Blog

We are so excited to feature one of our fabulous blog sponsors: Whimsical Fabric!!

Whimsical Fabric is a colorful shop full of fresh, fun fabrics!  They offer so many inspiring prints by Michael Miller, Riley Blake and more.  They make it easy to shop by offering full and half yard cuts.  In addition, they offer a full range of Fat Quarter Bundles, Jelly Rolls and Charm Bundles.

(click on the title to read full article)

The perfect accessory can make an outfit!  We love creating beautiful flower and bow headbands to coordinate many of our looks.  This season we made this Sweet Bow Headband to compliment the cover look of our Madelyn Top.  We decided it would be a fun addition for the Madelyn Paper Pattern and would like to share the tutorial here for all of our fans to enjoy!!!

Sweet Bow Headband with our Madelyn Top & Scarlett Skirt

Photo Courtesy of Kelly Roper Photography

(click on the title to read full article)

Summer is just around the corner!!  Summer is one of our favorite seasons of sewing thanks to sundresses, breezy tops and all the beautiful summer fabrics.  It is not hard to see we have a soft spot for all things nautical and that is why we are featuring Tula Pink, a fabulous FreeSpirit Fabric Designer and her Salt Water line on our Fabric Love series this week!!

This gorgeous fabric is available in three bold colorways, all of which have us drooling! 

(click on the title to read full article)

Have you heard of Craftsy yet?  Craftsy has taken the creative world by storm.  They are a go to place for all things creative!!

Craftsy has an online shop with a wide variety of sewing patterns to make just about anything!  They  sell supplies to help you get your project started.  They also offer workshops to help you make small projects.

(click on the title to read full article)

One of our favorite designers has had a great new shop open this month.  We have to share it with everyone!!  Carina Gardner is an uber talented designer who is well known for her gorgeous fabric lines, fun sewing patterns, and scrapbooking supplies.  She also happens to be as sweet as they come!!

Carina has been a busy lady, because this month she launched her new site Carina Gardner Shop. It is a viritual paradise for creativity!! Here are few of the things you will find in her shop:

Wallpaper!!!  We love wallpaper at VFT and she has really really cute prints!

 
(click on title to read full article)

Are you ready to see some more beautiful fabric?   Our feature fabric this week is Timber & Leaf by Sarah Watts, a wonderful designer for Blend Fabrics.  

Have you ever used Blend Fabrics before?  We adore them because of the high quality of the cotton.  Blend Fabrics are super soft and the colors are very saturated.  You'll be as impressed as we are once you run your fingers over this silky soft cotton.  We think it's perfect for clothing projects, and were inspired to create the sweetest outfit seen below.

(click on title to read full article)

What a treat we had this week for our blog series Fabric Love!  Gorgeous fabric & gorgeous weather! 

You are in store for some serious eye candy... 

Here is a teaser...

 Fabric inspires us to create.  Dot, solid, stripe, floral or novelty print, it all nudges the left brain to get working!!  We like to have a wide variety of fabric options on hand to choose from including basics and prints.  We are so pleased to introduce Anne Kelle, a Robert Kaufman Designer. Ann Kelle has a fabulous range of basics and some of the cutest novelty prints around!!

(click on title to read full article)

For some time now both Jessica and I have wanted to try our hand at making a quilt. Of course, our focus is primarily on clothing design and construction.     We always see so many amazing quilts at market, so we decided it was time to give it a go!  

Last fall in Houston at the International Quilt Market we were visiting the Remnant Fiber Culture booth, and fell in love with quilts.  Jessica, the owner, has an amazing eye for putting together gorgeous prints and choosing fabrics!  She had super cool quilts hanging in her booth that were modern and colorful.          Best of all, she sold them as kits, so they were recreate-able!

(click on title to read full article)

With each season certain trends come and go, but some trends are so adorable that they seem to stick around.  Chevron is one of these trends. The design world has gone mad for it and so have we!!  In the world of chevrons we think that Riley Blake Designs reigns supreme! 

 Riley Blake Designs has been producing chevron in a wide variety of eye catching colors. The quality of the fabric they use is noticeably soft with saturated colors that do not fade or disappoint.

photo courtesy of Pinterest

With so many beautiful colors, Riley Blake Chevron is perfect for so many projects!  We have seen beautiful clothing and quilts created as well as fun accessories and home decorating projects!  

photo courtesy of Flickr

Riley Blake Designs offers Chevron in a huge variety.  They have cotton chevron in small, medium and large prints.  In addition to the bold colors with white, they offer tonal chevrons.  If that was not enough they also have it available as a laminate, how cute would it be as a rain coat!!!

One of our all time loved patterns and photos was created using Riley Blake Designs medium Chevron in hot pink.  Emmaline is truly a stunner in this fabulous print!!

Emmaline Pattern Available at Violette Field Threads

What project would you do first with Riley Blake Designs Chevron?  We would like to help get someone started!  We are giving away 5 yards of Riley Blake Designs Chevron, courtesy of Violette Field Threads!! The winner will choose the style and color :) Enter below to win:

I love the look of bouncy curls, but neither myself or my daughter Cairo have any natural curl to our hair.  We resort to curling irons and hairspray to get the look. Cairo loves for me to put her hair up in rollers for the night, but the next morning the curls are always a bit frizzy and tight, not to mention her sleep was not as good as usual due to the plastic clips.

I saw the coolest fabric rollers on pinterest and decided to try and make a pair for Cairo and myself to try!  What a fun project it turned out to be!  The curlers are easy to make, cute as can be and they work!!

Here is how i made a set of nine fabric curlers:

Materials:

• 1/2 yard of fabric (or scraps from several prints)
• 9 -1/2" buttons
• Sewing machine with a button hole function
• Brown Rice or Poly/fill for stuffing

1. Create a rectangle paper template for the curlers.  I started with a 10" x 5" rectangle, this made a large curler perfect for long thick hair.  If you have fine or shorter hair then i would use a 10" x 3".

2. Cut out the fabric rectangles. We used Amy Butler Gypsy Caravan and Sun Spot for our curlers.

3. Fold the rectangles in half with the right sides touching and iron flat.

4. Sew the curler closed across the long open edge and one short end, leaving the opposite short end open for turning. Trim off 1/2 the seam allowance.

5. Turn the curlers right side out and iron them flat.

6. Sew a button onto the sewn short end of each curler.  The button should be centered and right next to the finished edge.

7. Stuff the curler with either poly/fill or rice*.  You will fill the curler up to the halfway point or approximately 4".

**We chose to fill our curlers with rice, not only is is soft to sleep on but it will maintain its shape longer than the polyfill.  Rice curlers can also be heated in the microwave for warmth or you could add some essential oils like lavender.

8. Sew down the curler at the halfway point. This will keep the rice on one side and allow you to create the strap on the opposite side.

9. Turn the raw end in 1/2" and iron flat.

10. Sew around the curler strap, thus closing the open end.

11. Sew buttonholes onto the strap.  The buttonhole should be close to the finished edge and centered to match the button.

12. Now you have made fabric curlers!!  

The curlers can be used just like a store bought set.  We washed Cairo's hair and then let it dry about 75%, put a little mousse in it and separated it into sections to roll.  Starting at the end, roll each section around the round stuffed part of each roller, when you reach the base, close the strap across each roller and button to close.

Cairo slept in her set last night, she said they were very comfortable and only one slipped out during her sleep.  Today she has bouncy curls and lots of volume.  I am going to make her a smaller set to create more spirals. 

Have fun creating a set for you and feel free to share this tutorial with your friends!!