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 At J&O we recognize that it is not always easy to find something to do with the fabric scraps left over from a project. That is why we have presenting ideas we have come across while trawling through the Net. One wonderfully simple idea we came across was fabric bookmarks. All you will need:
Fabric remnants
Rubber cement
Cardstock
Ruler
Pencil
Hole puncher
Begin by brushing some rubber cement onto the cardstock over an area larger than what the finished bookmark. Then stick on the fabric and smooth it out. Repeat the process on the other side. Use the pencil and ruler to mark the edges of the bookmark. Your bookmark is now ready to cut out. For added flair punch a hole in the top of the bookmark and loop through some ribbon. You've now made your fabric bookmark.
Posts by J&O
Fabrics StoreLabels: book-mark, book-markers, consumer-savvy-carol, craft-ideas, thrifty
 Each week we receive tons of letters and emails from customers who have made beautiful crafts, reupholstered old furnishings, and designed unique garments all from the fabric they have purchases from our online store. From hot pink vinyl and black suede cloth to children's novelty cotton and route 66 tapestry, it never ceases to amaze us how creative our customers really are. Take for instance Ms. Yvonne Perry. Yvonne is a freelance writer, editor, author and owner of 'Writers in the Sky Creative Writing Services' by day, but by night she is an artist with a unique sense of color and taste who makes wonderful home crafts for friends, family and a few more folks ready to support this Jackie-of-all-trades. Yvonne sent us an email thanking us for providing her with the perfect sock monkey fabric for her infant bumper pads and crib quilts featured on her flickr photostream below: http://www.flickr.com/photos/randyvonne/page2/ By nurturing her creative imagination and applying the proper training, Yvonne was not only able to turn a fun hobby into a fruitful venture, but save a lot of money at the same time. Why pay for the markup costs of a store bought bumper pad or quilt when you can cut out the middle man and turn those extra dollars into investment dollars for more creative ideas to come. Yvonne, on behalf of J&O fabrics , we'd like to say 'Thank You' for sharing your project with us and all our blog viewers on the world wide web. Keep on nurturing your gifts and encourages others to do so too. We look forward to seeing more!
To see all of J&O Fabric's fabulous textile goods, check us out at http://www.jofabrics.com. To check out J&O's selection of sock monkey fabric click here! To check out J&O's selection of other fun novelty fabric click here! Posts by J&O Fabrics Store Labels: breast-cancer-fabric-crafts, childrens-novelty-fabric, craft-ideas, novelty-cotton, novelty-cotton-fabric, novelty-fabric, novelty-fabric-craft, sock-monkey, sock-monkey-craft, sock-monkey-fabric
"Ya Gotta Co-ooordinate"
Not to rip off John Witherspoon's famous saying from the movie Boomerang but, it's true. In order to take something from mediocre to excellent, ya gotta know how to coordinate. Mixing and matching your own fabrics is a fabulous way to express your creativity and personal style. If you struggle with coordinating the right fabrics, we've included a few tips to help you along the way.
Coordinating fabrics in any of your sewing projects is just as important as the actual construction. From our previous blog on Coordinating Fabrics, you'll be happy to know that J&O Fabrics is now working on adding matching coordinates to just about every fabric we carry.
Anyhow, most home decor textile manufacturers come out with new lines each season jam-packed with coordinate collections complete with decorative florals, stripes, supersoft chenille upholstery and more. In any given catalogue, a whole living room will be decked out with a complete set of fabrics to upholster the couch, ottoman, chaise lounge and even make drapes and decorative pillows. All this is excellent! However, not everyone wants a cookie cutter living room, sometimes you may want to mix and match fabrics on your own to suit your own tastes. So. . . you'll need to have some idea on just how to do it.
Firstly, feel free to express yourself and not be shackled by trends. Trends will come and go. Just because everyone matches florals with stripes doesn't mean that you have to. If you follow the reasoning behind why florals match well with stripes, you should be okay matching on your own.
While coordinating, one idea is to create balance with contrast. A straight line will contrast with a circle. Dark will contrast light. A tight structure will contrast with chaos and something large will contrast with something very small.
Here are a few examples of how these ideas manifest themselves on fabric combinations.
