Showing posts with label Built by Wendy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Built by Wendy. Show all posts
Friday, December 28, 2012
Miranda Made A Million Dresses
Miranda here, dress maven and reluctant fashionista. Over the past six years of seriously sewing for myself, I now count 34 dresses in my closet. That's when I embraced my inner Ms. Frizzle by making dresses out of whatever fabric I darn well wanted to: moths, birds, owls, sea creatures, horror movie characters, woodgrain, weird sparkly polyester blends.
The majority of the dresses I've made have been based on the dirndl dress pattern in Wendy Mullin's book Built By Wendy: Dresses. It's infinitely adjustable while remaining basic. Recently, I've been experimenting with adding a waistband, pockets or a hood. A hood requires a side zipper, which isn't so scary once you know that you can alter your pattern easily. This book helped me learn what sewing rules to follow and what rules you can bend and break.
Other patterns I have used:
Colette Patterns - Truffle (from the Colette Sewing Handbook)
Colette Patterns - Macaron
Burda #6016 - "Heidi"
Burda #6066 - "Theresa"
Jamie Christina's Miz Mozelle pattern
Sewing my own clothes has allowed me to own my goofy, girly style and to become comfortable with my body. When your clothes fit both your body and your personality well, it just feels good. If you've never made yourself a whole garment, I can tell you wholeheartedly that it is worth every stitch. You are worth every stitch.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Better Know A Crafter: Miranda
Miranda recently visited us from Frisco where she works at the local yarn shop What's Needling U. She is not only a knitter--Miranda came in sporting the most adorable honeybee dress which she had just made from the Built By Wendy: Dresses book. Cuute!

Tell us about your sweet dress.
It's the 9-5 sheath dress pattern from Built By Wendy: Dresses. The fabric is Hive by Patti Young with magenta honeycombs and acid yellow-green bees!
How did you learn to be so crafty?
My mom taught me how to sew. I learned to knit from a book at a reeeeally boring job.
What is your favorite animal?
Octopus!
Thanks Miranda! Happy crafting!
Miranda

What crafts do you do?
I knit and sew, mostly. I've always loved fiber and fabric--now I get to work with it full time and help others at What's Needling U in Frisco!Tell us about your sweet dress.
It's the 9-5 sheath dress pattern from Built By Wendy: Dresses. The fabric is Hive by Patti Young with magenta honeycombs and acid yellow-green bees!
How did you learn to be so crafty?
My mom taught me how to sew. I learned to knit from a book at a reeeeally boring job.
What is your favorite animal?
Octopus!
Thanks Miranda! Happy crafting!
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
New! Tons of New and Exciting Crafty Books!
Loads of newly published and amazing crafting books have been arriving almost daily around here! I almost can't stand how inspiring they all are. Here are some of the new store favorites.
Quilting is the new craft obsession for a few of us at Fancy Tiger Crafts, myself included, and with new fabrics arriving all the time I just dream of making patchwork quilts all day. Whip Up Mini Quilts is full of adorable quilting projects with great, modern style. Perfect timing to feed my obsession! My next project just might be the little art quilt which features hand embroidery as well as applique--cute!


Martha Stewart has done it again with this epic book chock full of great projects, tutorials and ideas. Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts covers everything you ever wanted to know about sewing and fabric crafts. Tutorials with clear pictures and directions will help crafters learn everything from embroidery to upholstery to quilting to printing on and dyeing fabric. There are so many projects--baby gifts and nursery items, bags, napkins, curtains, aprons and toys--all executed in Martha's simple and classic style. This book is a great all around sewing book and reference for the beginner or experienced seamstress.


The Homemade Home is a lovely book to help you decorate every room in the house with a handmade aesthetic. There are projects such as embroidered wall art, applique curtains and planting in teacups and tin cans. There are plenty of sewing projects, but many projects included use fabric, paper, and paint!


We have a whole ton of new Japanese crafting books in so we just featured our favorites. Here we have a needlefelting book, Small Dogs. This book will make you giddy with its cute wooly dogs (and one companion cat) and stunning photography. Picture tutorial makes it easy to use even if you don't read Japanese!


Felt Mascots is another ridiculously cute Japanese felting book. In it you will find the cutest of cute bunnies, chipmunks, finger puppets, llama, turtles, sheep, elephants, dogs, lion, birds, matryoshka and more! This book also anthropomorphizes ice cream treats, so you know we give it two thumbs up.


The Feisty Stitcher is a new sewing book that will be perfect for Summer! We love the oilcloth bike basket and the fused-plastic (re-using shopping bags) messenger bag. Great ideas for re-using materials and fun projects make this book unique.


