Urban Threads is celebrating their 1st Birthday!

To celebrate the awesome community of stitchers who are helping this collection of hand and machine embroidery designs, we’ll ship a package of treats to one lucky crafter. You could win:

- A $50 gift certificate for Urban Threads designs

- Your very own scissors-chomping Craft Bunny

- A ceramic “Craft or Die” mug

Enter by June 30 by registering with Urban Threads, if you haven’t already, and sending an email with your proposed name for the aforementioned craft bunny. For more detatils visit Urban Threads.

In the late 1800’s the tobacco industry recognized the marketing ability that it had and began inserting advertisements into the tobacco packs.  These advertisements, including cards, tin tags, silk, flannel, rug, ribbon, leather and even embroidered items, opened the door for new creative spirit as quilters began sewing them together.

The textile inserts began in the early 1900’s and were only available for a short period of time (they were costly). Some believe that these textiles were placed as a luer for women to smoke, but primarily it was to build brand loyalty and entice new customers.

Regardless of why they were put there the quilters created very unique works of art with them. From quilts to pillows, no two were alike. The thriftiness of our sewing bretheren still astonishes people today.

Their tobacco quilts are our Capri Sun purses and ductape wallets.

What unique item have you repurposed?

Surely we all remember the popular Monster Inc movie from Disney that released a couple of years ago. It seems that since then monsters have been popping up everywhere, including sewing.

Monsterosity has created cute monsters with a trendy and vintage feel. Their monsters appear in several ways, and no two ways are the same.

Danger Craft’s offers a fun monster pattern to create your own unique and cuddly creatures. You could even recycle an old sweater to make these cute little guys — a green monster.

What kind of monster would you make?

“Scribbles” embroidery has become a popular style at Urban Threads. Their newest tutorial shows you how to replicate the look with any design using a regular sewing machine!

To learn more about this technique, check out “Scribbles”.

At a recent Halloween party, my friend Niki showed up in this amazing Snow White dress. The best part? She made it!!

Niki hasn’t sewn since 6th grade, but she really wanted to be Snow White this year and couldn’t find a costume at the local shops. So, she asked her Grandmother to help her create this amazing dress:

Look how pretty! Niki and her Grandma used a pattern, and she said that it took about 30 hours to sew the dress, over the course of 2 ½ weeks. That’s pretty amazing, considering some people spend a longer time making a costume out of cardboard that doesn’t look nearly as great.

By making this costume, Niki learned three of my favorite things about the magic of sewing:

1. If you can’t find it, you can always sew it.

2. It’s a great way to spend time with a family member or friend (and sewers LOVE to share the fun!).

3. NOTHING is more fun than being able to say, “I made it!”

I think next year she is going to add some little bluebirds to the cape, which I find hilarious and awesome.

Anyway, Niki was Queen of the Halloween Party - definitely the fairest of them all. We were all impressed and very proud of her (though I’m guessing her Grandma was the proudest.)

Summer is here and it’s pretty hot, so you’ve probably been running around in flip flops and open toe shoes (and NOT those appalling gladiator sandals, though if you are I guess I won’t judge you). AND if you’re like me, you probably lost and/or destroyed a few socks over the winter.

So what do you do with all those poor extra socks – especially the reallyreally cute ones that you loved? Well, Nicky from Monster-Munch likes to make sock monsters (seriously, who doesn’t?), and she created this awesome poster for a quick, easy-to-follow lesson on how to make your own:

You can download your own Sock Monsters poster by clicking here. And man, how fun does the Making Things Club sound?