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New Session of Six Weeks of Sewing 101 ADDED!!

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Yayyyyayayyy!!!  We’ve added a new section of Six Weeks of Sewing 101 before we announce the entire schedule!  You’ll find it on our website here.

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Here’s what you can expect!

ADDED SESSION: Thursday April 3, 10, 17, 24, May 1, 8 6-8 PM

Let’s go deeper! The idea of Sewing 101 is great. You want to learn but you want to work together with the gang of Crimson Tate for more than two sessions. In this marathon session of Sewing 101 we will create pin cushion, pillowcase, zippered pouches, tote bags, and a very chic thread catcher that incorporates some aspects of quilting. It’s a great paced first time project series that will build confidence in reading patterns, cutting fabric, and using your sewing machine.

Instructors: Heather Givans + David Barnhouse

As a thank you for taking a class at Crimson Tate, a $25 credit will be applied when you purchase your Six Weeks of Sewing 101 materials in the store.

In order to not pay shipping for classes, be sure to select STORE PICK-UP during checkout.

Sewing machines are reserved on a first come, first served basis. Please email iwannasew@crimsontate.com or call 317-426-3300 to reserve your machine today!

Cancelation Policy: Please notify the store at least 72 hours in advance to receive a store credit for your class purchase. Unfortunately, we cannot offer any form of refund if we do not receive 72-hour notice.

Staff Fat Quarter Bundle Challenge

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This winter, mother nature came in like a wrecking ball — or whatever.  And truth is, while we’ve enjoyed the cold quilty months, we’re ready to put our sandals on and hang our quilts outside to dry or picnic on top of them instead of burrowing underneath these dudes in search of heat.

Being inspired by spring, the staff of Crimson Tate created their own bundles to beckon spring through the doors.  It’s time to dust off the gray and welcome color back into our world.  Here are the selections we came up with.  Let us know what you think and certainly let us know whose spring-time mix is most appealing to you.

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First up: David http://circlecityquilter.weebly.com/

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This is what he has to say about his bundle.

Check out these bad boys!! This stack of eye-catching fat quarters is the ideal mix for your next quilting project. From the more masculine blacks and grays, to the black and steel colored essex linens, this bundle has a little bit of everything. The Echino Decoro bees and funky woodland animal print are just the icing on the cake. Edgy, springy, and cool, you’ll be all the rage at your next quilt bee meeting (and David will throw in a big bonus hug if you choose his bundle!!!)

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Second Up: Melissa http://www.melissaneeshauger.com/

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This is what she has to say about her bundle.

Welcome spring with this fresh, bright bouquet of colors! This lovely bundle features beautiful fabrics from Echino Decoro, Amy Butler’s Hapi, Lizzy House’s Pearl Bracelets & Catnap, Lotta Jansdotter’s Mormor, and Ellen Luckett Baker’s Garden. These colors will surely brighten your next sewing project!

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Third Up: Heather https://www.crimsontate.com/

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This is what I have to say about my bundle.

Eclectic, vintage, Japanese. Many of these fat quarters are cotton linen blends and of Japanese design with a vintage kick. Currently, I’m obsessed with teals that turn into blues. What you’ll find in this mix is a range of values from deep saturation of color to incredible low volume as evidenced in Lizzy House’s Catnap fabrics. I gave this a pop of hot pink to welcome in the spring and the return of color in our landscape. C’mon in warm weather, we’re waiting for you.

Which bundle do you like the best?  We’d love to know whether you’re down with blues and grays with a masculine slant.  Or if you prefer a saturated rainbow of color explosion.  Or if you’d like to ride on the tranquil seas of blueish greens.  We’re curious your opinion.

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That brings us to, we are looking for some extra staff.  Wanna join our team?!  Drop by Crimson Tate at 845 Mass Ave and perhaps the next post will be a photo of YOUR staff pick bundle.  Get in here enthusiastic, positive, smarty quilters.  We need your help in our store!!

Amy Butler, How Are You So Good?? And How Did You Get To Be So Funny?!

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IMG_2640Have you ever met Amy Butler?  I remember being so starstruck and in awe of the fabric designing superstar that I just circled around her booth trying to catch her eye so I could at least say “Amy Butler looked at me!!!”  When you’re in the presence of Ms. Butler, you’ll find that she gives you her complete, entire, and intense focus.  She absolutely gives you her full attention and can’t be distracted by anything in order to listen to your stories.

