Straight Pins with Instructor Steve Butler Class 163 Visit Our Website Here! What is it? Let’s assume you’ve just found that perfect sewing project. Fashion, fashion accessories, heirloom, quilts, home décor, crafts, whatever. Fabric and pattern are identified and are on hand ready to go to work. What else do we need? Tools! We’ve got to measure, mark and… Read More Straight Pins
Stack and Slash Pillow By Shannon and Jason This month’s Tool School Extra Credit focuses on that wonder of tools, the Clover Rotary Cutter. We have three sizes of the Clover Rotary Cutters in our studio. Three above our big cutting table, one on the smaller cutting table, and one 45mm in our portable studio… Read More Extra Credit: Stack and Slash Pillow
“Quick” Yo-Yo Maker with Instructor Steve Butler Class 162 View at our website What is it? Fabric yo-yo’s. What’s not to like? They’re fun, fast and a definite avenue for creative expression. What can you make with these little fabric gems? Who cares? For some it’s nothing more than a therapeutic journey to some level of nirvana. But… Read More “Quick” Yo-Yo Makers
Stitch Guide with Instructor Steve Butler Class 156 View at our website What is it? Ever watch an accomplished sewer lay down a line of stitches? It’s always perfectly straight or curved as desired. It looks easy, right? Well, easy until you drop the presser foot and the stitching begins. Then the skills of said sewist become glaringly evident. There’s… Read More Stitch Guide
Tracing Wheels By Shannon and Jason Medieval torture devices? Baking for making those cool cuts in the top of your bread? What exactly are those strange looking wheelie-pokey-thing-a-ma-bob-tools that come in sewing tool kits and why should I learn to use them? If your first exposure to tracing wheels brought up these questions, you aren’t… Read More Extra Credit: Tracing Wheels
Cable Stitch Holders with instructor Steve Butler Class 153 What is it? – To MacGyver or not to MacGyver, that is the question. Okay, forget the feeble Shakespear/80’s TV action series reference. Seriously though, when it comes to knitting tools my answer is why? Why seek a MacGyver gimmick-based solution to the challenges presented by our… Read More Cable Stitch Holders
Squishy Twists Spa Cloth By Shannon and Jason Me time. That’s not a practice we are always good at around here. We seem to always be moving from project to project to laundry, to groceries, to fixing the dishwasher, and where did Atlas go now and what is he into?? Like most of us, it… Read More Extra Credit: Cable Stitch Holders
Yarn Guide System with instructor Steve Butler Class 151 What is it? – If you’re a fan of stranded color work like Fair Isle knitting with its symmetrical geometric motifs or Scandinavian knitting with its striking large asymmetrical motifs or even your own dramatic multi-color creative inventions, you know that these techniques can be both… Read More Yarn Guide
Flower Loom with instructor Steve Butler Class 150 What is it? – A famous Clergyman once wrote, “Flowers are the sweetest things God ever made, and forgot to put a soul into.” Really? I’m not so sure. Can you imagine any of Monet’s major works of art without flowers? He couldn’t. And how about poetry? Spend some time perusing… Read More Flower Loom
Loop Pressing Bars Pick Up Sticks Pillow By the Shibaguyz Pick Up Sticks Pillow Small strips of fabric can make a big impact on your home décor. With just a few pieces of fabric, and Clover’s Loop Pressing Bars you’ll be well on your way making modern art inspired pillows for your sofas, chairs, or… Read More Extra Credit: Loop Pressing Bars
Wonder Clips Variety Pack with instructor Steve Butler Class 146 What is it? – Sequels, we all love them. We see a great movie or read a new novel by a favorite author and we’re hooked and already looking forward to what will be later described as “the eagerly anticipated” sequel. Then we wait. We wait for… Read More Wonder Clips Variety Pack
