Gillian Gladrag at The Cloth Store!

Ever fancied trying your hand at felting?  Everyone is doing it at the moment and the feeling of wet, soapy wool to mould with your own hands is infinitely satifying.  The queen of felt is none other than Gillian Gladrags and The Cloth Store is now stocking her kits.

 The kits contain the wool tops, templates and full instructions for you to make your own beautiful felt things - from bunting, to bags to hot water bottles.

All the kits are beautifully packaged making them ideal gifts for anyone crafty.

You can find the kits HERE.

Upstairs at The Cloth Store: New classes for 2011

January sees the start of the new classes run 'Upstairs at The Cloth Store' in Horsham. You can download the information PDFs from the website but here is a brief outline.

How to use your machine:  Do you have one but have no idea how to thread or use it?  This single class will help get your started!

Beginners Dressmaking: A poplular course designed to inspire and encourage anyone to learn to sew their own clothes.

Learn how to read a pattern, cut and make an item of clothing.

Intermediate Dressmaking: The next step after the beginners course, or one for those with basic skills already.  Learn how to expand you knowledge and improve techniques.

Fleece: Make a bone!

My youngest son loves dogs and have many, many soft toy ones including a very manky, torn, stinky and much loved sausage dog which he carries everywhere.  Needless to say there is always 'A bone for doggie' on his Christmas/birthday list.
The Cloth Store stocks some lovely fleece and I choose black, red and pale cream.

I cut strips of white and black, using a rotary cutter, which was surprisingly good for the task.  I assumed it wouldn't be sharp enough or would blunt quickly, but it was really good.  All the strips were then sewn together to form a big large piece from which I cut two bone shapes.  From the red fleece I cut one very, very long, wide strip.  From there onwards it was just a case of sewing the edges of the stripy fleece (wrong sides together) to that of the red, leaving a hole for stuffing, then turning it the right way.

The only problem is that everyone loves it and wants me to make them one!

Monsters!

Working at The Cloth Store is very difficult for me.  I am faced, every day, with lovely, lovely things.  These spotty fabrics just said 'monsters' and I had to have some.  I did indeed make monsters ...

Green Hugger Monster

Using a pattern bought from the shop, I mixed the fabrics and used fringe trimming for fingers and hair, buttons and felt for eyes.

Have a go!  If I can monster-make, then you can too!

Our fabric ranges are seasonal, so if you have something in mind, and you don't see it on the website, or can't get in to Horsham or Crawley to visit the shops - just email us using the website contact form.  We are sure to be able to help!

More fabric inspiration...

Filled with enthusiasm after starting my quilt (see the last post) I have found myself covering everything that sits still for long enough in fabric!

This time it was some notebooks.  I just used a very thin layer of PVA glue, spread on the book surface - and pretended the fabric was paper, and covered it as such.  I even made a natty pen pocket on one.  Not content I made a bag to put them all in ....

A very easy and cheap way to funkify something ordinary.  I covered my diary too!  Visit one of our Sussex shops and discover lots of lovely fabrics for small projects such as these.  You can buy as little as a .25m - just right for an A5 book.

Tis the weather for a nice quilt .....

I decided that it was high time I broke into my fabric stash and what better use of random fat quarters then to make a quilt. I've been thinking about it for a long time now but not quite got around to starting.

I used a very handy template and rotary cutter from the Cloth Store shop to cut all my squares - very simply and quick it was too.

I still have along way to go!

The Cloth Store has lots of useful quilting tools and accessories in the online shop as well as an every changing seasonal selection of fabrics in the two Sussex shops.  Online there is also some of the gorgeous Moda range of fabrics, some of which I have used in my quilt above.

New Fabrics for Autumn: 100% Cotton Twill

We have just taken delivery of these lovely 100% cotton twills.  At times like this I wish I didn't have three boys - this owl print would make the cutest pinafore ...

This one would also be lovely! Very seasonal too, with leaves and acorns.

Both of these, and some others, are not in the online shop and in our high street shops.  Remember, our fabric is seasonal, and, when it is gone, it is, just that - gone!

Cotton Twill Fabrics for autumn at The Cloth Store