Welcome to March
March 5th, 2010Spring can’t be far behind once March comes, can it?
Here is a shot of the snow in front of our barn, I think we have record amounts of snow on the ground this year.
Computer Savvy?
March 3rd, 2010I am the only person I know that knows so little about all this web stuff. I asked the Virtual Assistant to put the newsletters over here, so there would be a record of them. And she updated the something or other, so here I am ready to blog, and I have to start all over learning how to do something I couldn’t do in the first place.
I am also not very detail oriented, which is not good for the web.
Hmmpf
March ‘10
March 3rd, 2010|
Welcome to winter. We are experiencing a normal winter for us here in Northwestern PA, lots of snow, and as I write this, lots of cold. As of today we have received 189″of snow. Makes GREAT sewing weather! We have good stock in the wool blend, and the 100% extra soft wool has been ordered. It will be ready late March. We have some limited stock of 100% regular interlock, and we are well stocked with several colors of wool jersey. If there is something special in the wools you are looking for, don’t hesitate to email me. We have good stock in bamboo fleece, bamboo velour, and bamboo/hemp fleece. The bamboo loop terry is out of stock until mid April. We have some new colors in stock in bamboo velour, dark purple, lime green, ice blue, and chocolate. These colors of bamboo velour are a limited run, so if you are interested, better act soon. We are expecting another huge shipment of new Flap Happy prints on Tuesday, March 2, 2010 which are really cute, top quality fabrics. Of course supply is limited, so get them while you can. The retro cars are due to ship this week, they are really a cute fabric, and once they are gone, we may not see them for a long time. Now available in a girl colorway. Karen is currently running a Farbenmix pattern buy, if you are interested feel free to join us on our sewing forum at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/naturesfabrics/ We also run a lot of other specials there, be sure to join for greater savings! As always, please don’t hesitate to contact me, I am an email junkie.
This month we are featuring cotton fleece and french terry. The
This month’s spotlight is a behind the scenes look at how things are done here at Nature’s Fabrics. From ordering to receiving and then shipping the products out.
It would stand to reason, that for you to be able to order fabrics, we have to order them ourselves first, which means hours and hours of online and telephone work to get the goods. We talk to 10-12 vendors a week in order to keep stock on the various fabrics and supplies we offer. And of course we are ALWAYS looking for new places and things to keep everyone satisfied. Once we have the goods reserved, we have to make arrangements for payment and shipping. All of my accounts are cash accounts, once I order, I am billed and then send payment. Most vendors no longer ship on their accounts, all merchandise that arrives to me, comes via my shipping accounts. I create the labels here, and email them to the supplier, or in a few cases, the supplier has my information and will bill UPS directly.
Once the fabrics arrive here, they are unpacked and prepared for warehousing, or putting them on the shelf, maybe. You can see from the above photo’s exactly how that is achieved, lots of manpower. We have grown over the last few years, that now we take up a lot of space, the photo’s below show some of the storage systems we have.
Once we receive your order, it is printed and taken to the cutting area to be cut, packed and weighed. Then the package comes back to the office to get a mailing or UPS label and is set out for the appropriate carrier to retrieve.
And then we look for more fabric, and the process starts over. Of course, none of this would happen with out the help, love and support of the kids, my husband and my Dad. And you, thank you all so very much!
Knits: What to use them for, what the differences are, and some sewing tips for knits.
We’re out and about online… are you? You can follow us on Twitter, you can also become our ‘Fan’ on Facebook. If that’s not your speed you can just e-mail us too!
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January ‘10
March 3rd, 2010|
Here we are on our second edition of the Nature’s Fabrics newsletter. I hope the new year finds you all well, and I wish you a GREAT new year.
A few other notes to consider…
If you contact me, I will usually respond immediately.Unless there is something happening. I always answer all emails within 12 hours. If you email me and don’t hear back, email again.
-Jeanne
This month we are featuring an article on how to dye wool fabrics. In order to be successful, wool needs a lot of heat to really absorb and hold the color. When I dye wool, I felt it first then dye it. That is just my preference. Wash warm, rinse cold and dry hot. Do that twice. The blend will shrink a lot. Like about 13″ to the yard. I recently washed 3 yards and I was left with just a bit over 2 yards. Here is what I do. I put the pot of water on the stove and add the dye. Stir in the dye and let it go a bit. Then I toss in the DRY wool. Stir it up and bring it to a boil. Really, a boil. You don’t have to stir a lot while waiting for the boil. I stir now and then, but nothing wild. Once it is boiling, I add 1 cup of vinegar, while stirring like mad. (Be very careful not to have your pot too full, when you add the vinegar it will boil up a lot. I recently over boiled the pan and it shorted out the stove. My $50 longies almost became $200 longies). I stir about 5 minutes and then see if there is still color in the water. I take out a clear measuring cup full of hot water to see if it is clear. If it isn’t, I add more vinegar, stirring like mad again. It should clear after 5-10 minutes. If not, more vinegar. You can also let the pot cool on the stove, as it cools the water will clear. After I am satisfied I throw it in the washer just to SPIN. Spin it out and toss it in the dryer for 15 minutes. You can also use this method to set the color in wools that are not color fast when you get them. Simply omit the adding of the dye and you should have good result. Remember, agitation and temperature change are what causes the wool to felt, or shrink, and once you get too far, there is no going back.
