For the love of Linen!

                  

Linen is a great fabric for warm weather. It is light and comfortable. Linen is a classic fabric; a great wardrobe staple that fits many occasions and is always welcome at work.          V8813 - Misses' Dress - Marcy Tilton  This pullover dress is semi-fitted through bust and has a gathered front and draped lower side front with  pockets. This gorgeous Vogue dress from Marcy Tilton was designed for a lightweight linen, lightweight crepe or jersey knit. Make sure to choose a lightweight handkerchief linen as a heavy linen will be too chunky and will not drape correctly for this dress!                     Assorted Linens Did  you know that linen has a lighter and more playful side? Look at these  fun prints! We also have some linens with embroidery and metallic  threads. What a surprising and updated versions of a favorite classic  fabric.

                     

Fred Bloebaum was one of the first teachers at Stonemountain & Daughter. She was highly loved and taught many of us to sew well. Fred Bloebaum was highly skilled and an inspiring teacher with a wealth of free flowing knowledge which she shared with great generosity. She loved fabric and shared her love with many of us. We miss her and continue to celebrate and share her wonderful patterns in her memory. Fred Bloebaum's La Fred Line embodies her skill, focus and appreciation of designer  techniques, tailoring, and figure flattery. She created patterns designed to fit and flatter the female figure. La Fred - Europa Blouse This well tailored blouse is elegant and classic with a contemporary twist. It features a square neck, princess seams, and front buttons. You can choose to do double buttons for a fun fashion statement. The short sleeve is cut on the bias for a flattering fit, the long sleeve has a center tuck at the hem. These fun linens would add an updated fun look to this classic blouse that we think Fred would appreciate.

                     

Daughter's Pix!           "I love the Six Sense Skirt from Shapes and the Urban T-shirt & Pant from Sewing Workshop for linen."                     Six Sense Skirt - Shapes By Louise Cutting and Linda Lee           "I love both of these patterns as they are easy to wear and highlight the linen fabric. Great for stripes and top stitching too! The partial elastic waistband makes them easy to wear all day!  Both the skirt and the pants look great with comfy shoes for long days on my feet." Suzan Steinberg             Urban T-Shirt and Pants - The Sewing Workshop               Also shown here is the Titus Summer Blouse in silk charmeuse!

                     

The Athena Two Blouse is a variation of Fred's popular Athena Blouse pattern. It features a wing collar and a unique square armhole. This shirt features a westkit bottom in front and is meant to be worn as an overblouse rather than tucked in.                   La Fred - Athena Two Blouse           This pattern includes instructions for enlarging through the bust and and for sizes larger than XXL.                         Linen Tips from Sandra Betzina:               1) To cut down on wrinkling, press linen  with a dry hot iron, followed by prewashing in a hot machine wash and  hot dryer. This will soften the fibers, making it drape better and less  likely to wrinkle excessively. Linen does still wrinkle a bit but  perhaps that is part of its charm.                             2) Linen is not needle-particular; an  80 universal is a good choice. 3) Linen is a great choice for bias garments since it drapes well on the bias while being stable to sew.                                              These linens are elegant and make great, classic trousers.                      La Fred's classic Daphne pant fits the bill perfectly.                      La Fred Daphne Pant           This elegant well fitting classic will go with you to work and beyond.

                     

Classes that you might enjoy if you want to make a linen garment are our Sew Lab classes where you can get individual help on personal projects. Also consider our Beginning and Beyond 101 Series which is great as you get to work on a project of your choice for four our five sessions totaling fifteen hours of sewing!  Another choice is our new Mini Beginning and Beyond - class 102 - which is a nine hour version of our very popular Beginning and Beyond class. Wary of making linen pants? Try out Making the "Well-Fitted" Pants Pattern with Barbara Beccio and get a pants pattern that fits you beautifully! Please come the store to pick your own copy, or review classes on our website. As we have added so many new classes, we no longer send out the brochure in the mail, but if you need us to mail you a copy: email us!

                     

Special July 4th Hours         10am - 4pm

I Love Batiks!

