Here in Utah, winter is showing no signs of stopping soon, but that hasn’t stopped Raspberry Creek Fabrics from brightening the season with their Spring 2019 Club release. If you’re unfamiliar with the Club line, it’s printed in house by Raspberry Creek and only available through them. This release has 8 collections and over 50 prints total. A majority of the prints are available on cotton jersey and french terry with a few options available on ponte and rayon challis. As part of the Raspberry Creek Fabrics promotional team, I was able to choose a couple of my favorite prints to sew up and share. Let’s get to it!
My Son’s Cardigan
Upon seeing the spring preview, my son saw this Giraffe Print French Terry (also available in cotton jersey) and said, “Mom! I want to look like a giraffe.” I’m a big believer in using fashion as a form of self-expression so I happily obliged. I chose the cotton french terry as it’s my preferred substrate for my son’s joggers and sweatshirts. It’s got enough weight to hold up to the abuses of a 5 year old, while also being light enough for year-round wear.
His wardrobe contains plenty of pants and tees but is sometimes lacking when it comes to jackets and sweaters. With his input, I settled on making a Petit a Petit Goodall Cardigan (find it free in the Petit a Petit Facebook group). I chose a size 6 which was right in line with my son’s measurements. The intended fit is oversized and I love that my son will likely get at least a year or more of wear out of this cardigan before he grows out of it. If you prefer a more fitted look, I would suggest sizing down. Sewing was straightforward and took somewhere around 2 hours start to finish.
My Perkins Shirt
I couldn’t let my son have all the fun with the Club Spring release and this Abstract Floral rayon challis caught my eye almost immediately. The large scale gives the fabric a modern look while the coloring screams spring. After last month’s frantic fancy pants sewing, I’ve been spending February focusing on tops to pair with my fancy pants. Rayon challis is my favorite substrate for woven tops and I knew this print would be a welcome wardrobe addition.
Although I planned to make some sort of top, I waited to receive the actual fabric before deciding on a pattern. Sometimes you just need to drape a fabric around your body to find out what it wants to become. Eventually I decided to sew up an Ensemble Patterns Perkins Shirt. I tested the pattern last May (see my test versions and more pattern details in this post), and my gathered version has become one of my wardrobe staples.
I again opted to make the cropped version. Other than adding 2 inches to the length, I sewed a straight size 4. Sewing took place over an afternoon and an evening taking maybe 4-5 hours total. The result is a top that I’m sure will be worn regularly throughout the spring and summer months. The soft pastel colors paired with the boxy shape make the look feel unexpected and just right all at once. I can’t wait to mix and match this Perkins Shirt with different pieces of my handmade wardrobe style it in new ways.
Conclusions
I’ve been a customer of Raspberry Creek fabrics since 2017 and have used their Club line french terry for nearly 20 pairs of joggers, several sweatshirts, and a few tees. Although I knew the french terry cardigan would be a hit, this was my first time using the Club rayon challis and I was happy to find that it sewed beautifully. The printing process can make the fabric feel slightly stiff until the first wash but, it softens well after washing. Now that I’ve used it, I think that I’ll start purchasing and using it more often. My son is overjoyed to have a giraffe cardigan and both of these makes will likely be favorites throughout spring.
My son and I both paired our Spring ’19 Club Fabrics with pants made from Cone Mills Black Stretch Denim purchased from Raspberry Creek Fabrics. Mine are the Ginger Jeans (posted about these exact pants in this post) and his are the Misusu Patterns Olli Summer Pants.
Thanks for reading!