Lizzy House in the HOUSE!

Lizzy House workshops are coming up! Lizzy House is an amazing fabric designer and an awesome person. We first got to know Lizzy and take classes with her in 2011 when she came to town to teach at the Makerie. We are thrilled to announce that she is coming back to Denver to teach 2 in-depth workshops here at Fancy Tiger Crafts just for you!

Lizzy House: all around awesome peep

First up is Mini-Quilts on Saturday August 24th! Lizzy will help you design and execute a Mini-Quilt! These small quilts are beautiful works of art that could be displayed on your wall or tabletop. Using the quilt as art, Lizzy will help you develop and create tiny works using the principles and elements of design. Using intuition, and quilt math you will make a plan to make mini dreams come true. You will be dazzled and amazed by what you produce. 

On Sunday, August 25th, Lizzy is teaching block printing! In this class you will learn true printmaking techniques for successful block printing! The first half of the class will focus on proper carving techniques and skills. The second half you will learn how to print at home like a champion. You will gain the knowledge and skills to assess what's happening on your block and print. 

We went ahead and re-ordered a beautiful spectrum of Lizzy's popular Pearl Bracelets as well so those will be in stock when she is here! They are hard to resist and look great with almost anything.

We hope you can join us for superfuntimes with Lizzy House! Call us here at 303-733-3855 to reserve your space.

Sewing Summit Report: Amy, Christina & Sadie Visit Salt Lake

Fancy Tigresses: Sadie, Amy & Christina

 Amy:

What an amazing weekend at the Sewing Summit in Salt Lake! Imagine a 3 day slumber party with 200 of your favorite crafty, bloggy friends, sewing, knitting and gabbing 24/7...nothing short of euphoric. Us Fancy Tiger gals were out in full force, sewing and schmoozing it up with our favorite bloggers, authors, and designers. So many fabulous classes on everything from photography and publishing, to improv quilting and couture specialty seaming...

Amy with Amanda Jennings & Elena Roscoe of Breakfast for Dinner

One of my favorites was "Marvelous Minis" taught by the endlessly fun and whacky Amanda Jennings (aka HeyPorkchop!) of Ms McPorkchop Quilts and The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. I was reluctant to sign up for this class at first because I didn't really "get" mini quilts. Like, what's the point? Wrong. Turns out they ROCK!!!

Adorable Mini-Quilts by Amanda Jennings

Mini quilts are a super fun way to get a quilting project done lickety split fast (think less than an hour), and they pack major punch - highlighting your absolute favorite fabrics and telling a story. Think wall art, snack mats, mug rugs, notebook covers, bags, pouches, trivets...just little bursts of happy scattered about your home. I was so inspired by Amanda's stunning collection (and enthusiasm!), that I whipped out a little improved mini of my own after class, and it's currently hanging on the wall behind my sewing machine, making me smile every time I sit down.

Amy's Mini-Quilt

Stitch up a modern little mini of your own in next month's Modern Tonal Quilt Class here at Fancy Tiger!  

Sadie:

On October 6th, Christina Patzman and I boarded a plane headed for Salt Lake City and the first annual Sewing Summit. I was looking forward to getting away for a mini vacation, seeing Salt Lake City for the first time, and mingling with like-minded bloggers and sewing enthusiasts. The Sewing Summit was so much more!

The Sewing Summit creators Amy Eillis and Erin Singleton

First up was a bus tour of three fabric stores. Christina and I missed the bus because we were standing in line for a much-needed Starbucks. Lucky for us, some sweet crafty locals were willing to drive us to the first stop. We caught up to the party bus, full of fabric-crazed ladies ready to shop until they dropped. Let me say one word: swag. Each store had prizes and giveaways galore. I needed an extra carry-on for all the Sewing Summit swag and giveaways we received. I think I was most excited about the thread!

Saturday was a day full of classes and seminars. I was completely star struck when I got to meet Gretchen ("Gertie") from Gertie's Blog for Better Sewing and Sunni from A Fashionable Stitch.

Sadie and Sunni

Gertie led some amazing garment sewing classes like Garment Fabrics from Angora to Zibeline, Essential Hand Stitches for Garment Making, Tailoring by Hand 101 and Getting a Perfect Vintage Fit. One of my favorite classes was Photographing Your Creations that was led by Vanessa Christensen of V & Co. There was also a class about blogging and a panel discussion with published crafty authors Gretchen "Gertie" Hirsh, Bari J. and others.

I left Salt Lake and the summit feeling inspired and motivated to create, blog, and teach even more!

Christina & Sadie stitched up these cute coinpurses at the Sewing Summit.

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!