Totes-tacular!

It's been a totes Market Tote summer!

All the folks at Fancy have been stitching up Market Totes-a-plenty. We make them as gifts and for ourselves, to take to the pool and to the market....They are just so quick and easy to sew--a delightful way to use and show off your favorite cute fabric!

Aww, shucks...we blushed with pride when a dear customer told us our Market Tote pattern is the most well-written and easy to follow pattern that they have used. Well, we think it's about the simplest and most functional project around, so to inspire you to try making one yourself here are just a few of the fancy totes we've made:

Melissa is showing off her two totes, the green tote is made from the recent Tula Pink Night Shade collection. (Can you tell she is a Tula Pink fan? Her a-line skirt is made from Tula Pink's Parisville fabric!) Her purple tote is made from an adorable organic print from Birch fabrics and veggie print pocket.

Betsy made a Market Tote from stash, picking one of her favorite Japanese forest friends prints accented with a Melody Miller pocket and Essex handles. Instead of finishing her handles by turning them, she ripped the fabric for a cute frayed look and accented it with some decorative machine stitching.

Allison's adorable tote features a super-cute mustard clothing print from Japan. We love mustard clothing + adorable prints from Japan! Do you recognize Allison's skirt fabric? Yep, it's the forest friends print that Betsy used for her tote! That's totes crazy!

Angelique has made about a bajillion totes, but most of them have been gifts for friends. Lucky friends they are! These two totes are just for her, though. Her newest one on the left is an amazing Anna Maria Horner velveteen. Velveteen makes a fantastic tote! The tote on her shoulder is a totes crazy print from Alexander Henry.

Emily made a natural hemp ticking tote with extra long handles so she can wear it like a messenger bag. Perfect for bike riding! For her Echino car print tote she chose some hot pink cotton webbing for handles. Hot! Emily has also made about five million totes for lucky friends.

Erikia used this fantastic yellow Valori Wells butterfly print to make her very first bag ever! It looks amazing and she has already whipped up several more for friends.

Betsy Made A Million Things This Year!

Betsy is super crafty and we love having her working here at Fancy Tiger Crafts. She inspires us with her amazing and prolific crafty style and thought you might like to see what she's been up to this year!

Betsy

One of the best parts of working at Fancy Tiger Crafts is being surrounded by inspiration everyday. Between the incredible customer projects and all the new fun yarn and fabric, we all have a mental list of a million projects that we would like to do. If only there was the time! I have to say this year turned out to be quite productive and fun. Here are a few of my favorite projects.

In January, I started my very first sweater in the My Favorite Sweater class here at the store. I used the Cascade Eco Wool, so soft and lovely to work with, and turned it into a custom sweater that fits like a glove.

This little shawl was a stash buster that I started on a plane trip. The Mizutama Shawl pattern by Olga Jazzy had caught my eye with it's simple geometric lace work. It was a perfect intro to lace and the pattern can be done top down or bottom up. By making it bottom up I was able to bind off when I was done with my skein and call it good. The little felt flower hair pin is something I whipped up for our holiday party.

My favorite project this year is the whisper cardigan that I knitted in the Habu Silk Tweed.  This light weight cardigan is perfect for the Denver weather and I absolutely love how the yarn knitted up!

Making the Whisper Cardigan got me hooked on Habu yarn and especially the patterns that are designed for it. I had been want to try the metal yarns they have and ended up pairing the Copper/Bamboo with some Alpaca lace that I had in my stash to make Kirsten Johnstone's Hakusa Scarf!

Since I started working at Fancy Tiger I had been watching fabric lines come in with the hope of finding the perfect inspiration for my first quilt. When French General's La Petite Ecole line came in I knew exactly what I had to do. Three charm packs, the adorable alphabet panel for the back and red stripes for the border and binding and I was set to go.

For my first quilt, I couldn't be happier about how this turned out. The charm packs made piecing so easy that the hardest part of the quilt top was deciding on the layout. Once I had it basted, Jessica Bridge, our quilting instructor at Fancy Tiger (and my personal Quilt Guru), talked me into getting creative with the quilting and I'm so glad that she did. The center of the quilt is a cross-hatch stitch, the white squares are a square spiral stitch, then there is a double echo stitch on the blue and grey, followed by 3 simple stripes through the reds. Doing all the extra quilting left me with a ton of knot to bury but it was completely worth it. I absolutely love this quilt and all that I put into it. But here is the secret, this baby is full of mistakes; squares that don't line up perfectly, quilted lines that look like drunk driving and even the binding has a few glitches if you look for them. But guess what? No one ever does.

I do love my quilt but I must say that my favorite sewn project of the year is my Button Flap Purse. It's been months now and I am still in love with it. The fabric is retro transistor radios from Melody Miller's Ruby Star Rising collection. I bought the fabric right away waiting for the right project and when we started carrying Jen Giddens' bag patterns, I knew had the winning combination with her Button Flap Purse.

This bag was a cinch to put together. I love how well the Echino dots work for the straps and an orange vintage Casein Button double as a radio dial for the snap. It is the perfect size to carry a book and the essentials.

