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Straight Pins
Straight Pins with Instructor Steve Butler Class 163 Visit Our Website Here! What is it? Let’s assume you’ve just found that perfect sewing project. Fashion, fashion accessories, heirloom, quilts, home décor, crafts, whatever. Fabric and pattern are identified and are on hand ready to go to work. What else do we need? Tools! We’ve got to measure, mark and cut our fabric to very precise standards. All set now, time to sew, right? But wait, how do we hold all of those perfectly shaped gems of fabric in perfect position? ‘Cause we know if the alignment and…
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Extra Credit: Stack and Slash Pillow
Stack and Slash Pillow By Shannon and Jason This month’s Tool School Extra Credit focuses on that wonder of tools, the Clover Rotary Cutter. We have three sizes of the Clover Rotary Cutters in our studio. Three above our big cutting table, one on the smaller cutting table, and one 45mm in our portable studio kit. The project video for this month features the 60mm rotary cutter that makes easy work of multiple layers of fabric used for our Stack and Slash Pillow. What a name, right? Just wait… you’ll…
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“Quick” Yo-Yo Makers
“Quick” Yo-Yo Maker with Instructor Steve Butler Class 162 View at our website What is it? Fabric yo-yo’s. What’s not to like? They’re fun, fast and a definite avenue for creative expression. What can you make with these little fabric gems? Who cares? For some it’s nothing more than a therapeutic journey to some level of nirvana. But if you’re actually into making something with them, those little creative fabric medallions are perfect for all kinds of home décor applications like doilies, quilts, bead spreads, pillows, placemats or fashion accessories like dresses, vests, headbands…
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Stitch Guide
Stitch Guide with Instructor Steve Butler Class 156 View at our website What is it? Ever watch an accomplished sewer lay down a line of stitches? It’s always perfectly straight or curved as desired. It looks easy, right? Well, easy until you drop the presser foot and the stitching begins. Then the skills of said sewist become glaringly evident. There’s nothing automatic about perfect straight or curved seams. It takes years of honing those skills to be proficient. And absent those skill enhanced perfect seams our sewn projects will constantly remind us, “It could have been better.” And…
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Extra Credit: Tracing Wheels
Tracing Wheels By Shannon and Jason Medieval torture devices? Baking for making those cool cuts in the top of your bread? What exactly are those strange looking wheelie-pokey-thing-a-ma-bob-tools that come in sewing tool kits and why should I learn to use them? If your first exposure to tracing wheels brought up these questions, you aren’t alone. Tracing wheels are for, just that, tracing pattern pieces. The pointy, sharp tracing wheel is perfect for outlining an existing pattern piece to create a duplicate. In our case, we use it to duplicate…
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Cable Stitch Holders
Cable Stitch Holders with instructor Steve Butler Class 153 What is it? – To MacGyver or not to MacGyver, that is the question. Okay, forget the feeble Shakespear/80’s TV action series reference. Seriously though, when it comes to knitting tools my answer is why? Why seek a MacGyver gimmick-based solution to the challenges presented by our most lofty creative endeavors? Why would you ever want to use anything other than the best solution-based tools available? Perhaps our knitting pattern specifies a particular decorative procedure that requires us to put designated open stitches on…
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Extra Credit: Cable Stitch Holders
Squishy Twists Spa Cloth By Shannon and Jason Me time. That’s not a practice we are always good at around here. We seem to always be moving from project to project to laundry, to groceries, to fixing the dishwasher, and where did Atlas go now and what is he into?? Like most of us, it is easy for days and even entire weeks to slip away without us taking any time to ourselves to recharge our batteries. Let us give you a good excuse to do just that with our…
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Yarn Guide
Yarn Guide System with instructor Steve Butler Class 151 What is it? – If you’re a fan of stranded color work like Fair Isle knitting with its symmetrical geometric motifs or Scandinavian knitting with its striking large asymmetrical motifs or even your own dramatic multi-color creative inventions, you know that these techniques can be both extremely rewarding but also pretty tricky. The challenges of organizing and controlling those multiple strands of yarn when doing creative color work can be rather daunting. Those challenges can be serious and will ultimately determine the…
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Flower Loom
Flower Loom with instructor Steve Butler Class 150 What is it? – A famous Clergyman once wrote, “Flowers are the sweetest things God ever made, and forgot to put a soul into.” Really? I’m not so sure. Can you imagine any of Monet’s major works of art without flowers? He couldn’t. And how about poetry? Spend some time perusing floral themed verse and you’ll see that poetry and flowers can truly be viewed as nothing less than a beautiful garden inside the author’s words. But what does that mean to us? How do we feel about…
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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.…