Calling it early

Alewives Fabrics will be closed tomorrow (February 2nd) due to the big bad snowstorm that is coming our way... chugga, chugga, like a freight train.

Stay home and safe and comfy cozy and get some sewing done!

If you are local you should be working on your top secret project for the Craft Swap coming up on February 25th. February's a short month and the Craft Swap will be here before ya know it.

You can still sign up for the Craft Swap if you like: just call us (563 5002) or send me an e-mail (rhea@alewivesfabrics.com).

See you again as soon as we shovel out!

XO,

Rhea

"This time of year..."

This time of year, the phrase "this time of year" comes up a LOT.

As in, "I don't know about you, but I could totally use a trip to some place sunny and warm right about this time of year."

And I think "this time of year" came a little earlier in 2011 than it has in the past.

Sometimes you need a little something extra to make you happy when you live in Maine at this time of year.

Sewing often fits the bill, but Zumba class (with the girlfriends, of course!), Prosecco (with girlfriends), Hot Yoga (also with girlfriends), enormous sticky buns and a good cup of tea will often do the trick as well.

But since this is (mostly) a sewing blog, we'll focus on that.

My friend Lynne stopped by the shop the other day to show off her finished "Pockets-to-Go" that she made in class with Barbara the other day. I think these are so pretty and I can think of all kinds of places I would use them in my house.

The fabrics are just what the doctor called for: un-apologetically bright and cheerful.














































(Since I know someone will ask, that is our version of Amy Butler's "Sexy Hexy" quilt in the background)



















Don't you just love the late-afternoon sun this time of year?

For us, late-afternoon sun happens at about 3:30pm, if it happens at all.

Sometimes I forget how lucky we are to work with all these gorgeous, saturated colors, but this time of year in Maine when everything is kind of monotone and grey outside, customers will come in the shop and exclaim how we must never get depressed with all these bright colors to look at.

Most of the time that is true.

Especially when we get in a shipment like the Carmen collection from Anna Griffin... just look at these beauties:
























Anna has recently struck out on her own, producing fabrics under her own brand name, instead of working for one of the larger manuacturers.

I am a big fan of women owning their own businesses, so thought it only fitting that we give Anna her own page on our website.

We have a little joke here at the shop that you know you've made it big when you win an Olympic medal, get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, or get your own page on the Alewives Fabrics website.

This is just the type of dorky thing that we say to each other to get through this time of year.

But seriously, are these not the most sunshine-infused luscious lovelies you ever saw?

(*I love*)




































































While the next few weeks might be a bit rough, conditions are ideal for some "This time of year" sewing.

Stop by if you need a fix!

XO,

Rhea

The Winslow Market Tote Chronicles: Episode IV (A New Hope)

(Ha ha ha... I've been waiting for weeks to make that Star Wars joke!)

Well, on this absolutely frigid day here in Maine (12 below when we woke up this morning: I feel like 'm living in Siberia!) I thought it only appropriate to take my Mom and her Winslow Market Tote (it was one of her Christmas presents from me) and do a little photo shoot with the fourth of these little babies I have made...

Don't you love how different the bag looks depending on which fabrics you use?























This particular Winslow Market Tote is my favorite I have made so far: it was really hard to stay the course and give it to Mom, but I did. (Most unlike me, I assure you!)

I made this from a Nani Iro remnant we had at the shop... this fabric is therefore gone, but I bet you can find it elsewhere and it is similar to this one. The rest of the bag was made of fabrics from Amy Butler's August Fields collection (they are out of print, too: I was using up my stash!).























It was a bit of a challenge to use the home-dec prints with the double-gauze print, because the double-gauze is definitely a bit wiggly, but I backed all of the double-gauze with good old 931TD (our go-to medium weight fusible-interfacing) and then everything behaved quite nicely.

I lined the bag with some of our organic canvas and added a pocket that I made out of some leftovers (Moms always need pockets. Especially my Mom with her tissues that she keeps forever and ever.) and then I was all done.

I have one more Winslow Market Tote to share with you (well, at press time I only had one more to share: who knows what will happen in the next couple of days...). That last one is my little sister's Tote that I made her for a Christmas present and I really like it a lot, but you will have to wait until I nab her for a photo shoot to show you.

As always, thanks so much to Kathy Mack for designing the pattern, which you can find for free here.

XO,

Rhea


While I think of it, you should hop over to Iris' blog and see the gorgeous Winslow Market Tote that she made with some of our fabrics. I love how it looks so Scandinavian-chic!

Hear ye, hear ye...

I love this book and I am dying to make this quilt from it:
























I haven't been this excited since yesterday when I had a snow day.

Also, Whip It is a very good movie.

