OWOP: A week in review!

I really loved doing the One Week, One Pattern challenge! It was just the right length of time - I wouldn’t make it through a whole me-made month yet, with only 3 months of garment sewing behind me. I was happy wearing my Colette Peony every day (except for the one day I was home sick), and always felt pretty and professional. 

I wore three Peony’s this week: silvery-blue, black mini-floral, and my new Larkspur version!

It’s hovering around 0 here in Canada, so you can see that cardigans and fleece tights really got me through the week! 

Here’s what I learned about the pattern: 

• Don’t fear zippers. I like the closer fit that they allow! 


• The neck facings on my silvery-blue “wearable muslin” are annoying - I much prefer the versions with piping or bias tape instead. 


• It’s really worth lining any dress that I need to wear with tights! 

As I said yesterday when I wrote about my final day of OWOP, I really enjoyed participating in this challenge! I’m new to sewing, so it was really great to feel truly part of the online community. I’m so impressed at the beautiful things that other people have created, and I particularly liked seeing normal day-to-day outfit pictures. Not everyday can be a cutely accessorized, perfectly-posed photo shoot, so it was great to keep things realistic! Tilly, it was a huge success, and thanks so much for organizing it! 

If you want to see what I wore each day, here are the links: 

• Day 1: Black Floral Peony
  


• Day 2: Silvery Blue Peony


• Day 3: Silvery Blue Peony


• Day 4: Home sick in bed! :(


• Day 5: Silvery Blue Peony


• Day 6: Black Floral Peony


• Day 7: Larkspur Peony

The Last OWOP: Day 7

This has been a tough week - but OWOP was a bright spot! I loved wearing my dresses, and I really enjoyed watching other people’s outfits pop up online. Most of all, I loved being part of an active and inspiring community of like-minded people! Thank you! 

Two days a week, I am a supply teacher, but I do teach three afternoons a week at one particular school. I didn’t want to wear the same dress twice over three days, which gave me great motivation to make a third Peony. I’ve been working away at it, and here it finally is!

It’s a basic cotton version, made with two kinds of Alexander Henry Larkspur. It’s got a few secrets, but I’ll leave that for a full post this weekend! 

After a few days of taken-by-me-in-the-car pictures, I was lucky enough to get BOTH parents taking pictures of me this morning! Thanks guys! :) 

I’d like to shout out a thank you to Tilly from Tilly and the Buttons, who dreamed up and hosted this first OWOP. It’s really been a fun experience, and I’m grateful to her for proposing it! 

OWOP: Day 6

So here I am, wearing light cotton dresses all week, and BAM! This is what I wake up to: 

Oh yeah, that’s snow. Which is entirely seasonal for Ontario, but we got spoiled with some early summer last week and it’s so disconcerting to be suddenly back to winter! (Not to mention that Japanese spring will be glorious right now, with sunshine, cherry blossoms and drinking in the park!) Sometimes I forget I’m Canadian. 

So here I am, with another car shot, rushing off to work in the morning: 

I just couldn’t make J get out of bed to take a picture, so I rested my phone on the car door instead, and took a quick timer shot. Note the cardigan and fleece tights - and trust me that my winter peacoat was in the car! After getting caught supply-teaching gym outside the other day with bare legs in -1 degree temperatures, I have learned my lesson!

(Side note: I taught G1-2 French Immersion today, before running over to my normal gig… and man, trying to control behavioural students in a language that is neither yours nor theirs is an interesting task! By Grade 3 they start calling me on my grammar mistakes, but the kids today didn’t really seem to notice. Phew!) 

So heaven knows there isn’t much new or interesting about my Peonies at this point - so instead, here are a few accessories I’ve made and wear often! 

First off, a simple elastic belt. It’s made with really soft and stretchy elastic, with this little loop detail that covers the seam. It’s like a bow, but a little less froufrou. I’ve made two of these, and I love how easily it goes with everything.

Secondly, a burnt-polyester flower. (Sounds awful, looks nice!) I made a bunch of these for my wedding, and this was a leftover. This particular one is a few shade of purple, and again, it seems to match lots of things. There are plenty of tutorials for these flowers online, and once you get the hang of it, they are easy and fun! I actually sell my versions here matched with an elastic reversible belt. 

