Gutermann Portofino Cotton Fabric

Many of you may not know that Gutermann, a world leading Thread manufacturing company also produce a great range of high quality cotton fabrics in a range of collections.

The Portofino Collection is a fresh palette of prints perfect for spring projects, inspired by the Mediterranean. Colours include powder blue, chalky pink, sandy beige and elegant grey. Designs including feathers, hydrangeas and roses mix with geometrics on pure cotton fabric making this perfect for sewing and crafting.

The fabric is extra wide compared to your standard quilting cotton (145cm) and the base used is so soft and has a lovely hand. I tend to hesitate at using quilting cottons for dressmaking these days, finding that it is not as supple or soft to wear as other substrates, but it is hard to resist the wide variety of wonderful prints. Gutermann Creativ have completely allayed this for me, this cotton fabric is so beautifully soft to wear, I didn't hesitate to whip up some new lounge trousers for my girls in the wonderful feather print.

As the fabric is extra wide it is so economical to use. These are simple elasticated PJ bottom/lounge trousers with a one piece leg so that extra fabric width really helps to cut out these big pattern pieces with minimal waste.

As always for dressmaking I pre-washed the fabric, overlocking the cut edge before doing so, I find the time taken to do the overlocking is saved on untangling and neatening the inevitable frayed edge if you skip this step.

The girls absolutely love their trousers, I am genuinely surprised at how soft the cotton has come up, after just one wash they feel like long lived in and loved cosy pyjama bottoms. There is no colour fade too, which is great!

I choose the blue feather print for my tomboy girls, but I would love a pair for myself in the hydrangea print. I plan to use the offcuts from the trousers to line the pockets on my next pair of jeans, it will make them beautifully soft and cosy and being cotton it has the stability I need. I also wouldn't hesitate to use this for quilt backs, its extra width makes it a winner here too.

The fabric used here was supplied by Gutermann Creativ and you can find details of your nearest stockist by contacting gutermann@stockistenquiries.co.uk and you can also visit their Facbook page here for more ideas and inspiration. 

If you are interested in making similar trousers I can recommend the Moon Pant pattern for children and the Luna Pant pattern for women from Made By Rae.