magazine

Bits and Bobs

| terriaw

I did a little shopping last Friday and found some great treasures I wanted to share with you.

First up, I headed to the bookstore to check out a couple magazines I recently discovered.

I really love Art Journaling, published by Stampington, where I find a lot of inspiration for my art cards and illustration projects.

The other magazine I found is called Cloth, published in the UK, full of inspirational ideas for making clothes and home furnishings, as well as reviews of new products, sewing advice, and features about shops, boutiques and designers.

I also found some new shoes! You know me, I do love Chucks, so how could I pass up a pair with a comic strip on the outside and polka dots on the inside!

My final stop was this cute little shop in downtown Madison called Anthology, owned by two creative sisters who fill their shop with fine papers, craft kits, handmade goods, workshops, instruction and inspiration.

I love finding vintage-looking travel paper, so I bought a pad full of vintage maps, air mail paper, vintage tags and signs, and all sorts of other goodies.

They had baskets full of packs of paper pieces, and I fell in love with the pieces in this pack. I don’t have a lot of bits and bops in my stash, so these will be fabulous to incorporate into my art cards and illustration projects.

I also found packs of map pieces, which are hard to find and awesome to have on hand.

It was a great way to spend a Friday morning!

More Sewing Tips – Silk and Laminate

| terriaw

I was reading the Fall 2010 issue of the Quilts and More magazine with my lunch today, and I found a couple more sewing tips I wanted to point out to you, in follow-up to my post from last Friday.

I have been experimenting with different types of fabrics and unexpected materials in my recent handbag and clutch experiments. I tried silk for the lining on this small clutch – and I loved it! This issue has an article with tips on how to work with silk, just the kind of information I like to have on hand for reference.

I am definitely going to save that page for my next project.

I also noticed this section on tips for sewing with laminated cotton.

I haven’t sewed with laminate cotton, but I’ve used fusible vinyl, which was similar… and fun to try!

Have you tried working with any new fabrics or unusual materials lately? Found any good tips to help you?

Workbook Pages

| terriaw

I’ve had a subscription to the American Patchwork and Quilting magazine for about ten years, and I still love it. Even though I don’t always make something from each issue, I still read them from cover to cover, including the ads. I also love their seasonal magazine Quilts and More, which comes out four times a year.

One of my favorite regular features are the Workbook Pages, where the editors provide tips and techniques on fabrics, thread, sewing needles, pins and more.

I especially love this guide on thread and sewing machine needle recommendations for various stitching.

Since I don’t have a lot of space to save old magazines, and I’m not a saver, these are exactly the types of articles I would tear out and put into plastic sheet protectors to save for future reference. I thought this might be another small best practice worth sharing with you.