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Crushed Velvet Scarf

 In November, 2004, I attended a class given by Christine Jonson, at her Royal Oaks, MI studio, during which she guided me through the process of creating garments of custom crushed velvet.  This process was featured in Issue 111 of Threads Magazine.  Click here for a link to more info, including a video:    Crushed Velvet Link

 I decided to make a simple scarf using this technique.  I wanted my scarf to complement this dress .  I used rayon/silk velvet from Thai Silks    Christine says It’s imperative to use this type of velvet.  The natural fibers crush beautifully under the iron’s heat and pressure.    Here’s how I made this scarf: 

 1.  Buy 2 yards of 42 inch fabric.  (If you’re shorter than my 5 feet 9 ¼ inches, you might want to  buy 1 ¾ yards or less.)  Wash it and dry it using regular detergent.  It will become softer and more pliable.  Serge the edges before washing to prevent raveling. 

2.   Fold fabric  lengthwise, right sides together. 

3.   Stitch all around the edges, leaving a small turning hole in the middle of the long edge.  Velvet tends to shift a lot – stitch with a walking foot, or hand baste before stitching with  machine. 

4.   Optional – insert fringe at the short ends!  To keep the  ‘hippy’ look going, I had to have fringe on my scarf.   Here is the trim I used.  It’s from M and J Trim in NYC.  I ordered it from the website, and got it the next day, regular shipping.  (I live near Philadelphia.)  Simply put the trim inside the ends, and stitch it fast.  (It’s easier to baste the trim to one edge first, because the velvet slips around.)  Turn the trim on itself at each end, so you don’t have raw edges peeking out. 

5.   Turn right side out.  Slip stitch the turning hole closed by hand.  One long edge is folded, one long edge is sewn, and the two short edges have trim inserted. Your scarf is double layered, wrong sides together.  Press the edges so they’re ‘sharp’.  The crushing has started. 

6.   Here’s the FUN part!  Put your iron on full steam and full heat.  Don’t be shy.  Press, twist, turn, your fabric under the heat.  Leave the fabric to dry on your ironing table.  If you don’t like the results, hand wash (if you used trim) or machine wash the scarf, and do it over again.   

That’s it! 

Jomar - My primary, HOMETOWN fabric source!  Jomar now has a website but I never use it.  It's http://www.jomarstore.com.   They have several brick and mortar outlets in the Philadelphia area.  The biggest one is at I street, at Venango Street.  This is in the Juniata Park section of Philadelphia, and is easily accessible from Route 1 (which intersects with Interstates 76 and 95).    There is another excellent Jomar outlet on Whitaker Avenue near Adams.   Another outlet, in Lansdale, is easily accessible from the Northeast Extension of the Penna Turnpike.  Jomar's slogan is, "It's all here... you just have to find it".  Right they are!  I can go to Jomar some days and bring in a great haul.  At other times there's nothing there that appeals to me.  Jomar buys a lot of stuff from designer work rooms but they also have some of the 'standard' stuff.  Many of the fabrics are rolled onto tubes, and inside the tubes, if one looks, are hangtags listing the fabric content, the mill (many from Italy), and the designer name and season for which that fabric was used. Some examples of designer names on this fabric --  "Vittadini", "Karan", "Abboud".   And all at great prices.  Of course, there is no 'guarantee' that  a designer even used this fabric not to mention even laid eyes on it!  .  But the quality of the stuff I buy is great, regardless of its pedigree.  This place is a treasure trove for the enterprising.  . 

New York City - Besides Jomar, My Other Fabric "Mecca"

As  Sinatra and company sang, " New York, New York, it's a wonderful town!, The Bronx is up and the Battery's down, The people ride in a hole in the ground, New York, New York, it's a wonderful town!"  And for me, it's the best place overall to buy fabric.  In addition to targeting the specific stores I'll share here, one of the best things I like to do while in NYC is to wander around in the 'district', which is roughly located from 36th street north to 40th street, between 7th and 8th Avenues.  You can find fabric all over the place, mostly in 'hole in the wall' stores.  If you're lucky, you might also happen upon some garment sample sales.   Daily Candy NYC sometimes sends out notifications of garment sample sales, if you subscribe to their email newsletter.  So you'll know in advance where to go.   But I digress...this is about FABRIC!  The recommendations you'll find here are based on my personal preference for very high quality product combined with helpful staff.  Price is  important to me, but quality is MORE important. (If I'm going to spend my limited time sewing a garment, I want to use the BEST ingredients possible to get the best result possible.)  I say that so you realize my bias before reading what I have to write. 

