holy moly!!! fabric insanity!

There's a local fabric shop here in San Jose, right down the street from the San Jose Flea Market, which I would like to add is another excellent place to go for crafty goodness. 
The fabric shop is called  Fabrics R us... and oh my goodness, you have no idea how awesome this place can be. Not until I started sewing and really getting into it, that I realize what a haven this place  actually is. Yes, it doesn't have the cute little prints like Joann's or Hancocks. But they have tons and tons of other fabrics, all kinds of silks, dupioni silks, polyesters, cotton blends, fleeces, sequenced fabrics, sari fabric...... the list goes on and on. It's definitely worth the trip, and if you take your time to sort through everything you'll come out on top because the prices are excellent as well. I can't wait to go again. I think I'm gonna make some curtains some time soon. 


Check out their reviews on yelp too:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/fabrics-r-us-san-jose

The specific review that hits the nail on the head is a review by a yelper Marlyn A.. So if you go on yelp and check it out, look for her review. 

Don't expect superduper excellent customer service, you basically need to know what you want because they're not going to cater to you all day. 
 
Here are some pics from my little visit...

The selection is so large that there are a few more shops in this strip mall.

You can always ask for help to get pointed in the right direction.

Tons of notions to sort through, including buttons, lace collars, fasteners.

oo! look at that rosey 3d magenta, now image that in several assorted colors! fun stuff!

A sequenced mermaid's dream! isles and isles!

upholstery fabrics can be found here too!

Ton & Tons of threads and ribbons... 

I also love the fact that they tear the fabric from right off the bolt. There's just something primal and not to mention SEXY about that sound of that awesome ripping of cloth. 

Just thinking about it, I need to go again. oh man... I NEED to go again. 

eeeee! i have goosebumps.  

Happy Halloween!!! 
shen 

A crafty weekend...

So I took  a few days off because I had some online traffic school to finish up.  Thinking I wasn't going to meet the deadline, I took Thursday and Friday off to do it, and just so I had a nice long weekend, I added monday to it. It is now sunday.  I was able to complete the traffic course Wednesday night.
As I watch the Giants vs. Phillies game 2, I am typing out this entry.
I've had a pretty productive weekend considering it started on Thursday. Thursday, being a short day, and I have to get the kids early, I only managed to mail out some orders, and go to Joann's for some fabric therapy. I even had a chance to go to  SJ Japantown, and get some nommy sushi! 
 I was able to re-stuffed my owl pillow.

Made from a few scraps & a favorite sweater from h-school.

It was looking pretty sad and flattened out, painted some frames that will go into the studio and made some clips, and a headband for the etsy shop. And started my dia de los muertos (day of the dead) wreath. The wreath project has me pretty excited. Especially since I'm planning to take the kiddos to a weekend full of the holiday's festivals. One festival is even located in a large cemetery. In attempts to expose them to their Hispanic heritage, I'll be doing more research these next two weeks leading up to Halloween and this special holiday. It was cool seeing the kiddos' interest in a display  at a local store, so now I'm trying to learn more. However, I can't wait until the wreath is done, and I can show you all how it came out.


I attempted to get another printing of the sriracha shirts started last weekend which turned out to be a big fail, and it continued again into this weekend with no luck. I'm going to do a last attempted tomorrow, and then I dunno what I'm going to do. The capillary film is just not picking up the details in the roster part, and it's frustrating the crap out of me. Especially since it seems to be a really popular item, I really want to get the print down and get some shirts cranked out. 


My friday off turned out to be pretty uneventful, as I was busy doing some accounting type things, and not much else. At night I was able to crank out a few hair clips again, work on my wreath, and start on a sewing project, and continued the project on to Saturday afternoon. Saturday night, I worked on a quick project for the studio. A container (old large broth can) wrapped with yarn. Sam decided on the design, and I followed. 

just a hint of color showing through.

Sam's idea.. wish i had orange yarn though.

