Monday, December 13, 2010

How To Choose Fabric

You've got your machine and all your tools and you're ready for the fun part - choosing fabric. Woo hoo! What you might not know is that some fabrics are a dream to work with - and some are a nightmare.

In this video I show you what to look for when you're cruising the aisles of your local fabric store. Hint: It's not the velvet and satin! At least not for beginners. After you have some of the basics under your belt we'll have a few special lessons on working with all the "tricky" fabrics I mention. You will learn to sew with velvet - just not for your first project. :-)


Want to jump ahead to working with some of those "fancy" fabrics? Here are links to some videos. . .

Working with stretch fabrics
Working with napped fabrics (velvet, corduroy and more)
Intraux to Faux Fur
Sewing fat polar fleece

And I have a whole bunch of info about working with felt - one of my favorite fabrics.

Happy sewing!

Best,
Wendi
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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:21 PM

    Hi Wendi I have been collecting fabrics since 1994. All my fabrics are stored, by colour, in plastic crates. Aged 65yrs I am now trying to take stock of my stash and want to try to use a lot of them up. I am not very experienced at patchwork and quilting - indeed I wonder why I bought many of the fat quarters!!! My problem is that the blue and red crates are overflowing but I don't know how to utilise them into a quilt or something. Your advice would be most helpful. I realise I could add white to these two colours but that's not appealing right now. Can you help please? Desparate of Harrow Middlesex United Kingdom. LIZ BRYENTON

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  2. Hi! I'm Wendi!8:44 PM

    Liz,
    If you have a lot of scraps in a limited range of colors you're actually in great shape for making a scrap quilt. I'm working on a few more quilt patterns that will include instructions for scrappy versions - but I won't be finished with them for at least another month. In the meantime, take a look at the posts I wrote about this Stripey Scrappy Quilt. http://wendigratz.blogspot.com/search/label/quilting?updated-max=2012-03-28T08:00:00-04:00&max-results=20&start=11&by-date=false The Buttonholes Quilt http://shinyhappyworld.bigcartel.com/product/buttonholes-quilt-pattern also has instructions to make it scrappy - blue buttonholes on a red background (or vice versa) would be lovely! :-) Good luck!
    Best,
    Wendi

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