Malhia Kent

     Happy New Year! I thought I'd start the year off by talking about a trip from 6 months ago, when I visited Paris and one of the coolest fabric stores I've ever seen. The store is Malhia Kent, which makes fabrics for haute couture and pret-a-porter brands. All their fabrics are made in France and while you can't buy the designs that they produce for haute couture brands, their storefront is PACKED with other offcuts and small samples. Usually all these little pieces are 10 euro a meter, but I happened to be there during a rare sale, so they were half-off. They also sell fabric on the roll by the meter and while I don't remember the full price for those it was quite a bit more (understandably so - they are gorgeous). The store is also cash only, so I sent my main squeeze to find an ATM and I started picking through the tables, contemplating how much fabric I could squeeze into my carry-on luggage. I found some amazing pieces and spent the first few weeks just staring at them. Finally, I got up the nerve to cut into one of the pieces and make a garment.

The lining is a viscose I picked up at a fabric swap.

     The fabric is a full-on rainbow tweed that I thought would make a great pencil skirt, and I settled on McCall's 8051 for the pattern. The only issue is that the pattern didn't provide for a lining, so I used this tutorial from Tilly and the Buttons which was perfect and allowed me to successfully insert a zipper into a lined garment - a first for me. I made the size 8 (pattern sizing is different from most ready-to-wear brand sizing) based on my measurements and omitted the belt loops. McCall's patterns are known for running large so I suspected I could have sized down to a size 6 (and that ended up being the case) but because I only had barely enough fabric to make the skirt once, I figured it was better for the skirt to be a little too big, rather than a little too small. 

     I ran into a challenge immediately, which was that the fabric frays as soon as you cut into it. Like immediately. So I serged all the edge of the fabric after I cut the pieces, and you can see what a difference it made in the scrap below. It also meant that my table, floor and sewing machine were blanketed in fabric confetti. 

The outer shell and the lining before they are connected

     I'm very pleased with how the skirt turned out: it is exactly how I pictured it. However, I think that it'll have to be more of a special occasion skirt. I didn't think about the fact that sitting on certain surfaces (anything with texture, like stone or wicker) can cause the fabric to fray, or come loose, so I'll have to be a little mindful when I wear it to prolong it's life, or just become a lady who sometimes puts down a handkerchief before she sits. 

      I'm currently working on another Malhia Kent project and can't wait to see how it turns out. Do you have a garment that you baby, or do you give your clothes tough love? Thanks for stopping by!