Salt Lake, Utah Winter/Spring Sewing and Quilting Classes

We have begun our Winter/Spring 2015 sewing and quilting class season and we couldn't be more excited for the new additions to our roster. Not only have we brought back our most popular and fundamental classes, but we've also added a few completely new offerings! Read on to get more details about our up coming classes --

Youth Sewing for Home-schooled Children:

We have traditionally offered our youth sewing groups in the evenings once school is out. However, this year we are offering a youth sewing class in the afternoon designed specifically for those students who are taught from home!

In this class, students will learn sewing from the ground up by first learning the different tools needed to sew and how to hand sew. They will then quickly move on to learning to sew with a sewing machine and will begin to make their first projects including a pillowcase and a pair of pajama pants. The class is designed to make students feel successful and build confidence each week with their patient and caring teacher, Peggy. 

Classes are held on Thursdays from 1-3 every week except on the third Thursday of every month. Class costs $10 per sessions and does not include supplies. 

Cuddle Star Pillow:

Learn how to easily make this cuddly and soft star pillow using only 17 squares of cuddle/minky fabric, two buttons and some stuffing! While it may look difficult, this is an easy project and will be a favorite gift to your children or grandchildren. 

This class will be held Saturday, February 29th from 10 am to 2 pm and costs only $20, not including supplies. 

Tuffet Class:

Little Miss Muffet had one and now you can too! Create your own foot tuffet in this brand new and exciting class taught by Joyce and Pat from Bouncing Bobbins Quiltworks! In this class, you will first learn to quilt your tuffet top using a jelly roll. Then you will learn how to put together and cover your tuffet! 

This class is taught on two Saturdays in March, the 14th from 12:30 to 3:30 and the 28th from 12:30 to 4:30. Homework is required in between classes. This class is $105 and includes your pattern and your tuffet kit. The class fee does not include your fabric or your wooden feet. There is a 10 person maximum for this class, so sign up ASAP! 

My Favorite Bag:

Learn to make this adorable bow bag with plenty of room and pockets for all your needs -- as well as plenty of style! Once you've made one, you will end up making more for your friends and family; this isn't called "My Favorite Bag" for nothing! 
Class will be held on 2 Thursdays in March, the 19th and the 26th, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. Class costs $25, not including supplies. 

Block of the Month:

We are trying something new this year and are offering two Block of the Month classes: a traditional Block of the Month class taught in our classroom and a Block of the Month class entirely taught online! 

Our in-store Block of the Month features Peggy's design featuring the Moda Love quilt pattern as the center medallion surrounded by 12 unique quilt blocks. The quilt will also feature a ribbon outer border! This class starts in February and you can choose to attend the second Wednesday of every month from 7 to 8 pm or the second Saturday of every month from 10 to 11 am. Class costs $26 for the year and does not include the cost of supplies. 

Our online Block of the Month class features the quilt Playful Pinwheels, designed by Sandra Stradley! It features 12 different styles of pinwheel blocks, done twice in different color combinations to add fun and flair! You will be able to sign up for the class soon on our online webstore - you will receive a downloadable file with information about how to access our private class website which will have each pattern published once a month as well as little surprises to the site such as tutorials, recipes and more! 

This is just a small sampling of some of the exciting sewing and quilting classes we have coming up. For a complete list of our Winter/Spring classes or for more details about the ones listed here, visit our website, give us a call at (801) 561-8726 or pay us a visit in store. We are located at 9135 S Redwood Rd West Jordan, UT 84088. 

We look forward to seeing you. Sew on! 

Fabric School -- Things to Know: How Fabric is Ordered.

We recently had a conversation at a staff meeting where the staff came onto a topic of having informed customers. We roundly agreed that, to fairly help our customers as well as contribute to a happy quilting consumer culture in our area, it was imperative to keep our customers informed and knowledgable. The conversation quickly expanded to include ideas to keep you abreast of all sorts of valuable information that not only keeps you an educated quilt/fabric shopper but also a well-informed and skilled quilter/sewer.

This portion of our staff meeting resulted in us creating Fabric School! We've come to see the value we would be contributing to the quilting/sewing community here in Northern Utah as well as online all over the world. Not only will this help us better meet your needs and expectations, but will create a more relaxed and enjoyable fabric shopping experience for both of us!

For the first installment of Fabric School, we want you to be informed of how fabric is ordered and stocked. Many times a week, we have customers who comes in to our store with a sample of fabric they had previously bought weeks, months, sometimes even years ago and had miscalculated how much they needed or had made a mistake cutting and were in desperate need for more. I'm sure we've all been there and can empathize. 

While we do our best to help our customers find the exact print when this occurs, it's important to understand that...

1. we usually don't keep back stock of the majority of our products and 
2. we can't alway reorder fabric we sell in our store if it is sold out.

A lot of the time we do not have the foresight to know what will be popular with our customers and what will sit on our shelves a long time. If we were to backorder all that we offered, this would result in enormous expenses that would increase our prices. We absolutely do not want to do that; remember our motto is "Service, Selection, Savings".

As for the second point, the life of fabric is very much like high fashion; it operates around the seasons. Fabric manufacturers have fabrics designed usually a year ahead of when they plan on providing them in stores. We and all other fabric shops order fabric about a season ahead of when it will be available to sell. This means that, seeing as how Christmas prints usually become available for sale in the middle of the summer, designers were creating the patterns for this Christmas last summer. Sales representatives from the various fabric manufacturers visited our store and we ordered these prints in the fall of last year, a whole season before they will be available on our shelves. 

These are very springy prints, but we got them in our store back in November!  See, a whole season ahead to give you time to make your spring projects.

The reason for this is that fabric manufacturers require a set number of yardage they need to print in order to supply the demand that was created when fabric stores ordered. This cuts down on their costs (which allows their fabrics to be priced lower for you, yay!) as well as the possibility for vast amounts of unsold fabric left on their hands that did not meet as much public acceptance (a nice way to say the fabric was ugly). For us and for our customers, that means there usually aren't any extra bolts to order once we run out of a certain print or fabric line. Additionally, fabric manufacturers want to be on the cusp of what is popular and to creatively expand what they offer to consumers. Because of this they rarely reprint old fabric lines. 

What we would like you to take away from this information is that, while we will thoroughly search through our cabinets and shelves for the print you are short on, there comes a time when a fabric is simply done and gone. As an informed consumer, this will help you to recognize our limitations, keep your expectations reasonable and understand that sometimes miracles just are meant to happen.

This fun comic was found on pickledish.com and explains why the fabric you are looking for is sold out: it's because Mrs. Bobbin takes it all! 

Should the possibility arise that you need more of a certain print and we are sold out, there are a few manufacturers who make it a little easier to reorder from; they will sometimes print a little extra for cases just like this. These manufacturers include Riley Blake, Springs and occasionally Moda. If what you are looking for falls within these manufacturers, we are happy to take your information and do some investigating to see if it is still available to order. Have patience with us as this usually includes  finding the fabric, determining if it is available or not, ordering it and having it shipped to our store. It may take awhile but we will be in touch with you about what we find.

We hope you are as excited as we are about Fabric School and the wonderful opportunities it can provide. Do you have something you'd like to know about and which you'd like to see featured on Fabric School? Leave us a comment or send us a message!