Image from the Electronic Swatchbook

To quote from the Electronic Swatchbook home page:

Swatches or small samples of fabric have been collected and compiled in the form of swatchbooks for at least 300 years. The Powerhouse Museum has several volumes containing thousands of bright, unfaded samples of fashionable fabric designs, braids and laces ranging from the 1830s to the 1920s.

YOu can zoom in on individual images, email them, randomise them - lots of possibilities, including downloading (and they’re big, detailed files that can be 8mb in size). Check the legals info to see if they’re public domain in your country (they are in Australia - the Powerhouse Museum is in Sydney), or just browse and enjoy.

Create a fashion item using old denim. Either customise the denim or make something else. Your creation should be made ecologically; the denim you used is to be thrown away or you used sustainable material to customise it. ::read more here

The block printed fabric at Make It is really gorgeous, I especially enjoy seeing the design process.

The Green Project & Recycle for the Arts

Duration of fundraiser: March and April :: Money goes to: The Green Project, an organization based in New Orleans that salvages and recycles building supplies and other materials. Their work, which provides low cost building materials, has become particularly important as this area works to rebuild following Hurricane Katrina. And Recycle for the Arts, a subset of The Green Project which offers recycled art workshops and provides recycled art materials to local artists, schools, and art programs. :: How to donate: go to first giving run by MissMalaprop

A chance for craftsters to pitch their products to be featured and sold on fredflare.com! This year there is a $1000 prize for the fred fan favorite! ::Info here.

I didn’t get around to posting this when Amy first opened her online store selling a limited range of products. No fabrics for sale here, but she does have a new stationery line (with Chronicle Books) and scrapbooking supplies (with K & Company).

thank you for all the great entries in the banner comp - If you have been waiting on an email from me for the last 2 days I am sorry - we had been hit by storms and my computer was down for the last 2 days - all back up again now - if you had emailed me to ask about the banner comp in the hours before the comp closed - don’t worry, send through your entry via email today and I will still accept it.