Handbag Designers : A Competition You Need to Enter

If I were still designing handbags, The Independent Handbag Designer Awards would be one competition I'd be interested in.

The event is held on June 16th, 2010 in New York and has some high profile sponsors, great prizes, recognition, and if your handbag wins it will go on a press tour.

Submissions are accepted until April 15, 2010. Independent handbag designers, you can do it, and you may just win!

Deal of the Day!

Be sure to check the NEW Deal of the Day! on RevivalFabrics.com

Check out today's Deal of the Day!

I'm offering a great daily deal on vintage fabrics and retro fabrics that could be:

* a great price for the day on a fabric
* buy a yard get a yard free
* who knows what other kind of steal or deal it could be! You have to check the Deal of the Day to find out.

Don't forget to check back on RevivalFabrics.com often, the Deal of the Day will change often.

How to Make a Vintage Inspired Apron : Video

Here's a great video if you want to make a vintage inspired apron.

Full Bolt of Retro Fabric - Buy the Bolt get 1 yard free!

I sure get stoked when I find a full bolt of retro fabric and vintage fabric ! It's much more common to find fabric remnants in 3 - 5 yard pieces.

On Revival Fabrics right now is 11 uncut yards of retro fabric on the original Everfast cardboard bolt. I'm offering the 11th yard free if you buy 10 yards. In this economy, I want my designing and sewing friends to have all the help they can get. (The discount will automatically apply upon checkout. The fabric is also sold by the yard, if you don't need 11 yards)

This vintage fabric is quality, reflected in the original $4.00 per yard price sticker on the end of the bolt --- quite high for it's time in the 1960s - 1970s. And also cool to find original sticker prices.

Printed on the selvage of the fabric is Everfast Fabrics, Inc.

Everfast was known in it's time as a manufacturer of deeply dyed fabrics with colors not prone to fade in the sun or in the wash.

If you are an independent designer, and have a large order from one of your buyers, you certainly could make many handbags, purses, jackets, pillows, or tablecloths from this authentic retro fabric.

Fun Vintage Fabrics - Just In

Just added today to RevivalFabrics.com are a grouping of vintage acetate fabrics.

These are fun vintage novelty fabric prints from the 1950s in motifs of butterflies, musicians, big-eyed light bulbs (you have to see this one!), camping lanterns, birds, and floral. All are dress, blouse, and lightweight pillow weight vintage fabrics.

I just love working with acetate, it has the lustrous shine similar to silk fabric, the swooshy rustle and body of a taffeta fabric, is soft, looks luxurious, doesn't shrink much, and dries quickly.

Favorite Sewing Trim Paper Label - 1930s

My creative juices are flowing just looking at this paper label.

It's a vintage Ap-Li-Kay sewing trim banding from the 1930s, in a yummy peach color.

I'm going to photocopy the paper label, enlarge, and frame it. I'll also use some vintage banding in lieu of matting, but may go with another color besides this peach. I love the peach, but it doesn't flow with the color scheme I have in mind.

Stay tuned, I'm going to work on this project over the holidays and post photos!

Vintage Grandma Moses Fabric - Halloween

Just added to RevivalFabrics.com is a really great vintage Grandma Moses fabric, from Moses' original painting "Halloween"

Grandma Moses was a self-taught artist. Her unique folk art style of painting made Moses one of the most successful woman artists in America during her time.

Anna Mary Robertson was born in 1860 on a farm in New York, and she also lived for a time in Virginia. Grandma Moses could have coined the phrase "it's never too late", since she started painting in her 70s and finished a painting at age 100.

At the age of 12, Moses left her childhood farm home, later married Thomas Salmon Moses, and had 10 children, five of which survived. Grandma Moses died in 1961 in Hoosick Falls, New York at the age of 101.

Moses' artwork was first discovered in a drug store window by an engineer. He marketed her art work to galleries in New York with little success; many gallery owners thought it foolish to invest in a painter in her 70s. But, after St. Etienne gallery in New York took a chance on her, Moses had a one-woman show in 1940.

Before becoming a folk art painter, Moses embroidered landscapes until arthritis settled in her hands. She then took up painting, and painted the people, things, and place in her memories.

Moses was a landscape artist with an eye toward the four seasons, as can be seen in her "Halloween" painting that speaks of Fall.

Between 1950 - 1967 the Riverdale Company manufactured fabric from many of Grandma Moses tiles and paintings.

Vintage Hats by Christian Dior

Vintage couture eye candy by Christian Dior. Vintage footage of Dior hats atop the heads of high-cheek boned models.

Simply divine.

Twitter and now Facebook

I'm on a roll and having fun! First creating Revival Fabrics twitter account, and now I'm setting up Facebook for Revival Fabrics. Please stop on by to one or both, tweet me or become a fan on Facebook.

Special Free Shipping Offer

Here's an early heads up for my blog readers!

For a limited time I'm offering FREE shipping for vintage fabric orders $75 and over. No coupon code needed and the offer starts right now.

(Standard shipping only please, no overnight or International shipping)

Let's Twitter !

I'm now on Twitter, tweeting as revivalfabrics

Let's Twitter! Tweet me, I'd like to know what you are up to

Sale Reminder through November 30th

Just a reminder of our RevivalFabrics.com sale going on!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all

Today through November 30th, Revival Fabrics has two super offers on vintage fabric just for you.

Orders $49 and greater will receive FREE shipping. No discount coupon code needed upon checkout.

Orders $125 and greater will receive a 15% discount AND free shipping. Please use coupon code MY15 upon checkout.

Free shipping to United States addresses only. Overnight shipping not included in this offer.

Cubism Art Movement - Vintage Fabric

If you like the early 20th century Cubism art movement, you'll like this avant-garde Cubism influenced vintage 1960s - 1970s fabric called "Roses Cubism" with blue and green roses at Revival Fabrics.

