Bora Dress Fabric Recommendations and Inspiration

Now, we get to chat about one of my favorite topics, Bora Dress Fabric Recommendations. Before choosing fabrics, I love spending a bit of time getting inspiration from ready-to-wear looks. Below is a quick preview, but you can find even more inspo on the Bora Pinterest board here. Once I've put together a bit of inspo, I'll begin searching for fabrics that match my vision for the design of each pattern.

Before selecting your fabric, you’ll want to grab a copy of the Bora Dress Pattern.

We've taken a quick look around a few of our favorite indie fabric shops and rounded up some fabrics that would work well for Bora as a starting point in your search.

FABRIC SOURCES & YIELDS

As a reminder, we have a blog post with coupon codes from some of our favorite indie fabric shops! 

This style is designed for light to medium-weight woven fabrics. The bodice, sleeve, and hem are lined. You can use your main fabric or a medium-weight fabric for the bodice lining. A light to medium-weight sleeve lining fabric can help reduce bulk.

Decide whether you want to cut the skirt on the straight grain or the bias before purchasing fabric, as yields differ slightly. Cutting the skirt on the straight grain is a bit easier to fit and sew. Cutting the skirt on the bias allows the fabric to hug the body and adds interest, especially when sewing with a stripe. 

The lining fabric chart is in addition to the main fabric listed.

The Bora sews up beautifully in a variety of fabrics, and the silhouette is just as lovely in a large scale print as it is in a small ditsy floral. A few of our recommended fabrics are: Rayon Challis, Rayon Twill, Rayon Voile, Cotton Lawn, Cotton Voile, Linen, Chambray. You may just have the perfect fabric waiting in your stash! 

More fabric recommendations can be found on our Bora Pinterest Board here.

STRIPES AND GINGHAM

I knew this pattern would be perfect for a stripe fabric, and I chose several from Blackbird Fabrics when sewing up listing samples. I mostly used smaller-width stripes, but I think a large, bold stripe would be amazing. 

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CLASSIC PRINTS

It feels like polka dots are having a moment. I loved this large-scale dot so much that I bought it in a few colors from Lyrical Fabrics. I've also seen so many great prints used by our testers, and the Bora works well with both large and small scale prints. The simple lines really highlight the beauty of your fabric. 

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SOLID FABRICS

Solid fabric with subtle texture or shine is a really lovely choice. If I had more time, I would have made a bias satin Bora for our listing images. I might just have to make one for myself. 

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After choosing fabric, you'll need a coordinating invisible zipper and some fusible interfacing for stabilizing. Here's a full list of the recommended and optional notions. 

NOTIONS

• 2 yds (1.8 m) Tricot Fusible Interfacing or any lightweight fusible. 
• 18” (45 cm) Invisible Zipper for sizes 0-18 or 20” (50 cm) Invisible Zipper for sizes 20-30
• 2 yds (1.8 m) 1/4” (0.6 cm) Elastic for View A, cut chart on page 7
• Invisible Zipper Foot
• Safety Pins

OPTIONAL NOTIONS

• Hook & Eye for above the zipper stop
• Tailor’s Chalk or Washable Fabric Marker
• Pressing Ham
• Point Turner and Turning Tool

I can't wait to see which fabric you choose for your Bora Dress! Be sure to tag us @chalkandnotch so we can see what you create.