When I was sewing up my Kimono Sweat samples for myself and my athlete models, I put together a little list of all the great sweatshirt fabric supplies I could find, and then starting thinking about what colours I wanted to play with. Since I made the list for myself, I figured I may as well share it with you, and I’ve added a few US suppliers, too (Aussies and anywhere else, please add your favourites in the comments!).
Clockwise from Top Left: Turquoise Multi Fleck, from Guthrie Ghani, Orange and Pink Star, from Stone Fabrics, Chartreuse Washed Wool & Viscose, from Ditto Fabrics, and Fusion Coral, from Girl Charlee UK
UK shops
- Guthrie-Ghani – Great colours and prints, including the speckled green I used for my casualwear version (be aware that lengths are in HALF metres, so you need to order “3” for the Kimono Sweat!)
- Dragonfly Fabrics – Limted colours but they’re organic!
- MyFabrics – These guys have a milllllion colours, and ship from Germany, I believe.
- Stone Fabrics – a nice mix of neutrals and jewel tones, and even a star print in the mix!
- Tia Knight Again, loads of colours, including some neons…
- Josery – these guys mill their own sweatshirting, right here in the UK, and have matching ribbing which you could use for your facings, too.
- Jersey Fashion (NL) – Really nice colours and stretch – I ended up using this place for Binta’s version (Note that they also have bamboo jersey, which is perfect for View B!)
- Girl Charlee UK – some really nice solids here, all for £7.95/m
- …while not strictly sweatshirting, you may also wish to consider using Ditto’s striped loop-backed jerseysand washed wool & viscose knits, which would also work for View A. They’ve got suuuuuuch lush colours on the latter, and I’m already planning another for myself!
US shops
- Gorgeous Fabrics – only a few options, but some stripes and textured prints on offer, too
- Mood sweatshirting – some nice options here (including designer!) but scroll down through all the “rib knits”, which aren’t suitable.
- Maldon Mills – they’ve got a ton of great technical fleece options!
- Girl Charlee US – the same great colours as the UK site plus a bunch of striped sweatshirting, too.
If you’re planning on shopping for fabrics in a physical store, you may wish to read the article I wrote for Seamwork magazine on Shopping for knits (Also great is this Sewing knits without a serger article, though I didn’t write it!).
Happy Friday shopping!! If I’ve missed off your favourite shop, please tell me in the comments!
And remember you can use the code BOTTOMSUP for 20% off all my shorts and leggings patterns (ie: anything in the “Bottoms” section) from shop.fehrtrade.com until 24 August, which is the day of my first event in Argentina, eeep! (Paypal users take note that you’ll go quite far through the checkout process before the discount box appears, but it will!) This means you can make yourself a Kimono Sweat and something new for your legs, too!