Here's where I like to go to shop for fabric in NYC and why: 

Metro Textile (also known as "Kashi's"- 237 West 35th Street Suite 504 (between 7th and 8th Aves)

Kashi is moving at the end of January, 2007 to 265 West 37th Street, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10018

Here is Ann (Gorgeous Things and Carolyn (cmarie12) with Kashi during our visit to Kashi's  on October 13, 2006.

Mood Fabrics - 225 West 37th Street, 3rd Floor.  (between 7th and 8th)

I can easily spend 3 hours here and STILL haven't seen it all.   Beautiful, huge selection.  Their service is first rate.  The salespeople here are not at all intrusive, and are very helpful.  If you go there for the first time, introduce yourself to the staff (Rita is very helpful) and ask for  an orientation. This will give you an idea as to what is there and where.  Super high quality fabrics, and more expensive than Kashi, but great selection.  If you see something you like, get it.  Their inventory turn seems to be very  high,and they don't carry 'restockable' fabrics.  They willingly ship for a good price. 

B and J Fabrics - Intersection of 7th Avenue and 38th Street, 3rd Floor

This is THE place to go if you have something specific in mind to buy.  Fabulous organization and selection.  Their prices are high, but no higher than most private fabric stores around the country for the quality.  The place is lit well, they have accessible chairs for 'husbands' and other 'waiting types' to use while you shop.  In my experience, the sales staff pretty much ignore you until you're ready to buy.  Good, if you want to be 'invisible', but I prefer a more forthcoming welcome.  This approach is probably due to their large size and volume of sales.  

Ginsburg Trims - 228 W. 38th Street

Beautiful, high quality, fashion forward selection of all kinds of garment trims.  Extremely helpful staff.  I like their featured storyboard, as you enter the shop, which they keep up to date, educating the buyer on the latest fashion developments (and of course, their products!)  Here is a link to their website.  I've never ordered on the web from them; I just go there in person, as it's much more fun (and I live only 1 1/2 hours away so it's an easy day trip for me).    There is a good cafe next door, at 240 W. 38th, which I like to go to for lunch.  It used to be an italian place called Veronica's, but now it's kind of a generic sandwich shop with a nice 'pay by the pound' oriental influenced buffet. I can't remember the name of the place now. This cafe has a pretty nice bathroom, too! 

Tender Buttons - 143 E. 62nd Street

This necessitates a trip uptown from the district. Incidentally, here's how I do it.  From the garment district, get on the NR or W trains (subway trains) at Herald Square area, or Times Square, if you're farther north, and travel uptown, getting off at the Lexington Avenue/59th Street stop.  Detour to see the fabulous Bloomingdale's flagship store located at 59th and Lexington, (they have nice bathrooms - the ones I use are in the lingerie department), then walk up to 62nd street arriving at  Tender Buttons. 

This is a super small store, but what a fabulous, world class selection of buttons.  The staff is uber-helpful. The store layout is designed with   buttons in boxes (with sample buttons fastened to the ends of the boxes so you can see what's inside), and in the middle of the store is a series of tables.  This allows you to match your fabric to your buttons.  Did I say, BRING YOUR SWATCHES?   Bring your swatches.  Buy exactly the number of buttons you need from the boxes.   Not a carded button in sight, from what I remember. 

From horn, to wood, to slick plastic, to glass, to leather, to fabric frogs, this place has buttons sourced from all over the world.  A few years ago, I bought inlaid horn buttons from Nepal.  If you can't find a button to complement your fabric here, well, I can't imagine....  Really! 

Other Great Fabric Sources: 

I've been a customer of Fabric Mart http://www.fabricmartfabrics.com/   since the early 1990's.  They have great prices on a variety of fashion fabrics, and they send out free  fabric swatch mailers periodically, if you're an active customer.  Located in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania, their brick and mortar store is convenient to Philadelphia and Reading.  Even though they're only 1 hour away from me, I usually mail order from them. 

Michael's Fabrics of Baltimore - Michael and Shari Bearman are responsive, reliable internet fabric sellers, and can be found at http://www.michaelsfabrics.com  They offer some woolens and linens that are simply unavailable to average sewers in the typical market, and their prices are very reasonable.