• General

    Extra Credit: Loop Pressing Bars

    Loop Pressing Bars Pick Up Sticks Pillow By the Shibaguyz Pick Up Sticks Pillow Small strips of fabric can make a big impact on your home décor. With just a few pieces of fabric, and Clover’s Loop Pressing Bars you’ll be well on your way making modern art inspired pillows for your sofas, chairs, or wherever you need a pop of vibrant color. These Loop Pressing Bars are not just for bias cut fabric either… we cut our strips with the grain of the fabric for a clean straight finish.…

  • General

    Wonder Clips Variety Pack

    Wonder Clips Variety Pack with instructor Steve Butler Class 146 What is it? – Sequels, we all love them. We see a great movie or read a new novel by a favorite author and we’re hooked and already looking forward to what will be later described as “the eagerly anticipated” sequel.  Then we wait. We wait for the continuation of something we have already found extremely favorable or useful. And it’s not limited to just movies or novels. It’s anything that increases the original in value or use. Such is the case with Clover’s vaunted…

  • General

    Extra Credit: Darning Needles

    Bracelet Maker Visible Mended Woven Patch By the Shibaguyz Visible Mended Woven Patch Visible mending is one of the hottest trends in fashion today. By utilizing simple stitching on top of worn, distressed, or even new garments it’s easy to create a fashion statement that is singular to your style. As proponents of zero waste fashion we love the idea of giving old worn items a new life by adding stabilizing stitching or colorful patches. It’s good for the environment and great for the pocketbook! The weaving we do for…

  • General

    Darning Needles

    Darning Needles with instructor Steve Butler Class 145 What is it? – Darning needles, sometimes referred to as tapestry needles, are a no-nonsense, must-have tool for all fiber artists who work with yarns, flosses or heavy threads. In the needle world, these are the heavy lifters. Crochet, knitting, embroidery, counted cross stitch or sewing, they all have applications for darning needles.  The more traditional use of darning needles centers around the repair of knitted items like socks, sweaters or scarves. Darning needles have also proven invaluable for construction projects requiring attaching…

  • General

    Amour Steel Crochet Hook Set

    Amour Steel Crochet Hook Set with instructor Steve Butler Class 144 What is it? – Every time I see lace crochet I am reminded of my grandmother. She truly was an artist with lace-weight threads and steel crochet hooks. As you might expect, most of her crochet projects centered around beautiful edges applied to handkerchiefs or table linens or those time vaunted projects known as “doilies”. But that was then and this is now. What can be or is being accomplished present day with lace-weight yarns and steel crochet hooks? How about anything we want?…

  • General

    Felting Tools

    Felting Tools with instructor Steve Butler Class 143 What is it? – Question. What can you produce creatively with wool roving, a felting needle and a felting pad? Answer. Anything you want. Put your own special touch on art, jewelry, fashion, fashion accessories, quilting, home décor or even stand-alone projects. What you can fabricate is truly limited only by your desire for creative expression. What is needle felting? In its most basic form, the process of needle felting transforms wool or other carded fiber roving materials into a dense cloth or three dimensional shape by bonding those…

  • General

    Extra Credit: Bracelet Maker

    Bracelet Maker Jelly Bracelet By the Shibaguyz While we can’t say our generation created the friendship bracelet, it certainly did add its own twist to them. It does not seem that long ago when we were taping down thread to a table and trying to tie even knots together to make unique bracelets for our friends, hoping that the tape held tight enough to keep everything from sliding around. Well, bracelets are coming back into style and luckily Clover has created their newest product to assist with making some FAB…

  • General

    Bracelet Maker

    View Here! Bracelet Maker with instructor Steve Butler Class 142 What is it? – If you want to discuss useful fashion accessories you have to include bracelets in the conversation. Dressing up or dressing down, black tie or no tie, bracelets are perfect for every social occasion. Perhaps the most meaningful of these vaunted fashion accessories are the bracelets we make for ourselves, family or friends. When made for others they are often termed “friendship bracelets”. They’re not only attractive but become valued personal possessions because friendship is basic to all great personal relationships in…

  • General

    Loop Pressing Bars

    Loop Pressing Bars with instructor Steve Butler Class 141 What is it? – Why do we willingly expend so much effort when we sew? Quilting, fashion, home decor and all of the accessories relating to each? Hours spent selecting just the right pattern (no easy task), the right fabric (no easy task) and the right threads (yes, no easy task here either). It’s because at the end of the day we want it to be ours, an expression of our own personal creative vision. And as if the selection of patterns, fabrics and threads…

  • General

    Bodkins (Art. No. 9581,9582,4001)

    Bodkins with instructor Steve Butler Class 140 What is it? – The buzzer goes off telling you the drying cycle has finished. Finally. You go over to the dryer and pull out the new hoodie you were planning on wearing today. As you remove it, you notice that the cord that is supposed to go through the hood casing is now wrapped firmly around one of the sleeves. Oh man, how do I get that back where it belongs? Or maybe it’s not an emergency. Maybe it’s part of our creative process. Fashion, fashion accessories, home décor…