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Tool School: Mini Beading Loom
Clover Mini Beading Loom with instructor Steve Butler
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One Year of Tool School!!!
We are pleased to celebrate one year of Tool School during the month of July. Throughout the year we have explored Clover tools with Steve Butler the sales manager here at Clover. Steve has expertise in the sewing and needlecraft industry. Co-founder of Superior Threads. Steve has taught numerous classes at all major sewing machine conventions, regional trade shows, international Quilt Market, various machine embroidery venues and has been a four time repeat guest on Martha Pullen’s popular PBS series, “Martha’s Sewing Room”. We’ve had a blast and hope you…
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Tool School: 6-in-1 Stick ‘n Stitch Guide by Nancy Zieman
Tool School with Instructor Steve Butler 6-in-1 Stick ‘n Stitch Guide by Nancy Zieman What is it?– We take such great care with our sewn projects. Crafts, quilts, fashion, home décor, it doesn’t matter what. We envision exactly what we want to create. Once we have that picture, everything about it has to be just perfect. Patterns, fabrics, threads, and accessories are all selected with great care. We measure, mark, cut, pin and press with precision. And then, well, then we put it all together. We sit down at our sewing…
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Tool School: Iron Shine Cleaning Pen
What is it? – By a show of hands how many of you really like to iron? Exactly, not many hands. We usually iron what we have to iron and not until we have to. The unfortunate fallout is that because of this our irons often become the most neglected tools in our sewing arsenal. Through the process of creating our masterpieces our irons pick up deposits from the materials we use. Sizing, fusibles, spray adhesives and sticky back stabilizers are some of the villains. It’s unavoidable. Take a look…
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A Few of My Favorite Clover Tools for EPP by Diane Gilleland
A Few of My Favorite Clover Tools for English Paper Piecing By Diane Gilleland My new book, All Points Patchwork, is all about English paper piecing (otherwise known as EPP) – a lovely hand-sewn patchwork technique. I’m a big fan of hand-sewing in general, and my toolbox is brimming with Clover! So I thought I’d share some of my favorites, and how they make my EPP easier. (If you’d like to see some EPP in action, by the way, check out these videos.) Applique Pins, Fabric Glue Stick The first…
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Tool School: Mini Flower Loom
What is it? – “Flowers are the sweetest things God ever made, and forgot to put a soul into.” That’s what Henry Beecher thought anyway. So how important are flowers? Claude Monet once wrote that he may very well have become a painter because of flowers. Art, literature, music, culture . . . all are replete with references to flowers. Can you imagine a Spring morning in the Colorado Rockies without fields of wild flowers? Or Japan without cherry blossoms? A prom without orchids. Perhaps Valentine’s Day without red roses?…
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Tool School: Jumbo Amour Crochet Hooks
What is it? -There was a time when almost all of the gals and some of us guys grew up learning how to crochet from our moms or grandmothers. It was a necessary skill that seemed to play out as life became more fast-paced. All of a sudden it was more economical to purchase finished goods than to buy materials and devote the time required to complete a project. Times have changed and creativity is making a comeback. Crochet now goes to places where grandma never imagined. And what takes…
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Tool School: Bodkins
Class 19 Tool School with Instructor Steve Butler What is it? – Bodkins. Only someone who sews would know what a bodkin is. Simply put, a bodkin is a tool that is used to pull various thin materials through a sewn fabric casing. Elastic, ribbon, cording or other “drawstring” type materials can all be pulled through the casing to serve any desired function. A bodkin usually resembles an over-sized sewing needle with a blunt point and a large eye. The bodkin is attached to the cording and manipulated through the…
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Rainbow Booties with Repeat Crafter Me
I had the pleasure of trying out the Clover Amour crochet hooks this past week! This was a big deal for me because I’ve been using the same hook for 3 years. But when the Clover hooks arrived in their pretty packaging with 10 brightly colored hooks in a rainbow of colors, I couldn’t wait to get one in my hands and around some yarn! All Clover products can be found at www.clover-usa.com The colorful easy grip handles inspired me to make these rainbow baby booties! The first thing I…
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Tool School: Straight Pins
What is it? – In some of the oldest archeological digs around the world you can find ancient straight pins. They’ve been around that long and probably always will be. There are so many uses for them and in many cases there really is no substitute. We use them to hold patterns in place on our fabric, bind fabric pieces, tailor fabric to our bodies, hold seams together, anchor trims, beads or other embellishments in place and even block knitted products. Because of this wide variety of uses for straight…