{"id":60664,"date":"2017-04-18T09:30:16","date_gmt":"2017-04-18T13:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/?p=60664"},"modified":"2017-04-18T13:24:35","modified_gmt":"2017-04-18T17:24:35","slug":"a-custom-printed-skirt-for-biarritz-with-fabric-from-contrado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/blog\/2017\/04\/a-custom-printed-skirt-for-biarritz-with-fabric-from-contrado.html","title":{"rendered":"a custom-printed skirt for biarritz, with fabric from contrado"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did you know that several museums and libraries have opened up their archives to the public to be used for all sorts of purposes? Recently the New York Public Library<\/a>, the National Gallery of Art<\/a>, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art<\/a> have all released their digital archive for public use. I’ve been wanting to play with this resource for a while now, so when Contrado<\/a> reached out to me to try their custom fabric printing I jumped at the chance. After all, a wardrobe of only core items would be a little dull, wouldn’t it? Especially when you can make yourself a custom printed skirt. And then wear it to the beach at Biarritz, to boot.<\/p>\n

\"Biarritz<\/a><\/p>\n

Initially I thought it would be fun to have an old black-and-white cityscape image for my printed fabric, but then I stumbled across this Gustave Courbet painting of the beach<\/a> and thought it would be so much fun. It’s subtle, almost abstract, and I loved the colors which also happen to fit nicely into my core wardrobe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"the<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Biarritz<\/a><\/p>\n

\"the<\/a><\/p>\n

\"the<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Biarritz<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Biarritz<\/a><\/p>\n

Initially I wasn’t sure what I wanted to make. When the swatches arrived I nearly fell over. There are so many options: over 90 different fabric possibilities! You could make anything from a printed swimsuit (or even a neoprene swimsuit), an evening gown with printed silk georgette, or even a custom-printed raincoat (with matte or shiny finish). It took me a week just to comb through the options and narrow them down to a few choices. Once I had decided on a pencil skirt it was much easier to choose the right fabric. I soon selected the organic canvas. Once I had that decision made, it was so much fun to plan and sew this skirt!<\/p>\n

\"fabric<\/a><\/p>\n

Pattern:<\/strong> a self-drafted pencil skirt. (Side question: would you be interested in a pattern for a pencil skirt? I feel like they’re such an important part of my core wardrobe, and I was really surprised to find that there don’t seem to be any good patterns out there!)<\/p>\n

Fabric:<\/strong> custom-printed organic cotton from Contrado<\/a>. (Disclosure:<\/em> the company provided the fabric to me at no cost to try it.) I chose this quality for its slightly stiff hand and canvas-y texture, which I thought would suit a pencil skirt quite nicely. I’m happy with it and love the natural unbleached color of the cotton, which suited the colors of my print perfectly.<\/p>\n

Details:<\/strong> I measured my skirt pattern to determine how tall the overall print should be and then re-sized the image to be about 1″ taller than the finished skirt. This allowed me to engineer the print so the sand and water would become a border print at the hem of the skirt. I asked Contrado to print two panels of the painting so I had enough fabric for the front and the back of the skirt, and this worked out perfectly. In fact, I have only a little bit of fabric left from the front panel, and I might use it to make a Straight Stitch Society Have it All Wallet<\/a>. The way that the fabric arrived meant that I needed to add a hem facing, since I wanted to use the entire panel for the skirt itself, but that worked out fine.<\/p>\n

I really like the Contrado website<\/a> because I could see exactly what I was ordering. This allowed me to go back and re-configure my panels, since I wanted the landscape to run along the selvedge of the fabric. One thing I would probably do differently next time is to ask that the panels be left with a little more fabric around the edges so I had enough fabric for a hem outside of the printed panel itself, but otherwise I was just so thrilled with how the fabric turned out! It was exactly as I had hoped.<\/p>\n

I’ll be wearing this skirt a lot this summer. It’s such a fun, unexpected addition to my summer wardrobe. I think custom-printed fabric would be so much fun for special girls’ clothes, too. S has her eye on a few of the Contrado qualities, including this crepe<\/a>, which has a really nice drape.<\/p>\n

