It’s warming up here in Vancouver! Which means we are really thinking about what outfits to make for this summer weather.
While it will be a little bit longer till we know the official forecast for the summer, The weather network put out a preview of what summer 2025 should be like in Vancouver! It is looking pretty dry in July & August and hopefully not as hot as the heat dome that we had in 2021 (though it’s still gonna be hot)!
So I am thinking a lot about light weight fabrics that are really breathable and don’t trap in sweat and smell. Here are the summer fabrics I would recommend for your summer sewing projects!
Our ‘Care free cotton crinkle’ is super lightweight and breathable as it is a loose weave cotton and it comes in so many different colours!

Already here at the studio we have used it to make everything from light weight tops to flowy slip dresses. Students have used it in both our sewing camps and adult courses and our recommendation is to have a nice sharp new machine sewing needle when you stitch it to prevent snagging of the loose weave!

Ginghams have also been so popular here in the studio and we have it in so many different colours and sizes! All of the ginghams we carry here at our Vancouver fabric shop are 100% cotton as well which means it’ll help absorb the moisture from your body on the hot days and give tons of breathability!

We have used this cotton gingham on everything from skirts & dresses to button up shirts!
Check out some of our youth student work with this cotton!

Linen is also a really popular fabric in our sewing studio during the summer months. People love linen for its sustainability, biodegradability, and low environmental impact but it is also a fabric that is super breathable, antibacterial, hypoallergenic, and moisture wicking!

Right now on our online shop we have this beautiful light pink linen blend but we have an even bigger selection of linen fabrics in person at our Vancouver fabric shop! We use our linen a lot in our Palazzo pant adult sewing workshop!

Summer 2025 fashion trends are pointing towards longer bermuda shorts & jorts! Laurie has already made herself a beautiful pair of jorts from our 14oz Black denim but we have denim and twills in a ton of different colours and weights! The light blue cotton denim we carry is so popular we have gone through two 15 metre bolts of them and they would be a beautiful weight to make a pair of simple shorts if you’re a beginner sewer (or just feeling a little lazy and don’t wanna sew a jeans zipper).

Looking for sewing inspiration? We loved Sew Mama Sew’s list of 25 free shorts sewing patterns!
We of course can’t forget about summer pjs! We make a ton of sleep shorts here in the studio and it’s definitely a project our youth sewing students love, make, and use over and over again!

As always we try our best to source some fun prints of 100% cotton flannelette for all of our Pj needs! This free sleep shorts pattern looks perfect for beginner sewists!

T-shirts are tricky to sew (so much so that we teach a workshop in two levels on how to sew knits). But if you are up for the challenge we also have a ton of comfy t-shirt knits that we will be using all summer in classes like our simple t workshop.
We hope all these fabrics and projects help inspire you to begin work on your summer sewing projects! As always if you have any sewing related questions we are always here to help.