Stonemountian & Daughter has some exciting batiks! These rayon gorgeous batiks below are hand-dyed in Bali. These fashion pieces would make a fantastic head turning summer dress! And rayon is such a great fabric - so light, airy, and cool and so friendly to sew.              Make a bag in a matching or contrasting Batik... and you are ready to rule the evening!                      Wouldn't this a batik pattern be nice in this easy New Look pattern? There is even a sleeveless option for the ultimate quick sew! Both dress and bag pattern are included - you are all set.     New Look 6022 - Misses' Dress & Bag This pattern is simple and elegant and will show off the unique patterns of a rayon batik fabric. Less can be more with a batik - many batik designs can really shine, shimmer and show off when made up from a simple pattern!         Stonemountain & Daughter's rayon batiks TIP: With a simple pattern, you  win in two ways - you can sew up something quick and simple AND have an  eye-catching dress! What a good strategy for us with little sewing time. And  why not make up a few extras as gifts or for fun variety? Remember, the  first time you sew a pattern is the most time consuming - get the most from your time investment - your second dress will take at least half the  time!

Our Batik Butik rayons are hand-dyed in Bali and are very versatile. This cardigan is made up in a really cute fabric of theirs that we carry called Lagoon Ginkgo. This cardigan was made up in a Kwik sew pattern designed for knits and it works well! Kwik Sew Cardigan 3916 The top is made up in a batik fabric called "Lagoon Effect" The Kwik Sew Top #3584 can be made up as either a blouse or a jacket depending on fabric choice.

Stonemountain & Daughter has a huge collection of cotton batiks in every color of the rainbow!   Batik is a traditional method of dying cloth. Wax is applied to fabric and the wax resists the dye thereby creating a pattern. Indonesia, India, and Nigeria are especially known for their traditional batiks.  Historically, batik has been used for ceremony and uses storytelling, mythology, and religious imagery in its design.

What about creating a batik quilt? You can get very creative with all of the patterns and color choices of batik. This wall panel was made by one of our customers and shows how you can meld all different types of fabrics for a very beautiful effect.               Customer Sewing Gallery         This wall hanging is mostly from our Asian Fabric Collection              - but you can see how this idea applies to batik as well. Do you have something you would like to share? Email us pics of your projects (under one megabyte please) and we love to include them on our website, Facebook, and newsletters!              We have many fun quilting classes this summer.  Jump on in a class and join us! In June we are offering Angie Woolman's Binding Your Quilt.           In July we are offering Ann Tarabini's Quiting Basics Series:                     Rotary Cutting Rectangles                     Rotary Cutting Strips to Make a 9 Patch Block                     Templates           Rotary Cutting Half Square Triangles                     Take one or take them all!

Nancy Mirman's patterns are a natural for batik fabrics. Here are a few of her bag patterns to pair with a cute batik dress!       Nancy Mirman - Baggitt         Nancy Mirman's Baggitt bag is great for batiks. You can use multiple fabrics in one piece. Here are a few other Nancy Mirman bag patterns to check out that would be great with mix and match cotton batik. Nancy Mirman - Skrappysak Nancy Mirman says, "Skrappysak is a large and roomy shoulder bag which is comfortable to wear and easy to make. The pattern features two sizes, three styles, outside pockets for keys and glasses and inside pocket(s) for wallet and lipstick" Can't you see this bag in a mixture of these cotton batiks? Or for a roomier bag - try the Totesalot! Nancy Mirman - Totesalot Nancy Mirman says of this bag: "Make it sophisticated or make it scrappy! Carry your laptop computer, or your quilting supplies, or your baby paraphernalia." A few more batiks to mix and match!

Traditional batik is a type of resist dying. Wax is applied to cloth in patterns or designs and the dye is prevented from reaching the cloth by wax. It is called resist dying because the wax "resists" the dye.                   Other methods of resist dying use stencils, pastes, or modern chemical dyes. Tie dying is an example of "mechanical" resist dying. Japanese Shibori (the original tie dye) uses knots, wrapping, stitching, wooden pegs or blocks to shield areas of the fabric in order to create elaborate patterns.

Our new class brochure is up online and in the store! We have many wonderful new classes; such as Designer Details, where you learn to make your own bias tapes, piping, covered buttons and ruffles. And speaking of ruffles; we have Ruffles, Ruffles, Ruffles, a whole class devoted to ruffles! We have two weekend Sewing Retreats - Sewing Fantasy with Sandra Betzina and Jean Cacicedo's Felted Wool Jacket. Ann Tarabini is teaching a wonderful new quilting series  - a few of which are : Rotary Cutting Rectangles - to learn all about the most common shape in quilts, and Templates - learn to make pattern / templates for any block you would like to piece. Join us! Please come the store to pick your own copy, or review classes on our website. As we have added so many new classes, we no longer send out the brochure in the mail, but if you need us to mail you a copy: email us! I am wishing each of you a beautiful summer filled with family, good health and creativity.  Blessings! ~ Suzan Steinberg