Tomorrow is the last day of OWOP, which means I’d better get going and hem my final version. In the mean time, I’d love to hear what YOUR go-to accessories are! If you were packing a suitcase and could only bring a few things that would go with everything, what would you choose? 

OWOP: Day 5

Guys, I am an OWOP failure. At least I was yesterday! I’ve come down with a really bad cold this week, so I booked yesterday afternoon off to go see a doctor… and didn’t end up with any supply teaching calls for the morning! With a whole day to rest in bed, Peony was just not the right outfit! (And it felt wrong to dress up to see the doc!) Instead I wore pjs all day. Sorry, OWOP! Just to balance things out though, I did insert a zipper into to my third and final Peony, to be revealed on Friday! 

Here’s me today, in the car about to drive to work. I don’t know how everyone else seems to make time for lovely posed pictures… I was happy to snap this and move on! :) Let’s just call it realism, k?

I’ve been enjoying OWOPing so far - though I was really excited yesterday to pull on jeans for the first time this week! I think it would be much easier to wear just one pattern if it was separates. Still, I feel good in my Peony every day, and I love seeing everyone else’s pictures pop up on the net! 

Two more days!

A Tropical Truffle!

Doesn’t this dress make you want to sip a colourful cocktail with a paper umbrella? It’s such a summer dress - unfortunately, it’s -1 degree today! Silly Canadian spring! 

This is the third of the patterns from the Colette Handbook, and probably the last of the  projects I’ll make for the Colette Sew-Along. I’m not enamoured of the last two patterns, and I have other things to work on! 

Still, I’m rather in love with this one. It’s my first fully-lined dress, and it fits beautifully! I finally bit the bullet and put in a zipper, which let me fit the bodice more snuggly. 

The dress has a little drape/ruffle/peplum thingy which makes everything feel a little more flirty. I like how softly it drapes in this fabric. 

Speaking of fabric, I got mine at a second hand store in Ottawa - About $3 for 3m! I’d been planning to use the same lovely periwinkle polkadot rayon that A Good Wardrobe used for her Truffle, but I chickened out. I wanted to finish on time, not get bogged down with slippery fabric! 

I’m not sure what this fabric is made of, or when it was made… It’s quite lightweight and has a great slubbed texture. The bright, bold print reminds me a little of my Grandma, who was 6 foot tall and wore fabulous custom-tailored clothes in big prints all through the 60’s and 70’s. She and my Grandpa toured the world and spent 2 years living in France after they retired - not bad for a teacher and minister! 

Back to the dress: 

• I put in an invisible zipper. It’s not perfect, but it’s darn good! 


• Because of the zipper, this dress is much snugger than the pull-over-the-head Peony’s I’ve been making. Snug, but not tight. It feels more like a party or date dress than a teaching dress!


• The bodice is lined with a white cotton bedsheet (which worked well for stiffness and opacity) and the skirt is lined with white lining!


• I lowered the horizontal bust dart, raised the waist, and added an inch to each strap so that they cover the bra better and won’t sag off my shoulder like my muslin does! 


• Thanks to advice from the lovely people in the Sew Colette Sew-Along, I tried spray starch on my lining fabric - and it was amazing!!! I’m totally convert. Thanks!

And that’s it! I love the pattern, and I’d definitely make it again with out a the ruffle… but I’m not sure how many ruffled dresses a girl can really have. I’m thinking two. So maybe I’ll still make the polkadot version? 

Happy sewing, everyone - or enjoy whatever it is that you do for fun! 

OWOP: Day 3                                                                                                                

Supply teaching today in Peony + Sweater. This challenge is made much easier by the fact that different schools see me every day! :) 

OWOP: Day Two

                                                                                                                                      
Another day, another Peony! (Literally - My goal today is to make a third Peony, using two different Alexander Henry Larkspur prints, and borrowing the ruffle from the Coffee Date Dress by the Selfish Seamstress!  

  

(Fabric pictures linked from Hawthorne Threads.)

OWOP: Day 1

Today is the first day of the One Week, One Pattern, hosted by Tilly and the Buttons. The goal is to celebrate your love for one pattern that you love by wearing versions of it all week! Since I only started sewing clothes in two months ago, I don’t have many choices! I only have multiples of one thing, so the Colette Peony it is! 

Spring has started early in Ontario, so todays outfit is pretty simple: Dress! Plus belt! And… wait for it… shoes! And that’s it. 

