Organize your fabric swatches.

It’s been awhile since we’ve blogged hasn’t it?  It’s nice to take a digital break every now and again but we are excited to return to regular blogging.  For this post we wanted to share one of our favorite sites –   Maggie Makes. We love this blog since she doesn’t limit herself to just one creative outlet and also offers several great tutorials!  Check out the Coffee Can Lanterns- so pretty!

Today she’s offering a free download of these nifty fabric swatch cards.  What a fabulous way to stay organized!  Our sewing tables will thank her for sure…

Be sure to check out her other tutorials and downloads for more inspiration!  Also stop back here soon…we have more blog posts coming up!

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SALE!!!

We’re having a sale over at our Etsy page!  Lots of fabrics are only $2/yard!!!

Wowza!!!  Come check it out!!!

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Re:Upholstery…Part 2

Alright, here is the finished product!

And here’s the back:

First, my apologies for the quality of the photo.  We are currently sans camera at our household, and, thus, I have to subject you to cell phone pictures…

Two!  Issues!  Issue number one is the fact that this fabric is a lot less dense and thinner than the original fabric.  So there were some issues making sure everything fit appropriately. 

Also, the original work had nails shoved into the fabric and up into the frame, which held the back in, but we found that with this fabric, it was just too thin to be nailed to the frame (it tore), so we used glue.  Success! 

The other issue was that the frame was sooooooooo thin along the sides, we had to do a lot of practicing getting the perfect envelope over the back cushion so that you couldn’t see the edge along the side.  Eventually, we got it, and it looks great!

There you have it!  Old chairs lookin’ new!

 

xoxo

Kerith

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Re:Upholstery!

We’ve been workin’ real hard over here reupholstering some dining room chairs.  Cathy has these dining room chairs:

 

These chairs are in great shape, but the fabric just doesn’t have the pizazz Cathy wants.  She had some old curtains that she thought might work to reupholster the chairs.  So we took ’em home to see what we can do.

These chairs have an open back, so we had to be extra cautious.  The fabric needs to be perfect on both sides of the chair.

So stay tuned for the new and improved chairs!!!

 

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Inspiration: France…Part 2

This is the second half of my Inspiration : France “series” for today!  I split it up because they’re not at all related (except that they are found in Paris, and I love them). 

I used to live down the street from Marché Saint Pierre.  I didn’t have much space in the apartment in which I was living, so there wasn’t a lot of crafting going on, but there sure was a lot of dreaming…

Oilcloth

 

And your very own section of Art Deco Fabric

 

Silk

 

Suit lining!

 

Ground Floor Goods

 

Cotton

If you could go through six floors of amazing fabric, what would you get?  What would you make?  And if you DO go through six floors of fabric somewhere in the Midwest, where do you go (in the not so distant future, you’ll be coming to us…)?!

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Project Friday!

Today we wanted to show you a fancy before and after from one of Midwest Needles’ best customers/ friends- Carrie J.  Probably one of the easiest ways to freshen up a room is to take a tired looking chair, apply a fresh coat of paint, and cover the cushion with some cheery fabric. All of a sudden the room feels much more luxe for very little cash!

Carrie used our 1950’s Art Nouveau Throwback fabric which is a sturdy black and white with an organic, abstract pattern.  The fabric also had subtle washes of pale blue throughout the print.  Carrie chose a juicy orange paint for one chair and a bright sky blue for the other which are great complements to the retro fabric. We think they look great!  Thanks for sharing, Carrie!

Before

After!

Ta Da!

If you have a project you want to share just email either kate or kerith (we’re both equally nice)! We’ll feature you on the blog!

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We want these.

You want these.

Let’s buy them.

 

Even if you don’t know how to sew!  They’re so pretty!  Vintage textile inspired patterns!  You can’t go wrong!  ReproDepot’s got the goods!

 

And thanks to Design*Sponge for the review!

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Fabric as wrapping paper…?!

Yeah!  It’s true!  And it’s fun!

Last year I had a bridal shower!  I got everybody a gift.  A latte bowl and a mini latte bowl (can’t find them on the web).  Then I wrapped ’em up a dishtowel!  It looked super cute!  Fairly basic, but cute!

And guess what!  Now we can be classy and crafty and wrap gifts with fabric…as an art!  And that’s eco-friendly!  AWESOME!

A couple of days ago, Craftstylish announced they were giving away a book titled, Wrapagami:The Art of Fabric Gift Wraps, by Jennifer Playford. 

Here’s a video she produced on how to wrap (simply) with fabric!

There are tons of other videos on YouTube  on Furochic wrapping.  Have fun!  Re-use!  Be creative!

xoxo

kerith

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Kerith & Kate mail their first package!

 

Hi!

Guess what!

We sold our summery strawberry fabric on Etsy!

We thought it’d be a good idea to document our first package being mailed!

Here we are just finishing up puttin’ it together!

 

Shippin' Vintage!

And here we are posing with our package!

 

P.O. Boxes!

And here we are droppin’ it in the mailbox!!!

 

Yeah!!!1!

 

 

 

Don’t forget to keep checking us out on Etsy to see our collection of vintage fabrics!!!

 

xoxo

Kerith

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Etsy’s UP!!!

Hi Friends!

Guess what!

We’re up on Etsy!

We’re ready!

And!  We’ve already had one sale!!!

Yay!!!

http://www.midwestneedles.etsy.com

 

xoxo

Kerith

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