Linear to Circular
  
Busy to Textural (Plain)
 
Large to Small   
Going along with the idea of creating balance by contrast, another way to blend fabrics is to combine HOT with COOL colors. Hot colors include, reds, oranges, yellows etc. And COOL colors include, greens and blues. In a project full of hot warm colors, a cool colored accent may be just the key to creating a perfect balance. Take a look at these examples.
     
You may also want to consider combining Contrasting Colors. The Contrasting Colors include
Blue/Yellow
Green/Red
Purple/Orange
Overall, texture, color, print, and scale all play a part in how well two fabrics will match. These principles can be explained further in an upcoming blog.
If you follow the above guidelines and focus on creating balance
through contrast your coordinating adventures should prove to be both
rewarding and a lot of fun!
J&O Fabrics. . . sew many possibilities
If you're in the area, visit our store in Pennsauken, New Jersey, right
outside of Philadelphia. The size of a supermarket, we have the largest
selection of fabrics in New Jersey! Everything we carry is not on our website, so if you're in the area, check us out and browse our
fabric aisles.
J&O Fabric Center
9401 Route 130 South
Where Rt.73 and 130 meet
Pennsauken, New Jersey 08110
856-663-2121
info@jandofabrics.comPosts by J&O Fabrics StoreLabels: coordinating fabrics, craft-ideas, decorator, discount-fabric, fabrics, quilting-fabric, upholstery-fabric
No Sew Sewing
What to do with fabric if you DON'T sew.
Is there even such a thing as no sew sewing???? Did you know that if you don't know how to sew, or don't have the patience to get out the old sewing machine, there are actually ways to attach fabric to another fabric without threading a needle? If you've only seen the thin strips of Stitch Witchery at your local drugstore, thats only the beginning.
There are all kinds of no sew products out on the market now. There are items such as fusible webbing, spray adhesive and fabric glue. For example our Heat N' Bond Iron-On Adhesive will give instant results without a lot of fuss.
Typically if you're making a garment, there's no easy way to get around sewing. For example, you probably will have a hard time making a prom dress without sewing, but if you're just making simple curtains etc., there are sewing alternatives.
Here are a few ideas for the budding craftmasters!
- Hem pants without a visible stitch
- Make quick repairs
- Decorate Hat Boxes/ Shoe Boxes
- Make homemade greeting cards
- Create and Attach Appliques
- Fuse Trims to Fabrics
The possibilities for no sew sewing can be as limitless as your imagination and creativity. Log on to our upcoming Notions and Sewing Accessories Section and explore all of our "no sew" possibilities.
_____________________________________
If you're in the area, visit our store in Pennsauken, New Jersey, right outside of Philadelphia. The size of a supermarket, we have the largest selection of fabrics in New Jersey! Everything we carry is not on our website, so if you're in the area, check us out and browse our fabric aisles.
J&O Fabric Center
9401 Route 130 South
Where Rt. 73 and 130 Meet
Pennsauken, New Jersey 08110
info@jandofabrics.com
Posts by J&O Fabrics StoreLabels: craft-ideas, Designer fabric, discount-fabric, Fabric Blog, no sew sewing, sewing, stitch witchery
 ________________________________________________Scrap Fabric
What do you do with all those fabric scraps mounting up??????
________________________________________________
You should see the buckets of remnants we develop here at J&O cutting orders all day. For people who make things with fabric it may seem especially hard to throw away the substantial size scraps. One of the most traditional uses for fabric scraps is none other than patchwork quiltmaking. Even though quilting seems to be the end all for what to do with fabric scraps, not everyone is into quilting. J&O has included a list of ideas to lessen that ever growing pile of fabric scraps.Here's four things to do with all those beautiful and useful fabric scraps.
________________________________________________Wrapping Presents
For most of our holidays in American culture there seems to be a requirement to buy someone a present. Whether it's Mother's Day, Christmas or someone's birthday, on some level there's pressure to go out and spend money. At times, buying wrapping paper or purchasing a pretty gift bag on top of your gift expenses can be pretty annoying. One simple and "green" way to rid yourself of this annoyance is to wrap presents with your fabric scraps.
   
Depending on the size of the present and how creative you want to be, just cut your fabric into a square or rectangle and simply gather to the top and tie. If you have time to make it extra special, sew a custom-made fabric bag. Overall, the fabric scrap is out of your hair and passed on to someone else to reuse and do with it whatever they please.________________________________________________Ribbons
To go along with wrapping presents with fabric, you can also use fabric scraps to make ribbon. Be creative and play around with contrasting patterns and colors as you would constructing a quilt.