Bracelet Maker Visible Mended Woven Patch By the Shibaguyz Visible Mended Woven Patch Visible mending is one of the hottest trends in fashion today. By utilizing simple stitching on top of worn, distressed, or even new garments it’s easy to create a fashion statement that is singular to your style. As proponents of zero waste… Read More Extra Credit: Darning Needles
No-Hassle Triangle Gauge Komorebi Table Protector By the Shibaguyz Komorebi: Translation – Japanese: Sunlight filtering through the leaves of a tree. Sitting outside during summer on our patio is a special pleasure that we never take for granted. One of the things we love most about it is that, as the sun starts its descent… Read More Extra Credit: No-Hassle Triangle Gauge
Needle Threaders with instructor Steve Butler What is it? – Few sewing tools are more useful and necessary than hand sewing needles. Specific needle styles have evolved into virtually every genre of sewing specialty including general sewing, appliqué, embroidery, ribbon embroidery, quilting, upholstery, tapestry, basting, beading, darning, tailoring, etc. Additionally, and regardless of style, each needle is… Read More Needle Threaders
Tunisian Crochet Mug Rug By the Shibaguyz It should come as no surprise to most of you that we like to play with a lot of different types of crafting. We knit, crochet, quilt, sew, spin… you get the idea. Our general philosophy for our making and art is that all forms of art and craft… Read More Extra Credit: Tunisian Crochet Mug Rug
French Knitter & Wonder Knitter with instructor Steve Butler Class 131 What is it? Think back for a moment. You’ve been on the cutting edge of creative expression for most of your life. Everything from home décor to fashion accessories to all types of craft applications. But when and how did that creative fervor start? For many of us… Read More French Knitter & Wonder Knitter
Curve Ruler with instructor Steve Butler Class 126 What is it? Is fashion important? Yes! Absolutely! Almost without exception, we feel better when we’re wearing something we consider fashionable. And what makes it fashionable? Style, fit, aesthetics and function. It looks good and we feel good in it. If it’s going to be something we make ourselves, it starts with an amazing… Read More Curve Ruler
The Shibaguyz Sewing Must Haves Shannon and Jason Mullett-Bowlsby are the dynamic DIY duo known as the Shibaguyz, and the creative geniuses behind Shibaguyz Designz Studio.Their award winning crochet & knit designs have been featured in and on the covers of both US and international publications. Their craft, portrait, and fashion photography has appeared in… Read More Extra Credit: Shibaguyz Sewing Must Haves
What is it? – Let’s just take a minute and think about the actual process of your last sewing project. You’ve measured, marked and cut your most treasured fabric into the required component pieces. With great care you’ve pinned those fabric sections together just like you wanted. All is well. Now you’re ready to put it all… Read More Seams Right
We try to take a little time for self-care each day. Try… Whether it be exercise, yoga, reading a book, listening to music, or just taking a moment to close our eyes, we all need a little pampering every now and again. Even if it’s just a small thing, a few moments of self-care go a… Read More Extra Credit: Soothing Eye Pillows
What is it? – Basting just may be one of the least enjoyable elements of the sewing process. So why do we do it? Well, we have to. Basting ensures greater stitching accuracy. It makes the difference between something we’re proud to show and something we quietly and secretly put in a bottom drawer somewhere and forget. Basting with either stitches… Read More Wonder Pins
What is it? – Did you ever wonder why we have all of these sewing notions? All of these tools that we use almost every time we sew? Quilting, fashion, heirloom, home décor or crafts, it doesn’t really matter. There are tools that apply to all of them while some notions are very specific to just one in… Read More 6-in-1 Stick ‘n Stitch Guide