"Roses Cubism" vintage fabric, in comparison to the second photo, a 1915 Rij-Rousseau portrait, has a striking similarity to the abstract lines of the Cubism art movement. (photo used with permission from Wikimedia Commons).

As with many vintage fabrics, you won't find the original artists name on the selvage of Roses Cubism. But regardless, fine art design on fabric, it's always a gem to find.

FREE Shipping on Orders and a 15% Discount!

Today through November 30th, Revival Fabrics has two super offers on vintage fabric just for you.

Orders $49 and greater will receive FREE shipping. No discount coupon code needed upon checkout.

Orders $125 and greater will receive a 15% discount AND free shipping. Please use coupon code MY15 upon checkout.

Free shipping to United States addresses only. Overnight shipping not included in this offer.

Is that Fabric 100% Cotton or a Cotton Blend? Scrunch It!

Today in the wild world of vintage fabric, let's be mad scientists.

Here's a simple experiment to see if a fabric is 100% cotton, or if it is a cotton blend:

Take a single layer of fabric in your hand and scrunch it. Hold that scrunch for a few seconds and then let go. Do you see wrinkles, or a few slight creases? The more wrinkles you have, the more likely the fabric is 100% cotton. Cotton-polyester blends were originally manufactured to give fabric less wrinkles.

If you want to take this experiment further, and really show the world how much of a mad scientist you are, strap on a pair of goggles and whip out a lighter:

Take a strand of fiber thread from the fabric; from the end of the fabric is easiest. Burn the thread with the flame of the lighter (safely please, with a glass of water handy). The ashes of 100% cotton will burn clean. The ashes of polyester or a polyester cotton blend will be more tacky or form into a small hard ball.

The top photo is a circa 1990's cotton-polyester blend floral fabric. As you can see, after I administered the scrunch test, the fabric had very little wrinkles.

The bottom photo is a 1940s blue and white floral 100% cotton. For maximum results I applied a heavy tightly held scrunch, and as you can see, the fabric has wrinkles. With less scrunch applied, there would be less wrinkles.

Do you have any vintage fabric mad scientist experiments of your own? Leave a comment, I'd love to hear about it and try it out.

Vintage Clothing Tag Photos - I like it

Over at the World Famous Design Junkies blog, I like their photos of vintage sewn-in clothing tags.

As a fan of vintage clothing, the first thing that I do when I find a piece that I like, is check the tag to see the size.

If a manufacturer name on the tag is no longer around or changed names, that gives you a big clue of the age of the garment. Letter fonts are fun to look at, and there's another clue to solve the age mystery. Fonts are popular one year and discontinued the next.

Vintage clothing tags can tell you so much about the era of a garment, plus it's just plain fun to see graphics from the past!

I Recognize that 1971 Singer Sewing Machine!

My mom had this very same 1971 Singer sewing machine and loved it so much she used it for years. She eventually upgraded to a newer Singer, but used her 1971 machine for tricky sewing jobs; she knew that '71 inside and out.

This 1971 commercial brought back great memories of shopping at fabric stores with my mom for just the right sewing pattern. Then I'd pick out the fabric I'd want for my outfit. I can still hear the riiipppp sound as scissors met cutting table, at the fabric cutting counter. Or if the fabric was thick, it would be a whoosh-snip-snip sound.

Thanks mom, for the great sewing memories.

Look for this vintage fabric on cable television

One of RevivalFabrics.com vintage fabrics will be in the upcoming cable television show Caprica, a spin-off of Battlestar Galactica. The series is being filmed in Vancouver, B.C. and will premier in early 2010, on the Sci-Fi Channel. There should be some pretty cool looking 1940s - 1950s clothing on the show. It's a 1940s rayon fabric featuring poodles.

Let's Go Shopping! Handbags from Vintage Fabric

One thing that I especially enjoy about vintage fabric is it's uniqueness.

Vintage fabrics make fashion and accessories like handbags exciting, new and fashion forward: you won't see, over and overs, the same popular fabric pattern designs used for pillows, purses, clothing in stores and online shops. A design can lose it's appeal if you look at it and think, "wait a second, I just saw this fabric pattern on a purse at the store I was just at."

Handbag designers that use vintage fabric for their designs have it going on. Check out the handbag designs by Liz Shaw of Liz Shaw Design. She uses vintage fabrics, vintage buttons, and other materials from the past to create artistic arm eye-candy. For you musicians, you'll love the guitar theme "Rock" messenger bag line.

Color Trends of 2009 - series - vintage fabric and fabric

As a continuation of the blog series "Color Trends of 2009" let's talk about color trends of fabrics on the market right now. As goes popular trends for fabric colors and designs, often times will the tastes of collectors and designers that use vintage fabrics.

I've personally noticed here at Revival Fabrics there has been an upswing in interest of purple themed vintage fabrics.

Kim Kight at True Up tells me that fashion and fabric color trends for this year: "I'm seeing lots of purple and fuchsia. I think navy, black, and silvery gray are back in and brown is on the decline as the go-to neutral. I'm also seeing lots of mustard, avocado green, and orange ... the classic 70s kitchen colors. I'm slightly horrified to see the neon paint-splatter phase of the 80s come back in style, though I do get good nostalgic feeling from some retro 80s motifs and color combinations, if they're done right."

What goes around, come back around again, and at Like Totally 80s website, they agree that the 1980s have made a revival. As noted, Michael Kors used neon green for his Fall collection.

Fashion Trendsetters sees 2009 fabric color trends in the metal gray family along with cement, slate, and interestingly recycled paper color, and lastly white accents.

Catch the next part of the Color Trends of 2009 series as I discuss fabric color trends in the crafting world.