|
:: April 15, 2007 Goodbye Chain, Hello Indie
As you may have heard, Hancock Fabrics has declared bankruptcy and is shutting down many of their stores. Austin is losing only one its three locations, fortunately the one only minutes from my house is safe (for now). I think it's safe to say that most sewists have a love/hate relationship with Hancock's, and nobody seems particularly surprised about the shutdowns. I thought Hancock's was changing for the better a couple years ago, but that Laurie Smith line went stale -- no fresh offerings from her, and nothing following in her footsteps. They still have Joann's beat on the higher-quality cotton prints, though. I also hear that Wal-mart is phasing out their fabric sections. A handful of our local Joann'ses and Hobby Lobbies shut down a few neighborhood locations and consolidated into huge new supercenters. If you read the threads on about.com, Patternreview, and Craftster, it looks like plenty of people across the U.S. are losing the only bricks-and-mortar fabric sources in their vicinity, and that sucks. I know there is always online, but you can't replace shopping for fabric in person.
In the meanwhile, Austin has been blessed with the craft store of my dreams! Craftorama opened earlier this week, in the little retro-revamped shopping center at 3100 S. Congress (Amy's Ice Cream faces the street). Hayley is the owner and she's super nice. Fabric-wise, she's got the newest offerings from Alexander Henry, and Robert Kaufman, FreeSpirit/Westminster including Amy Butler, and some great oilcloth (a better oilcloth selection for less $ than Tesoros Trading Co. up the road, I might add). And yarn! She fills the local Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride void, thank goodness, and also has Vickie Howell's new line. Speaking of locals, there's also Sublime Stitching stuff, and Wool+Hoop crewel kits, which I was surprised to find out is based in Marfa, TX. (Hi Gina!) Then there's the bookshelf, which has everything on your crafty wish list. I think she's also having art+craft exhibits. Hayley promises that there's more merchandise to come. And that's just the shop part -- the place is also a studio for their extensive class offerings, and the space can also be rented for your own projects or craft groups. I've already begged her to let me teach a quilting class someday. So, hooray! It does seem kind of ridiculous that it's taken Austin this long to get a decent indie craft shop ... so big congrats to Hayley for being the one with initiative! It's almost a reversal of the usual big-box-crushing-the-little-guy story. P.S., all of these changes prompted me to finally update the Austin Fabric Store guide. posted by in Austin :: Comments (11) :: link :: November 12, 2006 Stitch Austin 2006
I went to Stitch Austin last night, the first time I've gone in the handful of years it's been running. It was mobbed! It was dark! It was $10 just to get in the door! But it's always good to see the creative things people are making, and making a living from. I didn't stay for the fashion show -- but you can see Ms. Young and With It's photoset. My single purchase was the horn and wood-pendant necklace above, from Birdcage Jewelry. Some thoughts: posted by in Austin :: Comments (8) :: link :: October 1, 2006 Austin Area Quilt Guild Show 2006
Damn it's been a while since I posted. Mostly because finishing the Pie in the Sky quilt has taken up most of my time an energy for the last few weeks. But now it's finished and being displayed to thousands of people at the AAQG biennial show!
It took me forever to decide how to quilt it. I made some attempts at the Orla-Kiely inspired design but it was NOT going to look good with my free-motion skills, and of course I didn't feel comfortable with, well, ripping of that leaf pattern (even though, as you might see from browsing through the print + pattern archives, I think a lot of designers do it. Maybe O.K.'s not even the one who came up with it?). I needed something that I could do with a walking foot, and came up with these randomly-sized, randomly-placed starbursts. It contradicts the nice symmetry of the quilt, so I ended up not liking that aspect, but once it was all said and done, it looked OK. Still, it did not turn out with ribbon-winning quality. It was hard to keep a nice consistent stich length and tension, the lines converging in the middle of the stars didn't always meet up perfectly, there was some ugly backstiching to secure the ends, and yellow Chaco Liner I used to mark the top ended up STAINING THE THREAD in places. Bummer! Still, I was proud of the piecing and was not at all embarassed to have it hanging in the show. What more could a first-timer ask for? I have to run because I'm volunteering at the show all day today. More pictures on Flickr. I will post more about the show later then take some detail shots of my quilt once it's home so you can see some close-ups in better lighting. posted by in Austin , Finished Projects , Quilting , Textile Arts , _____-Alongs :: Comments (18) :: link :: October 2, 2005 Hourglass Sweater
I've started working on the Hourglass Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts In other news. Do you ever have those dreams where you discover a whole new room or wing in your house? (Obvious interpretation: your house is too damn small and cluttered and you're feeling the squeeze.) Yesterday I had this dream come true, of sorts: I found out there's a huge antique mall in Austin that I didn't know about before. Ironically I'd had the address listed in my guide to Austin fabric shopping but confused it with the Antique Marketplace on Burnet, which I've been to a million times. I will go this afternoon to find vintage swap fodder ... posted by in Austin , Knitting :: Comments (10) :: link :: July 28, 2005 First Samples
For those of you in Austin: there's a new sewing studio called First Samples just off South Congress (behind the building that houses Therapy, Goodie Two Shoes, etc.). It was closed yesterday when I stopped by but it looks beautiful. It's basically your dream sewing studio that you'd like to have at home, but since you can't, here it is for hourly or monthly rental. There will also be plenty of classes. I think I'll see if I can go to the weekly walk-in unstructured class to learn about sergers. posted by in Austin :: Comments (5) :: link :: July 22, 2004 Austin Fabric
Because I wanted one but none existed: Dioramarama's Guide to Austin Fabric Stores. posted by in Austin , Fabric :: Comments (2) :: link :: February 14, 2004 Textile Fetish
I've been getting to know the lovely Jenny from Textile Fetish at the Church of Craft and Austin Glitterati meetings. Her stuff is wonderful, and she's so productive it makes you sick. She lives the dream! And you should buy a piece of it! posted by in Austin , Craft Groups , Shops :: link :: January 18, 2004 Church of Craft With Jenny Hart
I just got back from the Church of Craft meeting. It went very well, with a perfect turnout, not too many, not too few. Jenny Hart is good people! I learned the elusive French Knot, but it's going to take some practice to get adept at it. It's the only part of embroidery that has presented a challenge so far. The majority of folks there had never embroidered before, and everyone picked it up instantly and went home with something nice. I embroidered the little birdies from her tattoo patterns onto a cloth napkin from Target. Some useful advice imparted by Ms. Hart: 1. Don't use interfacing/stabilizer on anything you want to last. It apparently doesn't hold up in the wash: it pills, peels, and puckers. 2. Don't worry about what the back of your work looks like, unless you're selling it or trying to impress the experts. She showed how to make finishing knots on the back of the work by pushing a simple knot down to the fabric with your needle ... a step up from the improvisations I've been doing! She said there's a more technically perfect way to "sew" finishing knots, but that she usually just does the easy, uglier ones. 3. Also don't worry about your stitches getting pinched in the hoop as you move the design around, especially if you're sewing on cotton, since cotton and the floss itself is very forgiving. You can steam and push the stitches back into uniformity. The next Austin Church of Craft is Sunday, Feb. 1, at the Escapist Bookstore. It'll be a free-for-all craft-on, with a little show-and-tell and a supply swap. Get you some! posted by in Austin , Craft Groups , Needlework :: link
|
, using Knitpicks' 