Tank Top and Shorts with l’oiseau fabrics

If you give a boy a lightsaber….

Hello everyone!  I hope you are having a lovely evening.  Our power was out for 4 hours today, and it happened right in the middle of sewing.  I’m a little behind in my KCWC sewing as a result, but still managed to get this post up.

Have you heard of the company l’oiseau fabrics?  They are a Canadian company and have an amazing selection of fabrics—many I have never seen before, including anywhere online.  They have LOADS OF BOY FABRICS!  And it’s awesome.  What’s even better is that they specialize in apparel fabrics.  How many times have you sewn something up in quilting cotton and think “never again I will do that!”  But then the great prints always lure you in again and pretty soon you’ve worked hard to have another project look more handmade than if you had used apparel fabric.

The car fabric you see on the shorts can be found HERE and the blue and white striped on the back of the tank doesn’t seem to be in stock, but both fabrics are from l’oiseau (and you can find many more striped knits HERE).  The white stamped fabric is a recycled too-small shirt of my husband’s that I stamped with a simple foam triangle stamp I quickly made (much easier than the bird stamps like on THIS dress!).

One thing I think is neat is that all their fabrics have the Oeko-tex 100 Standard Certification.  This certification guarantees a product that is very safe, had the least effect possible on the environment, and the work force involved in all aspects of manufacturing received a fair wage and worked in safe, respectful conditions.   Very cool.

So let’s talk about the fabric a bit more.  The car fabric is a cotton poplin fabric.  It wrinkles but poplin is specifically for apparel fabrics.  So it doesn’t wrinkle the same as quilting cotton and it has a better drape.  For the shorts I made another pair of Kids Shorts from MADE.  Turned out pretty cute for such an easy sew.

Now for the tank top.  I used the Gecko Games tank top pattern from the Summer 2014 Ottobre Magazine.   Where did I order it from?  Well, l’oiseau fabrics carries Ottobre Magazines too!

That blue and white knit on the back of the tank is dreamy, I tell ya—dreamy!  It is so soft and thick, yet not too thick that it’s bulky.  It’s probably the best quality knit I have ever sewn with.  I washed it and there was no sign of pilling whatsoever. 

Be sure to check out their knit fabric because it is fabulous.  I know I’m always on the lookout for different knits than I see all over blogland, and I think they have a great selection.  I love their star knits!

Cute Dev :).

I was given the fabric, ottobre magazine, and the kids shorts pattern for free.  All opinions are mine.