A New Collaboration and a New TNT Shirt

Anyone who knows me knows that I love Elliott Berman's fabrics.  If you come to visit the NYC Garment District either with me or ask for my recommendations, Elliott Berman is ALWAYS on the list. 

So I was thrilled and honored when Eugenia of Elliott Berman asked me to collaborate with them. Over the course of this year, I will be making several garments from fabric that can be purchased either on their website or at their site in NYC.

During the last decade or so that I've been blogging, I've made a few garments with fabric purchased from Elliott Berman. My favorite being this Versace Inspired Dress that I made in 2011 using a wool knit.

Why do I love Elliott Berman fabrics?
One reason is the quality of their fabrics. They import a selection of unique fabrics, designer goods, the diversity of their inventory and the fair pricing for the goods. Also, they are a great friend to the sewing community - sponsoring events with PatternReview.

It also didn't hurt that my friend Shams is blogging for them and spoke so highly of how easy it was to work with Eugenia and the team at Elliott Berman.  Now you don't have to go to another blog to see my makes, all of them will be here alongwith some pics on Instagram.

So this is my first garment for them - a TNT shirt from my Crazy 8 Wardrobe. 

I chose a printed cotton sateen with a tribal inspired influence for my shirt. I asked Eugenia for a shirting fabric to use as my first make. We were walking the floor and she was pulling out various fabrics for me to look at. When we got to this one, it was love at first sight!

Now while I picked this one from the NYC store/warehouse, here are some on their website that you can order if you're looking for a high quality, interesting print for a shirt. 

This is my TNT shirt pattern so there are no new techniques with this shirt. However, for this version I chose to use a mandarin collar instead of a stand and separate collar. 

To make the shirt interesting I manipulated the fabric, cutting the stripes horizontally for the cuffs, the mandarin collar and the back yoke.

I also used some interesting yellow & black buttons I had from the collection. The challenge was that I needed eight buttons and only had six. So I made a covered button for the mandarin collar and the last buttonhole carefully matching the fabric so that the buttons would blend into the garment.

Buttons, fabric manipulation, a collar change and this amazing piece of fabric are the standouts in this shirt.

A few pics of the shirt ~

As I stated above I will be making a new garment using Elliott Berman fabric about every three months. If you're on Instagram, may I suggest you follow them at ebtfabrics. They offer some amazing discounts for their Instagram followers. Also, don't hesitate to check out the website. They do ship overseas. I've ordered from them in the past, their orders ship quickly and are well packed.

I finally spent some quality time with my daughter/photographer so there will be a few more posts after this one. If you've read this far, you should know that the same daughter is the family hairdresser, and she added the curly fall to my hair for these pictures. Since we shoot several garments at once, the photos in the next couple of blog posts will also feature this hairstyle. Just thought I would tell you before you asked! 

...as always more later!