Sunday, today, was set aside for paintballing, but it finally rained, and we weren't able to play. I worked on my wreath again, and tried out another print with the sriracha print with a big F.A.I.L again...  It's got me really frustrated, but like I said I'm trying out a couple more times this week to see if some of my theories may have contributed to the failure.
I'm still really hopeful.


Tomorrow, Monday, still a day off, I'm hitting up the fabric store again, because I have coupons to use and a shopping list. Stay tuned here and on the etsy shop... I'll be posting up pics of the finished projects soon. 


Hope you are all having a nice weekend too!  What crafty-ness where you up to?




shen

My first serger project!

So I never really thought about what my first project would be when I finally got my serger, but thanks to etsy, I got an idea right away. I found an "iron cover" as mention in the previous post My Vintage Serger Overlock and thought, " psssshh, that shouldn't be too hard."

So I did it.
I didn't bother looking for a pattern online, I just winged it & you know it wasn't too bad. I could definitely recreate this. I'll be putting this one up on the etsy shop as a customizable order. 

When I was little (3-4 y.old, don't ask me why I remember these things, I just do.), I remember many nights where my mom and I were home, while my dad worked late.
My mom ironed (all the time) & while she ironed I watched t.v..  I always thought that the iron itself looked like  a ship & at times when my mom wasn't looking, I would play with it. Not plugged in, of course! Everyone rode on the "ironing ship", Barbie, Rainbow Brite, and her sprites... even smurfette!
Anyways, I thought the pirate ship pattern was an excellent choice for this project. I used two layers of insul-bright which is the brand name for insulated thermal batting, and an inside fabric, and tahdah! Done!

I also love this pattern because it has the aqua/ teal in it.

cozy or Kozzie? does anyone really care?

Velcro

Had to add my label.

shen

My Vintage Serger/ Overlock..

Whatever you want to call it, it's mine!!!

Finally, after months and months of debate, and even contemplating the idea of getting a very high end serger. I finally have one to call my own.

Those cute sweet little old ladies in those sewing shops try to sucker you in, and get the machine there, make you think you are totally incapable of threading this on your own, saying "with just a puff of air, your machine is threaded." Shoot! I was ready to sign my $ away & get one. I was strong, I resisted, even with a migraine and frustration of searching and searching, reading review after review thinking this torture would never end. I finally have one. 
I can even recall burying my face into a pillow a couple times and screaming.   


After yet, another frustrating weekend of looking, visiting shops, and searching endlessly online during Labor Day weekend, Monday night (Labor Day) on ebay, a buy it now, I fell in love. Seriously, I'm so happy. Priced well below my budget, I love her! She's a sergemate Campanion 5040 made several years ago, by a company associated with babylock (don't take my word for it, I found that info on a forum online). FedEx took longer than I thought, but its here!!!! It came with the manual. I threaded it, which I will admit can be a little confusing since I consider myself a beginner, but when everything was finally in place, it ran well, and I can't wait to make something with it. 

I just ran scraps through it. I even had the kiddos try it out, and they were pretty impressed.  Everything seems to be running smoothly, and the ebay seller said it was barely used, so I totally scored with this one. Best of all my hubby bought it for me, and got me a serger book that I really wanted. I was just chatting with him about it, and showed him through IM & BAM! I got the email confirming it was ordered and on its way. 
I'm totally a lucky girl!
I think the best thing is that while I was really panicking about the cost of spools of thread, because this was such a great deal, the money we would have spent to buy a low-end machine can now be used guiltless-ly  on my thread supply. 

Isn't she cute! Pink!!!!

 Girly moment... I've never really been a "pink" kinda girl, but she's cute, right!? :D

I think for my first project, I'm going to make myself an iron cover. Like this... 

Iron Cover from etsy.  

I'll update when I'm done. Hope you all are having a nice day! Happy Hump Day! We're almost there. Oh! And the Santa Clara Arts & Wine Festival is this weekend too! I'm volunteering! yay!!! Life is good..... :) <3


shen