I spent a wonderful day sewing with my friend Jenn. (We met in Grade 2, and now we’re lucky enough to teach at the same school!) She’s done a few small projects before, but she jumped right in with a really cute halter dress pattern, and in no time she was roller-cutting out pattern pieces like a pro! She whipped together a muslin for the bodice, and cut out all the fashion fabric and lining, so next time she’ll be able to jump right in with the fun stuff! I’m glad she had fun, and I hope she comes back soon! 

I spent the day working on my Truffle for the Sew Colette sew-along - I’m determined to get ONE of the challenges done on time! I’m not planning on making either of the two final patterns, so this is my last shot. 

I’m so pleased with how it is turned out! (It’s not finished in the picture, but it is finished now in real life!) I was worried about turning the lining inside out, and scared not to be able to fit it until the very end… but I think it’s actually my best fit yet. Close-fitting, but not tight. Hurray! Even better, it’s second-hand vintage fabric that only cost a few bucks! Cheap and cheerful! 

My other sewing project for the day was just a little different… 

Updating J’s “battle jacket”! He’s been adding and subtracting to this jacket for two years now, adapting it as his metal tastes change. He spent hours last night with a stitch ripper carefully tacking off at least 15 patches that were on the back. (I do love a man who sews!) Today I sewed on this huge silk-screen back patch, and a few more patches. If you look closely, even on this blurry picture you can see the grungy brown between where the old patches were, and the bright blue of the original denim! Grungy and scuzzy, just as he likes it! 

Did Pinterest just become more ethical?

This morning, I woke up to find an email from Pinterest about changes to their Terms of Service. Could it be that they’ve actually listened to all the dissatisfied users? 

(Image from http://www.knoed.com/thewindowseat/pinterest-change-your-terms-or-were-leaving/) 

Well, it seems they changed, so - hurray! I don’t have to give up Pinterest! Or do I?

There has been all kinds of debate online about the fact that, under the old terms, they owned any image that you pinned. Now they say: 

“Our original Terms stated that by posting content to Pinterest you grant Pinterest the right for to sell your content. Selling content was never our intention and we removed this from our updated Terms.”

Awesome! But what about the legality of it all? Am I still liable to be sued for pinning someones picture without permission? 

The only information mentioning copyright in the email was this:

“We released simpler tools for anyone to report alleged copyright or trademark infringements.”

That doesn’t sound like a real solution to me… It’s good if copyright issues can be solves smoothly within Pinterest, but can they still sue me? I’m hoping that one of the legal experts who has been debating this can give me an answer I trust.  

Until then, I’m happy and really impressed that Pinterest changed so quickly, but I won’t go back to wild pinning sprees until I know more! 

She's done it again!

In 2011, my sister had her first knitting design published… and she’s done it again! I was just reading through A needle Pulling Thread, a Canadian needlecraft magazine, when there, on the last page, was a design a recognized! I’m so proud of Anne - She is a seriously amazing knitter, and it’s pretty awesome to see her take on the knitting world! (Seriously, check her blog link in my righthand sidebar!) 

(Her design in the second from the left in the bottom row!)

I’m not positive, but I think the brief was to design something really simple for beginners. Anne came up with a beach cover-up made that was basically made from two scarves sewn together. It creates a really cute v-neck dress with a lace-work band to pull a drawstring waistband through. It looks great! (Honestly, I was wearing a very similar dress today myself!)

Just for reference, here is her first design: The Chawton Mittens in the Jane Austen Knit’s magazine. A rather more challenging design! 

Congratulations, Anne!

A Turquoise Truffle! (And why I miss fabric shopping in Japan!)

Next up in the Colette Sew Along is the Truffle dress.

 

I wasn’t nuts about it at first, but when I looked closer, it’s really a great dress! I like the bodice, I like the a-line skirt… I’m not convinced that I love the ruffle, but I’m willing to give it a try! 

But of course, like a good little modern sewer (sewist?), I made a muslin first. Just the bodice, to see how it fit. I had the same fitting problems as I did with the Peony - gaping and wide at the neck and shoulders, and a the side darts too high. 

Then, of course, I had to do a second muslin to see if the changes I made would work! (Seriously, all these versions sorta drain my motivation to make the final dress once I finally get to that stage. Do you find that too?) 

