One of mt favorite party stuff shops–The Front Door–will be closing as of December 18th. *sniff* Capitalism is a fickle mistress. Anyhow, there were all sorts of little decorating and etiquette tidbits on the site, and I wanted to share one of the loveliest.
One of the things that really bummed out a friend of mine when she was planning her wedding was that she would see photographs of really spectacular tables and have no way to replicate them because she wasn’t sure what anything was. Problem solved if you like this particular table. Head over the the site (in the next 18 days) to find out about the menu cards, place cards, napkin rings, fabrics, accessories, and centerpieces used to create this look.
Pretty much everything shown is DIY friendly and easy, to boot. You could source a lot of the materials on the cheap from a discount outfit like Save-on-Crafts…one of the best go-to craft supply sites online, IMHO, though I would love to hear your craft site suggestions.* Now if only more sites that claim to offer ideas for brides- and grooms-to-be would break down tables (and other items) into their component parts, we could all have fun pretending to be Martha Stewart.
* For realz, people. I am about to embark on a serious adventure in sewing, so I’d love to hear about the fabric, materials, and tools sites that you can’t live without!
I don’t do a lot of internet shopping for crafts. I did buy my sewing machine online, from Amazon. I’ve bought quite a few things from eBay, but that doesn’t really help you.
HOWEVER.
http://www.china-silk.biz/fabric.htm has the most fabulous silk brocade, and Mr. Zuo Yu is very professional and very prompt. I very highly recommend him. I was a little hesitant at first, because of the website (never heard of any reputable business with a .biz address), but my first experience with them was nothing short of excellent.
Plus, the fabric is REALLY cheap. Shipping isn’t cheap, but the fabric is so cheap it’s actually not a problem, as long as you’re buying more than 1 meter at a time.
http://www.silkconnection.com/
Silk Connection, also known as Rupert, Gibbon and Spider, sells gorgeous silks, cottons, and linens at insanely low prices. Most of the fabrics are white or off-white because they’re mostly meant for fabric artists who plan to dye or paint their pieces. Of course, they also sell fabric dyes and paints.
It’s been some years since I actually dealt with them, but this is where I got the fabric for my wedding gown, and I shopped there because of the terrific experiences my MOH had there in buying fabric for her wedding gown and bridesmaids dresses.
Alas, dear lady, my favorite fabric shop does not sell online. I can’t go to A Fabric Place without buying something…or several yards of several somethings. It’s not just because the ladies that own and operate it are 70+ year-old sisters who keep claiming their going to hire me because I’m so helpful when I hold the fabric while they cut.
In general I hit Michaels, Utrecht and other local supply stores more than the internet.
I’m more of a yarnie than a sewer, so my favorite sites are ones that let me acquire very large amounts of high quality fiber for cheap.
Best yarn stores online:
http://www.knitpicks.com/
http://yarn.com/
http://www.elann.com/frames.asp
http://www.littleknits.com/
All of them offer good yarn at prices reasonable enough to make a sweater for $30 or less.
Best places for inexpensive fiber/roving:
http://www.thesheepshedstudio.com/index.html
http://www.paradisefibers.net/default.asp
I bought my sewing machine off Overstock.com , borrow pattern books using interlibrary loan, and meticulously horde those 40% off coupons from AC Moore, Joann, and the like for daily shopping. (Those are especially useful when I need to make a big school purchase like paint thinner or canvases.)
My fave sites:
For dye, dyeables, and dye tools
http://www.dharmatrading.com/
For linen
http://www.fabrics-store.com/
For wool and special occasion silk
http://www.denverfabrics.com/
for jewelry making supplies
http://www.firemountaingems.com/
for notions and structural trims
http://www.greenberg-hammer.com/
for when I feel like (thinking about) hemorrhaging money
http://www.hyenaproductions.com/
Oh, and definately get the joanns circular! You get a 50% off coupon after you join and fairly regular 40% off coupons, that’s saved me a LOT of money over the years.
I got my new sewing maching (aka My Precioussssssssssssssss) from http://www.sewvacdirect.com and I love it. I got a great deal on the machine.
I get a fair amount of sewing stuff at Jo-Ann’s. They’ll spam the hell out of you but they do send a lot of coupons, so I put up with it. There’s a Hancock Fabrics here too that I’ve recently discovered – more expensive than Jo-Ann’s but they have some nicer cottons. Again, lots of sales. Quilt-specific fabric shops often have really cool stuff but it will be more expensive again. Online I like equilter.com and I’ve spent a fair amount of time ogling at KeepsakeQuilting.com and ReproDepot.com. One of the nice things about quilt shops is you can often get packets of “fat quarters” in coordinating fabrics which are perfect not only for quilts but also for other crafty type things.
My local library has a really good selection of craft type books so I’ve been checking out a lot of those. Also there is a plethora of great free craft info on teh intarwebs. I recently discovered the Sew, Mama, Sew! blog which is doing a special month-long roundup of great free craft patterns for the holidaze: http://www.sewmamasew.com/blog2/ That’s where I ran across the box bag pattern you saw. They also have a store that looks like it has some cool fabrics.
We don’t seem to have A.C. Moore here, but we do have Michael’s and Hobby Lobby, and I get some other assorted craft junk there.
Oh, also: http://www.burdastyle.com/ has some pretty cool patterns and a lot of them are free.
How about old pitchers? Use them to display cut or silk flowers on tables. You can even use the pitchers afterward!