CHICKPEA SEWING STUDIO: FABRIC

My favorite!

My sewing groove is back! and I had lost faith completely for 2010. Yesterday was terrific sewing wise, Finn was at daycare which allowed me hours of uninterrupted crafting resulting in this:

What is it? well, it's my new Sewing Republic pattern to be and it's a case for your make-up brushes. The inside looks like this:

It protects your brushes well while traveling because it's very stiffly interfaced and you can customize the slots to hold what you need. I have to send this one to Bernina which makes me very sad. BUT, was I complaining about the bad fabric choices yesterday? I found this new Denise Schmidt line called Hope Valley via Mmmcraft and mama mia! the stuff is great. I need to get my hands on some to make one of the above pronto.

Posted at 11:22 AM in FABRIC, SEWING, sewing republic | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBack (0)

WIPs

I am currently working on two new patterns for the Sewing Republic, and choosing some fabric from my stash might be the most satisfying part. Take a look:

4313607935_1ef8545b05_b

click on the picture for a larger view.

Looking at the swatches motivates me. I never though of it before but it makes old fabric look new again, which is good because I don't think I am going to buy very much new fabric this year. I feel a little too much like Atlas carrying the weight of the sky/my stash on my shoulder, and it's really heavy! Also, I think the new fabric collections are mostly boring, but that's another topic...

Posted at 11:31 AM in FABRIC, SEWING, sewing republic | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

Fabric Shopping Online, recap.

I want to thank you for all the suggestions you left in the comment box regarding internet fabric retailer. You saved me a lot of time and headaches and I think that I found some good options out there. The quest was made even more exciting yesterday morning when the new Ottobre kids arrived. It's really good, and for the first time I noticed that they used some American fabric, such as Anna Maria Horner quilt fabric. I found that interesting.

I have tried to explore all the links that were sent, some of which like etsy shops, Reprodepot.com, and Superbuzzy I already used.
So far when it comes to apparel fabric, I found these following options worthwhile:

Fabric.com: the baby & children page is very good for solids from corduroy to knits. The colors are pretty and fun too.They sell Robert Kaufman Gingham in 100% cotton under $7 a yard. The Lime featherwhale corduroy looks just fantastic and it's only $4.78 a yard from $12 until the end of the month.

Lime cord

They also carry an intriguing "Liberty-like" line of cotton lawn called london calling for about $9 a yard.

SewZanne's Fabrics: the knit sections has some truly cute print such as this little horses on green which I was thinking of pairing with the following turquoise velour to make the Jacket #8 in the new Ottobre Kid.

Horses knit

Turquoise velour

Fabric Hound: This shop is not cheap but they have Iron-on appliques to die for! They also have some pretty cool knits:

Cool knits

That's it so far! not bad for a rainy weekend, much better than driving around to find out that it's all ugly out there...

Posted at 11:33 AM in FABRIC, Shopping | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

Looking but not finding...

Today was a good post day, I received the little pants tracing promised by Ulla, and the stamps made me travel in day dreams for just a moment. I really want to make Finn a pair as soon as possible but this is where I start my ever growing complaints: Where can we buy apparel fabric? nowhere in Utah it seems. The only fancy store (which was never much for Children's stuff anyway) closed, Joann is getting worse and we have more quilt store than I can count on my two hands. I keep wasting time going to chains ( Joann, Hancock) and it's just completely useless. The quality and prints don't excite me much, especially not for little boys things.
I think I need to turn to alternate sources, such as mail order, the internet and so on. I just don't know where to start. Any ideas?

Posted at 11:51 AM in FABRIC | Permalink | Comments (18) | TrackBack (0)

Spring fabrics

We're back from Hawaii and under the snow, and although I didn't tan even the slightest I can feel it fading already. I need to hold on to the memories, especially a turtle that came to swim by us on the last day. Oh well!

I picked up an assignment from the store on Friday, the color palette sure speaks of spring:

fabrics by Barbara Jones fro Henry Glass & co.

