Recently, I was contacted by Kate from The Confident Stitch , an online fabric store with a brick and mortar shop in Missoula Montana. It looks like a really fun shop to hang out in if you live nearby, and they have lots of sewing classes, too. I may stop by when I visit my son who will be working up in Montana as a horse wrangler this summer! And the online shop was a pleasure to navigate.
Kate kindly asked me if I’d like to try out some of their fabrics. I was impressed by the quality and organization of the fabrics, notions, and patterns. Of course I was very excited to try some of the fabric and found lots that I liked. There is a cotton knit from Alabama Chanin that I can’t wait to try for a spring tee shirt. I chose a lovely Italian double sided wool knit and a stretch olive colored stretch denim.
As well as fabric and notions, they carry a huge selection of paper patterns, making it a great site for one stop shopping which saves on shipping costs. There are well known Indie pattern lines like Jalie, Oliver & S, Angela Wolf, Grainline Studios, Colette, Cashmerette, Closet Case Files, and the list goes on. 
A cool feature they have is when you click on a fabric you’re interested in, they give recommendations of the patterns that will work with that fabric. For instance, if you check out the link for the stretch denim above, it well show you the Closet Case Files Ginger jeans pattern, a Jalie vest, a Sewing Workshop vest, and Colette Clover pants. Something for every taste, right? I’m planning on making some Gingers with patch pockets with the olive denim. 
For my project with the double sided Italian wool, I knew I wanted to make something that would show off both sides. The Confident Stitch website recommends the grainline Linden sweatshirt pattern be used with this fabric, and that’s a great combo. But I wanted to make something more boxy and with dropped sleeves. I found the perfect pattern for what I had in mind, the Bento Tee by Liesl & Co, a PDF pattern.
I extended the neckband height to 10 inches from 2 to make a foldover stand up turtle/ funnel collar. I’ve been kind of obsessed with them latley! I used my serger to make the sweater and then I topstitched all the serged seams down using my coverstitch machine. It’s a perfect fabric/ pattern combo! We’ve been having really cold weather for So Cal, so I’m sure I’ll get a lot of wear from my sweater!
Thanks for stopping by! And thanks to The Confident Stitch for the fabric gift. Check them out!
Thanks Justine! I’m glad you love our site, and I can’t wait to see the Gingers! Love and kisses, Kate
And thank you for this fabric!
I love this fabric! Really like your color blocking. I used this same fabric to make the Toaster Sweater 2.
Ooh I need to see it!
Love the neck and use of the fabric! Fingers crossed my husband will have a work meeting in Missoula(!) though your son’s job sounds more interesting!
It is so pretty up there!
Beautiful.. love the red.. Looks pretty on you.
Thanks Judy! And thanks for coming by all these years!
Nicely turned out sweater. I like the collar treatment. The name of the sweater pattern is cute, as it is color blocks (or bento boxes, lol).
Ty for visiting my “novice” blog. Btw, I did not take apart a ready-to-wear. I took apart the Anne-Marie I made (as I had made it with a double layer of fabric, thinking it would glide over figure flaws better….not) and resewed with just one layer.
Love this – such a clever use of the two sides!
Thanks it’s a great fabric!