I looked around my craftroom for a fabric to use… and spotted this beautiful bright jade green cotton that I’d bought in Japan. 

I threw it in the wash to pre-shrink it, and when I pulled it out, you know what I realised??? IT’S JAPANESE DOUBLE GAUZE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I paid a $1/m!!!!!!!!!!! And I bought TEN metres!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ahahahahaha!!! (Cue insane laughter!)  

(For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, double gauze is a really popular fabric in Japan that is two incredibly soft, delicate layers of cotton that have been woven together at regular intervals to create a single fabric. (If you look closely in the picture above, you can see the dimples.) It’s soft like butter, with lovely drape, and so airy and comfortable to wear. If you buy it North America, if would be minimun $16 or $17/m. I’m so excited to find that I have a huge stash of it for cheap! )

Enough talking - Time for the dress! 

Surprise! I’ve had this thrifted polkadot skirt ready to refashion for a year, and it finally met it’s match. I just top-stitched the shirt onto the bodice, put in zipper, and voila! A dress! 

Here’s the good news: Pockets!

Also, I love turquoise, and I love polkadots. I was visiting my in-laws when I took this pictrue, so I didn’t have an accessories on (including shoes!), but I think it will be cute with a chunky necklace and a little belt. 

I guess my in-law’s dog agreed that I was under-accessorized, because he gave me this:

A huge muddy paw-print! He was drinking the swappy water from the puddles, and went a little insane… jumped on me, pounced on Jamie, and wet even more wall-eyed than normal! Ahhh, bulldogs. Not much between the ears. 

Aside from the mud, which has washed out nicely, I can see a few things to change. The bodice is still a bit loose on me, and the straps are just a bit narrow and yet somehow wide apart on my shoulders! The two colours don;t match perfectly, but it’s better in person than in pictures. Although I usually like a short-waisted dress, I think I went a bit far on this one - I wish the skirt started an inch lower on my waist. 

With that in mind, I’ve started cutting my final version from a delightfully bright vintage floral print. Hopefully it will be finished by the deadline for once! 

Zakka Patchwork Placemats

Once upon a time, long long ago (February 4th, to be exact!) I posted a blurry and dim photo of some patchwork placemats I made for my sister's housewarming party.

I’d forgotten to take any pics, so she kindly sent me oodles of gorgeous photos to choose from… and I forgot to blog about them! Gomen ne, Anne! (Sorry!) 

Backstory: My sister and brother-in-law Dan (That’s Dan B, not my other BIL Dan McB!) moved from their dingy student apartment into a sweet little house. Over Christmas, Anne and I looked at fabrics online for a set of placemats. It was fun to look - but although we love many of the same things, we’ve got very different tastes! She’s got an appreciation for neutrals and delicate prints that just isn’t quite me. (Case in point: Her childhood bedroom was painted cornflower blue with white trim. Mine is ochre yellow and dark red!) 

Here are some of the prints she liked: 

 

 

I love the blue and white theme, but I don’t have much in my stash that fits that look. Well, that’s what I thought… but with a bit of searching, I came across a set of three co-ordinating blue gingham linen-blend fat quarters that I bought in Japan for just $3! (Man, I miss that store!) Add in some bright lime green prints, and huzzah, a colour scheme was born! 

The large and small gingham, and the heathered solid blue are from the fat quarter set, and the green polka dots and blue star/snowflakes are left from a quilt I made last year.  But my favourite fabric of all is the aqua and lime floral linen, which comes from a ragged old tea towel that always went on family canoe trips! 

Anne recognised it right away, which made me happy! 

Each one of the four mats has a different design.. I sketched them out quickly on paper, and estimated some measurements before cutting fabric out. It was lots of fun to sew together! 

*BONUS: Can you see the cute kitty fabric?)

Of course, what you can’t see here is the disaster that lays underneath! I used an old blue bedsheet for the backing (with heatproof batting inside)… and then realized that the gingham fat quarters had never been pre-washed! Of course, the patchwork top shrank at least an inch… and the well-washed backing did not! It’s a terrible bubbling mess back there. Oh well! I’m happy to report that they are getting use and being enjoyed. Thanks for putting up with my poorly planned process, Anne! 

What I enjoyed most about this project was channeling the Japanese zakka style. It was a challenge to keep things restrained and sweetly classic… and it turns out I loved it! 