 Thanks Betsy!

Staff Holiday Gift Picks: Part 2

Welcome to part 2 of our 2011 Staff Holiday Gift Picks! By the way, tomorrow is Small Business Saturday, and we have something for you! Shoppers who stop in this Saturday the 26th to support local and spend $20 or more will receive a special little gift from Fancy Tiger Crafts. Hope to see you soon!

Now, here is the rest of the fancy gang sharing their favorite crafty items. Come by and see us for more great ideas!

Greetings! I'm Emily, and I teach advanced knitting, spinning and other more esoteric skills here at Fancy Tiger Crafts. I love constantly pushing my skills, and am often caught crafting in public. Knitting is definitely my first craft, but I love spinning, sewing, quilting, crochet, naalbinding, leatherwork, metalwork, beadwork, and whatever else I can get my hands into! I don't know if you all heard the news, but the fabulous Ysolda Teague was recently in town teaching classes here at Fancy Tiger Crafts. Her most recent book, Little Red in the City, is an amazingly complete guide to basic sweater design and beyond! It is a great book for those who just want to follow a pattern too, but beware, those treacherously delightful design chapters might suck you in sooner or later! My super-spectacular Holiday Gift suggestion would be to pair this book with a sweater's worth of yarn in something totally delicious like the all natural undyed heritage breed yarns from Blacker or the organic undyed New Mexican wool. So beautiful!

Liberty of London fabric is the most coveted fabric in the shop and makes an extra-special gift for your favorite seamstress or seamster. Getting a cut of Liberty fabric (or perhaps a collection of 3 different 1/2 yds?) is the perfect gift for the discerning fabric connoisseur. Liberty is so special that some people are too scared to cut into it or perhaps can't find the perfect project for it - this is why the new book "The Liberty Book of Home Sewing" would make an excellent companion gift. This new and beautiful book is chock full of projects perfect for showing off your Liberty. There are lots of projects for even small cuts or scraps of Liberty fabric so your special gift of Liberty will not go unused! We just received a new shipment so we have over 25 beautiful prints to choose from!

Of course, any knitter loves to receive yarn for their stash but if I could recommend one yarn to give as a gift this year it would any of the HABU metallic yarns. This yarn comes in either a silk stainless steel blend or copper bamboo. Both of which are so beautifully unique and can make a simple project extraordinary. I'm currently making a scarf with a copper bamboo edging and I'm in love with how it is turning out! Knitters also love new patterns and, fortunately, modern knit designer, Olga Jazzy, has a bit of a thing for Habu yarns. You can choose from a variety of her geometric inspired patterns or her incredible book, Ori Ami Knits.

Hello! My name is Melissa, I'm newish to working here at Fancy Tiger Crafts. Newish in that I briefly worked here last year and am back helping for this holiday season. I'm so excited, since I love Fancy Tiger as a customer and it is wonderful to be surrounded by creative, amazing people. My holiday suggestion would be the new book by Sarai Mitnick from Colette Patterns, The Colette Sewing Handbook. It is simply awesome with several cute patterns and a wealth of knowledge from fabric types to finishing techniques. One pattern I am super excited about is the Licorice dress and I think it would be perfect in our Joel Dewberry Heirloom voile, any of them, but the Paisley pattern in amber would be really fun. Plus this fabric is dreamy to touch and would give the perfect drape for this dress. So if you have a sewist in your life I would definitely pick up this book for them! See you in the store! Bye.

  

Hello! I'm Branwyn, the trusty shop dog! You may have given me a pat on the head or a treat before. For that, you are my friend for life. My gift recommendation is for the crafty dog lover, of whom I know quite a few. The Style Hounds sweater kits include organic wool yarn and a knitting pattern to make really classy dog sweaters, like cabled sweaters and houndstooth patterns and such. When we get blustery cold winter weather, I know from experience that pups can use a lovingly handcrafted sweater, too!

 

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xoxo,
Fancy Tiger Crafts

Betsy and Jaime Made Sorbettos!

 Betsy's Sorbetto

I had been wanting to make a Colette pattern for my summer wardrobe but couldn't decide on the right one until I saw the Sorbetto Top pattern on Sarai Mitnick's blog. The vintage style with a simple pleat down the middle was just what I was looking for and with all the beautiful new voiles in the shop I had to make it right away. The best part about this pattern is that it is available as a free download! Thanks Colette!

This was my first time working with a pattern from Colette and now I am totally addicted. Her instructions are so clear and she kindly details any new techniques so there is never a question about how or what you are supposed to do next. I was able to finish this piece in just a few hours and wear it that night to a party. The fabric I used was my favorite print from Anna Maria Horner's Loulouthi voile, which feels so lovely on a hot day that I have already pick out some more voiles for my next Sorbetto.

 Jaime's Sorbetto

You know how we are around here--one person makes something and starts wearing it around and soon we all have to have one. That's how it went with the Sorbetto Top. As soon as Betsy came in wearing her flattering new tank, I knew it would be my next pattern to sew up. I have been eying this print from Anna Maria Horner's new Loulouthi fabric collection and wasn't sure what to do with it so the Sorbetto top seemed like the perfect solution.

