Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Thank you for starting this thread! I am interested in what everyone is making. More pictures, please.
Lately I’ve been on a knitting tangent for the new granddaughter I’m expecting in January.
I used to sew quite a lot, but now I only sew curtains or cushion covers and other things for the house. The last thing was new covers for the chairs on my porch. For those of you in the fabric deserts, I have gotten great fabrics online at fabrics.com and fabricguru.com
20 years ago, I was into buying and conserving antique school girl samplers, meaning I would mount them on acid free materials and reframe them. I liked the fact that i was preserving the work of the young girl who worked so hard on it many years ago. Now I only have a few.
Here in GA there is an active fiber guild. There are several yarn shops where the members meet to spin and weave. I belonged for a year, but then went back to work. You would not believe the gorgeous things those ladies make.
Last edited by gentlearts; 12-24-2020 at 07:08 AM..
Yes, most of us live in a "fabric desert" nowadays. There's nothing that can compare with shouldering through a fabric store densely packed with bolts of all different kinds and lengths of fabric, fondling and sniffing to one's heart's content, then going back and forth and back and forth between two or three until you finally decide on just the right one. I even like fondling thread, and don't get me started on buttons (does anyone else have an old fruitcake can filled with buttons?) I like ordering and getting swatches in the mail, but it just isn't the same, and makes the whole process of selection take SO long!
Although you can find them many places, JoAnnes is just not the same kind of place at all that it was when I was young, and Hancock is the same. And I wouldn't set foot in a Hobby Lobby (political comment ) today for all the money in the universe.
It's depressing to have to go to Walmart to get a zipper.
Does anyone have any wonderful brick and mortar fabric store near them? I remember one in St. Paul, MN and one in Kansas City, MN, but their names have completely gone out of my brain.
Yes! we have a fantastic fabric store in Fletcher, NC (a bit south of Asheville) and another one, and one of the best in the country near Charlotte:
Foam & Fabrics
If you can't find what you need/want at the following, you don't need it. Name brand quilting and sewing fabrics, unusual theatrical type fabrics, every notion you can think of, fair prices.
Yay, a knitter! That outfit is absolutely beautiful! I'm so impressed with your skill level! How did you learn how to knit? DId you learn as a child?
I've never been able to learn to knit or crochet, to my shame and sorrow. Something about my brain just doesn't work in a way that requires very detailed motor skills from both hands simultaneously. I can't play the piano, for the same reason.
About 3 hours north of me is a farm where they raise goats and sheep for fleece. They do everything, from raising the animals to sheering to dyeing to spinning and knitting. They will also card and spin fiber for other people who raise fleece animals. I've met the ladies at a our annual fiber conference, and would SO love to visit them, especially since they teach workshops on dyeing with plants.
NYC, are there REALLY stores in the garment district that only sell zippers??? How cool!!! I lived in NYC for a year back when I was in my early 20s, but never explored the garment district - just not my interest area at the time.
Oh, and I wanted to thank the poster who told how to make a fit mannequin using bubblewrap and duct tape. Is there anything one can't do with duct tape?
And how interesting about archival matting and framing of samplers! Some of them are so beautiful. Speaking of NYC, I am remembering an exhibit of a wide variety of such samplers at the Cooper Hewitt museum long ago.
I was sad to read this morning that Nancy Zieman passed away yesterday. I enjoyed and learned a lot from her TV show "Sewing With Nancy". She was only 64.
After the holidays, I’m planning to take down the fabric accent wall in my bedroom, wash the starch (laundry starch is the glue) out of it, and sew a duvet cover with the material.
I was sad to read this morning that Nancy Zieman passed away yesterday. I enjoyed and learned a lot from her TV show "Sewing With Nancy". She was only 64.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 601halfdozen0theother
Oh wow! I've watched Sewing with Nancy! She was quite young to have passed. So sad.
She had announced her terminal diagnosis a few months ago. It is sad.
Three years ago, I found adorable tea towel fabric and hemmed them and sent the to my relatives....and the Christmas Folly tradition had started. Two years ago, I bought linen and made embroidered initial ornaments, and last years were snowman mug mats.
The idea is a fun little start to the Christmas season. It's got to be handmade, and not expensive. Its not their big present.
This year, I’m making fabric Swedish Hearts. I used Wonder under and fused red fabric to green fabric and cut out the pieces.
They should hold a couple of chocolates. Got to get them out right after Thanksgiving...
Well, let's see how many get involved in this chat thread! If enough of us do, then maybe we'll get our own subforum
What's your current sewing or textile arts project or problem?
I guess mine is deciding whether or not to buy an 8 shaft floor loom. There's a person from one of the weaving facebook groups I belong to who is selling their Kessenich Jack loom. It's only about 5 hours from me, which, when you live in South Dakota, is pretty close. It is an excellent loom for a great price!
But, problem 1: She said in her first post that it could be easily taken apart for moving, though it was heavy. Now she is saying it would be hard for her to take it apart for me. Those looms are pretty big! I can't fit it into my vehicle if it's still assembled, and I sure couldn't get it into my old farmhouse doors if still assembled. But if it's disassembled, am I smart enough to figure out how to put it back together???
But, problem 2: Would I really use this loom enough to justify the price? 8 shaft can make widths up to about 45". My dream is to weave flax that I have spun into linen thread, and be able to sew the resulting linen fabric into a garment with my treadle. (I planted flax last year, but it didn't do well - I think my soil's not sandy enough.) However, could I really do this?
But then again, where am I ever again going to find a nearby floor loom for such a good price? These things sell for about $4000 new!
I think I've probably talked myself out of this. But she still has it for sale, so ....... hmmmm......
Does anyone else out there on CD use a floor loom?
What's up with your dreams and projects?
An elderly friend has a few looms, and he has made so many beautiful wall hangings.
I would certainly go buy it if I had your interest.....you may never come across this again.
Do you have a son or hubby or friend to take with that could get it apart for hauling, and then put it back together?
I spin, knit and am teaching myself to crochet. I'm in FL now, so I use more silk/merino blends to knit with in fingering or laceweight. There isn't much need here for heavier yarns, although I'd do use some heavier ones for gifts to relatives north of here.
My local yarn shop is a destination shop for snowbirds and big name teachers and designers visit in the winter. They have an open spinning day once a month. It's fun in the summer with the year round residents and even more fun with the influx of snowbirds from all over.
I pulled out a rag quilt throw I started last year to finish this year. It's is a mirror rag quilt of a Christmas tree with presents underneath. It's the same on both sides, just a reverse image. I wish I had made two throws with backing. I. Plus have given one as a gift. It's making my head spin sewing together the squares and putting them together in rows keeping in mind the mirror image. Of course I like to overthink and make everything harder than it is.
After the holidays, I’m planning to take down the fabric accent wall in my bedroom, wash the starch (laundry starch is the glue) out of it, and sew a duvet cover with the material.
That sounds like a fun project. We just got a new duvet, and I need to make a cover for it. But I don't have the fabric on hand, so it's an excuse to go shopping.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
) today for all the money in the universe.
Name brand quilting and sewing fabrics, unusual theatrical type fabrics, every notion you can think of, fair prices.
