Hot Off the Press: Cotton + Steel!

We are thrilled to bring you Cotton + Steel! The brain power behind this group is five brilliant designers including Melody Miller, Rashida Coleman-Hale, Alexia Abegg, Kim Kight, and Sarah Watts. This is the first release of their collaborative designs and we couldn't be more excited. Did I mention metallics?!? Cause that's happening! We have been sitting on the edge of our seats since seeing a preview at quilt market. We have the full line - all 100+ bolts of fabric just waiting to be made into amazing garments, quilts, bags and more.

August by Sarah Watts

Metallic Canvas?!?! I'm in! 

LAWNS! 

Hatbox by Alexia Abegg

Homeboy by Kimberly Kight

Moonlit by Rashida Coleman-Hale

Mustang by Melody Miller

They got the basics covered too! With metallics!!

Here is just a preview of the different prints, stop by the store to see ALL the wonderful colorways. Fat quarter bundles are available per designer and as a full collection. What will you make?! 

Erikia's Skirt Spectacular!

Hello! Erikia here, you may know that I love simplistic sewing and making up my own stuff. Well, I've been busy this summer sewing up a ton of easy skirts. Here's a look at a few I've made:

This lovely voile skirt was whipped up during a Fancy Tiger Crafts employee sewing night. The very talented Miranda taught us how to make circle skirts without a pattern in 2 hours! I loved it!

I saw a skirt similar to this online and fell in love with it. To make mine, I sketched out the pattern before starting. I already had measurements for a basic a-line skirt that fit me, so all I needed to do was calculate the measurements for the interior angles. It may look complicate, but honestly it was pretty easy. Little things that helped make this project effortless was layering the jersey cutting the front and back at the same time, using a quilting ruler and rotary cutter to cut the pieces and stitching it together with exposed seams. The best thing about this skirt was I made it out of a remnant, so it was super affordable!

Here's another simple a-line skirt with a little detail added to dress it up. I made a ruffle with coordinating fabric and edged it with matching crocheted trim. Adding the trim was the hardest part. I pinned it on, machine stitched it in place, put some fray check on the edges and hand-stitched the ends together. It was definitely worth it though because the trim is so cute.

This skirt is a favorite of mine! I drafted the pattern from a skirt I bought years ago. Gathering each tier of the skirt was the hardest part, but it gives the skirt amazing texture! I used a twin needle and stitched the fabric down flat with raw edges exposed. In addition to the skirt, I also made my tank top. This was another super easy project. It's based on a basic tank top and I stitched it together with a serger and left all other edges raw. It felt a little plain when I was finished, so I added the ruffle along the neckline, which was a leftover scrap.

Happy sewing!
Erikia

Quilt Market Report Spring 2013

-Jaime

Oh man! Amber and I just returned from a week in Portland! We packed in all kinds of adventures which we will be blogging about this week, but most importantly, we went to Spring Quilt Market! Quilt Market is when we get to look at all the upcoming fabric collections, patterns and products. We ordered a lot of great things we are super excited about. The new lines you see here will be coming into the shop in the upcoming summer and fall months so stay tuned to our blog and facebook to be notified of their arrival. Here are some of the highlights:

Tula Pink has done it again! Another stunning collection, Acadia is due this September. Acadia features bright teals, purples, pinks and greens as well as raccoons! We loved her booth floor which echoed some of her print designs. She had tons of quilts on display to inspire us including the one from her new book, City Sampler: 100 Modern Quilt Blocks. 

Melody Miller was debuting her new line for Kokka which features 3 of our favorite things: linen, sparkles, and arrows. There will be dresses made out of this the second we get it in, I promise.

Rashida Coleman-Hale has a new line coming out this summer for Cloud 9, Koi. We ordered the whole collection, so don't worry. Also, there will be voiles...

We love Leah Duncan's line Tule for Art Gallery Fabrics. Leah was super sweet and we basically moved into her booth and just hung out there among her pillows and driftwood for three days. We ordered the full line and will be making everything out of it come August.

Oh hey, April Rhodes. April was at Market buying for her shop in Columbus and she had a special surprise for us! A hot-off-the-press copy of her Staple Dress pattern. That's right - this awesome pattern (and hopefully more!) will be available in print, right here at Fancy Tiger Crafts this summer. Stay tuned...

Heather Ross is back! Heather Ross has a new line coming out with Windham which means domestically priced quilting cottons! Briar Rose is everything we could have hoped for a new Heather Ross collection and we absolutely love this rainbow quilt by Made by Rae. We can't wait to work with these bright, nostalgic prints come July.

Nani Iro gets us every time. We just can't resist her beautiful, dreamy, ethereal prints. The double gauze and thin linen canvas fabric bases don't hurt either. We ordered about a billion prints from her new line so we will be making room for these in late July.

Ellen Luckett Baker has another modern line for Kokka called Folk Modern. I'm obsessed with horses so this print may be my most anticipated print from market. SO GOOD!

I know this is the news you are all waiting for: yes, we ordered Pendleton wool fabric. Lots of it. It will be here in mid-August and of course, we will throw a little party to welcome it to our shelves. US made delicious wool goodness for all of your fall sewing needs. Dresses, skirts, pillows, bags, will now all be made in wool. Get ready.