Here are some additional resources for dying:
We’ll be working on a photo journal so you can see how things are done around here.
Make sure you stay tuned to see some of us in action!
We’re out and about online… are you? You can follow us on Twitter, you can also become our ‘Fan’ on Facebook. If that’s not your speed you can just e-mail us too!
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December ‘09
March 3rd, 2010|
We’re out and about online… are you? You can follow us on Twitter, you can also become our ‘Fan’ on Facebook. If that’s not your speed you can just e-mail us too!
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November ‘09
March 3rd, 2010|
I would like to welcome everyone to the first edition of the Nature’s Fabrics newsletter. We hope to bring you useful and interesting information each month with our newsletter. If there is something you would like to see included, please email us, we are happy to hear from you. A few other notes to consider… The merino wool/spandex blend is coming along. The yarn is at the mill, and knitting will begin shortly. The goods are expected to be ready to ship around Dec 1. A roll will be about 35 yards. If you are interested in getting a roll, drop me a note and I can get you added to the list. A little about me… If you contact me, I will usually respond immediately. Unless there is something happening. I always answer all emails within 12 hours. If you email me and don’t hear back, email again. -Jeanne
We are hard at work getting everything ready for the Black Friday Sale. There are over 200 new pieces added just for the sale. I have scoured the suppliers for different and unusual things to add. We have woolens, bamboo items, knit prints from several famous names, and of course, there will be a few free patterns. Stop by and check us out, please use coupon code “BlackFriday” beginning Thanksgiving and running through Cyber Monday. This code will give you 25% OFF listed prices — The Black Friday Sale DOES NOT include rolls, samples, or previous purchases. Due to the nature of this sale and the items listed there will be NO refunds given for merchandise purchased from the Black Friday Sale items.
~ Wool Felting & Care ~ 100% Wool and Wool Blend Interlocks and Jerseys
You can expect a 25-35% shrinkage. So, on one yard expect to lose 6-8 inches. If you want more felting on the 100%, then wash until you are satisfied. You can wash with a regular mild laundry detergent but will get better results from a wash formulated specifically for wool. Once your wool is felted, you can cut and sew. Wash 100% wool on cold and air dry to prevent further shrinkage. The blend can be gently washed and dried in the dryer. Colored Wools The colored wools can be washed and dried as above, depending on the content. Some colored wool will bleed when wet. It is advisable to test all colored fabrics for colorfastness. If you see color in the water, then soak the wool in a vinegar bath until color is gone. I would recommend a hot soak, being careful to bring it to temperature slowly to avoid shrinking, unless you want to. The colored interlocks tend to felt faster than the natural. I suspect this is because they have been treated already. Use caution when felting colors, they can over felt quickly. We’re putting together a small tutorial for you on dyeing your wool interlock! It should be fun… Make sure you stay tuned for that!
We’re out and about online… are you? You can follow us on Twitter, you can also become our ‘Fan’ on Facebook. If that’s not your speed you can just e-mail us too!
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Snow!!
February 26th, 2010We are officially in the midst of a blizzard. We won’t be getting mail or UPS today because of the weather. I offered to meet the parties at the end of the drive way, and hubby told me no, stay put. So, if you are looking for something to ship today, it isn’t looking likely.
I called the mail carrier and she said that they haven’t plowed the roads yet where she is. Since they canceled school, there is no hurry.
We have the fleece sale up for the weekend, be sure to check that out.
Big Day
February 21st, 2010Ok, the new ooga and the retro cars are set up to buy here
http://www.naturesfabrics.com/new-arrivals.html
If you have signed up to buy them, now is the time to go and check out for
those. If you want to check out for ooga and cars together, that is fine, if you
want to do cars now and ooga later, that is fine too.
Be sure to check out all the other new stuff we have added, and be sure to let
me know how the new layout is working.
I have the spring sale all set up here, sort of a sale just for you guys, let me
know if there are questions on that.
Red Lanaset Dye
February 19th, 2010I bought a batch of Lanaset dye from Pro Chemical this week and here is the result of the red. It came out nice, I used about 1/2 tsp dye, a tsp salt, and water. I got very little blotching or spotting. I did dissolve the dye in some boiling water per the directions. After getting it to a boil I added a cup of vinegar, but I had way too much dye, so I had to add quite a bit of vinegar. I am excited about these dyes, even though they were pricey.
If you look at the picture, you can see a coral color sticking out there, that was the first pair I did with some food color I had, they were way off. I will overdye those in navy I guess.
New Items are listed
February 19th, 2010We listed a lot of new items on the website tonight. Most of them will be found in the knits section, I didn’t take the time to categorize them yet. But they are up, and fun to look at and go through.