________________________________________________Fabric Envelopes and Cards
This particular use may be a little more "craftier" then making ribbons and wrapping presents, however if you really get into it you can end up making some really incredible cards.
To make fabric envelopes and cards, most likely you'll need a stiffener.
If you're interested, check out these few links that give pretty good instructions.
Making Fabric Cards
How to Make Fabric Postcards
Fabric Postcard Lesson
Another idea, if you have a collection of novelty print scraps, cut out a repeat or just one item in the design and attach with glue to plain cards or envelopes.
________________________________________________Donate!!At the end of it all, if you still have a ton of fabric scraps; too much to even save for other crafts, DONATE IT :). There are a number of non-profit organizations that accept fabric scraps. Some organizations have a size requirement and may only accept fabric that is a of a particular material. Check out these links for more detailed information.
Project Linus, a volunteer, non-profit organization with a mission to provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of blankets and afghans, lovingly created by volunteer "blanketeers."AIDS Baby Quilts, a international voluntary network program to make and provide baby quilts
to infants with HIV/AIDSArt Therapy Connection, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to serving children who are at risk of failure in their school setting. Participating children visit therapists during their regular school day. By making art, they develop a language of expression.
Many local Day-Care Centers accept fabric scrap donations , to use during arts and crafts projects.
Overall, making good use of your fabric scraps can prove to be very rewarding. It will push your creativity and foster the idea that everything can have a use.
________________________________________________If you're in the area, visit our store in Pennsauken, New Jersey, right outside of Philadelphia. The size of a supermarket, we have the largest selection of fabrics in New Jersey! Everything we carry is not on our website, so if you're in the area, check us out and browse our fabric aisles.
J&O Fabric Center
9401 Route 130 South
Where Rt.73 and 130 meet
Pennsauken, New Jersey 08110
info@jandofabrics.comPosts by J&O Fabrics StoreLabels: craft-ideas, discount fabric, fabric-stores, quilting-fabric, scrap fabric, sewing
Have you ever looked around your house and thought to yourself……I’d love to give this place a new look, but I don’t want to spend a fortune replacing furniture or flooring? We have five inexpensive and easy ways you can freshen up any room in your house simply by adding fabric! 1. Pillows: Pick out a bright fresh color, you can go with something wild, like an animal print, or more conservative, possibly a toile fabric. Pillows are a fun way to add spice to your room. Remember you are not committed to a certain look, pillows are an easy change. If one day you want blue put out your blue pillows, the next day put out your yellow ones! For this section we would recommend looking in the novelty fabric section along with the upholstery fabric and decorative fabric sections. 2. Seat covers: This is the best and easiest way to freshen up your dinning room or kitchen. Take the seat off of your dining/kitchen chairs and staple your new fabric around the bottom of the seat…..and like magic, you have new chairs! You can go with an ultra suede, or maybe an upholstery fabric that blends with your décor. 3/4 of a yard will cover 2 seats. 2 1/4 yards will be enough for 6 seats. We recommended any fabric in the Upholstery fabric section or Decorative fabric section. 3. Window swag: This one is so simple. Just pick out a fun or colorful fabric. Go to your local hardware store, even Target will do. Get 2 hooks, one for each side of the window. Once the hooks are up just drape the fabric from hook to hook and now you have just added a little flare to your window. We recommended sheer fabric, but chiffon is also a nice inexpensive cloth that has an elegant look and feel. 4. Window Shades: This is my favorite. Go to your local hardware store and purchase blackout shades (approx $5.00 per window) and they normally cut to size. Pick out a fabric of your choice and then glue the fabric onto the blackout shade. Now you have custom shades that would normally cost hundreds of dollars. Any of our novelty fabric would be fun along with the upholstery and designer fabrics. 5. Wall hanging: Simply pick your favorite fabric and staple it around a wooden frame that you can purchase at any craft store. This is an easy and low cost way to add artwork to your walls. Recommended fabrics: anything goes in this category. If you want to go a little wild, check out the retro fabrics or you can even go with tropical fabric. Stay tuned for our future blogs for step-by-step instructions on how to create each of the five home décor fabric projects! Posts by J&O Fabrics StoreLabels: craft-ideas, decorative-fabric, fabric-store, novelty-fabric, upholstery-fabric
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