What is it? – Open any catalog of sewing notions and you’ll immediately be overwhelmed. There are so many specialty tools with each designed to assist us in our various sewing tasks. But as the “specialty” moniker suggests, they often apply only to a specific niche (or even micro-niche) of a particular sewing operation. But what about the other sewing… Read More Tailoring Tools
What is it? – Let’s think about it. What do we do when we sew? What comes after the creative vision is set and after finding the perfect fabric and the perfect accessorizing thread? We cut that beautiful fabric into smaller pieces and then, well, and then we sew it all back together again into a larger piece of fabric. But… Read More Marking Tools
If you all have seen our previous blog posts and Tool School Extra Credit projects, you know by now that we love a good embellishment! For this project, we are going to be using the Mesh Transfer Canvas from Clover and let us tell you… it is so easy to work with. Also, because it is… Read More Extra Credit: Use the Mesh Transfer Canvas to make a Butterfly Shirt
Following along with our posts, you will have noticed that we love taking existing tools and finding unique ways to use them. Most everyone reading this will have heard of bias tape, having purchased it or made it themselves for garment trims and quilt binding. Bias tape maker… surely there had to be other uses… Read More Scandinavian Fabric Stars with Clover’s Bias Tape Maker
What is it? – It’s common knowledge that woven fabric is made on a loom with warp (vertical threads) and weft (horizontal threads). In either direction there is pretty much no stretch at all. That’s a good thing but it also makes it pretty hard to form binding fabric around corners or adapt it to curved shapes found… Read More Bias Makers
What is it? – Appliqué . As a noun it’s an amazing and beautiful fiber art form. As a verb, appliqué refers to the addition of subordinate decorative fabric motifs to a larger, supporting piece of fabric. It has applications to quilting, fashion, home décor and crafts. Appliqué can be elegant or simple and it can create real world, geometric or… Read More Wonder Fuse
Non-Stick Lace Skinny Scarf Finished length: 128”/ 325 cm Finished width: 2”/ 5 cm What you’ll need: Clover Hairpin Lace Tool, item #3104 D/3.25mm Clover Amour Crochet Hook, item #1042/D Yarn of your choice – we used fingering weight yarn Thread – we used Aurifil 12wt cotton thread Scissors What you’ll need to know: Chain… Read More Hairpin Non-Stick Lace Skinny Scarf
What is it? – Scarves, shawls and wraps. Sometimes it seems as if you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all. But every now and then you see one that is somehow different. Really different. Seems to be made of endless flowing lace. It’s incredibly beautiful with a lacey, open design. And then we ask ourselves, is it knitting or crochet? Well, the easy… Read More Hairpin Lace Tool
What is it? So what is this thing called punch embroidery? It’s actually one of those “mature” artforms that is pretty much old school, something our grandmothers may have loved. While traditional machine embroidery has its obvious applications, lately more and more of us have had our fiber-creative senses re-attuned to the amazing textures created… Read More Embroidery Stitching (Punch) Tool
What is it? Decorative beadwork has a history dating back millennia to a time when shells and bones were used to fashion necklaces and other jewelry. It was used to signify a special sense of importance to the wearer. The same can be said of crochet and knitting. As an art form they’ve been around for… Read More Swift Bead
Featured Items Art No. 4071 Purple Desk Needle Threader Art No. 4072 Green Desk Needle Threader Art No. 4073 Pink Desk Needle Threader Shannon and Jason Mullett-Bowlsby are the dynamic DIY duo known as the Shibaguyz, and the creative geniuses behind Shibaguyz Designz Studio.Their award winning crochet & knit designs have… Read More Desk Needle Threader Extra Credit!
