Looking for a Serger?

Please take this Husqvarna Viking Huskylock 905 off my hands. It’s in mint condition, I’ve literally used it 3 times. I intended to replace my ginormous Huskylock 936 with it, but when it came time, I couldn’t part with my 936 and it’s bells and whistles.

I’d keep the 905 because it’s just as much of a kickass machine as the 936, but I’m supposed to be getting RID of machines, not buying more!

I’ve owned 3 different brands of sergers, and the Husqvarnas are the closest you can get to industrial in a home machine, in my opinion.

The suggested retail price for the 905 is $799. I’m asking for $399 and that includes shipping!

 

New business cards! And mailing envelopes!

I ran out of business cards the other day, and after hours of searching for my business card design file, I decided to just design a whole new card (after I found the old one, of course. ha!).

I went with a printing company I hadn’t used before, which had a lot of recommendations around the internet.

Here are my cards, from AmericasPrinter.com:

That’s the same card, front and back. They double as hang tags.

They turned out pretty damn spiffy, if I do say so myself. And I’ll definitely be sticking with AP from now on.

The reasons: quality, speed, pricing:

• I got my cards in 8 business days with standard shipping, which included a holiday weekend.
• 1000 cards with full color, glossy prints on both sides was $25 shipped.

I’ve used VistaPrint and OvernightPrints in the past when they had free biz card deals, but I haven’t seen either offer free premium business cards in a long time. Even with the 40% off coupons that can be found all over the internet, VistaPrint’s price for 1000 cards with full color glossy on only ONE side is $30 PLUS shipping.

I looked a few other places, but I couldn’t find any other printer that could even come close to AP’s prices.

I also ran out of tyvek mailers. Usually I order from Uline, but someone had told me a while back that they’d found a much cheaper alternative. Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember what it was! So I had another search on my hands.

What I ended up with was threerb on Ebay. I had been paying 27 cents a piece for my Tyvek mailers from Uline. I got 200 of the same size poly mailers from threerb for $16.22 shipped. That’s 8 cents an envelope!

I Sharpied my Sewing Machine!

I’ve always wanted to paint my Singer 301, because it’s beige and beige is… well, beige. So when Sharpie asked me to be part of the Sharpie Takeover, and I started thinking, “What will I Sharpie?” the first thing that popped into my head was: SEWING MACHINE.

I chose my other Singer to Sharpie, because it’s white and would show color better. The beige will have to stay beige until another day.

Here it is.

Boring. White. Plastic.

 

And here’s the “new” version. Way cooler.

 

Hardcore Nightmare Before Christmas fans will probably recognize that I used Sally’s dress as the inspiration for my pattern. What better pattern for a sewing machine than one inspired by a rag doll who sews herself up when her arm gets ripped off?

I used regular Sharpie permanent markers. Depending on what you draw on, you might want to seal your artwork, or it might eventually start to rub off with a lot of use. Also, if you make a mistake, rubbing alcohol will take off MOST of the ink.

Now before you start running around trying to amass all of your Sharpies (I swear they grow feet, like scissors. I know I have 20 Sharpie in the house but I can never find them when I need them!) so you can doodle on your appliances, don’t forget to submit your Sharpie creation to the Sharpie gallery at Sharpie.com, so you can get featured in the Sharpie Takeover Youtube video!

Plus, I have 2 fantastic words for you, my friends. SHARPIE GIVEAWAY. Sharpie has generously offered to provide one lucky WhatTheCraft reader with a Sharpie grab bag! You get a set of Sharpie minis, fabric brush markers, Fine Point pens, highlighters, and Liquid Graphite pencils (these are mind bogglingly awesome).

 

The giveaway starts on Monday, so don’t forget to head back here! In the meantime, check out our current giveaway with Briar Muse!

Free Swatch Day!

It’s Free Swatch Day at Spoonflower.com!  Now’s your chance to get a sample of your very own custom fabric! Or one of the thousands of awesome designs submitted by other Spoonflower users!

I couldn’t resist designing my own last year (look familiar?)

This year I’m just too busy with custom orders to design my own, so I picked up a swatch of this super cute print. I’m trying the cotton sateen this time around, since I’ve already seen Spoonflower’s quilting cotton and cotton knit.

