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Forum -> Household Management -> Budgeting & Bargains

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Sunny Days

Tue, Mar 21 2017, 2:35 am

Anyone ever done?

I need black cotton material.

My little girls need skirts to match a top we got as a gift. I don't want to spend more then $7 a piece so figured will sew them skirts.

water_bear88

Tue, Mar 21 2017, 5:31 am

I have- what country are you in? I ask because shipping rates from the US are exorbitant to anywhere foreign except for maybe Canada, so I'd recommend different sites.

ETA- more specifically, Fabric.com has a wide selection of fabrics, and I did order fabric from there once when I had a relative coming who could bring it. I think it's affiliated with Amazon.

If you're in Israel or the UK, there are other options.

Also- black cotton fabric- woven or knit? Quilting weight or heavier?

babula

Tue, Mar 21 2017, 6:32 am

Shipping to Canada is also exorbitant.

water_bear88

Tue, Mar 21 2017, 6:39 am

babula wrote:

Shipping to Canada is also exorbitant.

That's just ridiculous. (The fact, not what you're saying.) Shouldn't it be cheaper to ship by train or truck than by sea or air? This should probably be a spinoff, but if the US wants to make one difference in increasing exports, they could stand to reduce international postage rates. I order from the UK whenever I can now since the shipping cost is rational compared to the distance traveled.

miriamg

Tue, Mar 21 2017, 7:21 am

water_bear88 wrote:

If you're in Israel or the UK, there are other options.

What sites would you recommend for buying fabrics to ship to Israel? Thanks

water_bear88

Tue, Mar 21 2017, 7:47 am

miriamg wrote:

What sites would you recommend for buying fabrics to ship to Israel? Thanks

These are the ones that spring to mind at the moment- feel free to PM me if you're looking for a specific type of fabric and I can tell you if I have experience with it. I don't want to get too specific under my screenname with what projects I've sewn Smile

Ukfabricsonline.com- decent shipping rates, good-quality fabric, good selection of waterproof fabrics, clearly states the weight of the fabric (important when shopping online since you can't feel the fabric!). Chief disadvantages- color isn't so accurate between screenshot and reality, so buyer beware if you're looking to combine two or more fabrics and want them to coordinate nicely. Also, one fabric I ordered was supposed to be a print, but what arrived was a solid color. I didn't deal with trying to complain because it otherwise did quite well for my purposes- high quality and in the right color family.

There are Israeli sites that look pretty good- the only one I'm positive I've ordered is Kashi (ktex.co.il). The shipping was slightly cheaper than a return bus ticket to Tel Aviv where their stores are, so if you're close enough, you may prefer to check out their brick-and-mortar stores. The fabric I ordered from them was of ok-to-very-good quality but they don't tell you the fabric weight, so the lighter weight of the two I ordered was pretty see-through and I don't know that I would have purchased it had I seen and felt it first. The heavier one was very good.

Then there's always Aliexpress, which is hit-or-miss but can be worth trying, especially for fat-quarter bundles if you quilt or sew small projects.

little_mage

Tue, Mar 21 2017, 8:52 am

I've purchased fabric online. You want to be a little careful because colors don't always come through right on a monitor, but if you're mainly buying black, that shouldn't be an issue. Fabric.com is nice. We also ordered from Mood online.

Sunny Days

Tue, Mar 21 2017, 10:36 am

Thank u waterbear. I''m in NY.
How do I know what to "look" for?

Nothing fancy being sewn here. They're for 2 preschool girls. I mean, the last time I sewed a skirt was 10 yrs ago in my HS sewing class!

I wanna do a simple pattern with a wide rubber waist band. (That means sewing 2 or 3 seems per skirt)
I may even find it to be cheaper to buy ready skirts! (So far only found skorts for cheap)

Sunny Days

Tue, Mar 21 2017, 10:47 am

Another question for the experts:
I measured a skirt now to see approximate length.
So it would need to be 12" long. I'm also doing like a 2 1/2 inch elastic waistband. So I guess skirt legnth would be like 10"? ( With hem allowance)

Width would be around 54" all around.
X2 skirts- how many yards of fabric needed?
Supposing fabric is 44" wide. Do I get 4 yards?

water_bear88

Tue, Mar 21 2017, 10:50 am

Wovens don't stretch unless they explicitly say so in the description, and even that is minimal stretch to help with fit- you'd never make a t-shirt out of them because it won't fit over our head. Think button-down shirts, canvas, denim, and fabrics that behave similarly.

Knits are stretchy, some more than others- some percentage (typically 5-10%) lycra or elastane indicates an especially stretchy fabric. Think t-shirts, slinky skirts, shells, baby's onesies.

You can sew a skirt with either, with the following caveats:
-knits often don't need hemming or seam finishes, saving you extra seams. They're a little trickier to cut accurately, though and sew better with a ballpoint needle- these issues are biggest with especially stretchy knits. You'll also want to use a zigzag stitch for sewing so the seam has a bit of stretching room, or it may snap- this is more relevant for horizontal seams like the waistband casing.
-wovens are easier to sew, but need hemming and preferably a seam finish or they'll unravel. A zigzag stitch along the edge of the seam should do for a seam finish. Since they don't stretch, woven skirts need to be a-line or another wide cut if they're going to go past the knees.

Happy to answer any more specific questions you have! Google any unfamiliar terms you see in fabric descriptions- wikipedia's usually good for basic info.

water_bear88

Tue, Mar 21 2017, 10:52 am

2GN wrote:

4 yards is a lot!!! Are you finding mostly 44"? 60" is another common width and would let you get away with one yard.

rednavy

Tue, Mar 21 2017, 11:05 am

Purple seamstress online has black cotton 10% spandex better quality material
Usually shipping is about 10$
There are free patterns for pencil skirt for kids on a site called madeformermaids but the free code is in ththe Facebook group
Good luck

water_bear88

Tue, Mar 21 2017, 11:13 am

Would any of these work?

https://www.fabric.com/buy/et-.....-onyx
95% cotton, 5% lycra for stretch. 58" so you'd only need a yard.

https://www.fabric.com/buy/045.....black
A little lightweight for a skirt, but might have a more Shabbos-y feel than some heavier wovens, especially if these are going to be warm-weather skirts. 56" wide, so again you'd only need a yard.

https://www.fabric.com/buy/026.....black
A more typically skirt-weight woven, but might be more appropriate in appearance for a weekday skirt. 58" wide.

Iymnok

Tue, Mar 21 2017, 11:37 am

Make a circle skirt with a wide waistband. Its easiest and quickest. Make the hemline purposely asymmetrical to make it even easier.
There are lots of tutorials for it.
All the work is attaching the elastic and hemming. You can avoid the hemming with some fabrics. Lightweight faux leather or suede come to mind.

Sunny Days

Tue, Mar 21 2017, 10:50 pm

Thank u so much all of u for suggestions and waterbear a special thank u for taking ur time and searching and posting these links! I really appreciate it!

So I need 1 yard of wide material per skirt?

water_bear88

Wed, Mar 22 2017, 2:47 am

My pleasure! I love browsing that site, I just can't afford the shipping for myself.

I think you should get 2 skirts out of one yard. Cut them so the lengthwise grain of the fabric is the length of the skirt and the width of the fabric (selvage to selvage) is the width of the skirt (you should only need to cut a few inches off to get the 54" you need). You could actually get 3 12" skirts out of one yard like this- remember that a yard is 36".

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