Hey everyone! Long time no blog. Sorry about that! I've been really sick since Christmas, trying to stay caught up with life! This blog has taken a back seat to kids, laundry, working and just generally trying to stay healthy.

This week I want to showcase some of the specialty fabrics we carry!!

Did you know we have faux fur? It comes in black only, has a short pile and is luxurious and plush! It would be so cute as trim on baby booties, sleeve cuffs and collars, pompoms on hats, stuffed animals and more! Have you ever worked with faux fur? My best tip is, to avoid too much mess, cut it from the back! It's a bit more time consuming, but worth it in the long run. Trace your pattern to the back side of the fabric, and cut just through the back if you can. Try not to take big snips. Once it's cut, pull and separate the fabric. The fur part will stay intact, instead of cutting right through it! It will still "shed" a little at the cut edge, but it will be very reduced vs cutting all the way through. Check it out online here: Faux Fur

Another cool fabric we carry is cork! It's so popular among bag makers. It's similar in weight to vinyl, has a fused, mesh back to keep it all together. Currently we only have it in natural with gold fleck, but as we move forward, we hope to be able to carry a bigger array of colours! Have you worked with cork? It's easy to sew! What colours would you like to see us carry?

The last fabric I'm going to highlight today is sequin fabric! And not just any sequins, but flip/reversible sequins! It's so much fun to play with, my kids love it! We offer it in 3 different colours, available here. Crafts, bags, throw pillows and more! It does make a bit of a mess as you cut it, and I would suggest not using your good fabric scissors to cut it. Use some craft or paper scissors, available from the dollar store for inexpensive. It could dull your fabric scissors, so it's best just to avoid them.

I made a throw pillow at Christmas and it was surprisingly easy to work with! I didn't have any special tools, and I used a size 12 universal needle on my machine.

I backed my pillow with smooth minky, so one side was cuddly and one side was fun!

I hope you'll give one of these fabrics a try if you haven't already! 

Happy sewing!

Jane