That is all.

XO,

Rhea

Snow Day (Again)!

Yes, we are battening down the hatches once again and Alewives Fabrics is closed up tight for the day.

No Sewing Lounge tonight, but we will be back first thing tomorrow morning.

Enjoy the storm!

XO,

Rhea

The Winslow Market Tote Chronicles: Episode Three

Well, here I am back again with my third Winslow Market Tote to share with you.
























This Winslow Market Tote was made with a mix of voile and home-dec weight Anna Maria Horner fabrics, which may sound a bit scary at first (it was not), but I tried some "experiments" that made the two work together seamlessly (no pun intended, ha ha ha....).

The two side panels are made from this fabric, which I have always love, love, loved.

And now I am going to let you in on one of the dark, seedy, underbelly-type things you never hear about the fabric world, and I promise I have a point, so please stick with me here.

Some people care very passionately about cutting fabric on the straight of the grain (myself being one of them), but let me tell you, whomever is making the cuts in our manufacturer's warehouses does NOT care about cutting on the straight of the grain. Nor do they care about making cuts right in the middle of a perfectly good panel, like this Square Dance panel from Anna Maria Horner. It is not uncommon for me to receive bolts and bundles that are just plain dirty, that have huge seams in the middle of a bolt (so that you may think there are 9 continuous yards left on a bolt, only to find when you unroll it that you have a 4 yard piece and a 5 yard piece with a giant zig-zag stitch connecting the two), or that have messy, jagged cuts that run right through the middle of a panel.

It's a frustrating situation, but that's the reality of owning a fabric store.

As a retailer, I am obviously not going to begin measuring yardage for a customer from the middle of a panel, nor am I going to give a customer a cut with a raggedy edge on it, so oftentimes when a fabric arrives I have to "neaten it up" a bit before I can sell it to customers.

And I will now make that point I promised...

This is exactly what happened with the panels I used in this bag.

I unwrapped the bolt, found a super-messy cut that ran smack-dab through the middle of the panel and had to cut off that extra half a panel before I could sell it to my customers. I stashed the remnant aside for later use, thinking to myself "Self, there HAS to be something you can do with that half a panel there."

Turns out, there was!

I was very lucky indeed, because there were just enough half-squares in this messed-up panel that I could make the side panels for the Winslow Market Tote.























Quite the Phoenix from the ashes, n'est-ce pas?

Fussy-cutting at it's finest, I'd say, and I was proud to have turned this less-than-ideal situation into something useful and pretty.
























Now, next I know you are going to ask me how I was able to work with voile and home-dec at the same time.

Turns out, that was quite easy as well.

The Voile is so light and buttery and the home-dec is so thick and sturdy that I knew I would need to find some common ground there, so I used some fusible interfacing (a medium weight, Pellon 931TD) on the back of the voile to give it a little more integrity.

Once I did that, the voile didn't wiggle around so much as it usually does, but stayed quite nice and stiff and flat, making it very easy to stitch to the home-dec.

Since the entire Winslow Market Tote is lined with interfacing (I like to use Decor-Bond, to give it lots of body), the bag really stands up straight and tall: not floppy like some bags can be.

To that end, I chose for my lining an Innocent Crush home-dec print (one of my faves) and called it a day.
























This particular Winslow Market Tote went home with Jessica.

I made it for our "Alewives Fabrics Employees Only Christmas Party Craft Swap" and this is what she nabbed, which is very funny because I ended up with her gift as well, which was a handmade garland of wool felt Christmas trees (*love*).

I believe that wraps things up for episode three of the Winslow Market Tote Chronicles.

As usual, the pattern can be found for free here.

Thanks very much to the pattern's designer, Kathy Mack, for making the pattern available.

I'll be back soon with more Winslow Market Tote goodness...

XO,

Rhea

Future Fashion-Makers of America

It's Winter-in-Maine-chic, for the 12 and under set!























Today I bring you the lovely Miss Izzy (all of 5 1/2 years old, ladies) wearing her Alewives-Fabrics-meets-Oliver+S-meets-her-mama's-sewing-machine-finest.
























Miss Izzy is sporting an Oliver+S design on top: the Hopscotch Top in the Downtown Turquoise Park Ramble interlock knit by Liesl Gibson for Moda Fabrics.
























On the bottom Miss Izzy is sporting a Hilary P creation: her Mama's own skirt design. Note the matching orange knit underlayer and the fabulous pink boots.

























Thank you, Mademoiselle Izzy, for showing the country- the WORLD - that Maine girls can be stylish and fashionable and fierce (and warm!) even in Maine, even in the middle of the winter.

I'm expecting BIG things from this girl in the future!


XO,

Rhea