What print are you going to choose?

Fabric fabric fabric!

Fabric.com is having one of their crazy sales again. Evil!

And they have lots of awesome prints:

Stripes!

damask!

plaid!

cupcakes!

Get 15% off orders $50-99.99 with coupon code: ZIP15
Get 20% off orders $100-149.99 with coupon code: BANG20
Get 25% off orders $150 and up with coupon code: POW25

Spoonflower Custom Fabric Review

Custom fabric used to be a fantasy, unless you wanted to print it yourself. I did some research on the subject once and found that a “small run” of fabric would be something around a minimum of 500 to 1,000 yards, and most fabric printing houses won’t even do that small of a run. Even if it cost $1 a yard (and you can be assured it’d be more than that), you’d need to cough up $500-1000 all at once for one single print. My wallet laughed in my face.

Enter Spoonflower, offering completely custom fabric printing on a variety of fabric options. And you can order ONE YARD AT A TIME (they also have test swatches and fat quarters!).  Awesome! Amazing! I’m nearly wetting myself with excitement!

Not only can you order your own custom designed fabric, you can set up a little spoonflower shop and offer your fabric designs to the public! Every time your fabric sells, you get spoonflower credit!

About a year ago, Spoonflower had a free sample promotion, and I jumped at the chance to test it out. I could have ordered one of the thousands of awesome designs already available on their site, but I couldn’t resist the idea of designing my own fabric! So I did a little reconfiguring of the WhatTheCraft background, uploaded it, and ordered my free sample of WTC intarsia print fabric!

Crafty Intarsia print by smarmyclothes is available here.

Read more

Get your fabric fix

I was browsing Ebay this morning, looking for some fabric for a custom dress, and I found some great new sources for knit and stretch fabrics that I didn’t have on the Fabric Suppliers list.

Check them out!

Fabric By The Roll – By the roll and by the yard, nice selection of knit solids.

Nauvoo Quilt Co – Knits and quilting prints.

High End Fabrics – Lots of printed and solid organic knits!

Churn Dash Antiques – lots of vintage fabrics and textiles!

0ptima Fabrics and Collectibles – tons of lycra fabrics

VINTAGE LACE FABRICS AND LINENS – more vintage fabric and textiles

In Fashion Fabrics – knit supplier for the UK

Fabric Attack – awesome punk and novelty knit fabrics

Boutique Knit Fabrics – super cute collection of knits. Lots of stripes and polka dots!

Get a free custom fabric swatch!

I’ve been wanting to try Spoonflower’s custom fabric printing service forever, but I’ve never really had the balls to do it because it is a bit expensive. (Believe me, it’s the only real way for us small business folk to get our hands on custom fabric, short of printing/stamping/etc it ourselves. I’ve looked. In other words, the price is worth it.)

But HUZZAH! Today they’re giving away 1 free sample to anyone who wants one! You can custom design your own swatch or choose from the thousands of awesome designs submitted by customers! Free sample, free shipping! 100% free!

I got the WhatTheCraft intarsia sweater background as my free sample. If you try it out, I’d love to see what sample you designed or picked!

For more information about Spoonflower’s sample giveaway, check out their blog!

http://blog.spoonflower.com/2010/08/free-swatches-for-all.html

Radical Prints

Fabric.com has some awesome- and I do mean awesome, in the most 90′s sense of the word- prints up right now. Neon, leopard print, paint splatter… ahhh, it brings back memories of my youth. Tubular!

Before you go stockpiling this radness,  don’t forget your coupons!

20% off entire order – ANNV1 or THX104

15% off entire order – ABAND2010

$15 off purchase of $75 or more – PLTRY102

 

 

 

Supply Junkies, BEWARE!!

This is just a sampling of some of the awesome new knit prints just in at Fabric.com!

And you know I wouldn’t leave you hanging without a coupon. I’ve included more than one in case you’re a hopeless fabric fiend like me and have already used most of them…

30% off $50 or more: 3PLTRY9
25% off total: 2WMYP9
20% off total: annv1
15% off total: ABAND2009

Zebra…

Argyle!

and BUFFALO PLAID!!  WEEEE!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go find somewhere to put all the fabric I just ordered….

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