At one point I thought it would be FANTASTIC to challenge Ms. Butler and her ability to focus but I think her grand will to stay in the game would outlast my ability to conjure stories about monotonous events.  I thought of telling her stories like “Yesterday, I was planning a road trip with Ralph Macchio  in a clown car.  We’ll be traveling across America drinking lemonade and listening to Wilson Phillips but I had laundry to do which totally overtook my day which reminds me that I think I lost a button on my favorite sweater…” and it would go on and on.  I wonder if her eyes would glaze over and she’d lose the ability to blink.  I’m going to try this the next time our paths cross.

Since that first meeting of eye-gazing and sharking (albeit a kind, loving shark I imagine myself to be) around her booth, I’ve had the fortune of spending a few dinners and cocktail hours with Amy and I’ll tell you that she’s one of the funniest people I’ve met.  I’d like to see her go for a round with my friend Claire Wilcher of ComedySportz here in Indianapolis.  (Secretly, I’d like to be in that arena, too, with the two of them but I fear my face would break out in flames from my nervous hives and I’d pass out from over excitement.  Maybe we can have a private laugh-off to see who is funniest).

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Just like the woman, Amy’s fabric designs are full of humor, beauty, and sincerity which is exactly what you’ll find in Amy Butler’s newest collection HAPI.  It’s outrageously great.  I deemed it second best collection at Quilt Market Fall 2013.  Having designed the patterns after a dream trip with her good buddies Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably (who I ate chocolate ice cream off of his spoon at dinner one night…that’s a whole other story that involves amazing margaritas and a cab ride home), Amy presents us with a red-blue-white color scheme that makes me very happy.  Amy, alongside her husband David, traveled to Egypt with Kaffe and Brandon.  Seriously, take a few moments and watch the video she and Dave created concerning their trip to Egypt.

Now, take a tour around her booth with me here with a few photos I took at Fall Quilt Market 2013.

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Of course, we’ve fat quartered and half yarded the entire collection.

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And I  couldn’t wait to make something from these fabrics so I’ve started the Pow Wow Quilt by Cluck Cluck Sew using these Amy Butler fabrics.  I’ll keep you updated on my progress.

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Can’t wait to see you Downtown Indianapolis on Mass Ave or over at crimsontate.com !!

xoxo

Heather

Yellow Brick Road Class started at Crimson Tate last night!

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So, making a quilt that will forgive you for your first project is fairly important.  Often I’ve recommended and taught the Yellow Brick Road Quilt by Atkinson Design as a perfect first quilt.  It will forgive if you don’t cut, iron, and sew with absolute precision but to an observer, the quilt has a bit more sophistication. During our first class, we focused on best practice of cutting fabric and achieving a 1/4″ seam.

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These girls are champs.  I can’t wait to reveal what they’ll be creating for their first quilt ever.  Let’s be inspired!

 

xoxo

Heather

Shop Small @ Crimson Tate

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This Saturday, November 30, is American Express’s SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY!  We welcome you to come shop locally on Mass Ave!  How much fun to keep it local? Or loco, if you’re silly like us.  If you are an American Express Card holder, you can register your card and get $10 back for spending $10 at Crimson Tate.  To register your card to shop with us, go here.

 

Even if you’re not an American Express member, you can take advantage of the holiday hoopla that will be happening on Mass! Crimson Tate will have SWAG bags being given to the first 10 shoppers through the door that will be filled with sewing goodness and offers from local businesses on the street! Participating in the SWAG BAG giveaway are Silver in the City, The Best Chocolate in Town, Nurture, City Dogs, Global Gifts, Handmade Promenade, Stout’s Shoes, Chatham Home, Indy Reads Books, and more! 

Get down here on Saturday!  We’ll be happy to receive you!

How To Make A WISH LIST @ CrimsonTate.com

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Here’s a photo tutorial on how to create your wishlist at crimsontate.com!!  Please don’t hesitate to email us if you have questions on how to accomplish this!

First things first.  You’ll need to register for an account at crimsontate.comImage

Once you’ve registered, you’ll see that you can create a wishlist.  If you’ve already registered, login and head over to MY ACCOUNT.

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Click on MY WISH LISTS:  (note, it doesn’t change color so it doesn’t necessarily look like a link)  This is what you’ll see.  Click the black bar that says NEW WISH LIST.

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Only you and whomever you choose to share your Wish List with will be able to see what you’ve been dreaming of at crimsontate.com.  You’ll create a name and password for the Wish List.  If you’d like different people to buy or see what projects you’re working on, create multiple Wish Lists based on projects.  For example: Mail Sack Wish List would have all of the components that I want to create a new mail sack bag.  Another Wish List might be an array of Harriet Headbands I’ve been dreaming of, so I’ll create a separate Wish List for that.  You decide.  Should all of your dreams live together in one list?  Or do you want to create separate lists based on projects, and quantities? 