I made this top in one sitting at Craft Night in between talking and drinking a glass of wine - its so quick and easy! Just a few seams and you're done. Colette does give instructions for making your own bias tape (which would look amazing!), but we happened to have the perfect orange bias tape and I couldn't resist the instant gratification of using it.

Hooray! New sleeveless tops just in time for the hottest days of summer.

Pearl & Jack: A Sock Monkey Love Tale

We'd like to share a heartwarming story with you, a tale of crafts and a tale of love. And of sock monkeys.

Pearl & Jack

Once upon a snowy day in February, Pearl the sock monkey sat inside wishing she had a woolen hat to keep her head warm. Being a crafty monkey, she set out to knit up a warm cabled hat. She chose the perfect shade of mulberry merino yarn to bring out the pink in her cheeks and a flattering cabled beret pattern--Gretel by Ysolda Teague.


Pearl is quite the avid knitter and was finished in time to enjoy the fresh snow fall.


She donned her perfect little Gretel, smiled, and set out to enjoy her favorite snowy day pastime, snow angel-making!


Suddenly around the corner came a handsome fellow. Jack the sock monkey also enjoyed a snowy day and became immediately smitten when he saw Pearl making angels in the snow.


Pearl blushed at being caught playing in the snow by herself. "Your rosy cheeks give you away. You need a hot drink to warm you after a day in the snow," said Jack.

She joined him and together they walked to the local coffee house, Metropolis, where Jack ordered a latte for two from the barista.


It was a perfect afternoon and by the end of the day two sock monkeys were in love.

The End

A special thanks to:
Miguel at Metropolis for the mini-latte for two
Angelique for knitting a mini Gretel
Betsy for making Pearl the pink sock monkey
Zach for making Jack the sock monkey

Staff Holiday Gift Picks: Betsy & Amber

Welcome to part four of our staff picks for holiday gift giving. Today Betsy and I are sharing our favorite gift ideas.

Hi, I'm Betsy, one of the new employees at Fancy Tiger. I'm a knitter, sewer and just finished my first Tunisian Crochet Cowl! I love working here and can't wait to pick up some more mad crafting skills.

Olfa Rotary Cutter $20
Olfa Self-Healing Cutting Mat 24" x 18" $28.95
Olfa Clear Ruler 6" x 24" $22

Good sharp scissors are nice but if you are sewing a lot, especially quilting, the Olfa Rotary Cutter with Mat and Ruler are the best upgrade that you could get. With these on your sewing table cutting is fast, accurate and no longer the dreary part of starting a project.

JoJoland 100% Cashmere Yarn $28

Cashmere! 100%! Soft and glamorous and Cashmere! This beautiful yarn is one that any knitter would love to have in their stash. Because who wouldn't just love being able to say "Oh, Thank you, I knitted it myself... It's cashmere!"

Mary Frances Knitting and Crocheting Book $28

Originally published in 1918, The Mary Frances Knitting and Crochet Book is the last of a whimsical series of books chronicling the adventures of Mary Frances with little fairies who teach various skills that would make any little girl "feel of very much account". In this book the knitting people teach Mary Frances how to knit and crochet clothes for her dolls and favorite people. It is simply a precious book, with functional instructions, adorable illustrations and an heirloom type feel. Great for any girl big or small.

Hi, I'm Amber and I'm one of the owners of Fancy Tiger Crafts. I spend a lot of time dreaming up things that I want to make. My holiday wish list includes the fixin's for two projects I've been dreaming about lately...

1/4 yard each of 14 different prints $33.50-ish & up
Stacking The Odds Denyse Schmidt Quilt Pattern $15.95

Denyse Schmidt is a huge inspiration to me when it comes to quilting. I love her Stacking the Odds quilt pattern. This quilt is great because it's simple enough for a novice quilter and it can showcase almost any fabrics without being too fussy. Add 14 quarter yards of fun print fabrics and your favorite quilter is ready to get started on honing their patchwork skills.

West Knits Book One $20
Two Skeins of Malabrigo Sock Yarn $37.90

Stephen West's new pattern book is full of amazing patterns for hats, scarves and shawls, but there is one in particular that I am obsessed with. The Chadwick is a modern, asymmetrical shawl that is long and linear--a sort of scarf/shawl. A skein each of Malabrigo Sock yarn in two contrasting colors and your favorite knitter could make a beautiful version of the Chadwick!

Juxtapose Handmade $29.95

Juxtapose Handmade is an amazing photo book full of craft-meets-art madness. I like weird things and this book is full of weird things--like crocheted TV dinners, insanely intricate paper-cut fantasy worlds and illustrations on patchwork quilt "canvases". Topping off the weirdness, there is a water buffalo plushie giving birth to a baby water buffalo plushie. Cool.

Hope that helps with your holiday shopping! We have tons more ideas where that came from, so stop by and see us at the shop if you need help finding the perfect gift for someone crafty. Happy holidays and happy crafting!