All about KNITS VOL. 2 Cotton French Terry | Bamboo French Terry | PUL   At 852 Fabric we offer six types of knit fabric. In this article, we will cover two varieties of French Terry and as a bonus PUL! If you have’t read VOL 1. of this series, we recommend you preview that before you continue here. But if you are happy to jump ahead anyway, here’s a summary of the main points about knit form Vol 1.     What is knit? It’s a stretchy fabric used in everyday wear, sportswear, swimwear and loungewear. It can have horizontal stretch as well as vertical stretch.   Why is stretch ..read more

All about KNITS VOL. 1 Cotton Lycra Knit | Double Brushed Polyester | Swim | Athletic Knit At 852 Fabric we offer six types of knit fabric. In this article, we will cover two of our most popular and two of our seasonal fabrics.   What is knit? All textiles are made from yarns. Knit fabrics are made from a single yarn and arranged into loops. This creates a braided formation and gives knit fabrics their characteristic stretch. Think everything from t-shirts to yoga pants to swimwear and sweatshirts. Knit fabrics stretch the most across their width (horizontally) and slightly less along the ..read more

852 Fabric Recommends: Hold it Bin pattern by Made Everyday with Dana  Looking for a quick and easy sewing project idea? We are always on the lookout for great patterns for you to sew with our unique fabric.  It’s not everyday that you get to ‘try’ a pattern before you purchase it. However, the creators at Made Everyday have created a video tutorial specifically for their Hold it Bin pattern, that lets you try one size before you buy. The Hold It Bin Pattern is for sale on their website and, comes with 14 separate sizes AND lids. But today we will create the free version by ..read more

  Today’s stash buster features PUL, or polyurethane laminate. We chose PUL for this project because of its waterproof properties, but you can make this project with cotton woven too.   Here’s a little introduction to PUL. It is commonly used in cloth diapers and feminine sanitary products, cosmetics bags, raincoats, picnic baskets and reusable food pouches. PUL is basically two layers bonded together. The printed outer layer is polyester and the reverse or back side is the polyurethane laminate.  This layer, while waterproof is breathable due to tiny holes that don’t allow wate ..read more

After selling our fabric designs reasonably successfully for about 3 years, why did I decide to launch a monthly fabric subscription service last September? As a one-woman fabric business, after all it was one more complicated product offering which would take up more of my time and investment, and there is always the concern of stretching myself too thin. So why add yet another product? The commercial rationale is there of course – regular, reoccurring monthly income is very valuable to a small business. Our preorder rounds can vary significantly in terms of success (some designs will always ..read more

Whether you are a beginner sewist or have loads of experience, you’ll find yourself with smaller pieces of fabric left over from projects. Often these pieces simply aren’t large enough to construct a complete garment, but they are too precious to dispose of. Don’t worry! We have a solution for you! Our favourite AND easy stash buster has to be the iconic scrunchie.   Scrunchies are great to complete an outfit, either by adding contrast or my complimenting the entire look. Either way, they are functional and make great gifts! Start with a rectangular strip of fabric. Our sample measures 17 ..read more

By now we are all starting to feel the heat and humidity of Hong Kong Summers once again. Whether you plan to travel or stay local this Summer, we have some cooler fabric choices to highlight this month. Have you tried our Rayon? Rayon is a very popular Summer textile. Think summer dresses, Hawaiian shirts, South East Asian Sarongs, and pool side coverups. This textile is light, breathable, drapey and flowy. Our rayon fabric is made of 100% rayon poplin which makes it very stable to sew with. If you have thought about trying our rayon (and maybe some shirring) we recommend trying the Isla Top ..read more

As a child I liked drawing, and even showed some modest talent. Once adulthood came the demands of first studying (I studied History at Sussex in the UK, and then a year or so of Mandarin at Renmin University in Beijing) and then work took up most of my energy, leaving little time for creativity. Working in recruitment for 10 years, most of it in a sales function (with sales targets!) and then as a director in a bank for another 8 years, meant that when my brain was fired up it was mostly focused in the direction of furthering my career. At the end of the work day I was happy to switch it off ..read more

852 Fabric was born by accident in 2018 when I was frustrated with the choice of fabric available in Hong Kong as a beginner sewist. The retail fabric available had a limited range of designs (especially if you are looking for knit fabric) and the alternative was to buy online. The online fabric shops were aimed mainly at the Western market, or focused on licensed characters. There was a lack of fabric designs that interested me and which reflected my background as someone born and bred in Hong Kong. I had an interest in surface and fabric design and so found a printer to make up a few unique ..read more