Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Becky and Jimmie from Make made a beating heart headband. We love fashionable geek-tastic crafts; with brocade ribbon from Britex, and a scratchbuilt perfboard Arduino build from Mintduino parts, this is a twinkling success.

Megan at HoliDash made this awesome tutorial for a handy car kit to keep in your car’s glove box. Sew one with Britex Fabrics’ sports fabric from our 4th floor, and then pack it with all the necessary tools and emergency accruements. Band-Aids, tweezers, stain remover, a flashlight, a cell phone battery, toiletries…..and who knows what else. This would make a swell Father’s Day gift for all the dads in your life.

Every day is owlet day. Paula made this adorable owlet costume for her daughter Billie’s first Halloween, and then gave a shout-out to Britex special helpers Casey and Abraham. I love Billie’s feathery tufts, calico beak, and button eyes. What a chirpy bouncing baby owl!

Britex fabrics will be open from 10am to 6pm on Martin Luther King Day, Monday, January 16TH.

Jeffery from the tailoring blog, Made by Hand: the great Sartorial Debate presents this classic video tutorial on making hand-sewn buttonholes called “Hand Made Buttonholes: Making suit sleeve buttonholes by hand one Sunday morning”, set to music played by Pablo Casals. All that is lacking is a mug of spiced hot chocolate and a sleeping cat.

Pam from off-the-cuff-style has helpfully posted a page from a vintage sewing book, “Dressmaking Made Easy”, 1941, McCall Corporation, on making two piece sleeve plackets. She says, “This is the way I was trained to sew a sleeve placket (also known as a “gauntlet”) by my mentor, an “old world” Tailor with exacting standards of excellence. I still use this method almost every time…a placket with 2 separate pieces, the overlap and underlap. By using 2 pieces, I find I have more control to fold and press most accurately. Additionally a 2-piece placket offers more design opportunities, such as using different fabrics for the over and underlap….even changing the top (peak) of the overlap…perhaps making it square, curved (rounded), and more.” We love these plackets for the debonair touch it adds to shirt sleeves, and are enormously enamored of making ours with a contrasting scrap of fabric; wee bits of flowered Liberty of London cotton lawn are perfect for this purpose!

Paule from Quebec writes, “A lovely and extremely comfortable dress made from Missoni knit brought back to Quebec City from a trip to San Francisco this summer. Thank you Britex for these great fabrics!” We love the rich warm stripes, ranging in shades from raspberry, to rust, to taupe, to rose..…all interspersed with black. What a winsome summer frock!

Britex Fabrics will close at 4pm on New Years Eve, Saturday December 31st, 2011. Have a wonderful New Year!

These silk scarves are exquisite, and would be très stunning thrown over a black sheath dress and worn to a New Years Eve party. Imported from romantic Italy, they are beautifully drapable, infused with gorgeously rich colors, and soft as a kitten’s belly. These are glamorously perfect for sipping champagne by candlelight! And for New Years Eve, we have marked them down for Britex Fabrics customers; mention that you read about this special on our blog or Facebook page, and buy a silk panel for $150 (normally $195). Each panel is approximately 1 ½ yards long, by 54” wide, and found on the 1st floor of Britex Fabrics in San Francisco. This special price is good Wednesday, December 28th to Saturday, December 31st!

Simon loves Britex Fabrics. I hardly need to elaborate, but will let the footage speak for itself as this adorable tabby squirms, sniffs, nudges, and wiggles in a Britex fabrics shopping bag.  No, the bag was not spiked with kitty treats, but his parents, Marlo and Scott said, “Simon has been enjoying this bag all week. It is a big and stiff paper bag with upholstery fabric inside. He loves it. He just loved the pretty new fabric!”