All posts tagged: fabric

bay quilts.

Published by

I recently found out about Bay Quilts and now I’m so excited because they carry so many fun fabric prints and they are close enough to my work that I can go during my lunch break! (Dangerous…) Here’s a quick peek inside. They hold classes upstairs in the workshop space. The ground floor houses fabrics and notions. The walls are decorated with sample projects and artist work. There were pretty, pretty prints everywhere. Spot the fried eggs and pandas! Bay Quilts carries quilting fabrics and on my visit I was in search of fabrics that they don’t carry (because they aren’t appropriate for quilting). But that’s no problem for me. I found everything else I wasn’t looking for…. 😂 I am in love with these fabrics, particularly the scissor print! Does anyone want to sponsor my fabric addiction? 

zippers!

Published by

I took a zipper class at Hello Stitch and it was amazing! Our instructor – Michelle of Hummingbird Textiles – made it super easy to follow along to make a zipper pouch. Class was BYO fabric and zippers. I brought a few choices for fabric and zipper combinations, but I decided on using my kitten fabric from Japan (thank you, Joy!) for the outer fabric and fabric leftover from wedding crafting for the liner. We got to use these amazing machines – they were so quiet and so smooth. And they have an automatic bottom thread cutter! We measured and cut our fabric. Then we ironed and sewed, and got expert help along the way. I decided on adding “tabs” to finish the zipper ends and a strap. The process/steps are relatively simple, but what I need to work on is the actual sewing and getting used to guiding fabric through the machine. For the class, it did help to know sewing basics, but Michelle is super helpful if you have any questions. I had …

leggings.

Published by

I’m not a pants person; I live in dresses. Even my pajamas are dresses. But when it’s cold I live in dresses + leggings. True story. So when my friend – the most fabulous Rebecca of OodleBaDoodle – said she was going to teach a leggings class in San Francisco I was all over it! First, we picked our favorite fabric. I chose a polkadot print with stripes on the opposite side. These galaxy prints though. They might need to be my next project! We were equipped with a sewing machine, templates, scissors, pins – all the sewing things – plus instructions, demos, and one-on-one time with Rebecca. I learned to work from a pattern, how to sew knits, and how to add an elastic band! Pinning the legs… I didn’t have enough fabric to make full length leggings so I ended up making a looser pajama pant. They are so comfy! Also, I wore them home because, well, I was wearing a short dress…in San Francisco…at night. >o< Yay for learning new things! I can’t wait …

hoop, there it is.

Published by

My friend gifted me an embroidery hoop so I made a pendant. Obvi! For this project I used: one embroidery hoop fabric to fit the hoop needle embroidery floss pendant setting (from Etsy shop Kailea.) fabric scissors All you do is: Place the fabric in the hoop. Embroider with design of choice. Fit the design/fabric in your pendant. Attach your pendant to chain or cord to wear as a necklace or leave as is and call it art. These would make super cute gift tags, too! What other designs would you create? Share below!

wax on, wax off.

Published by

Staff meetings at Sticky Art Lab are far from ordinary. This last meeting was no exception. Sure we talk business, but then thanks to boss lady and owner Rachel we get to play and learn a new crafty skill. On the agenda today: batik! Maitland, batik hobbyist and overall cool fella, walked us through the process. Batik is a dyeing technique in which you use wax (in our case paraffin) to make designs on cloth (we used a cotton muslin) and block the dye from coloring those areas. Sounds simple, but getting color to go where you want is a little tricky. First we bathed our cloth in an ash solution. The ash is suppose to help the colors stick to the cloth and prevent bleeding. Ideally, cloth should soak for thirty minutes or more and then dry completely before the next step. Next, we applied melted paraffin to the cloth either using stamps or brushes. Maitland brought some kitchen tools and we had wire and other metal items to play with. My favorite “stamps” …

t-shirt dress.

Published by

T-shirts – I’m not a big fan because I have sweaty armpits. No really, I sweat pretty easily. Sleeveless numbers and cardigans are my preference – my arms stay warm but my pits can air out should it get a little hot. Now, loose t-shirts I can get into, mostly for pajama wearing, but also for DIY-ing. Here’s a shirt I found while at Sticky Art Lab one afternoon. It was the last XL shirt and as soon as I saw it I said “This can be a dress.” My friend, an avid sewer, looked at me and said “It CAN be” and we gave each other another look like we were thinking the same thing. We were. We scheduled a time to meet up for a craft night — t-shirt dress edition. Now, I’m a bit hesitant to have people in my bubble. In this case, for body measurements. It’s just a weird feeling for me, much like disrobing for your lady doctor (Do it, Ladies! It saves lives!) or masseuse (Also do this because massages are …

fabric fieldtrip.

Published by

Fieldtrip! So, I’ve been sort of planning a wedding. The only thing I’ve really decided on is a color scheme. I figured a trip to the fabric store for swatches could inspire potential wedding crafts so I spent Saturday  afternoon working my way through a couple of Berkeley’s finest. I was on the hunt for rose golds, blushes, ivories, pops of gold, and black accents. My first visit was Stone Mountain & Daughter. I’ve been here on many occasions, and every time I visit I wish I was a lot o’ bit better at machine sewing. There are so many beautiful cotton prints, and they even have a great selection of scrap fabric. I often times forget my reason for coming in and get distracted by all the colors, textures (particularly the faux fur), and sample projects. My second and last stop was Discount Fabrics. So. Much. Fabric. In bulk! I imagine if I was a fashion designer or an upholstery enthusiast, this would be my playground. Again, completely distracted from my main goal, but I came across …