But I brought back two pieces of yardage from the island as well, a large off white cotton print from Japan, which will hopefully become a tunic for me (as if there's ever going to have time to sew again).

and a blue print destined to become "weekend sewing" baby boy pant (much more realistic):

More sewing to come, I have my fingers crossed. Finn grew so much in just a week, he will walk soon and I have my hands full!
Finally, Maria tagged me. I love her blog, everything about it is so elegant. I'll have an honest try at all the questions, just not today... impossible.

Posted at 03:20 PM in FABRIC | Permalink | Comments (14) | TrackBack (0)

Sunday Stash (six) and a New blog

Veggiebabybottun

In the cold-medicine induced haze that was today, I started a new blog. The veggie baby will be my space to post recipes, stories and advice I may have given or received about feeding my vegetarian baby. the idea is to develop recipes that can be eaten by everyone in the home regardless of ages ( sometimes with a few extra ingredients).

It's not so fancy yet, 'excuse our dust'! Tomorrow if this darn cold subsides I will write all about a 'pasta diner' recipe I came up with today, all I can say is that it contains winter squash and TVP but you wouldn't think so...

Back to Sunday Stash, it has to be this fat quarter of course!

It's a piece of Iota's garden, and I just will never be able to cut into it!

Posted at 07:44 PM in FABRIC, FOOD | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

Sunday Stash (cinq)

Today's inspiration comes from a combination of my new orange table,

and two little wooden mushrooms I bought from this etsy seller.

Again, it's a Japanese import piece, quilting weight, possibly Kokka, bought from Bolt in Portland.

Posted at 04:51 PM in FABRIC | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Sunday Stash (quatre)

I think I'll try to make Sunday Stash more challenging by choosing an inspiration to match fabric to; this way it's not just about my fabric habit ( alarming fabric habit...).

No special rules here just any picture whose colors caught my eye.

This one for example inspired me to put those together:

Posted at 06:36 PM in FABRIC | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0)

Sunday Stash numero deux

This Alexander Henry print ( 2 yards) is my last 'major' fabric investment to date. I know it comes with more reds too, we just don't carry it at the shop. It's not destined for anything so far, I just love looking at it. Friday my student Maris (11) asked me if sometimes I buy fabric with no project in mind, just because... My answer:

'You-have-no-idea!'

Posted at 10:46 AM in FABRIC | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)

Ottobre: Fall 2007 to Fall 2008

The new Ottobre arrived on Saturday, and boy! I am glad that pink, gray and brown are still in fashion.
I have been hording such colors and neatly stashing (procrastinating) them away for who knows how long. Want a peak?
Starting from the bottom:
Grey Linen fro Joann's
Grey and Pink plaid from Pendleton ( no less!)
Pink tweed wool blend from my Berlin trip two Christmases ago (yes two)
Pink and Beige Corduroy from Robert Kaufmann
Beige wool or wool blend piece I cant remamber a thing about...Great.
And finally my favorite HUGE piece of striped knit.

Stash_056

This time I have some solid plans to use them all. see bellow the cool tunic, the linen will go to that.
Better views here.

Ottobre

the Jacket bellow could work with the pink tweed, and the skirt with the matching corduroys:

Better picture.

Ottobre2

Finally I love this skirt too, with the cool pockets, wouldn't it look great in Denim? I have none, but it should stop me!

Ottobre 3

Posted at 08:26 PM in FABRIC, SEWING | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

CHICKPEA SEWING STUDIO

January 30, 2010

My favorite!

January 29, 2010

WIPs

April 26, 2009

Fabric Shopping Online, recap.

April 24, 2009

Looking but not finding...

March 23, 2009

Spring fabrics

December 14, 2008

Sunday Stash (six) and a New blog

December 07, 2008

Sunday Stash (cinq)

November 30, 2008

Sunday Stash (quatre)

November 16, 2008

Sunday Stash numero deux

September 02, 2008

Ottobre: Fall 2007 to Fall 2008

Search

Become a Fan

Weekly Inspiration