Today was Day 2 of the Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival.  I met up with my friend Dawn from Dawn’s Mystical Menagerie and one of her friends from work.  Dawn makes sewn bags and blankets, etc and sells them at local craft fairs and comicons.  She was interested in the fabrics and sewing equipment at the festival.  Her friend likes to make wreaths, as she said she likes any craft with glue guns.  lol

 

We went to the maker space and learned how to do fabric shredding.

1. Take two pieces of fabric of the same size.
2. Place one piece of fabric on the table.
3. Layer yarn, fabric, lace, etc. on top of the fabric.  Approx. 5 layers deep.
4. Cover with the second piece of fabric.
5. Pin the fabric together.
6. Sew around the fabric edges.  Then sew across the fabric in rows horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.
7. Take scissors or a Chenille tool and shred the top fabric and filling, but do not shred through the bottom fabric layer.
8. Wash and dry once complete.

I’ve washed mine since I got home, but didn’t dry it yet.  I’ll post the finished product tomorrow.

After our fun time crafting, we continued through the aisles looking at the various vendor spaces.  Some of my favorite vendors were:

• Crochet by faye – the booth I talked about yesterday with the products from my crochet teacher from yesterday.  Today I bought a couple of her videos as well.  This was on of the only crochet booths, probably my only complaint about the festival is that I wish they had more crochet booths.
• Yarn Rainbows – This was the second crochet booth.  They had crochet patterns (and knit) and yarns that they import from Lithuania.  A really nice couple.  I bought a pattern for a top and some linen yarn.
• Artisnal Yarns – Another friendly couple, they make, dye, and sell their own yarn.  They also make hand beaded yarn.  Some really beautiful yarn!
• Home Furnishings & Fashion Accessories (No website available) – She had all of these Indian fabrics and hangings made from recycled fabric and trays, and hanging elephants.  Just gorgeous things, with color and decoration.  I really enjoyed her booth.
• Going Gnome – Felting!  Such cute and awesome felting creatures.  And they also gave felting lessons, although they filled up quickly, so I wasn’t able to attend and learn.
• Yarnbyrds – My dream yarn truck.  This is a travelling yarn store in a Winnebago.  What an awesome idea!  I mean, couldn’t you imagine a truck driving around the neighborhood selling yarn?  Like an ice cream truck?  Or book mobile?  Wouldn’t that be awesome?  And dangerous for my bank account?
• Ashgrove Soaps and Sundries – I love hand made soaps.

I also want to add some links for some of the ladies I had lunch with yesterday:

• Paul Family Farms – maple syrup
• Crochet Anything – Etsy shop and blog