the pattern pieces together, cut out and sew my first one. I chose a size 12, C cup based on measurements but I have decided that it has more ease than I prefer, so I will go down at least a size in the future. (I made two; you’ll see that later.) I found vintage shell buttons in my stash, which were perfect.

What I love:

It has a great way of stitching the armhole facings “burrito style” and a link to a blog post about how to do it if the instructions are confusing to you.
The finishing details were really thoughtful. No weird raw edges on the inside.
Great instructions with lots of links to extra help.
The fit/shape is awesome.

My adaptations:

The pattern calls for 5 – 1/2 inch buttons which felt like not enough to me. I did 7 and they were slightly larger.
My sewing machine had issues stitching the two buttonholes right at the top because of the extra/varying thickness of fabric there. Not the fault of the pattern, but I might think about how I could tweak that construction a little bit so I don’t need to seam rip buttonholes out. (Argh!)
Eleventy-one pins really does make all the difference in making a curved hem lay nice and flat. I used the hemming method from the Gemma Tank which I mentioned up above, because I have had success with that before.

And then I made another one!

I also had a piece of Atelier Brunette Viscose Crepe which I got from Wyldwood Creative. She “unboxed” it live on Instagram and I ordered it that day. I love this vintage style print and texture. See a photo below. The one I chose is Lucie Cedar (green); she also has it in a blue and a gold/peach color. I had never seen this fabric in person before so I felt like this was a little leap of faith and I was absolutely rewarded! It is so gorgeous.

I decided to take another chance and I threw the fabric in the washer and dryer when it got here. Spoiler alert: that is not what the washing instructions tell you to do. But if I am making a garment, I will need to wash it and it’s going to end up in the laundry at some point no matter how carefully I try to remember to pull it out for special treatment. That’s just how it works at my house. I lucked out. It came out great with my not-following-the-instructions treatment.

For this one, I didn’t have enough fabric to do the button band and I decided with this very drapey fabric and busy print that it wouldn’t be a good match anyway. But I loved the way this pattern went together, so I just decided to make up another one and sew up the side seam, skipping the buttons. I could slip the other version on over my head without unbuttoning, so I didn’t need to invent another kind of closure.

The first version I made was too large in the bust for me and so I took it in as I was fitting/stitching. Instead of doing that again for this one, I reprinted the pattern and went down a size, so this is a size 10 C cup. I took about an inch in on either side on the previous version, so I just looked for a new size combo that was that much smaller. I loved how I could look at the chart of all of the combos of garment size measurements and find exactly what I needed. Ultimately, I chose to size down overall vs changing to a B vs a C cup (which also could have worked).

This one is close to a perfect fit. The bust still feels like it gapes a little at the underarms so if I do another, I might just swap out the B cup pieces but stick with this size and see if that makes it just right for me. Otherwise it’s just a little pattern tweak.

This is my favorite kind of top with some skinny jeans and a light cardigan when the weather gets cooler. So I can see myself making many more in this style and using some of my Spoonflower fabrics. With the button detail I think I would choose lawn or sateen. Without the buttons, poly crepe de chine would be very similar to this viscose crepe.

18 April, 2023

Review: Spoonflower’s Fleece vs Polartec Fleece

beckarahn2023-04-24T17:18:29-05:00Everything Else, Fabric Reviews, Spoonflower & Fabric Design|Comments Off on Review: Spoonflower’s Fleece vs Polartec Fleece

Spoonflower recently launched a new fleece fabric made by Polartec. Polartec is the company known for “inventing” fleece fabric and I remember hearing that their fabrics were the “best” back in the 90s. So I was super curious to see a swatch when Spoonflower recently launched their new Polartec fleece fabric.

Spoonflower now has two fleece fabrics: fleece and Polartec Fleece. I am going to refer to the regular fleece as “classic” just for clarity as I talk about them. I have made several projects with Spoonflower’s classic fleece and I have been a little disappointed with it. The Polartec fleece is a slightly higher cost per yard than the classic, but in many other ways they are nearly indistinguishable. And I mean that pretty literally. Both are a bright white, made from 100% polyester, super soft on both sides. The print quality looks the same as far as color saturation and sharpness. I had to keep referring to the labels on my swatches to make sure I was looking at the right fabric as I was thinking about this review.

Differences I can see

The Polartec Fleece (bottom) is heavier/thicker than the classic fleece (top), but the difference is pretty slight when you feel the two fabrics. The classic fleece is 56″ printable width, Polartec is 60″.

There is an almost unnoticeable color difference between the two fabrics. I only mention it because I was really looking for differences I could talk about. Some of the colors look very slightly warmer on the classic fleece vs Polartec fleece. I really can only see it in the brown/tan shades and not the other colors.

The thing I was most interested in looking at was the amount of pilling. I have made myself two hoodies from the classic fleece and I hardly ever wear them anymore because they look really pilled. This is definitely more noticeable on a darker colored design. This adorable polar bear is this design by Scrummy and you can see the pilling really clearly here.

I washed both of these swatches several times before writing this review so I could try to see how they held up. I put them through regular wash and dry cycles with my everyday laundry. The results are not very clear. In the photo below, the Polartec fleece is on the left, classic fleece on the right. You can definitely see some texture/pilling on the classic fleece, but I can also see some on the Polartec. As of writing this, Spoonflower has the classic fleece fabric detail page with a pilling rating of 1.5 (with 1 being severe), but that detail is missing from the Polartec fleece detail page. Maybe it’s too new to have that information yet.

I think I would definitely order a swatch of a design in darker colors and wash it a bunch of times before I decided to invest the time making another project from the either fleece. In general it’s everything you expect fleece to be in how it sews and keeps its softness, but I am turned off with how it looks after a few washings. This is true of MANY other fleece fabrics for me, so this isn’t a knock against Spoonflower’s fleece choices specifically.

If you want to read more about Spoonflower fabrics and my experiences with them, be sure to check out my other fabric review posts.