CHA: Fashion, Gadgets and Monsters, Oh My!

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Reported by Donna Lannerd

My first trip to CHA was at the least....overwhelming but incredible. I'm glad my first visit was as a reporter and not a shop owner. The choices abounded especially for papercrafts. I was on the hunt for mostly fiber related booths, though, and found some neat things along the way.

One recurring theme I found at many of the booths was the incredible stuff to embellish or refashion clothing. There were lots of new iron-on transfers. One of my favorite collections was from Plaid called top-og-raphyTM. These designs were retro and very hip. The other cool thing about them was they didn't feel like a transfer but felt like they were screen printed.

Another product from Plaid to finish your outfit was Denimolition. The hip craftster can use this to fray and make holes in their (as my mother would say) "perfectly good pair of jeans" for that distressed look.

And if you like embroidery, Plaid has new HipStitch kits that include floss, iron-on transfer designs, needle, instructions and felt pieces to make a practice stitching book. The designs are definitely as hip the name suggests. A couple of my favorite designs are Gothic Romance and the Moroccan Spiced.

The other major craft company, Tulip, also had some new offerings for decorating your wardrobe. One cool product, Fashion Glitter, won't be available in stores until December. Basically you can apply this using the Fashion Glitter BondTM and create your own glitter T's just like you find in all the trendy stores. If you need more structure they produce new Sticky Fabric StencilsTM that have an adhesive backing to hold them in place while you use them.

Tulip has a line of iron-on crystals to embellish your fashions as well and they are introducing the Cordless Fashion Crystal & Stud SetterTM. Other crystal companies include DalCrystals and Swarovski. Crystals can be used not only for fasion but home decor and scrapbooking as well.

Martha already told you about the wonderful felt ribbon she saw at CHA from Queen & Co. but they let me take a picture of these shoes they glitzed up with their products. I really love their stuff especially now with the sticky back which they told me will adhere to fabric and they use it to embellish pillows as well.

It seems like all the companies were trying to be new, fresh, hip and bold. Even the traditional craft companies like Leisure Arts are putting out contempory patterns. See this cover of their new "i" series iKnit. When I first saw this leaflet, I really thought it was a new magzine. The artwork is very modern and the layout is quite stylish. They also have iCrochet. For the Internet savvy they have the iCreate It website and on the main site there are webcasts covering different craft mediums.

Now, onto some gadgets and books. I found this knitting apparatus for those of you who would like to knit but don't want to learn how to with 2 needles. The Knitting Board is a knitting loom that gives you more options than the regular knitting looms currently on the mass market (it has been sold well on QVC). It comes in 3 different sizes and can make anything from the basic scarves to sweaters like the one seen below and you can use any yarn with it. If you need visual instructions there are 2 DVDs available.

Clover has a set of cool little gadgets for making yo-yos. You make have seen these little gathered round pieces of fabric on old quilts or made into vests. They are making a comeback both in the quilting world and clothing embellishment. The fall issue of Adorn magazine (which I got may hands on early) coming out soon has a cardigan embellished with some rather large yo-yos.




One gadget, that I can't show you yet but I can tell you about was the CHA Innovative Award winner according to the folks at the Wrights booth. They developed a new little machine that quilters will love. It is a portable bobbin winder so you don't have to interrupt your sewing set up when you run out of bobbin thread. They only had the prototype and with these accolades I'm sure we will be hearing more of it soon. I have seen it but they wouldn't allow a photo since it's not a final company approved-for-the-public product.

A few books of note:

fast, fun & easy: Fabric Critter Bags by Mary Link. Lots of funky large-eyed critters made in to bags. Just released by C&T publishing

Plush You! Lovable Misfit Toys to Sew and Stuff by Kristen Rask. Make stuffed zombies, monsters and doughnuts. For release November 07 by North Light Books. Here are a few of the monsters from a postcard I picked up at the booth...

And last, I found two new glues by Duncan. The first glue is Aileen's Fabric FusionTM which is a permanent, dry cleanable glue for just about anything fabric. The other glue is Liquid FusionTM which is a clear urethane glue for use on porous, non-oily surfaces such as wood, metal, stone, ceramic, plastic, fabric and more. Both glues are non-toxic. Keep an eye out for an add for Liquid FusionTM in Mary Englebright's Home Companion magazine since they're supposed to be giving away free bottles of the stuff.

I could go on and on about the wondrous things I saw but you would probably start getting bored if you haven't already. Now, I'm going to rest my tired body and wired mind from all the craft activity I witnessed. I hope this gives you a glimpse of some new things to look out for.