Hart's Fabric

Category Archives: inspiration

Some Fun Sewing Blogs to Check Out!

May 3, 2013

One of the best parts about working at Harts is seeing what becomes of the fabric that we sell. I love cutting fabric for customers and imagining what their projects will look like! We have so many talented and creative customers, it is always a treat getting to see pictures of their finished projects!

Many of our awesome customers have fantastic sewing blogs with pictures of  projects they have made using our fabrics. Here are just a few of our many talented customers and their crafty sewing blogs:

wreath-with-books

Treasure Seeking is a fantastic blog run by Erin, recently she posted a tutorial for making a fabulous eco-felt wreath!

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A Good Wardrobe is a blog dedicated to what makes a good wardrobe and how to make one! This adorable top was made with our organic cotton/lycra Jersey!

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Queen of the Flies has an adorable blog filled with sewing projects and family fun. She recently made this amazing dress from one of our printed cotton voiles.

hiptouristskirt_1_julib_sweetlittlechickadee

Sweet Little Chickadee is a favorite blog of ours, Juli has made a few projects out of fabrics from us, our favorite is probably her hip tourist skirt, made from Japanese imported cotton/linen.

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Susie Homemaker, MD is a super cute blog with tons of awesome sewing project posts! Check out the recent post about the Sewaholic Lonsdale dress made with our Classica Flora Rayon Challis!

Do you have a sewing/crafting blog? We would love to see it! Be sure to leave a link in the comment section! Also, you can always share your project with us on our Facebook page, or by emailing your photos to us at customerservice@hartsfabric.com! We look forward to seeing all your projects!

 

Posted by in Featured Harts's Fans, inspiration Tags: , , ,

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Easy Pattern Alterations: the Violet Blouse

March 11, 2013

 

alterations

 

The Violet blouse from Colette is one of my all-time favorite patterns. I’ve already made it several times as-is from the pattern with no adjustments. I love it in dotted swiss and cotton voile. As per Colette’s usual M.O., Violet has a sweet vintage flair with it’s peter pan collar and gathered sleeves. However, calling on the latest spring trends for inspirations, I wanted to transform this classically styled pattern into something particularly on-trend for the coming season. This look was achieved by a few easy alterations that you can do too with minimal sewing experience.

CHIFFON crop

First the fabric choice: If there’s one thing that I’m seeing everywhere right now, it’s chiffon! The baroque floral polyester chiffon that I chose also reminds me of all of the graphic prints that have been popping up in boutiques and major retailers alike.

Making this blouse in chiffon meant that I ditched doing any of the facings that this pattern called for, even the front placket facings since I thought that it would look awkward in the sheer fabric. Instead I did a wide double-roll hem for the button placket to give it stability.

I also decided to make this variation sleeveless for the warm months ahead so I finished the arm holes with double fold bias tape stitched to the inside instead of sleeves.

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I also wanted to show off the beautiful chiffon I chose,so I added a few inches of width to the lower back pattern piece to create more ruffles at the yolk.

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And while one of my favorite aspects of the original Violet is the peter-pan collar, I decided to ditch it for a big ol’ neck bow; another feature I love on tops. I made this by cutting a strip of fabric about 5″ wide from selvage to selvage, folding it in half, and attaching it to where the collar would normally go. I then pressed and top-stitched the ends closed.

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I also decided to create a high-low effect (another trend that’s absolutely everywhere) by cutting the back longer than the front and curving the hem.

I finished all of my seams with French seams (my preferred method when working with chiffon; it’s easy and looks clean) and hemmed it all with a narrow double rolled hem.

That’s it! These are easy alterations that anyone can do!

-remove facings from the equation

-replace sleeves with bias tape

-add fullness to back piece

-replace collar with long strip

-taper the hem line

I can’t wait to wear my new blouse absolutely everywhere!

CHIFFON 006

 

Posted by in inspiration, Made by Hart's Staff, Patterns Tags: , , , , , , ,

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Easy Party Cupcake Toppers!

December 28, 2012

both

The New Years Eve party has to be the best party of the year. After all, it’s the last and first party of the year so it’s important to give the old a good send-off, and to ring in the new the right way. And that means adding the little flourishes to make the party dazzle.

