Happy Holidays from Evie!

Hello to all of my friends! I've had such a fabulous holiday season - I've seen lots of friends, had adventures, and of course, enjoyed dressing up for fun!
Did you make it to Pacific Fabrics Everett for the Apron Contest?  It was such a great time - there were so many inspiring aprons, although I think mine was the best - It had a banana print that was just mouth-watering. I just love those fruit and veggie fabrics,  and yellow is a great color for my pink-and-white complexion.  I had lots of fun modeling for everyone - you know I'm not a shy girl!
As usual, I've been traveling, although a little closer to home! One Friday, I took a trip up to North Bend to ride the Santa Train to Snoqualmie.  It was a sunny and dry day, thank goodness, since I'm not "wild" about snow - seeing Alaska was enough snow for this domesticated urban monkey! But as it was December, it was a little windy and so cold! Fortunately I had my minky parka and fleece pants from the Alaska cruise, and I layered with the red polar fleece scarf I got from a friend for Christmas, and I was ready to visit Santa.



Visiting Santa with Landon, Austin, and Orin

 The train was pretty crowded, but I made friends quickly - I ran into three little boys who were wearing scarves just like mine!  Their grandma made them - she used just 1/4yd of fleece for each, fringed the ends, and they were done!  She also made them the cute flannel caps they were wearing - she said it was hard to choose from all the great flannels at Pacific Fabrics, but once she saw the caps in Kwik Sew pattern #3833, she knew that plaid would be just the thing.  We sure had fun on that train!
Happy New Year to all! I think I'm going to resolve to make 2011 a year of adventure and fashion (wait...did I resolve that last year, too?)
 - Evie

Easy Costume Idea - Bee's Knees Flapper Dress

Are you scrambling for a costume idea? Dianne, manager of our Bellevue store, stopped by to show us the adorable costume she made for her granddaughter. Dianne says "Mom said no, but Grandma said yes; so I whipped this up". This one is for an elementary schooler, but it could easily be adapted for anyone. Take a look!

She used the new ChaChaCha ruffle fabric that just arrived! It comes in black, white and, of course, red and is available at Everett, Bellevue, Northgate and Puyallup. (You'll find a few other color ways exclusively at Northgate, too.)

Close up of the ChaChaCha ruffle fabric. 

Dianne stitched up a one seam 'tube' for the body of the dress, added some sequin trim for the straps and a head band, then a black fur trim scarf and quickly had a darling costume. We have some very cute dress up accessories to finish off this year's Halloween costume or to add to the dress up clothes trunk. Wouldn't some elbow length black gloves just look amazing with this outfit?!



Close up of the top of the dress with accessories.

We're hoping for a picture of the fabulous dress on the sweet granddaughter later, but in the meantime, here's the finished costume. Just needs the gloves and she'll be ready to gather treats!

The finished dress. Ready for a roarin' good Halloween!

I hope this has inspired you! If you have more ideas for quick costumes you can sew, leave us a comment so we can all share.

~ Michelle

Tie-Dye Kits for Summer

Just in! Fabulous new Jewel-Tone colors of Jacquard Tye-Dye Kits! Left to right above: Amber, Ruby, Amethyst, Sapphire, Emerald & Onyx. Each kit contains all the supplies (even gloves) and dyes you need to make up to 2 cool two tone tie-dye shirts (Sapphire & Ruby shown at right). But think beyond shirts, too! Tie-Dye is fun to do on any simple piece of clothing, pillow case or even a curtain valance. Be sure to check the directions to see what kind of fabrics work best with the dyes, then off you go into Tie-Dye heaven. A good creative weekend project for you and/or supervised kids. Available for just $9.99 per kit at all our stores.