5 Tips For Buying Fabric Online

courtesy PhotoMix

For many designers, seamstresses and artisans alike, there is something reassuring to be found in shopping for fabric at brick-n-mortar shops where one can actually touch and feel the material. An experience often lost when buying fabric online, but one that textile companies and their marketing teams strive continuously to innovate and virtualize in order to mirror a similar hands-on experience. By capturing high res images of their fabrics, specific filters, consumer friendly navigational tools, and detailed textile information in their descriptions, many top online fabric stores have been able to offer just that. With such bases covered, along with the benefit of direct mail based promotions and FREE shipping oftentimes, fabric shoppers are discovering more and more confidence, comfort and convenience in the notion of online fabric shopping.

Quilts From the Pen of Bisa Butler

Wangari Maathai quilt by Bisa Butler

 

A native of Orange, NJ, Bisa Butler is an American fiber artist known for her quilted portraits and designs celebrating the lives and culture of African Americans.  As a child, she spent her free time first watching her mother and grandmother sew, then being taught by them. She majored in Fine Art at Howard University, where she studied the work of Romare Bearden and attended lectures by prominent black artists such as Lois Mailou Jones. While pursuing a master’s degree, she took a Fiber Art class that inspired her choice of quilting as an artistic medium. After that class, she made her first quilt, a portrait created in homage to her grandmother upon her deathbed.  From that point on she turned to quilting full time, and the rest is HERstory.

Tropical Textile Treasures at J&O Fabrics

Vacation in the tropics year round with our hot selection of exotic, themed tropical textile in an array of styles and colors.  Using some of our easy NO-SEW techniques, it’s a breeze to create this island oasis. Simply deck out bamboo and wicker furnishings in coordinating tropical and animal themed prints. Accent your home sanctuary with customized, self-adhesive lampshades in floral or leopard print and beaded trim. For a carefree coastal comfort, trim a sisal rug by hot-gluing strips of tropical print fabric along the edges. Topped with complimentary prints and fun fringe, a wicker trunk adds practical storage to this private paradise. Complete this tropical environment by framing the windows with burlap drapes hung by leather strips and accented with beaded tassels. Even these tailored treatments are made using another quick and easy NO-SEW fusing methods

 

Who Will Save The Slow-Furnishing Industry?

With a fast-furnishing trend influencing consumer purchase of cheaply made and inexpensively priced home fittings, a demand for a more eco-sustainable, value-driven way of decorating our homes simmers on the back burner, awaiting its (re)turn to the forefront again. Enter the scrappers, grassroots DIY’ers, experienced artisans, seasoned wood-crafters, and novices of slow-furnishing in the making.

Like fast-fashion, fast-furnishing offers seemingly fashionable furniture that is quickly produced using cheap materials. Often times it is manufactured overseas where exploited workers from underprivileged countries are paid pennies to produce, and the price tags left hanging once stateside offer a great look at a great price, along with a guilt-free disposable mentality.  What more could a style conscious consumer on a budget want, right?

Say ‘I Love You’ With Fabric

The renowned poet and legendary author Khalil Gibran once quoted…
Love of fabric

Life without love is like a tree without blossom and fruit”. 

At J&O we believe…


Life without J&O is like a piece of cotton without print and design”.

Both quotes, most would say, hold valid truths.
Love is truly the fabric of life.

During the month of February, as our nation celebrates the highly commercialized day of love also known as St. Valentine’s Day, we at J&O Fabrics will be sharing the many ways we can express love to our family, friends and loved ones through the use of fabric .

Save A Life, Adopt-A-Fabric Today!

With her cotton/polyester blend of fibers and water-repellent finish, Aruba Getaway II Stripes Outdoor is a versatile and colorful fabric that loves the great outdoors, being the center of attention, and showing off her many talents. Looking to add some spice to your life?

The perfect parent for this vibrant fabric has creative vision and plenty of patio cushions to cover. When you adopt-a-fabric like Aruba Getaway II Stripes Outdoor,  it’s a win-win situation for both, for a little bit of love and a home of her own is all this happy fabric needs.

The Creative Makings Of A Man Cave

Al Bundy had one in his garage where ‘No Ma’am’ meetings were held on the sitcom Married With Children. Doug Heffernan had one in his garage equipped with a big screen TV, beer fridge, and a couch where Doug and his friends watched football, baseball, boxing, and drank beer in peace away from his wife and father-in-law on the TV show The King of Queens.  The ‘Man Cave’...a metaphor used to describe a male retreat space or sanctuary usually in the basement or attic of a house or in a specially equipped garage where women are banned and the fella’s call ‘home’. A space designated for guys to do as they please without fear of upsetting any female sensibilities of home decor. ‘The last bastion of masculinity,’ as described by Tufts University’s Paula Aymer where “No one is going to make you watch your p’s and q’s, ” according to writer Sam Martin.  Whether all the above or just a room where a man can simply go and unwind from the day in his own undisturbed way, indulge in hobbies, play video games or watch tv with the ‘boys’, the ever cherished man cave varies in design and purpose revealing the most valued parts of each man and more. In Ode to man’s little piece of heaven here on Earth, the staff  at J&O fabrics are sharing a few ‘man cave’ ideas and tips to help recreate them for yourself.

‘Six Prayers’ And The Tapestry of Anni Albers

Born into an assimilated Jewish family in Berlin, furniture manufacturer, weaver, fabric designer, and artist Anni Albers (1899-1994) studied weaving before immigrating to America with her husband, Josef, a painter and instructor at the Bauhaus School Art School in Weimar Germany.

As a weaving student at the Bauhaus and once a believer that ” weaving was sissy… just three threads”, to Anni’s surprise she would also soon realize the craft could be compared to architecture, an act of construction relying on hundreds of individual elements. Working at her loom hour after hour, Albers also found an inner peace she believed other artists often lacked.

Decorate With Duralee at J&O Fabrics

duralee collection at jandofabrics

 

Returning from World War II to NYC, Lenny Silberman faced changing times. As a result, he found himself answering an ad in The New York Times promising “a HUGE opportunity” as a textile shipping clerk for $35 a week. He landed the job and went to night school to expand his industry knowledge and learn the fine art of selling. Together with his two partners and seven other hands-on employees, Silberman eventually launched Duralee Fabrics in 1952 from an office smaller than most modern-day walk-in closets.

J&O Celebrates Cinco De Mayo

cinco_de_mayo

 

Originally observed in commemoration of the Mexican army’s triumphant victory over the French Empire at the Battle of Puebla in Mexico on May 5, 1862, generations later,  Cinco de Mayo has come to be known not only as a liberating feat for Mexico, but for the sustaining richness of its culture and celebration of artisan craftsmanship as well.  From their popular clay pottery, vibrant designs, and embroidered cotton garments to their wool shawls, colorful baskets and rugs, their hand-crafted items are just a few of the cultural creations associated with Mexican art. In celebration of the elaborate designs and artistry of Mexico,  J&O offers an array of dress fabrics, southwestern prints, and colorful trim to make your Cinco de Mayo festivities a memorable one.