These fun cake toppers can be made while your cupcakes bake, and this technique can be used year-round for all of your themed parties and holidays.

materials

Materials:

~ 1/4yd fabric (a fat quarter works too)

~ Skewers or toothpicks

~ Fabritac

~ Fray-check

~ Scissors

preparing the pieces

Cut out your desired shapes. You can cut out specific portions of novelty fabrics (animals, shoes, pirates etc.) or cut out generic shapes (hearts, stars etc.). I cut out 2 circles around the flowers, and 1 diamond shape to make each flag. Make your shapes bigger than you think because you will trim a bit later.

glue

glue

Trim your skewer down to size, then glue the skewer/toothpick in-between your circle shapes and squeeze to make sure they are secure. Then add some dots of glue near the perimeter of your shapes and squeeze to secure. Trim up your toppers if the shapes don’t match perfectly, then apply fray-check around the raw edges to keep your toppers from fraying.

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To make the flags, glue your skewers in the middle of your diamond shapes and press to secure. Then put dabs of glue on each side of the flag and wrap around to secure. Trim up the edges, then apply fray-check.

done toppers

Before long you’ll have a nice little collection of adorable toppers that will delight your friends and family! The only remaining step is to decorate your cupcakes and then eat them!

toppers

flags

 

Posted by in inspiration, Tutorials

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Burda Style’s Sewing Vintage Modern

December 13, 2012

We have all been busy sewing our way through the new Burda Style Sewing Vintage Modern Book and we are so excited to show you a sneak preview of some of the garments that will be showcased at the book signing here at our store on Monday the 17th. If you are unaware of the book signing it will be here in our store on Monday December 17th from 3pm-6pm with The author of “Sewing Vintage Modern” Jamie Lau. We are all so excited so make sure you stop by and check it out, it’s going to be too much fun!

So there are five master patterns in this book and here are three of the patterns made by Hart’s Employees.

The first is the adorable cigarette pants that Julia made using the Jean Pants Pattern from the book.  She used a black ponte knit fabric and added adorable patent leather accent to the pockets and waist making these pants comfortable and cute!

Then Katrina made this super cute version of the Elizabeth Gathered Waist Dress Pattern where she altered the base pattern and made a thin strap bodice for underneath the lace and then made the skirt a twirly circle skirt instead of just a gather skirt. She used a Kaffe Fassett Shot Cotton fabric for the slip part of her dress in Aloe and a stretch lace fabric in cream.   We are all in love with this dress and she plans on wearing it to her engagement party! Yay!

Next is the shift dress master pattern that both Amy and Dani made.

Amy’s dress is made from a thick knit fabric that has a woven rose design that gives this dress great stability and an adorable look. She altered the pattern by adding a button style back with large pink buttons that really give this dress a little something extra and make it fun and high fashion. This is a cute dress to wear over thick tights in the winter or wear alone in the summertime.

Dani’s dress is a bit different then Amy’s.  She kept hers simple and gave it 3/4 length sleeves to make it more of a winter style dress. This dress is a great basic staple for every ladies wardrobe because it can be easily dressed up for work or dresses down for a casual weekend day.

 

We have decided that this book is just fantastic and we highly recommend it to sewers of all levels. The basic patterns in this book are defiantly beginner patterns but can be easily made into more advanced garments that can be a bit more challenging and high fashion. This book is a great gift for the holidays and if you get a copy don’t forget to stop by the store and get your copy signed by Jamie Lau!

 

 

Posted by in inspiration, Made by Hart's Staff Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

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Elastic Hair Band, The Easiest Stocking Stuffer Ever!

December 6, 2012

So, the new rage for the upcoming year are these elastic hairbands that are supposed to be easier on your hair than normal elastic bands, eliminate the ponytail bump in your hair and are fun, bright, and fashionable.

These hairbands are available at Urban Outfitters and all over Etsy, but why buy them from someone else when you can make them yourself?!

All you need to do is cut off a 6″ or 7″ piece of fold over elastic,  tie it in a knot, and voila! Instant hair band! Warp them around a cute piece of card stock or cardboard and you’ve got a hip, instant stocking stuffer.

Hart’s carries a wide selection of colors and they all range in price from $0.99 a yard, (that’s 36″, you can get like 5 hair ties out of that!) and go up to $2.99.Just some of the colors we carry are pictured at the very top of this post.

That’s way cheaper then Urban outfitters that sell a set of 10 for $14.00 ( pictured above) and a set of 3 metallic bands for $6.00 (pictured below) you can make 5 metallic bands for $2.99! Click Here for all of Hart’s Fold-over Elastic.

Happy Crafting Everyone!!

Posted by in inspiration Tags: , , , ,

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