The Philadelphia Folk Festival is a three day long music extravaganza. During those three days, three generations of people come together in a farmer’s field in Schwenksville, PA to listen to (and play) some amazing music, camp, and bond with their fellow hippie compatriots. When you step onto grounds, you take a step back to fifty years ago when ‘Fest’ began. Not only is the entire vibe of the festival the same now as it was then, so is the style of clothing. Along with friends and music, another attraction to Fest is its craft area. There, you will find one of the most unique assortments of clothing and goods ever brought together in one place.
Tag Archives: organic-fabric
Fascinating Fabric: Milking Fabric For All It’s Worth
When we at J&O think of milk, we think of cows and delicious goodies that one might drink milk with (like chocolate cake for example). The last thing that we think of is what we know best, fabric. That is why we were incredibly surprised when we found out that German designer and scientist Anke Domaske created an organic fiber using spoiled milk.
“Sewjo Off? How To Know When It’s Time to Put the Needle Down!”
Have you ever noticed how challenging even the simplest sewing projects or most routine steps suddenly become when our emotions come into play? Seems when our mood is light and upbeat, our fabric flows thru our machine with more ease, our stitchwork is more on point, even little nuances like ripping out a seam or altering a mistake just seem par the course. But when our mood is heavy and our ‘sewjo’ is off, all hell breaks loose. It’s almost as if our sadness, anger, stress or residue from the day, is emitted off of us and then reflected back to us the same. As a result, what normally takes five minutes to repair, can take fifteen or even fifty. That dress fabric that you sewed together the wrong way, is now being fixed for the umpteenth time, and it’s almost as if a naughty little elf came and swiped the piece of Baroque trim from the table you placed it on less than two minutes ago. Yeah, the same trim that you scoured the local craft marketplace all day for to complete your sitting room valance. In the midst of all the madness, now it appears your mind is playing tricks on you!
Is Walmart to Blame? J&O Offers Soundboard for the Rise in Novelty Fabric Prices
As one of South Jersey’s largest and longest operating family owned fabric stores (45 years and going strong), we receive calls from crafters, artisans, designers, sewing novices, and even expert seamstresses/tailors constantly. Some call inquiring about proper yardage for commercial projects, some call seeking advice regarding the characteristics and use of specific textiles, and still others call in a desperate attempt to secure hard to find and otherwise unavailable prints from the one source they know that has built its reputation on providing their customers with some of the industry’s most popular licensed prints and top quality decorative fabric at discounted prices over the years. J&O Fabric Store even has customers who have been with us from the start and can still remember when a yard of a novelty cotton cost as little as $1.50. Unfortunately, though our reputation as a reliable one stop source has remained, the days of pulling out a dollar or two for a yard of fabric are long gone. What’s even more challenging is that at the current rate the textile industry as a whole is going, what we pay for novelty prints one month, has the potential of increasing by the next without warning. Like unstable oil and gas prices we’ve been forced to endure, we are experiencing fluctuations at every turn when it come to cotton material as well, as a result, everyone from the manufacturers down to the individual consumer feels the sting of it.
Go Green Gina: Make Your Sewing Room Greener, Happier & Healthier!
For many of us, the idea of ‘going green’ and playing a vital part in helping to save Mother Earth from resource depletion and over consumption, is more than just a passing fancy. J&O Fabric store is doing our part by bringing in more and more organic fabrics. As each day ushers in new devastating information pertaining to the effects of global warming, pollution in our air and waters, cancers in our food supply, and the long term effects of genetically modified textile crops such as our beloved cotton, more and more of us are raising our awareness to the fragile balance and co-dependency of man and nature, and are taking steps both big and small to ensure our survival and that of future generations. One such step that we can take as seamstresses, tailors, crafters, and designers, is to make our sewing environments more eco-friendly. With the running of our machines and the burning of the midnight oil (lights) to get our projects done sometimes, the amount of energy we use in the course of a day, a week, a month, adds up. When considering that the leading cause of our eco-system breakdown is still the burning of coal to generate electricity, we owe it to Mother Nature to do our part, one change at a time.
Ask Netfah: Food Safe Fabrics for Reusable Sandwich Bags
Dear Netfah,
I am working on reusable bags for my kids and Xmas gifts, but heard a lot of the nylon, PUL (polyurethane) fabric and other stuff are not food safe. Any sugestions for ‘food safe’ fabrics or alternatives for my project?
Thank You
Leilane
Dear Leilane,
Lenpur: A Fabric Made of Wood
Fabric is potentially the last thing you would think a tree can produce. Nevertheless, for some time now clothing from lenpur has on the market. What is lenpur? It is a fiber made from the pulp of the white fir tree. This pulp is sustainably harvested from said trees in order to make the fibers that are in turn converted into a range of goods.
What does it feel like? Despite coming from a tree, lenpur fabrics have a soft hand not unlike that of cashmere. Because of its soft feel, lenpur fabrics are today being used for outer- and undergarments. Fabrics made from lenpur fibers are known for their absorbency and anti-odor properties.
Double Gauze, The Ideal Summer Fabric!
A little over a year ago we posted a blog about the wonders of gauze fabric as a summer material. And while we still agree that there is no fabric as lightweight, breathable, absorbant or fashionable as this ancient textile good for the lazy hazy days of summer, we are truly loving the newer double gauze cotton for its added non-transparent feature. Invented by the Japanese with the intent of curing just that, while still allowing the same desirable qualities of the fabric to remain, double gauze is the answer to all our ‘staying-cool-and-cute-in-the-summer’ woes.
Go Green Gina: Top Natural Fabric Dyes.
In the world of eco-friendly dyeing, there are several traditional and modern-day sources of coloring used to bring just the right energy and aura to a fabric. And whether you are a do-it-youself kinda crafter or are content with purchasing your material already naturally dyed, here is a list of some of the more common plant, animal, vegetable and/or mineral agents for those vibrant yellows, burnt oranges, indigo blues and deep reds that call out to us from across the fabric isles.
Go Green Gina’s ‘Top 10 Eco-Friendly Fabric Terms’.
With all the talk of eco-friendly this, and go-green that, is it any wonder why being politically correct with our green living jargon is becoming seemingly more and more difficult? When it comes to the world of textile goods, this confusion doesn’t cease to exist, but hopefully with a little help from our Top 10 Eco-Friendly Textile Terms, it will make your next purchase of Earth friendly fabric just a little easier.
1. Biodegradable: fabric fibers that break down naturally with the assistance of microorganisms (ie cotton, linen, wool, silk)
2. Organic: free from harmful chemical pesticides and fertilizers; involving only natural animal and/or vegetable based ingredients.