Fancy Turtleneck

[Pudge99]

I want to make a fancy turtle neck. I want something comfy like my standard t-shirt ones but I want it to look pretty. Any suggestions for what type of fabric I should use?

[MartySews2]

I would try a polyroma knit with some rayon & lycra ... Hancock Fabrics and JoAnn's have some in stock as well as Fabric Mart and Vogue Fabrics.
Marty

[kaitlinnegan]

If you decide on rayon/spandex knit, I would shop around a bit and read reviews. The stuff from Joann's gets fuzzy and pilly after washing and line drying, at least in my experience. Maybe it has improved recently though. One place to try might be Gorgeous Fabrics. The owner shops for all her fabrics in NYC, and they tend to be a little pricier but also likely higher quality. I haven't ordered from there recently, though.

Fabric.com has some lightweight sweater knits that might be good for what you're describing. I got some printed hatchi sweater knit recently, but I haven't washed or or made anything with it yet. Beware that they seem to have a huge problem with messing up orders. On my recent order, they sent me a duplicate piece of the sweater knit instead of some stretch satin I ordered. Generally their customer service is good, but they are slow to respond to emails lately (perhaps bogged down with similar complaints). I wouldn't recommend ordering if you need anything on a timeline!

Ponte knits are a good idea. Both Joann and Hancock have a few lightweight sweater knits too. ITY is another option, but is thinner and generally better for tops with some ruching or draped details rather than plain.

[MartySews2]

I was thinking of ponteroma knits when I wrote "polyroma" I love that stuff.
Marty

[Pudge99]

I used to swear by fabric.com for customer service, speed of delivery, and quality of product. My last three order from them have all been screwed up somehow. And just recently they shipped me an order of fabric that I never ordered. I have learned to not order from them if I am on a deadline. They still have pretty good customer service and do their best to fix all the errors so I will probably ride this wave with them and hope that they are just going through a transition.
Lightweight sweater knit might be just what I am looking for, I don't really find lycra and spandex as a necessary ingredient in my fabrics and try to stay away from them as much as possible.

[kaitlinnegan]

I sure hope you are right about fabric.com just going through a transition! They are a convenient place to order from with a decent website and reasonable prices.

Don't be afraid of a little spandex - it helps knits hold their shape. You can still make them as loose as you like, they just won't get as baggy at the end if the day. Fabrics with 5-10% spandex can be very nice to wear without venturing into "running tights" territory. I do tend to line dry my knits with spandex, as the spandex can start to break down if it goes through a too-hot dryer repeatedly.

[MartySews2]

About 2 yrs ago, Fabric.com made a deal with Amazon. Since then, their customer service and quality has gone down in my opinion. I avoid them now. When I shop online (occasionally) for fabric, I really like Fabric Mart. They have nice fabrics, good swatches and good customer service plus great sales. I like what they offer. Here is the link http://www.fabricmartfabrics.com. Quite a few of my online friends swear by them.
Marty

[Pudge99]

Wow! I had no idea they sold out to Amazon, but it makes sense now. I did a little Google research to see that this occurred in 2008. That is when I started having a few issues with my orders. But things have really gotten bad in the last few months. Turns out that August of 2012 was when the founder of fabric.com left the company. I really don't understand why people sell out to the big conglomerates. I enjoyed shopping at fabric.com all of these years because I felt I had built a relationship with Stephen. When I first stared shopping with them they were still called Phoenix Textiles and they had just recently moved out of his garage if I remember correctly. They were the only online fabric sellers that didn't even blink once when I asked if they would ship to APO/FPO addresses. He would send out weekly e-mails talking about the special deals he had for you and he would tell you a bit about the growing business, and a touch about his home life. Businesses like that get my money time and time again because they make you feel like you are a part of their business and that you matter. I was willing to ride the wave with Stephen Friedman, the small business man whose business was growing faster than he could keep up, But I will NOT go down with the Titanic(aka Amazon).
I'll have to have a look at Gorgeous Fabrics and see what they have that might interest me.

[Pudge99]

Still googling 'cause I can't sleep. Fabric.com has an F rating from the BBB. They have had 16 complaints in the last 3 years 13 of which were in the last year. 2 of those fabric.com did not respond to the BBB on.
All I can say is WOW!

[kaitlinnegan]

Amazon is a great company, and I highly doubt that the problems are directly related to the buy-out. I have been ordering from Amazon for years and have only had a problem once in a blue moon, and any problems were dealt with promptly by their customer service. I have been hoping that Amazon would bring improvements to Fabric.com, and it looks like they have greatly increased their stock and improved their shipping policies (free shipping over $35). However, it seems they are still having some growing pains. I guess we'll see how this all shakes out.