Jaime's Petit Odile Dress

I am such a sucker for French General fabrics. We have tons of amazing bright and modern prints in the shop, but something happens to me when I see the muted colors and vintage themes that have come to define French General. It may have to do with my Francophile tendancies and my idealizations of a perfect French countryside life. Whatever it is, I can't resist them. When their newest collection for Moda, "Petit Odile" came in I knew I wanted to make a dress out of this sweet little strawberry print.

If you're a blog reader, you may know we just attended Quilt Market in Kansas City. It is so inspiring to see so many projects! Amy Butler had a dress sewn up in one of her upcoming fabrics using the Miz Mozelle pattern by Jamie Christina and I fell instantly in love with it. This was my first time using a Jamie Christina pattern and it was awesome. The pattern comes with a full color booklet that walks you through the steps which is perfect for new sewists.

I have a hard time with sizing for dresses - my bust size is way different from my hip size so I never fit nicely into one size. I made this dress in a size 8 which fell between my bust/hip difference. Because of the gathered elastic waist, it is very forgiving in the fit. I think next time I could size for my bust and there is enough ease in the pattern to accommodate my hips without any adjustments - good to know if you also have this problem!

I think the design of this pattern works great with the vintage feel of the fabric. I love the bias detailing which is also an easy way to finish the edges. I chose to make my own bias tape out of a Kona solid so I could have the perfect faded red trim. Gathering on the sleeves make them super easy to attach and add even more adorable-ness.

Do you recognize our photo-shoot location? It's the old Fancy Tiger Crafts at 1 S. Broadway which is now a wonderful coffeehouse! Thanks Happy for the great lattes and keeping 1 South awesome!

There are lots of other great prints in the collection to choose from - we can't wait to see what you sew!

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!

Cat's Rural Jardin Quilt

Greetings from Cat, Gentle Readers. I recently finished this quilt, which I made for my mother. She and I share an obsession for French General fabrics, so this quilt was a delight to put together--although it was the most challenging quilting I had done at the time. I used one layer cake and multiple yards of various fabrics (all from the Rural Jardin collection) for the top, back and binding.

I used a heavy linen fabric (from the same collection) for the back, which gave the quilt a pleasing weight and sturdiness. For binding I chose a toile--not something I would normally do, but I loved the effect. I tried to quilt this on my Janome Threadbanger, but quickly realized that it was too big to handle myself and sent it off to be professionally quilted. The classic stipple was the perfect choice for this fabric and I couldn't have been more thrilled with the results.

I had never done sashing before and learned several hard piecing lessons. The biggest lesson overall was that no one except for me knows that it isn't "perfect" or didn't turn out exactly as I had planned. The quilt is beautiful and my mom loves it, which is ultimately the most important thing.

New Fabrics Galore!

Our shelves are overflowing with cute new fabrics! Here's three new collections we are excited about:

Amy Butler's Soul Blossoms

French General's La Petite Ecole

Moda's Hideaway

Can you handle the little German villages, cuckoo clocks, deer and mini gingham? It's too darling!

New! Rural Jardin by French General and Jaime's Rouenneries Quilt!

The new French General is here and it's absolutely stunning! In the Rural Jardin collection Kaari Meng adds soft blues to her 18th century French inspired palette of classic ecru and red.


The coordinating wovens fill me with daydreams of wicker baskets, wine and picnics in the French countryside.


Rural Jardin layer cakes, charm packs and fat quarter bundles are perfect for pretty patchwork quilt projects. Check out Jaime's layer cake quilt below!


I made this queen sized quilt using two layer cakes from the previous French General collection, Rouenneries. This was my first ever quilt and it couldn't have been any easier! I just laid out the pre-cut squares and pieced them together and then I added a simple stripe border. The back is a gorgeous linen bird toile from the Rouenneries collection as well. This is the coziest quilt and only took me a weekend to complete!


Now that I have completed my first quilt I am ready to experiment with some more complicated styles. Stay tuned!

Crafty Gift Guide: Stocking Stuffers!

Welcome to the crafty gift guide, part 3--here are some stocking stuffer ideas for the crafty folks in your life!

Brand new in the store and exclusive to Fancy Tiger (because we make it right here!) is our Penguin Ornament Needlefelting Kit. Our needlefelting kits have everything you need to learn the craft of needlefelting and are a great way to keep kids and adults busy on Christmas morning.

Sashiko kits are a great way to learn the traditional Japanese sashiko embroidery known for it's simple and pretty geometric stitching. Make a pillow or an elegant table linen.


We are in love with handcrafted wooden buttons! We have them in all shapes and sizes. What a cute addition to a sewing or knitting project!

Sewers and embroiderers will love a colorful and functional Jelly thimble for protecting their nimble fingers. Pair them with super sharp Gingher thread snips, the epitome of German craftsmanship.


French General Layer Cakes and Charm Packs are pre-cut and ready for a patchwork project. They include 42 different prints--an entire collection--so each fabric piece is different. A great gift for sewers or quilters.

We love Handmade Nation. This documentary takes a look at the amazing craft movement and features some amazing and inspiring handcrafters. This DVD is the perfect gift for any modern crafter!

For the fiber enthusiast, Wild Fibers magazine will take you around the world on a journey of fiber fun. Spinners, weavers, felters, knitters and crocheters can learn all about different fiber animals, cottage industry production, and more!

Your stockings will be stuffed to the cuffs with inspiring and functional crafty-ness.

New! French General Rouenneries Fabrics!

The new French General fabrics are in and they are gorgeous! This line of fabric by Kaari Meng has us inspired with its lovely palette of reds, corals, cremes and ecrus and it's bountiful selection of florals and stripes.


We've also received coordinating cotton toweling for darling embroidery projects as well as French General layer cakes and charm packs for patchwork projects.