Fabric Dumpster Diving

Yesterday, our Fiber Junkies group went on a great adventure, one we've done before but worth repeating. You know it has to involve fabric! We went to KRB Fabrics on 4571 Hwy 9 in Inman, SC (864) 578-0734, where you often have to dive for fabrics. They have some really good and some not so good fabric. You just have to search, that is the fun part. There are bolts, rolls, flat folds and fabric in big bins everywhere.

You'll never know what you'll find and you have to keep an open mind. I'm usually on the lookout for fabrics to print on.

There's a lot to look through and right next door is a thrift shop. Sometimes there's treasures to be found there but not this time around.

After that, we headed toward MaryJos in Gastonia and a great thread place @ 5 mins away. It was worth the trip. It's Long Creek Mills on Webb St in Gastonia, NC (704) 864-6651. The lady who works there is lovely, friendly and helpful and goes around giving each person a goody. We all got thread, buttons and some other little doo-dads. The threads are mostly decorative, polyesters and rayons. There's also large cones of cotton thread used for crocheting dishcloths and potholders. There's bins of loose buttons, lots of trinkets and other crafty type items, but the thread was luscious!

There were aisles and aisles of every color thread you can imagine, all arranged in values - kind of like a color overload!

These rayon spools were a great deal. Each spool is 1100 yards for $2.00! I have color cards I got years ago from Sulky where I can check what thread colors I have. I have so many but didn't have the cards with me so I didn't buy much but plan to return and "fill in the gaps" I LOVE thread almost as much as fabric!

And then onto MaryJos in Gastonia which was great fun.

We had the least amount of time at MaryJos as it was our last stop but we were women on a mission and managed to do some damage to our wallets.

Here are some of the interesting treasures I picked up on our first stop. This was a synthetic but reminded me of a "snake skin". All of these I plan to run through the printer.

Lace really does well in printing, especially if it's thinner which this is. You can put another fabric underneath the lace for a lighter "ghost image" - an interesting effect.

This next one was my favorite; each side is different, the goldish side had a shaded effect and the whole thing was crinkled lightly. I'm anxious to see how this will work in the printer.

This next piece is also crinkled but with a floral design. I think it might be interesting to use in a print.

And this last piece - I think I have this already but it printed nicely, has a slight crinkle to it and somewhat transparent making it good for overlays.

So I'm off to Bubble Jet these fabrics and give them a try.