Through the centuries, sewers of fashion design have often made do with what was available to them. Often this would be leftovers from a previous project or sacks that flour and grain came in. as the times dictated the availability of sewing fabric, ways of putting together items changed as well.

Ways To Work With Sewing Fabric

During the Victorian era, crazy quilts emerged as a new art form. Generic sewing dress fabric was often used in these unique quilts, but often velvets, silks and other luxurious types of sewing fabric were used as well. These quilts were lavished with decorations including embroidery and other adornments, and became an extension of the Victorian tendency to extensively decorate their environments.

With the westward expansion of the early settlers in the 1800s, sewing fabric usually depended upon whatever was readily available. Since many settlers were often unable to readily acquire sewing fabric for their clothes, once they did obtain fabric, it would be used until all of the scraps were gone. Quite often, the leftovers from dressmaking or clothes making would be recycled into patchwork quilts that each had their own unique characteristics since no two were ever the same.

Making do with what you had was often the way of life for many who lived during the 1930s and the Great Depression. Sewing fabric was usually in short supply during the depression, simply because not many people had the money to buy it. Clothes were a necessity, but food was often more important to families in the bigger scheme of things. Sewing fabric was often salvaged from the smallest sources. Feed bags were a good source of sewing fabric for many families during this time. Even though adult clothes could not often be made from the smallish pieces of sewing fabric, enterprising women fashioned the feed sacks into beautiful quilts that have their own unique characteristics.

Today, sewing dress patterns is readily available to most people around the world. The sheer variety of fabrics available is rather astonishing when you consider how small the selection was even 40 years ago. Silks, linens, cottons, wools, and synthetics of many varieties are readily available and fairly cheap. The internet has had an effect on the availability of fabric and the savvy fabric shopper can often find great deals on fabric online. However, there will never be any substitute for the ability to touch and physically interact with the fabric you are considering for your next project.