• General,  Session 20,  Sewing/Quilting

    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…

  • General,  Session 20,  Sewing/Quilting

    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…

  • General,  Knitting/Crochet,  Session 20

    Hairpin Lace Tool

    What is it? – Scarves, shawls and wraps. Sometimes it seems as if you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all. But every now and then you see one that is somehow different. Really different. Seems to be made of endless flowing lace. It’s incredibly beautiful with a lacey, open design. And then we ask ourselves, is it knitting or crochet? Well, the easy answer is no and yes, respectively. But it’s only a “sort of” on the yes. It’s actually an old crochet technique that has been made modern with evolving creative application.  Hairpin lace, that’s what it’s called. Since a crochet…

  • General,  Knitting/Crochet,  Session 20

    Amour Crochet Hooks

    What is it? – Crochet has been around for a long time. Just ask your friends at Wikipedia. Having said that, crochet is still very relevant, even considered cool and growing in popularity as evidenced by trending pieces all the way from grandmother to Dolce & Gabbana. Fashion and fashion accessories, home décor and amazing independent pieces abound. Patterns and ideas can be found in our favorite yarn haunts or online. In this era of expanding creative endeavor, modern textile processes and world-wide search access and sourcing presents us with an ever-expanding variety of…

  • Crafts,  General,  Session 20

    Embroidery Stitching (Punch) Tool

      What is it? So what is this thing called punch embroidery?  It’s actually one of those “mature” artforms that is pretty much old school, something our grandmothers may have loved.  While traditional machine embroidery has its obvious applications, lately more and more of us have had our fiber-creative senses re-attuned to the amazing textures created with punch needle embroidery. Punch needle embroidery is a hand application process that uses a hollow needle to create loops of thread, yarn, floss or even ribbon on fabric giving us a textured pile surface that…