Captive Illusions Market Place Maintained by:   dream77catcher( 8923) Stocking 100% Cotton Fabric, 100% Cotton Flannel, Sewing Patterns by Butterick, McCalls and Simplicity, Ceramic Decals, Custom Fabric Mousepads (mouse pads), Personalized Embroidered Christmas Stockings, Embroidered Quilt Squares.

Back to previous page  About Me? About Us! Captive Illusions is a family oriented, customer driven business. Our goal is for all of our customers to feel they have received 5 Star Service. For day to day contact you will be hearing from me...Cathy...mother of 3 adult children, grandmother of 5 grandsons and 1 granddaughter. Due to the economy I currently share my home with my 2 sons and their families. That makes 5 adults and 5 children under 5 years old living under 1 roof. Hectic at times, but lots of fun. Both of my sons have been involved in the computer area of our business as well as shipping and receiving. My granddaughter has been 'eBaying' since she was 2 years old...putting stickers and labels on packages, closing the packages, putting them into the shipping bin. Her Nana gave her a sewing machine this last Christmas and when asked what she would do with her new sewing machine she said "Make something for eBay". My daughter, De'Anna, has been involved since day one and over the years has take on all of our Machine Embroidery work from hats, to quilt blocks, to personalizing Christmas stockings, to jacket backs...she does it all. Including digitizing anything from an idea to a photograph. FABRIC I love to shop for fabric. 100% cotton. Novelty and Romantic prints are my favorites. That's why you'll find so many fabrics with butterflies and ladybugs, skulls and pirates, flowers, paisley and toile. I am always happy to shop for customers...keep an eye out for that one particular fabric. I have a wallet full of pictures of fabric that I take with me every where I go hoping to find just the right fabric so that a customer can finish a project. I am happy to research fabrics and/or techniques and share what I've learned with others. Fabric FAQ: What is a Fat Quarter? A fat quarter is 1/4 of a yard of fabric but instead of measuring 9" X 44" it measures 18" X 22" making the piece of fabric more versatile. Do you sell fat quarter fabric by the yard? When 2 fat quarters are purchased I automatically will ship 1/2 yard of fabric. When 4 fat quarters are purchased I will ship 1 yard of fabric. As long as an even number of fat quarters are purchased 1 piece of fabric will be shipped. If an odd number of fat quarters are purchased 2 piece of fabric will be sent as the largest even number in 1 piece plus the odd fat quarter. For instance 17 fat quarters will be shipped as 4 yards of fabric plus a separate fat quarter. Do you have more of this fabric? Usually the amount listed is the amount in stock; however, there are times all of the fabric available has not been listed. Please ask. Can you get more of this fabric? Always happy to try to find more of whatever you need and create a listing for you if I find it. How much do you charge for a yard of this fabric? 4 fat quarters equal 1 yard so 4 times the fat quarter price is the per yard price. Do you combine shipping? Yes! I can usually fit 6 yards of fabric (not flannel) in a flat rate envelope for $5.25 anywhere in the USA. I can fit 20 to 24 yards of fabric in a flat rate box for $11.00 shipping anywhere in the USA. Do you ship Internationally? Yes! Priority Envelopes fit up to 6 yards, Priority Boxes fit up to 24 yards. Please request a shipping quote. We mark all international products according to the USPS codes. Customer is responsible for all import, custom, tax or duties fees generated by their country. PATTERNS I try to keep a nice selection of Simplicity and McCall's sewing patterns along with a few Butterick and Vintage Butterick patterns in stock at all times. I only scan the front of each pattern as you can easily pop onto the Simplicity or McCall websites, do a product search and view all the details about any pattern (measurements, fabric and notions needed, suggested fabric, etc.). By checking the back of the pattern you can be assured that you are purchasing the correct size and you can start gathering your fabric and notions before you even have a pattern in hand. I ship daily so you will probably have any patterns you purchase from me within a few days. DECALS From 1992-1996 my mom and I owned a retail ceramic store. Where you have ceramics, you have decals. Of course, all of those decals are long gone but not the contacts we made. I continue to purchase decals from the same trusted vendors. Again, I love to shop so don't be shy about asking for a particular decal or decals in general. I'm happy to see what I can come up with for you. I'll email pictures of what I find as well as prices and let you decide what you would like. Once we've come to an agreement, I'll order the decals and set up a listing for you when they come in. BASIC DECAL APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS: Trim around the decal removing most of the excess backing. Place the decal into a shallow dish of warm water (cold water will take longer for the paper backing to separate and hot water can ruin the decal). The decal will curl as it begins to soak up water. It will begin to uncurl as it releases from the paper backing (approximately 20 seconds). Once the decal slides easily from the paper backing it is ready to slide onto your project. Do not allow the decal to float off in the water. Make sure the area you will be placing the decal on is free from dirt and/or grease. Lightly wet the area where you will be placing the decal, then slide the