I think it would be fun to use your own photos, too! Perhaps a French cow<\/a>? Have you ever tried custom-printing fabric? What results did you get?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Liesl wears her Gustave Courbet French beach skirt to the beach in France. The fabric was custom-printed for her by Contrado. Here are all the details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":60671,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20687],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/biarritz-banner.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5jZS5-fMs","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11974,"url":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/blog\/2014\/08\/feature-friday-ink-jet-printed-lazy-days-skirt.html","url_meta":{"origin":60664,"position":0},"title":"feature friday: ink-jet printed lazy days skirt","author":"Rachel Le Grand","date":"August 8, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Did you know that you can create your own border print fabric using an ink-jet printer? Ren from The Inspired Wren sewed an Oliver + S Lazy Days Skirt using ink-jet printed fabric.","rel":"","context":"In "general post"","block_context":{"text":"general post","link":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/list\/general"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oliverands.com\/community\/content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/inkjet.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":63007,"url":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/blog\/2017\/10\/sew-tell-jens-block-printed-everyday-skirt.html","url_meta":{"origin":60664,"position":1},"title":"sew + tell: jen’s block printed everyday skirt","author":"Rachel Le Grand","date":"October 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"We love what Jen did with the Everyday Skirt pattern! She created her own block printed fabric.","rel":"","context":"In "general post"","block_context":{"text":"general post","link":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/list\/general"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oliverands.com\/community\/content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/everydayskirtF.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":80332,"url":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/blog\/2023\/01\/how-i-wear-it-kailees-garibaldi-skirt.html","url_meta":{"origin":60664,"position":2},"title":"how i wear it: kailee’s garibaldi skirt","author":"Lyndsey Stanfill","date":"January 11, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The Garibaldi Skirt pattern is so versatile, and we love seeing every different version! Today KaiLee shares her new Garibaldi Skirt and how she styles it for a night out on the town in this How I Wear It post.","rel":"","context":"In "general post"","block_context":{"text":"general post","link":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/list\/general"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oliverands.com\/community\/content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Liesl-Co-Hero-Template-13.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":28,"url":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/blog\/2009\/12\/spoonflower-and-kids.html","url_meta":{"origin":60664,"position":3},"title":"spoonflower and kids","author":"Liesl Gibson","date":"December 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"We love Spoonflower. If you're not familiar with this innovative company, they can digitally print your designs onto a variety of fabrics like quilting cotton, sateen, and even a new linen\/cotton canvas quality. Heather Ross made her skirt for our library appearance last week by printing onto Spoonflower's sateen, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "general post"","block_context":{"text":"general post","link":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/list\/general"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oliverands.com\/community\/content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/dress-pattern-731296.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":46183,"url":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/blog\/2015\/05\/fabric-and-styling-inspiration-for-the-everyday-skirt.html","url_meta":{"origin":60664,"position":4},"title":"fabric and styling inspiration for the everyday skirt","author":"Liesl Gibson","date":"May 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Liesl is back today with some fabric and styling inspiration for our much loved Everyday Skirt pattern, which is now available in paper format.","rel":"","context":"In "general post"","block_context":{"text":"general post","link":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/list\/general"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oliverands.com\/community\/content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/everyday-skirt-4.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":80,"url":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/blog\/2009\/04\/lazy-days-with-bias-hem.html","url_meta":{"origin":60664,"position":5},"title":"lazy days skirt with bias hem","author":"Liesl Gibson","date":"April 29, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"We continue to be amazed at the popularity of the Lazy Days Skirt pattern. If you take a look at the Flickr group you'll see a large number of skirts made from this simple, free pattern. I'm sure we'll be seeing many more of these appearing there in coming weeks\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "general post"","block_context":{"text":"general post","link":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/list\/general"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oliverands.com\/community\/content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/skirt-791234.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60664"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60750,"href":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60664\/revisions\/60750"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oliverands.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}