100% Italian Cotton Boxer Shorts

I am the lucky beneficiary of these beautiful fabrics.



I have a friend who works at a factory where they make dress shirts out of the finest fabrics from Italy. They are custom made and cost $200 a pop. The leftovers are usually sent to the garbage can but Jessi has been taking them home & sometimes gives them to me. They are generally small pieces, about 1/2 a yard or so. Very rarely I will get over 2 yards in one cut. This makes me really happy. And I have even more than are pictured here.

I love how they come in these perfect bundles in an array of colors!

I do have a problem knowing exactly what to do with them all. I donated a lot to making aprons and bonnets for the upcoming Trek trip for the youth. But, Adam and I have been walking around in some pretty savvy underwear! Boxers!

This is a pair I made for myself. I had a lot of fun picking neon thread and purple fabric for the tie.

These are some really comfortable threads. Any ideas on what else I can make with these???

SALE!

jcarolinecreative.com is discontinuing its fabric selection and has major mark downs on beautiful fabrics. I ordered 10 total yards of the cotton supreme solids (pictured) plus some peacock ribbon. All for just $23. Look how beautiful the colors are! And the fabric feels just beautiful! This is a real bargain. I just got these in the mail today and am so happy with them that I ordered a bit more today. You have to build your stash when the price is right, right? Well, if you are interested there are still a lot of colors and prints and canvas options left.

Panel Napkins

Have you ever noticed those cute book panel fabric prints? I have seen a few and wondered what else I could do with them. My mother's birthday was approaching and I walked the aisles of the quilter's shop looking for inspiration when I noticed a bunch of lovely Beatrix Potter fabrics. My mother loves her stories and artwork. Well, I thought about a few different things I could make, but I needed something that wouldn't take too long because her birthday was just a few days away. These are what I came up with.

I made her these Beatrix Potter napkins. I bought one yard of fabric which completed the panel, there were 12 different scenes from the Beatrix Potter books measuring about 11 x 11. I also bought 1 yard of coordinating Beatrix Potter fabric for the back of the napkins. I layered the 2 fabrics on top of each other, wrong sides together, and cut out each scene with my rotary cutter and set them aside. I also bought 1/2 yard of tiny floral printed fabric for a decorative binding. I cut them into 2" wide strips and made the bias tape. I then proceeded to frame each napkin with the binding. Easy as pie!

What do you do with these adorable and unique prints?

WHAT

are charm squares, jelly rolls, layer cakes??

Fat Quarters

Jen asked a great question. I did not, however know the answer myself. So, I googled it and found this great description on Sew, Mama, Sew. I pasted it below. Also, on the same site, there is a bunch of tutorials for projects you can do with fat quarters.

What is a Fat Quarter?

Welcome to Fat Quarter Month! Beth got us off to a great start with our first two Projects of the Day. We’ll continue that every day this month, plus we’ll be bringing you tutorials, interviews, a sew-along, a swap and giveaways. Before we go any further, let’s get down to the basics–what, exactly, is a fat quarter?

Although you often see fat quarters in beautiful stacks, rolled and tied with a ribbon, or folded neatly into stars, the “fat” in fat quarter is not just a matter of presentation–it’s all about the cut.

		Most quilt-weight cotton is 44″ wide. It comes doubled over on the bolt. When we cut a regular quarter yard (.25), we cut 9″, which is 1/4th of 36″ (a yard.)
		Open it up and you have a long, skinny piece that is 9″ x 44″.
		To cut a fat quarter, we first have to cut a half yard (18″) off the bolt.
		We cut along the fold.
		We’re left with two fat quarters–each one 18″ x 22″.

There are several benefits to fat quarters, as opposed to a regular 1/4 yard:

• You can use fat quarters for projects that require pieces larger than 9″ wide.
• The most common charm square for quilting projects is 5″. You can get 12 5″ charms from a fat quarter, but only 8 from a 1/4 yard.
• With large-scale prints you’re more likely to get the entire design in your cut.
• Fat quarters allow you to cut longer strips along the lengthwise grain of the fabric (parallel to the selvage edge), which is preferable to crosswise because it is less stretchy.
• Fat quarters offer you much more flexibility to work with the directionality of the print. (Consider stripes that typically run parallel to the selvage edge.)
• Fat quarters are often pre-cut and sold with coordinating fabric, so they’re easy to pick up and add to your stash.

Of course many of you already know the benefits, as well as the addictive qualities of fat quarters! Some of you may just be learning and we’re definitely here to help. If you’re looking to round out your stash, we have a new fat quarter section in the shop, to which we’re adding beautiful new packs all the time.

Great Fabric Site

So I finally found this really great fabric shop online. I always hear of people buying fabric online but I could never find a site that had cheap prices and cool prints that would make it worth it. That is until I found Sew, Mama, Sew! I was in heaven! I have this huge crush on Alexander Henry fabric right now, as well as far, far away. They carry a great selection of both, with the best prices you can find online. Their Sale and their Clearance selections are great. I bought I ton in both. It might only be worth it if you are buying a lot because shipping can be kind of expensive. I have this really bad habit of just browsing through the different prints over and over, drooling all the while. Many of you know my obsession with unicorns, right? Well, I wiped out their supply of that fancy little unicorn pattern above! I think I might make some pajama pants out of it, and a Christmas ornament or two.