Craft Challenge: Dozens of Ways to Repurpose a Tea Towel gives you tons of ways to upcycle a tea towel destined for greater things than drying your dishes. It includes fun and simple projects like totes, tops, aprons and slippers, toys for little ones and even a backpack for Fido! I really love the saddlebag for your bike. Bike related crafts are all the rage for summer 2010!


We love Wendy Mullin's style and her new Built by Wendy: Dresses book is no exception. This book includes three paper patterns for basic dress styles plus tons of instructions for altering each style into hip, classy, or simple designs. This book is great if you are interested in designing your own dresses but don't have experience with drafting patterns.


This highly anticipated second book by Natalie Chanin gives you more amazing Alabama Stitch Style! Alabama Studio Style has projects for home and wardrobe in Chanin's unique hand-stitched and layered style. Recipes and decorating ideas abound so you can experience Alabama style everyday!

Quilting is the new craft obsession for a few of us at Fancy Tiger Crafts, myself included, and with new fabrics arriving all the time I just dream of making patchwork quilts all day. Whip Up Mini Quilts is full of adorable quilting projects with great, modern style. Perfect timing to feed my obsession! My next project just might be the little art quilt which features hand embroidery as well as applique--cute!


Martha Stewart has done it again with this epic book chock full of great projects, tutorials and ideas. Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts covers everything you ever wanted to know about sewing and fabric crafts. Tutorials with clear pictures and directions will help crafters learn everything from embroidery to upholstery to quilting to printing on and dyeing fabric. There are so many projects--baby gifts and nursery items, bags, napkins, curtains, aprons and toys--all executed in Martha's simple and classic style. This book is a great all around sewing book and reference for the beginner or experienced seamstress.


The Homemade Home is a lovely book to help you decorate every room in the house with a handmade aesthetic. There are projects such as embroidered wall art, applique curtains and planting in teacups and tin cans. There are plenty of sewing projects, but many projects included use fabric, paper, and paint!


We have a whole ton of new Japanese crafting books in so we just featured our favorites. Here we have a needlefelting book, Small Dogs. This book will make you giddy with its cute wooly dogs (and one companion cat) and stunning photography. Picture tutorial makes it easy to use even if you don't read Japanese!


Felt Mascots is another ridiculously cute Japanese felting book. In it you will find the cutest of cute bunnies, chipmunks, finger puppets, llama, turtles, sheep, elephants, dogs, lion, birds, matryoshka and more! This book also anthropomorphizes ice cream treats, so you know we give it two thumbs up.


The Feisty Stitcher is a new sewing book that will be perfect for Summer! We love the oilcloth bike basket and the fused-plastic (re-using shopping bags) messenger bag. Great ideas for re-using materials and fun projects make this book unique.


Craft Challenge: Dozens of Ways to Repurpose a Tea Towel gives you tons of ways to upcycle a tea towel destined for greater things than drying your dishes. It includes fun and simple projects like totes, tops, aprons and slippers, toys for little ones and even a backpack for Fido! I really love the saddlebag for your bike. Bike related crafts are all the rage for summer 2010!


We love Wendy Mullin's style and her new Built by Wendy: Dresses book is no exception. This book includes three paper patterns for basic dress styles plus tons of instructions for altering each style into hip, classy, or simple designs. This book is great if you are interested in designing your own dresses but don't have experience with drafting patterns.


This highly anticipated second book by Natalie Chanin gives you more amazing Alabama Stitch Style! Alabama Studio Style has projects for home and wardrobe in Chanin's unique hand-stitched and layered style. Recipes and decorating ideas abound so you can experience Alabama style everyday!

Monday, August 24, 2009
New! Bamboo Knit Jersey!
New at Fancy Tiger Crafts--bamboo jersey! We are so excited about sewing with jersey. This silky and stretchy bamboo fabric is naturally antibacterial, unbelievably soft and perfect for making your own tees or supersoft undies.
If you've never sewn with jersey before we have a great book with patterns and tips to get you going. Sew U Home Stretch by Wendy Mullin is a great intro to working with stretchy knits and includes customizable patterns for tees, tops, hoodies and dresses.

Emily already made this super adorable t-shirt! She made a pattern out of one of her favorite t-shirts and now she has another favorite bamboo t-shirt! So cute!
If you've never sewn with jersey before we have a great book with patterns and tips to get you going. Sew U Home Stretch by Wendy Mullin is a great intro to working with stretchy knits and includes customizable patterns for tees, tops, hoodies and dresses.
Emily already made this super adorable t-shirt! She made a pattern out of one of her favorite t-shirts and now she has another favorite bamboo t-shirt! So cute!
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