decal off its paper backing and onto your project. Work from the center outward to remove all excess water and air bubbles. Begin by using a damp sponge and finish with a soft cloth. Let the decal dry for 24 hours before firing. Glazed Ceramics Firing decals brings out the true colors. Follow the Basic Decal Instructions. Kiln fire between .015 and .017 for regular decals and .018 for gold decals. For Soap Follow Basic Decal Instructions. No firing or sealant is necessary. With use the bar of soap will become smaller and smaller leaving the decal intact. For Candles Cut decal as close to the design as possible which will hide the edges after the decal has been applied. For lasting protection, brush on 2 coats of clear sealer (which you can purchase at any craft store). For Scrapbooks Soak decal off paper backing. Apply a light coat of Tacky Glue to the back of the decal. Place decal glue side down onto scrapbook paper. Eliminate any excess glue from behind decal using a soft, slightly damp sponge. Let dry at room temperature for 24 hours. Be careful not to use too much glue or water as the scrapbook paper will wrinkle. For Wood Cut decal as close to design as possible. Follow Scrapbook Instructions. Brush or Spray on 2 or 3 light coats of clear sealer. Decal Survival Tips Tip #1: Any water or air that remains trapped under the decal will cause the decal to burn off in the spot during kiln firing. Tip #2: Do not rub the decal after it has dried because it may tear. Tip #3: When working on a curved surface it helps to warm your piece by filling it with warm water or holding a warm cloth against the piece; however, the decal will become more fragile and will tear easily. If your decal tears, it can still be used provided you can line up the design. Tip #4: Do not apply decals to surfaces that come in contact with food or drink. On cups or mugs leave at least 1/2" between the rim of the cup and the decal. Tip #5: Have Fun! Use them on tiles, ladder back chairs, mirrors, dresser drawers, kitchen cabinets. The uses are limited only by your imagination. EMBROIDERY De'Anna and David use an Amaya 16 needle industrial embroidery machine nick named Amy to achieve professional, high quality embroidered products. They are in the process of developing a website to showcase all that Amy can do. With over 300 colors of thread in stock including silver, gold, bronze and copper metallics, they can usually match any projects color theme. Quilt Blocks Quilt blocks are designs embroidered on 10" X 10" White Kona 100% Quilter's Cotton. The blocks can then be trimmed down to any size. Quilt blocks can be used in quilts, totes, wall hangings, pillows, memory boxes, scrapbooks, dresser or mantle scarves, Christmas tree skirts...wherever your imagine leads you. We are in the process of designing new and innovative subject matter that can be done in redwork, bluework, or even pink, green, purple or blackwork. Whatever color you need to match your project. Themes you will be seeing listed soon are Flowers of the Month, Tattoo Party, Mystical Creatures, Fairies and Nymphs.Christmas Stockings Every year we personalize hundreds of Christmas stockings...some we have made, some we have purchased. Either way you can be assured of receiving a quality product with beautiful embroidery. Hats Current projects include hats for a wedding party to wear during rehearsal, hats for a family reunion and hats for summer camp at Nana and Papa's. We are happy to embroider one hat or dozens of hats. Your design or our design. Your hat or our hats. Custom Embroidery We can embroider just about anything on just about anything. We have an extensive library of designs...well over 10,000 designs. Amy happily embroiders on delicate linen handkerchiefs, denim jackets, broadcloth, nylon, terrycloth, fleece, etc. Your subject can be emailed to De'Anna and she'll digitize it and email back a sample for approval. Once you are satisfied with the design De'Anna and Amy will begin working on your custom project. All custom orders are quoted individually and are placed in the que for embroidery as orders are received. If time is of the essence, please let De'Anna know and she will work with you to make sure your project is received in plenty of time. Rest assured that you will receive our best price, best product and best leadtime. FEATURED ITEMS Periodically we will list family attic relics. There is usually a purpose behind the listings that we do not advertise within the listings. For instance my sister donated her deceased husband's collection of Avon Steins which we have listed in our eBay store and occasionally put on auction. The proceeds from the steins goes to our niece, Carrie, to help with college costs. SHIPPING We do our best to provide accurate shipping costs in every listing. If shipping runs a little higher than expected, we will cover the difference without fail. If shipping is much less than expected we will process a refund a the time of shipping. Please note that in most cases the customer invoice will already be sealed in the package therefore it will not reflect the refund. Shipping is processed Monday through Friday and occasionally on Saturday. All packages no matter how small are shipped with Delivery Confirmation, including international shipments. The tracking information will be emailed to you when your package ships. IN CONCLUSION If you have read all the way through this, i hope you feel as if you know us and can trust us. Each and every one of our customers is important. We try our best to show you that we care about your experience with us. Favorite Links Captive Illusions

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