Special Guest from Shannon Fabrics!

We were incredibly excited to receive a special guest yesterday to the store! Shannon Fabrics is the maker of one of our favorite fabrics: cuddle. Shannon Fabrics is the industry leader in plush fabric, offering the widest selection of plush fabrics, like cuddle and faux fur, in the World! Shannon Fabrics recently held a contest called the Sweetest Rewards Contest aimed at rewarding their loyal customers, divided into three categories of purchasers. Fabric Center was entered into the contest at the highest level, or the "Sweetest" level, as being one of Shannon's top purchasers in the nation (if you can't infer by our reputation for having the best selection of cuddle in the Salt Lake Valley and at the best prices too, we go through a lot of cuddle!! On average, we place a new order of cuddle every two weeks. Wow!). Low and behold we won!

Arvin Pairavi visited us yesterday to award Lisa, the owner of Fabric Center, the winner of the Shannon Fabrics Sweetest Rewards Member Contest! By winning, Lisa will get advantages for shipping and ordering new cuddle prints, access to design specialist who will share special cuddle projects to display in store as well as to opportunity to travel to Spring Quilt Market 2014 and get a Behind the Scenes experience with Shannon while they represent at Quilt Market. This will be a wonderful experience for Lisa to explore what will be next on the horizon in the quilting and fabric industry and what to carry in store to meet the needs of our customers!

Not only was Mr. Pairavi impressed by our large cuddle selection, including our beautiful color coded cuddle wall, he also shared some insight into the special nature of cuddle and what sets it apart from other plush material. Did you know that the term "Cuddle" is actually a proprietary term held by Shannon Fabrics? We didn't either, and  if you are at all familiar with plush material, you like us have become used to hearing the terms "cuddle" and "minkee" interchanged randomly. However, there is a big difference between the two. Cuddle is heavier with a thicker, longer pile whereas minkee tends to be thinner and lighter. To ensure you have the warmest and softest blanket that will wear and hold up for years to come, buy Cuddle from Shannon fabrics (always available here at Fabric Center).

It was such a pleasure to receive a visit from Shannon Fabrics. Keep checking back with us as we look forward to working with them to bring you tips, tricks, projects and other cuddle updates. To get an idea, check our their blog: My Cuddle Corner. Congratulations to Lisa for winning the grand prize, but also a giant thank you to you our customers! We are so happy that we can provide such a large array of plush fabric to meet the needs and wishes of our customers, and to be able to do so at great prices. As Shannon Fabric's motto goes, "Making the world a softer place", we love knowing we help our customers bring warmth and softness into their homes to share with their families while making it affordable to do so. Once again thank you!

With cuddle on the brain, don't forget: we have all our bolted cuddle on sale 10% off as well as all solid color and dimple cuddle on sale for $12! These make excellent Christmas gifts, stop in before the end of the month to get your cuddle on sale. See you in store!

Tutorial: Cuddly Snake

We have truly talented and creative employees here at Fabric Center. This week, we had our lovely Lara Phillips share with us her own pattern for making this cute stuffed snake made from our favorite fabric: cuddle!

You will need to download this pdf file with the pattern. You must have Adobe reader in order to view the file, which you can download for free from Adobe here. There are 7 pages that you will need to print out. Make sure that when you print it, select from the printing preferences so that the file will fit an 8 1/2" x 11" paper completely. On your printer, this may be "Print at 100%" or "Print to Fit Page"; check your printer's manual or do a test page to see which gets the desired result. 

You will also need:

• 1/4 yard of cuddle fabric (or any other 60" wide soft fabric) for the top of the snake
• 1/4 yard of cuddle fabric (or any other 60" wide soft fabric) for the bottom of the snake
• Thread
• Scrap of felt
• Buttons, stuffed animal craft eyes, or anything else you'd like to use for the eyes
• Polyester craft filling
• Micro beads filling (optional)

Once you've printed your pages, line them up on order from 1 to 7. In the original pattern, diamonds had been made on each side of each page to help line up the snake, but these diamonds did not transfer well into the scanned document, so please ignore the triangle seen on the left side of the pages. Line up the pages matching the snake lines and tape the pages together. The snake is meant to narrow and curve upward as you go do the tail. 

Once you've got your pages attached, cut out the snake shape and you've got your pattern! Lay out your pattern on your top fabric with the right side of the fabric facing down and cut out. Lay out your pattern on the bottom fabric with right side of the fabric facing up and cut out. Cut out a from your scrap of felt a tongue shape. If you are using craft eyes or buttons for the eyes, now would be a good time to attach your eyes on your top fabric. Make sure to space the eyes are good distance away from your salvage edges so as not to get in the way while sewing your snake up. 

Once you have your eyes attached, pin your top and bottom pieces right sides together, leaving an 8"-10" opening on one side of the snake. Sew around using 1/2" seam allowance. *TIPS ON SEWING WITH CUDDLE: if you have a walking foot or even feed function on your machine, now is the perfect time to use it! Cuddle has the tendency to stretch or shift while sewing. By taking the pressure from the pressure foot off the top piece, you reduce the likelihood of this happening. If you do not have a walking foot or even feed function, use lots and lots of pins (one pin about every 1/2"-1") and take it slow. About ever foot or two, sink you needle into your fabric, raise your pressure foot and readjust your fabric and allow it to relax back into place. Then return your pressure foot down and continue sewing.

Once you have sewn all the way back to the opening, finish off your seam and start stuffing your snake. Lara added micro bead filling to the head and tail of her snake to give it some weight, but this is completely optional. Stuff evenly, avoiding lumps then close up your stuffing seam using an invisible hand stitch, AKA: ladder stitch. Here is a lovely and easy photo tutorial to show you how. 

Voila! You now have a cuddly and warm snake buddy for you or a loved one to play with. Big thanks to Lara for her wonderful, fun pattern! If you have any questions or need more clarification, don't hesitate to send us a comment or better yet, stop in the store for some one-on-one help! 

*This pattern is copyrighted 2013 by Lara Phillips on behalf of Fabric Center. All Fabric Center patterns and tutorials are for personal use only and are not to be made to sell!