There were a million exciting things and we ordered so many of them! Stay tuned to see when these beauties arrive at the shop and to see what we will be sewing with them.

New Melody Miller and Echino Ni-co

Hot new fabrics are here from Etsuko Furaya and Melody Miller!

Etsuko's newest Echino Ni-co line features big, adorable polka-dots and transportation of all kinds, from buses to planes to bicycles. No one makes buses as cool as Etsuko!

Retro awesomeness + sparkle = Melody Miller's Ruby Star Sparkle fabrics! Roller skates, rotary phones, kitschy pyrex and old-school 110 cameras--add a touch of metallic and you get these magical prints! We have the full collection so you can make all of your glittery dreams come true.

Those hot pink roller skates want to be my newest Market Tote! What will you make?

New Fabric Collections from Japan are Here!

Echino + Nani Iro + Melody Miller + Heather Ross = Yay!

We finally unpacked it all and can't take the magic of our newest fabrics! 

Melody Miller's Ruby Star sheeting is here! These stunning prints on lightweight linen/cotton are large scale and make super fantastic bags and skirts and curtains and more. Below, see each of the fabrics with the whole print from selvedge to selvedge. They are 62" wide!

We've been anticipating and planning for the new Echino line since we got a peak at quilt market. We've got a major crush on Etsuko Furuya. Those animals in fancy frames? They're destined to be sewn up into hot bags and skirts.

Naomi Ito's newest Nani Iro fabrics are pretty dang dreamy. Printed on a soft double gauze, they'll be great for dresses and blouses.

Heather Ross's newest line, Nursery Versery, has cute storybook characters for little ones, with adorable illustrations of the itsy-bitsy spider, little piggies and mice.

Plus, we have even more super-cute Japanese prints for all your adorable to the max projects!

Happy sewing!

Quilt Market Report Spring 2012

Amber and I just got back from Kansas City for the Spring Quilt Market! This is where we get to shop for all the amazing fabrics and patterns we carry here at the store. We also get to meet and talk to fabric designers, pattern designers, bloggers and other shop owners. It was super amazing and we were really impressed with the strength of the new collections. Here are some highlights:

Amy Butler has a new collection coming out this July, Cameo. Her booth was a beautiful mix of vintage with her bright prints forming a fun contrast.

Anna Maria Horner's newest collection for Free Spirit is Field Study due in August. Natural elements such as feathers, flora and fauna inspire these designs. We loved the life-sized crouching leopard decoupaged with fabric!

Can you believe this quilt?! The pattern for this strip-pieced quilt by Anna Maria Horner will be available as a free pattern for her Field Study fabrics through the Free Spirit website. I can hardly wait to make one - it was stunning.

We really love what's going on over at Cloud 9. This organic fabric company started out so tiny and is growing into the most adorable fabric company of all time. Their current and upcoming collections are awesome, and they keep working with amazing artists. We have Monsterz in stock now so here is some inspiration with these awesome baby quilts.

Seven Seas is another Michele Brummer Everett collection for Cloud 9 coming out this summer. More of her adorable drawings, but this time with a maritime theme. Those little boys shirts are too cute!

We were thrilled that Denyse Schmidt had her first ever booth at quilt market. Her booth was amazing and featured an inspiration wall for her upcoming collection, Chicopee. We went ahead and ordered the full collection so you are all set come August.

We also got to see all of her quilts from her newest book in person - talk about inspiration! Meeting Denyse was awesome - she was lovely and it was so magical to chat with one of our favorite quilters.

The buzz of quilt market was the new Liberty of London quilting cottons. Quilt Market was the debut of this new venture for Liberty and we think it's going to be amazing! Their first collection is called Bloomsbusy Gardens and each of the 11 prints comes in 5 colorways. We ordered a ton of it, so you can quilt with Liberty to your heart's content come late August. The Liberty quilting cottons will be much more affordable than their Tana Lawn counterparts, but you can expect the same great designs and colors.

Melody Miller had a booth! Yay! Her booth was a perfect picture of her unique, vintage-inspired style and highlighted her newest collection for Kokka, Ruby Star Vinyl.

We couldn't resist a photo-op with the lady herself!

Oh Tula Pink. So much awesome fabric and I can't believe this Gem quilt!! Tula Pink has another new collection hitting the shop in July called The Birds and The Bees. We love the bright colors, but mostly I can't wait to get my hands on it so I can make this quilt.

Here we are with Ms. Pink in front of this amazing Gem Quilt. Looks pretty good, right?

And now here are some sneak peeks from the land-of-all-awesome-Japanese-fabric, Seven Islands! There will be a new Echino collection coming out featuring birds and animals, our favorite. I couldn't get over the giraffes and owls in ornate frames and of course the hipster deer-in-glasses polka dot print. The zebras are looking pretty hot too. We ordered all of it and several laminates so don't worry - there will be plenty to choose from.

Fancy Tiger favorite, Nani Iro, has a new collection out as well. She is working with some new and different colors and designs that we are excited about.

Finally we will leave you with this double gauze tunic - we need to make this!

Lots of great stuff is on the way - we didn't even show you the new Lizzy House, Moda, Sarah Jane, Lotta Jansdotter, Bari J., Dear Stella, Blend or Alexander Henry fabrics! OMG so much awesome stuff to 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!