 

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We find that giving a description to your gift-givers will help them understand your obsessions er I mean, desires.

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This is what it will look like once you’ve saved your Wish List. 

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Now it’s time to browse around crimsontate.com and gather all of the items you’re dreaming of.  Here we headed to Melody Miller fabric.  Select a specific quantity and ADD TO WISH LIST.

 

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Don’t forget about all the other players that go into projects such as thread, patterns, seam rippers.  Notions make great gifts.

 

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You can select specific quantities that you’ll need.

 

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Once you’ve filled up your Wish List basket, head to MY ACCOUNT and click on MY WISH LISTS and select the specific list you want to send out into the world.

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Here you can edit quantities or take away items you’ve decided are for later.

 

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Click ADD INVITEE and start adding names and email addresses of the loves you’d like to share your Wish List with.

 

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Here’s the gang I’m adding to my list.  At this point, you can send it to everyone by clicking SEND MAIL TO ALL or you can re-send the email individually by clicking on the teeny tiny envelope.

 

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So.  What happens next?  I’m curious about what the INVITEE will receive.  They will get an email that looks like this.

 

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And when they click on the link, they’ll be taken to a screen at crimsontate.com that asks them for your super special Wish List Password.

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When they enter the PASSWORD they’ll then be able to see your list. With your super nice note.  They can make their purchases from this screen, clicking BUY NOW button to right of product.  They can also decide what quantity they will purchase the item.  If you need continuous yardage, you might caution your INVITEES that it would be most helpful for you if they buy fabric to buy all quantity requested.

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Once they click on their cart, they can proceed with the checkout and purchase your items there.

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Questions? Comments? Concerns?! Email us modernquilter@crimsontate.com and we’ll answer your techy questions or help you decide what projects might be best for your sewing ability.  Happy Holidays, friends!!

 

 

Tula Pink’s Acacia is LIVING Downtown Indianapolis

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I’ll tell ya.  Remember when I drank the Kool-Aid at the Portland Quilt Market Spring 2013 and I said “I finally get why so many people are obsessed with Tula Pink!”  If you don’t remember, you can read about it here. (I was able to capture some good photos while there, I think it’s worth taking a look at). Well.  Two days ago the child of that Kool-Aid-induced-decision-making-funtime showed up.  Twenty-five bolts of Tula Pink’s newest line called Acacia is here.  Yesterday we (David, Melissa, and I) spent a goodly amount of the day cutting, folding, bundling, kitting, petting these newest fabrics.  I took WAY too many photos of the collection and have been thinking WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH ALL OF THESE PHOTOS?! But I couldn’t stop.  So, here is a lil’ photographic journey of the bundles and kits we’ve put together.  I’ll meet you at the bottom momentarily.

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ImageImageImageImageImageImageImageWe call this one above the Amelia colorway.  Pretty pinks turning coral.   ImageWe  call the one above the Pauline colorway with its unexpected color combinations that work together seamlessly.ImageWe call this dominantly purple bundle the Bernice colorway.  All good Bernices claim purple as their favorite color.

We have kits of the Peaks & Valleys Quilt which I thought was the best quilt at the show.  We put them in cute lil’ plastic zipper bags that our friend Ashley at Nurture gave us.  She’s trying to purge.  It seems we are always trying to hoard.Image

Here’s what the quilt looks like:

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And of course we have the English paper piecing kit she created called Diamonds in the Sky.

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It seems we are now officially armed with enough beautiful fabric to make some pretty spectacular things.  I’ve got to get to work on my Peaks and Valleys quilt!

If receiving Tula’s fabric wasn’t enough, on Tuesday we’ll receive Birch Organic’s Fort Firefly and Alexander Henry’s Ghastlie Christmas fabric.  YOU GUYS! It’s go time.

See you downtown, soon!

xoxo

Heather

Lotta Jansdotter’s Newest Fabrics Were Announced

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Windham Fabrics just announced Sylvia and mormor, Lotta’s newest collections scheduled to be in stores in February.  We’re kinda like a Lotta Jansdotter mecca here in Indiana.  Image

 

Read more about her new collection here on Windham’s blog: 

http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a01156fbc60f3970c019aff8238f1970d

We may or may not be working on our own Sylvia quilt RIGHT NOW.  Did we get a lil’ advanced yardage?! Shhhh.  We can’t say until October 1st.  We gave a blood oath to our buddies at Windham.  Hold on.  

 

xoxo

Heather