Ella's favorite Blog

Ella made that :)


One of my favorite blogs is Jenny's Allsorts. This place just makes me happy every time I go visit and now Ella is officially a huge fan as well. You should know, that there is nothing at all in the world that Ella loves more than candy and here Jenny has put up a great site were Ella can be creative and with candy! And yay! No mess in the kitchen for me... For now...
For all of the budding stylists out there, you can dress Zoe as well :o)

NähGeschichte or how I began to sew

Nancy had a wonderful post on her blog about how she started to sew and Chris is making a list of everyone else who contributed their stories. I LOVE to read them all :)

So here is mine. Growing up I didn't actually have a family member teach me how to sew, but I remember watching my great aunt sew on her antique "foot paddle" sewing machine and I was fascinated.
But I attended Waldorf School in Germany and learned quite a bit about handwork and so, have always been busy with different projects, like knitting and hand sewing (dolls mostly), embroidery etc... But everything was done by hand because I was scared of sewing machines well into my 30's!
(I don't know if that was due to the fact that my great aunt had a rather disturbing accident were a needle got stuck in her thumb nail and we had to use pliers to get the needle out)

So by my mid 30's I had 3 children and was pretty obsessed with ebay boutiques and the great hand made clothing but specially the "European" outfits. I just thought a lot about what I would like to do if I could, and surfing around the web one day, I found Farbenmix patterns. My excitement was great because I recognized the patterns from all the fantastic outfits available on ebay and bought my very first, the OLIVIA pattern. After I bought the pattern I went and got a $60 sewing machine and actually managed (with the help of the picture tutorial) to create my first outfit, not just the Olivia under dress, but also the over dress! What an amazing feeling that was :) And I had lost my fear of sewing machines!


Next up CARA:



The rest is a blurr of an instant obsession with fabric (well of course!) and realizing pretty quick that my $60 machine just wasn't going to cut it and a much better machine had to be bought and heck, there is just no doing without a serger... My husband thought I had lost my mind. He was/is right

All of that happened within less than a year! Countless more Farbenmix patterns later, I can honestly say, my kids very, very rarely wear store bought clothing anymore.

I have learned a ton (still am learning because of the countless mistakes I keep making) and can honestly say, I would never have started to sew if it had not been for the Farbenmix team and the great Internet that keeps us all globally connected.

Velour Iron ons!

Quite a while back Sarah asked me if I ever considered selling velour iron ons at Bunte Fabrics. Yes I had but I found out, that importing them was simply not reasonable. The retail costs would have been really quite high for these emebllishments.
So we mailed back and forth and she very kindly pointed me in the right direction... After that, my husband had to give me much needed encouragement and I finally designed some images and had them produced here in the USA :)
It is a small start and I stayed within the European design, but will eventually branch out more to also include many designs for boys, who always seem to get the short end of the stick in the sewing world. Velour iron ons are rather addictive and so much fun, because with very little effort you can really make anything look super cute and original. I hope you will enjoy this new category in my little store :o)

Mamu Design patterns

A short while ago I got in contact with a wonderful pattern designer whom, for some reason, I had not had heard off yet. Maryia is from Europe and she designs patterns that are super, super versatile and are in German and in English (on the same page translations). All her patterns already include seam allowances (how awesome is that?), come with pdf picture tutorials and most all of them include a matching pattern for dolls as well. They are also not just for girls and boys, they are also for us women! So you could dress yourself, your child and your child's doll with one simple pattern.




Here is Romy in her ELIA shirt! Mamu Design patterns are going to be here very soon :)

Feliz sew-along

I just received an e-mail from Caroline (Trilliumdesigns). She is going to have a sew-along for the fabulous Feliz pattern on her blog. Go check it out! It is going to be fun and very informative :o)

Big early black Friday SALE

Alright! Everything is on sale here at Bunte Fabrics. You will find a 20% discount on all fabrics and a 10% to 15% discount on all patterns and notions! In addition, all orders over $100 will receive a 10% discount as well! The sale is happening from today 11/18/08 through 11/22/08. Now go shop, create and have a wonderful time :o)