What is it? What can you make with fabric yo-yo’s? That’s not the real question. The real question should be what can’t you make with fabric yo-yo’s? Those little creative gems are perfect for all kinds of home décor applications like doilies, quilts, bead spreads, pillows, placemats or fashion accessories like dresses, vests, headbands or… Read More Quick Yo-Yo Makers
What is it? Feeling creative? No holds barred creative? Want to make something that exudes light and color and texture? Something that conveys emotion? Flat is good but how about adding form or structure? Something like three dimensional shapes to make gorgeous flowers, cute puppies or elegant birds? Well you’re in for a treat. Let me… Read More Needle Felting Tools
Featured Item Art No. 499 Download Project Sheet Here Shannon and Jason Mullett-Bowlsby are the dynamic DIY duo known as the Shibaguyz, and the creative geniuses behind Shibaguyz Designz Studio.Their award winning crochet & knit designs have been featured in and on the covers of both US and international publications. Their… Read More Slash Cutter Chenille Pillow with The Shibaguyz
What is it? Few things are more essential to the sewing process than the hand sewing needle. They were around even before thread and fabric. Think about it. Ancient ancestors used “pointed” objects to perforate animal hides so they could be laced together with cords. It was only a matter of time until some smart cave… Read More Desk Needle Threader
What is it? You know that fuzzy, super comfortable quilt your grandmother gave you? Probably made of chenille. And there’s nothing more reassuring than a hug from a chenille robe. Why? Chenille is your basic comfort fabric. It’s a natural for towels, robes and baby items. But don’t forget home décor, fashion or crafts. You can… Read More Slash Cutter
What is it? Okay, who has too much time on their hands? We find it’s a challenge every day for us to figure out what we’re going to do with ourselves. Plenty of time on our hands and nothing to do. Well that’s not much of a showing. How about this, who thinks that quilting… Read More Foot Note on the Ultimate Quilt ‘n Stitch Presser Foot
What is it? – We just left our favorite knitting shop with a very cool new sweater pattern and yarn so beautiful that it defies description. We weren’t planning on starting on a new project today, but when inspiration strikes what can you do? You tell yourself you have no choice but to start right away.… Read More Swatch Ruler & Needle Gauge
What is it? – A pom-pom is the very epitome of cute. And I’m not just talking about the bobble on the pointy end of a ski cap. It’s much more than an accent for funny hats sporting snowflake and dear head designs. Much more than that, these beautiful little gems become valued accents to any… Read More Pom-Pom Maker Set
Create-a-Pincushion Shannon and Jason Mullett-Bowlsby are the dynamic DIY duo known as the Shibaguyz, and the creative geniuses behind Shibaguyz Designz Studio.Their award winning crochet & knit designs have been featured in and on the covers of both US and international publications. Their craft, portrait, and fashion photography has appeared in six books and… Read More Create-a-Pincushion Extra Credit
What is it? – Ever wonder where we’d be without that GPS function on our phone? If we want to know where we are, our exact location is only a finger swipe away. And if we have a specific destination in mind that same finger swipe will give us a detailed route complete with options and estimated… Read More Pattern Chart Marker Set & Knitting Counters
What is it? – Think about what we do when we construct any sewn project. Most likely we take large pieces of fabric and cut them into small pieces of fabric and then we sew them back together into large pieces of fabric again. And it’s all done with some creative vision in mind. If we measure,… Read More Hot Hemmer & Hot Ruler
What is it? – When you think about it you’ll have to admit it’s true. Most of us have been weaving since childhood. Remember the square plastic looms we used as children to weave countless preformed cotton loops into all of those square hot pads using that funny looking long hook? It was great fun because… Read More Mini Weaving Loom
What is it? Here’s a question for you. What is the easiest way to make eye popping embellishments for everything from home decor projects to fashion accessories? Also throw in the ability to make stunning jewelry, elegant scarves, clever hats, attractive belts, beautiful throw rugs, cute coasters, decorative place mats with matching table runners and so… Read More French Knitter & Wonder Knitter
What is it? -No tools are more basic to sewing than needles are. They existed even before thread and fabric as our ancient ancestors used pointed objects to perforate hides so they could be laced together with leather cords. Centuries of technology later we have highly advanced, modern hand sewing needles that do basically… Read More Hand Sewing Needles
What is it? -Because of that they have enjoyed the natural evolution that comes with the application of developing technology. The scissors and shears we use today bear but a faint resemblance to those used by our ancestors. In high-quality scissors the blades are extremely sharp and are positioned to increase the cutting and… Read More Scissors & Shears