Have you ever noticed how a simple change to a window’s dressing can affect the whole mood of a room? Or how just the right blinds can offer the perfect casting of light against walls, floors, and furnishings ? If you’ve ever explored the world of customized window treatments, then you already know. If you haven’t, here are a few reasons why you should.
Reason 1: UNIQUENESS
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.
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With mandated self-quarantining and social distancing protocols in place extending way beyond borders and well into the summer, many are finding themselves exchanging vacations away for stay-cations at home, spending less by doing more DIY projects, and taking visual and emotional inventory on their new world formerly known as just ‘home’.
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.
courtesy andrea piacquadio
From struggling millenniums and independent ladies, to seasoned craftsmen and ambitious weekend warriors, over the last several years ‘Do It Yourselfer’s have been growing in numbers. In fact, the once labeled DIY ‘trend’ has become less of a simple money saving notion, and more of an empowering, value-driven movement. A movement inspired by the mindset of self-sufficiency and sustainability. A movement that according to Venveo DIY marketing trend reports, is here to stay for awhile. With this in mind, we want to share our list of five things novice DIYers need to succeed as they research, start, work through, and complete their DIY projects… no matter how big or small.
With the popularity in and demand for Industrial Hemp on the rise, everyone from fabric manufacturers, sustainable textile advocates and designers, to artisans, young entrepreneurs, and DIY crafters are discovering creative ways to cash in on the cannabis crop. But what is all the buzz about? And what are the benefits of this strand of hemp?
Industrial Hemp comes from the same Cannabis Sativa family of plants as its more notable female cousin, CBD Hemp…aka Mary Jane. The main difference between Industrial Hemp and CBD Hemp is that Industrial Hemp contains only traces of the psychoactive THC that has made its cousin famous. What makes Industrial Hemp special however, is what’s hidden in its fibers.
As an uncertain economy and a desire to be more self-sufficient leads the hands of many consumers into the appealing yet often pre-mature world of DIY’ers, the need for a guided professional approach continues to grow. And while preserving one’s spending by doing-it-yourself certainly makes sense when on a budget, often times creatives wind up spending much more than planned in time and money. In the end, winding up frustrated, broke, and with an unfinished project still sitting there. From the results of improper measuring methods and careless evaluation of reupholstery needs, to poor fabric choices and underestimated project complexity, no matter what situation applies, learn to avoid the following do-it-yourself furniture reupholstery mistakes to increase your chances for a successful outcome.
Throughout various cultures around the world, bells have historically held a multitude of meaning and purpose. Bells symbolize beginnings and endings. They are rung at weddings, funerals, during meditation and to raise our vibrations. Bells warn us and call our attention. They commence fights and finish them, and alert us of livestock movement. Bells inform us of guests and signal the readiness of palate pleasing nourishment. Simple soundful metal craft for some, sacred singing bell for others, these handcrafted creations have served communities for thousands of years.
Over the years, fusible web has become the time saving alternative to sewing. A type of interfacing, everyone from the beginning crafter to the most experienced designer can appreciate the ease and simplicity of this no-sew method. If you’re new to the notion of fusing, here are a few tips, tricks and fusing basics.
