Give Fleece a Chance

Allison and I have had some wicked rants over coffee about the vastness of fleece sections at the fabric stores. It is much like the vastness of our expanding universe, which would make fleece a little like dark energy. Only, there is no mystery here...we know this to be the driving force for many a no-sew Christmas present. That's great, but it's hard to imagine creating anything but the likes of knotted blankets and pom-pom hats. It's thickness, drape, texture, and dare I say... reputation simply make it difficult to design around for the modern indie crafter. For some reason though, this winter I've gone a little polar fleece crazy at Old Navy and Target, picking up several pull-overs, hoodies, and lounge pants for me and the kids. All I can figure is that all this stuff is cool because no ends are exposed. Ok, so, thinking outside he box a bit...it's warm, soft and easy to care for. I should be able to do something uber crafty and original with that. With Christmas coming, I decided to use some of my best buddies as test subjects.


That's Fudge-ums, Bra Knumchucks, and Captain Obvious. Otherwise known as Raquel, Jessi, and Lizzie. We are of an odd sort!

Now for the specs: There are in fact no exposed ends on these. You get twice the warmth with the double layers. The background white and blue are, of course, corduroy, and the appliqués are felt with a bit of embroidery. They measure a cozy 8" wide and 60" long. Fleece is flimsy, so satin stitching over all the stripe seams and the double stitched sides provide much needed stability.

We are quickly approaching the end of scarf season. Well, who am I kidding, it never really started! What I'm getting at is that I'm in no hurry to make them to sell, but as soon as the stores put fleece at bargain bottom pricing, I'll start stocking up and making inventory for fall.

In other news...That day I last posted about buying all the corduroy in town, well, I came home with this instead:

This is a "Joann's Quilters WorkStation II". With basket full o’bolts of precious $2/yd corduroy I leisurely strolled towards the store cutting table and saw that this was $99 on sale from $199, and I had a $25 gift card (thanks again Nana!). They were not getting anymore in from the warehouse. I had by chance driven the truck that day...It was fate I tell you!
I love this thing, just the right height that I'm not breaking my back cutting patterns or leaning over the sewing machine. The whole top is gridded, and plenty of room for all my sewing accoutrement(notice I only said sewing, the closet and 2 shelf units worth of craft paraphernalia are on the other wall). Did you notice the Great Owl Bags in progress? Can you say viva la productivity?