Kraft-Tex paper fabric - anybody played with this yet?
 

This stuff is SO COOL!

I'd seen it online, but awhile back a lady in our guild brought some in and showed it off a little and it's really neat.

If you haven't heard of it - it looks like paper, but is washable like fabric. It doesn't fray. It's pretty thick and supposed to be fairly durable. It's like vinyl, though, in that needle holes don't "heal".

I have a birthday next month so I used that as an excuse to treat myself to a whole bolt of this stuff in black. (bought it from Amazon) It comes in kraft, black, white, and now I think they're coming out with more colors like grey and chocolate brown. The kraft color in particular looks a lot like leather if you sew it up right.

Mine just arrived last night, I hope to play with it this weekend. It can be sewn, painted, stamped, embossed...just about anything you can do with paper or with fabric you can probably do with this stuff.

I want to do some drawing and printing on it, and then sew it into tote bags, and if I get brave enough I'm thinking of using it to make a wallet for my sister - I think the black will look leather-ish if sewn into a wallet too.

It gets crinkly looking after you wash it - like a paper bag you've rumpled up and smoothed back out. So it gives some interesting texture options. (They recommend pre-washing if you're going to use it in something washable.)

I want to experiment with a piece and try washing it a few times and see if it gets soft enough to be used in quilts. I thought it might make a cool and unique way to put on labels - since it doesn't fray you could sew it on sort of like a Levi's leather label patch, with the raw edges exposed. Hmmm...in fact, I'm working on a denim quilt, a little rectangle of the kraft colored stuff WOULD be the perfect label since it'd look like leather... Some experimenting is definitely in order - I don't know how colorfast it is yet if you use a sharpie or something.... Hmmmm!!!

sounds interesting... please be sure and let us know how it behaves after a few washings

Never heard of it. Should be interesting to see how it works.

Thanks for the info. I'll have to check it out. Please keep us posted on it "behaves".

I also have read about it. Good to get some 'real life' reviews!
Hmm, just looked at my bookmark. What I read about was Smart-Fab®. I'll have to look into the Kraft-Tex. Looks like it's a totally different product.

I had to go look at this product.
Here in Canada, Staples carries it in black and white.
Of course the price is high but looks like it would last for quite a while.

http://www.staples.ca/directory_kraf...c=googleserpss

Interesting - I'd never heard of Smart-Fab! I just Googled it and I keep seeing it described as "disposable fabric" - I wonder why they call it that? Maybe Kraft-Tex is heavier? It is pretty thick stuff. Smart-Fab sure is a lot cheaper and comes in a lot more colors.

See what you've done? Now I have to buy some of THAT to experiment with, too! LOL

I do some paper crafting and book binding too, so these products fascinate me for a whole list of reasons. :)

Hadn't seen it before either, watched the product videos here. http://www.ctpub.com/kraft-tex-style/

I was thinking about using the SmartFab to try out some tote bag patterns I'm developing in my head ;-). Sounds like it would be perfect for something like that. I wouldn't actually use the tote, but I could see how the shape looked and hopefully work out any design flaws before cutting any 'real' fabric.
I also do a lot of paper crafting (I am the Paper Princess!) and also do bookbinding.

I have seen it at Hobby Lobby. It looks like paper. Supposedly, when you wash it, it looks more like leather??? It is on my "maybe do" list. Will be looking forward to your posted results. (You will do pictures, won't you?)