Malhia Kent are a French company who produce woven fabrics for fashion houses. They also have a store in Paris (my personal favourite) where you can buy the fabrics as a consumer – and if you stick to the remnant fabrics they work out very reasonably priced (if you’d like to see inside the store, I previously included it in a Paris fabric shopping vlog).
I got carried away in the €1 remnant bin on a couple of previous trips, and decided to make a Karri dress with the remnants on the pattern’s release (back in 2016!). I finally saw that plan through to completion just before spending a weekend in Paris last month, where I was able to photograph the dress outside the Malhia Kent store. I would, inevitably, have come home with more €1 remnants but never managed to pass the shop except when it was closed for lunch / the day.
The bodice of the dress is constructed from 8 different fabric remnants. Understandably, the remnants vary in size, so cutting out was a process of trial and error as I placed the pattern pieces on various remnants and figured out what would fit, and how it would look together. I decided to make the top of the bodice, the sleeves, and the centre back symmetrical, and then use contrasting remnants for the other pattern pieces.
The skirt of the dress is in a black wool fabric purchased in Barry’s Fabrics. I did cut out a skirt in some larger Malhia Kent remnants, but the clash of colours and prints was overwhelming so I sewed that up separately as a skirt. The wool for the skirt has a glittery silver effect running through it and is more pronounced on one side, so I alternated between the two sides of the fabric when cutting out to continue the contrast effect of the bodice.
The fabric for the skirt was a good reminder to treat fabric with appropriate care. Despite it being a wool, I risked throwing it in the washing machine on a low heat, and it shrunk considerably and changed consistency, coming out of the machine much thicker due to felting. The fabric was still usable – just different – but the shrinkage meant that fitting the pattern pieces on my fabric was more effort than it needed to be. On the plus side, the felting that had taken place meant I didn’t need to hem it.
I was planning to work on an outfit to wear to the Sewcialite Soirée (which takes place next weekend), but I’ve been having an exceeding lazy weekend and haven’t even made it as far as my sewing machine. Friday was my last day in my current job (after 5 years) and I had a lovely leaving do on Friday night where I had a few drinks, and subsequently spend Saturday napping and recovering. It’s finally dawned on me this weekend that I won’t see those work friends on a daily/regular basis from now on (boo hoo), but I am looking forward to a new work challenge from tomorrow.
I might see if I can summon up enough energy to do some knitting for the remainder of the evening. Enjoy your Sunday evenings all.
