I *Heart* Linen

While I sew my totes, pouches, cases and other goodies for my Etsy shop, I find myself pulling out my stash of Linen. In the past year I have accumulated quite a bit of yardage and in many brands and contents. Locally, it is very hard to find nice linen.  We have 1 fabric store and their quality would be good for bag testing at best.  So I often have to purchase online and hope that the color and feel are what I’m looking for.

So today I’d like to share with you a shot of my favorite Linen-Blend and where I have purchased linen.

My #1 FAVORITE linen is:   Linen-Duck Natural by Robert Allen  $11.99 a yard +/1 a few depending on where you shop.

In our previous town, we had a fabric warehouse that had tons of RA. I bought 5 yards of this stuff before we moved and am now running low. Boo-Hoo! This fabric is made of 55%Linen 45%Rayon. I would call it a mid-to-heavy weight that irons beautifully. It needs to be dry-cleaned but I have washed it on low spin in warm water and tumbled dry low for a few minutes. I will steam iron it on medium while it’s not 100% dry and it turns out perfectly. This fabric is great for totes, messenger bags, clutches and more. I’ve made a few placemats as well.  I suggest a Pellon SF101 or similar to line with. I would not recommend Fusible Fleece, it just did not look good with it.

I have also purchased linen at Fabric-Store.com.  Great service and shipping was typical.  If you order from here, note that the color you see in the pictures may be slightly different from the actual color.  They sell color-guides and do free samples, so I highly recommend you try that.  I was very happy with what I purchased here.  Be sure to check out buyers reviews for the products….they are honest and spot-on in my opinion.

What are your to-go places for linen? What brands would you recommend me try?  I’d love to find some vintage stuff, but that’s another post altogether!  Have a great day, I’m off to hunt for more linen!