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Marking Tools
What is it? – Let’s think about it. What do we do when we sew? What comes after the creative vision is set and after finding the perfect fabric and the perfect accessorizing thread? We cut that beautiful fabric into smaller pieces and then, well, and then we sew it all back together again into a larger piece of fabric. But it’s the shape of those pieces and the way they are assembled that brings a smile to our faces. So how do we do that? Measure, mark and cut. The more precise each function is accomplished, the more…
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Extra Credit: Use the Mesh Transfer Canvas to make a Butterfly Shirt
If you all have seen our previous blog posts and Tool School Extra Credit projects, you know by now that we love a good embellishment! For this project, we are going to be using the Mesh Transfer Canvas from Clover and let us tell you… it is so easy to work with. Also, because it is clear, you can use it to trace an outline from any photo or printed design. Once your item is traced onto the canvas you simply place the canvas on top of your fabric and trace…
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Mesh Transfer Canvas
What is it? – Fashion, fashion accessories, heirloom sewing, quilting or home decor. At one time or another all of these project genres present us with a blank canvas to which we can apply our own creative brilliance. Or maybe we can just plagiarize someone else’s brilliance just a little. In any case, we’ve found a really cool design that would be perfect on our project. Take it to the next level. Unfortunately that design is often in a magazine, part of an individual picture, on another sewn project, in an old coloring book…
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Straight Pins
What are they? – The devil is in the details. Isn’t that what they say? How can that possibly apply to us? Just think about what we do when we sew. We spend hours selecting a delicious design or the perfect pattern. The same amount of time is spent finding the most fabulous fabric (and no, it’s not in your stash) and some awesome thread. And then after all of that it’s the details of measuring, marking and cutting our fabric to create those fabulous fashion, elegant heirloom, quintessential quilt or curiously clever craft projects. And we go…
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Scandinavian Fabric Stars with Clover’s Bias Tape Maker
Following along with our posts, you will have noticed that we love taking existing tools and finding unique ways to use them. Most everyone reading this will have heard of bias tape, having purchased it or made it themselves for garment trims and quilt binding. Bias tape maker… surely there had to be other uses for a tool that made fab strips of fabric that totally encased any fraying edges of fabric. It was during this last holiday season we stumbled onto a solution almost by accident. Shannon’s grandmother and…
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Bias Makers
What is it? – It’s common knowledge that woven fabric is made on a loom with warp (vertical threads) and weft (horizontal threads). In either direction there is pretty much no stretch at all. That’s a good thing but it also makes it pretty hard to form binding fabric around corners or adapt it to curved shapes found routinely on everything from fashion to quilting to home décor to craft projects. So what to do? How can we use fabric with little or no stretch to finish the curved raw edges found around quilts, placemats, arm…
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Wonder Fuse
What is it? – Appliqué . As a noun it’s an amazing and beautiful fiber art form. As a verb, appliqué refers to the addition of subordinate decorative fabric motifs to a larger, supporting piece of fabric. It has applications to quilting, fashion, home décor and crafts. Appliqué can be elegant or simple and it can create real world, geometric or abstract schemes. By designed intention it can relate a story or simply project a meaningful image. It’s all up to you. And when you consider your creative medium is a seemingly unending array of available and ever evolving…
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Yo-Yo Pillow Tutorial
What you need: Size Large Yo-Yo Maker, item #8701 Neutral shade of thread, Aurifil 50 wt cotton Black Gold Applique Needles, item #4971 Fabric Cuts: 96, 4.5″ red squares (or any darker color) 25, 4.5″ pink squares (or any lighter color) One, 20×20″ red fabric square for the back of the pillow One, 20×20″ white fabric square for the front of the pillow One 20″ square pillow insert Tips: You can use any two colors to make this pillow. To achieve the overall effect, use two contrasting colors such…
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Desk Needle Threader Extra Credit!
Featured Items Art No. 4071 Purple Desk Needle Threader Art No. 4072 Green Desk Needle Threader Art No. 4073 Pink Desk Needle Threader Shannon and Jason Mullett-Bowlsby are the dynamic DIY duo known as the Shibaguyz, and the creative geniuses behind Shibaguyz Designz Studio.Their award winning crochet & knit designs have been featured in and on the covers of both US and international publications. Their craft, portrait, and fashion photography has appeared in six books and numerous magazines around the globe. Together, the Shibaguyz team currently…
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Carefree Curves
What is it? Quilting construction is all about fabric cut in geometric shapes and applied in a specific order to present our preselected pattern. Squares, rectangles, triangles and curves. They are all important and can be applied in any combination to mimic our creative vision. Using these basic shapes we can create an endless array of quilt designs. Some are fairly simple and are easy to assemble. Some are more complex and difficult to assemble. And some are just crazy. Those would be the designs that include curves. We need to…