Textile Arts &Crafts in Austin, Texas

Hi there, Litsa here. I'm an artist from Austin, TX. Although my style tends to bounce around a bit with my mood, I generally do fine line drawings that either end up on T-shirts or get mounted to wood. I also custom make shoes. If you have a color scheme and favorite fabric, let me create a perfectly unique pair o' kicks for ya.

www.alitsa.net

Hi, all! The info page said to post an introduction, so here 'tis...

My name is April, and I love to create things in general. As far as this community goes, I have been sewing since I was a kid (runs in the family), and I do fashion design as a hobby. I really want to learn to knit (I've had lots of fun with my Nifty Knitter), and I was taught to chrochet once upon a time, but I need more practice at that. I'm also vegan, so I'm always on the lookout for vegan textiles (yarn, fabric, etc.)

I look forward to learning more about my options in the area!

in_stitches has asked about quilt stores in the area.

The three I know of in Austin are The Quilt Store up on Anderson Lane; Ginger's Needlearts (which is half quilting, despite it's name)in Capitol City Plaza between I35 and Cameron Road; and Quilting Bee up around Anderson Mill. I've been to all three, they're all good and all are worth visiting since they all have different fabrics and directions they're going in.

There also was a quilt store in San Marcos, but I think it's moved to near Lockheart.

A good way to get to know the stores in the Austin, San Antonio, Hill Country area is to take part in the Bluebonnet Quilt Hop. It's the first weekend in April, although the quilt square portion starts in March. There's also a hop that goes north of Austin, but I don't know the details on it.

I've been sewing for 20 years, but I'm a far cry from your grandmother. Do you have a pile of mending that you just haven't gotten around to? I can mend your shirts, hem your pants, affix lost buttons or whatever odd sewing assignment you come up with. Just run it by me. My rates are very reasonable. And your job will be done accurately and in a timely manner. E-mail me with what you need me to do. seamstressdot@gmail.com

I also make costumes for theme parties, Halloween or whatever. My icon is a sample of my work, my homemade Halloween costume from 2005.

Hello everyone,
Does anyone know of a really good/cheap/nice mill end shop in the austin area? I went to one in Williamsport, PA and it was AWESOME! Lots of lace and trims and stuff. I've been wondering if there was one around here, but haven't been able to find any. So does anyone here know of one?

Thanks!
Adela

There are three Hancock Fabric stores in the Austin area. I know they have a national presence, but I don't know if they're a chain or are franchised. The three in town have very different selections of fabrics. All three carry some amount of all the classic types of fabrics for home sewing and they all carry the national specials, but they each have sections aimed at very different target markets. The south one at S. Lamar and Ben White/290 has the largest selection of satins, laces, and the dressy types of fabrics you'd want for weddings or prom dresses. The central one at Airport and N. Lamar carries the most eccentric stuff. It has a large selection of faux furs, especially in weird colors like purple, hot pink, bright teal, etc. It also has the most colors of velvet and velveteen, as well as cut, burned and otherwise decorated velvet. There is also a large selection of pseudo suede, naugahide, and vinyls. It's one of the best places for doing costuming in months other than October. The far north store on 183 specializes in quilting cottons and fabric for office suits and blouses. All the stores have gone into home decorating fabrics rather extensively, but the majority of the fabrics are special order, so the stores haven't really differentiated themselves in that area as far as I can tell.

Hi all!

I really did not mean to create this community and abandon it. < grin >
I've just been really sick most of this month. However, I intend to start posting some of the reviews of shops around town that I've been ruminating on while lying in bed.

I know this has been asked before; however, I wasn't able to find anything in memories

What I am looking for is a reasonably priced Dry Cleaning/Laundry service that will press already laundered shirts (I hate ironing). I would prefer this place be somewhere along the MoPac corridore between 183 and Ben White.

Suggestions? Thank you!

x-posted

woo hoo! We have 12 members in little over 24 hours. Yea! And 6 of them have posted intros already. We're starting off strong.

hi im wendy from north austin
i'm 21 and just started non counted cross stitch embroidery

seems like the floss is so big...
was i supposed to take it down to a certain number of threads?

oh and loop vs non loop
my mom has always used them but my friend says it stretchs the fabric... your thoughts?


oh oh oh ANDDDD
any hopes of forming a quilting type uh cirlce/club thing
those are so fun but i can never find em in my age group

I forgot to mention that an intro should have an intro tag on it. I've gone and put it on all the intros already posted. Just a little bit of housekeeping that will make life easier farther on down the timeline.

lets see...

i'm abbe and i'm addicted to textiles. sew, crochet, knit, quilt, what have you. i swing between old lady stuff and making my own patterns. granted, that tends to mean traditional patterns in insane colors and my own patterns in somber colors. um, current projects include silk bookbags and purses, kitschy vintage car and leopard print velvet bedspread, kerchief skirt with knit ruffle, and a super secret birthday present for the boy (shh...).

and whatever else distracts me.

am i missing anything? hmm...

oh yeah!

just bought some wool and getting a drop spindle tomorrow. got some extreme love for hill country weavers. woops, and the 7 silk throw pillows for housewarming gifts.

i'm ADHD, can ya tell? ;-p

I'm mainly a knitter, but I also have some mad sewing skillz. I'm trying to construct a bag without a pattern from a pair of cut-up thrift store jeans, a piece of paisley cordruoy fabric and a sweater I shrank in the wash (on purpose). I hope this qualifies me as a proponent of textile weirdness.

My piece de resistance to date has been a felted fez for a ninja turtle. He only wishes he had the motor skills to knit, like the giraffe in my icon.

Yes, that's me... tinamonster ;)

All I know how to do is crochetting (thanks in LARGE part to stickcow), but I would love to learn how to sew properly :)

Lots of projects to complete before the holidays!!

Hi! I'm Lemur Jo/e (lemurjoe), the moderator and founder of this community. If you haven't yet read the community info page, please do so.

I've lived in Austin for about 15 years. I've been sewing and doing needlework since I was three years old. I learned to crochet when I was 15. And I have recently decided to try out some multi- technique ideas I have for wall hangings. I'm calling them embellished quilts, for now. I started this community for two reasons:

1) When I became a transman, I found there to be strong lines of division as to who could 'properly' do various skills. I was even told by some that I could choose to be man or to do crochet, but that I could not do both. These are, by and large, the same people who later told me that I couldn't mix techniques in my hangings. Even though I have found Austin to be more accepting, I still wanted something that stated up front and unequivocably that it embraced weirdness.

2) There are lots of places to go online and off if you do knitting, or crochet, or quilting, or weaving, or whatever. But there is practically no where that embraces not only all of these but the combination of them in projects. Ever wanted to do a knit sweater with crochet lace sleeves? Well, hopefully this community can help you figure out how to mesh the patterns. Ever wanted to do a quilt that has a spiderweb on the surface but don't know if it should be tatted or macramed? Hopefully our advice on here can help you decide; maybe someone will even convince you it should be crocheted and offer to teach you how to crochet if you don't know. I want this to be a space that inspires and informs, not one that categorizes and alienates.

While this community is supposed to stand alone, I do dream that eventually we will have occasional hands-on live meetings around town.