Fabric width question

[bigbadbarry]

I am new to all this sewing malarky so I apologise if this is a stupid question. I want to make this needle case for a friend - it says I need fabric that is 50 cm x 162 cm. All the fabric I can find online seems to be 110 cm wide, or in a few places 150 cm: does this mean I actually have to buy 162 cm of the damn stuff (or more like 175 I suppose) or is there wider fabric available that I am just missing? At something like 12 quid a metre (I'm on fancymoon and fabric rehab, is that foolish?) this is not going to be the budget gift I had envisaged!

hang on a sec while I check that pattern...

hanging on...

Ok, that is a lot of fabric! Most baric isn't that wide.

What you need to do is sew two peices together to make it 162cm long for Fabric A. It won't matter and it won;t show.

For Fabric B, read the instructions for making the pockets, you can make them individually by making four pockets, rather than one long peice that you then cut into four.

You can buy fabric a lot chewaper than £12 per metre, even at places like John Lewis. In fact, I reccomend you go to John Lewis, rather than fancymoon or fabric rehab. Even try Ebay.

The pockets can be made from a different fabric to the outer fabric.

HTH

Oh God I do appologise for my terrible spelling!

I hope I made sense!

Perfect sense thank you very much. So if I buy a bit of a normal width then cut it in half and sew it together to make a bit 162 cm? (Sorry if I am dense, just trying to imagine it). I thought I could use small bits for the pockets. I'd love to go to John Lewis but it is a Trek from here :( I have a hobbycraft, would that have some?

And on the same note: any online fabric shops that are reasonable in price?

bump

I've linked to this before, but here is a pretty good summary of UK online fabric retailers.

Excellent - that will keep me quiet!

Cheapest place I have found for fabric (well, lightweight cotton and cotton blend fabrics anywy) is efabrics. I buy a lot of my fabric from them, especially the pindot fabrics as they are perfect for lining my bags and wallets etc.

It might not be trendy Cath Kidston et al but it is still nice fabric.

IS the 162cm not referring to the length of your fabric rather than the width? So you cut a piece 162cm LONG and 50cm wide?

Well yes, obviously, but you can't buy 50cm widths either (or can you?) I am just trying to avoid wastage and avoid having to spend over 20 quid on fabric!

Ps thanks for links :)

Well no Bigbadbarry....you cant buy 50cm widths.... but wastage is part of sewing....everyone has scraps...you make other things out of what is left over.

Buy chaper fabric....my sister uses duvet covers...Matalan often have some very pretty ones with traditional roses in the style of that needle case in the link.

Duvet covers and sheets are good sources of cheap fabric actually, especially from charity shops!

But as I said, your best option if you already have fabric in mind is to buy a metre, cut it in half (to get your 50cm width) and sew the two pieces together to get the long length. You will have some left over but it's the best way to do it with minimal waste, buying 162 cm width of fabric will just give you silly amount of left over fabric and cost a lot more.