Some fabric sources in the Atlanta area

Our meeting today included some interesting resources for fabric, including Bella Fabric and More (Alpharetta, next to JoAnn's) and Fabric World (Stone Mountain).

Bella Fabric offers online, as well as bricks-and-mortar shopping:

Bella Fabric & More

955 North Point Drive

Alpharetta, Ga 30022

678-942-0290

Fabric World has evidently been around a while, and selection/quality is hit or miss. Every few months or so, they receive fabric from designers and other quality sources. The trick is to know when to go. Kay has agreed to notify her 30plus closest friends (guess who?) when this happens again. They are not online, but here is their address:

Fabric World

1555 E Park Place Blvd #C

Stone Mountain. GA 30087

770 413 7655

Intown Quilters

Also Kay asked me this morning where I purchased the fabric in one of my samples. It from the *Liberty* line from Michael Miller, a company that normally markets only quilting-weight fabrics. This is not your typical quilt cotton - it is similar to the gray floral Liberty of London I also showed - light, soft, perfect for hot summer time.

I purchased it at Intown Quilters, not at Discover Sewing as I had thought. I expect that other quilt stores carry this line from Michael Miller too, but Intown supports ASG and is just a fun store. They provide ASG members with a 10% discount.

Intown Quilters

1058 Mistletoe Rd

Decatur GA 30033

404 634 6924

Happy sewing!

Martha

Pam Howard's Shirt Class

Finished my shirt. The poplin fabric was a challenge, but I'm ready to try another!

May 2012 Show and Tell

Sheath Success

Dress for a Texas wedding

Coco's jacket nearing completion

Improving RTW

Tatting

Silk summer suit

(Very) Wearable Muslin

French Knots

Today's inspired presentation focused on French knots and related embroidery and their uses. Here are some pix of the samples. What fun! Thanks, Karen.

Buttons stitched on with knots to look like flowers

French knots and other stitches on this child's dress

Lorraine's Mani's blouse - French knots hold the bias tubes in place

Guffey tips at Expo

I took a fantastic class with Cynthia Guffey on piping. It was one of those 2.5 hour evening classes. There were problems with the sewing machines (wrong feet and clogged with thread from previous class) and so Cynthia sat down on the floor and walked us through the process by hand. And, it was even better than it would have been if the machines had been working great. We could watch her hands close-up and see just how she achieves perfect results. I will never reach her level of skill, but my knowledge grows each time I take one of her classes.

Here is one tip she offered: never understitch by machine on a concave curve. Even if you have trimmed and clipped according to Cynthia's techniques, the machine will close the clips and cause a bubble with the seam is in place. She recommends hand-stitching the understitching to maintain the curve gained through clipping.

The machine dealer felt really bad that we could not use the machines and so she arranged for each of us to receive Cynthia's piping DVD for free. Cynthia's DVD's may actually be better than seeing her in person. I have her zipper DVD - it is information-rich and the picture quality is great.

Sewing Machine needles

It was a learning for me to know that there are sewing machine needles with two eyes. After I took the needle class where I hear about this, I ran and buy them.

Nancy H.

I only spent one day at the Expo this year -- had to save time and energy to also attend the American Craft Council show. I thought the vendors were back in force this year. Some were missing, but it was still a good collection. Heavy on Quilt Shops.

I bought two patterns by Lois Ericson who passed away recently. Partly to honor her life and also because I know that once they are gone they will be hard to find. I enjoyed my class on Landscape Quilting. I'm not a quilter but I have a special scene that I would like to capture and I was so inspired by Barbara M's beautiful landscape quilt.

It was great seeing so many CWC members -- We could have held a meeting!

G