Finally, another bonus: Here’s a pillow I made with an identical fat quarter set in grey. Can you guess what kind of doggies she has? 

Spring Sewing!

Suddenly, it’s spring! In the two weeks of school before March Break, we had THREE no-bus days at school because of snow and ice… and now, it’s 20 degrees! Better yet, we’re housesitting for Jamie’s parents out in the country, where is looks like this: 

That’s a one-room schoolhouse in the distance, right on the family’s property. We got married just in front of that side wall, so it will always have good memories for me! 

Yesterday I drove to Port Dover, where the beach was crowded despite the fog: 

In honour of the lovely weather, I’ve been sewing some cheerful striped infinity scarves, like the ones I sold here. (Yes, yes, I know scarves are usually for winter, but I’m always excited to switch over to my summer scarf collection!) One is for me, one is for my Covert Robin (Secret Sewing Santa), and the last one is for… me? Someone? For sale? I don’t know yet! 

As always, If I bothered to pin, things would turn out better… but then there wouldn’t be any problems to solve as I go! I bought a huge order from Fabric.com a month ago, with all kinds of lovely jersey for >$5 per metre. I think I ended up with about 20 metres of fabric! (Oh dear, don’t do that math on how much I spent!) I’m hoping I can sell some items at farmer’s markets etc over the summer, but I don’t have anything lined up yet! 

The first one is a simple black and white number, with no trim: 

The next one is teal and white… When I sewed the side seams, the striped side stretched out more than the white tissue jersey, so I ended up with an extra 25cm of stripes hanging off the end. I chopped them off, and turned that fabric into the little loop going around the scarf. 

The last one is a rather deluxe version for myself: wider, heavier fabric plus pom poms! I like the contrasting stripes a lot, though I think it would be cooler if one was finer and one wide. 

The problem is, with all that fabric and trim, it’s rather a lot! It just feels too bulky and fussy. I’ll wear it a few times or a fair trial, but I might end up narrowing it a bit. 

Still, it was a fun day of sewing, and I enjoyed cranking out lots of stuff! 

One more day of holiday, then it’s back to school… of course, I don’t have any supply teaching booked for Monday, so maybe, just maybe, I’ll have an extra day of holiday! 

Embellished sweater in action!!! (and in Ottawa!) Thanks for being my model and muse, Mom!

Sweater Refashion!

A few months ago, my Mom donate this boiled wool sweater to my crafting pile. It had ratty wool fringe around the edges, and was looking dated. Fast forward a few months, and Mom’s birthday was coming up… so being the frugal (i.e. broke) daughter that I am, I decided to give it back to her!

The first thing I did was cut off all the fringe! I also rolled the shawl collar under and hand-stitched it in place with brown wool. It makes much more flattering collar! I also used the machine to take in the sides a bit to make it all less boxy. I debated some more drastic changes, but decided to keep it simple!

Then came the fun part: Embellishing! I’m a total sucker for cherry blossoms, so I grabbed a piece of Japanese sakura fabric for inspiration. While the sweater was on the dress form, I did a running stitch in cream wool for the branches. I started playing with wool flowers leftover from my latest round of broach-making, and voila! Cherry blossom sweater. I actually did some needle-felting on the flowers too, but didn’t really like how it looked… I ended up stitching a cream cross-stitch on each blossom instead. Sometimes enough is enough!

I always find it a bit awkward giving people handmade gifts - There’s always a part of me that worries they are faking that they like it! I’m happy to say that Nom was wearing it yesterday! More pictures to follow!

OWOP, bop-bop mmm-bop!

Blame Tilly and the Buttons, but I’ve got Hanson stuck in my head! (Which, incidentally, gives me very strong memories of being in a bus in Holland on a choir tour when I was 15!)                                                                                                                                            

This month, Tilly has proposed a cunning plan: Wear clothes sewn from just one pattern every day for a week, starting March 24th! One Week, One Pattern: OWOP! (Can you hear it now? OWAP, bop-bop, mmm-bop!) I think it’s a brilliant way to encourage people to really get to know one pattern, instead of flitting from new thing to new thing… Especially since indie patterns often cost $15-20, it’s just not cost-effective to only make them once! Plus, with all the emphasis on making muslins and perfecting the fit that is in the blogosphere these days, it makes sense to make lots of versions once you’ve put all that time into customizing it!                                                                                                                                              

Since I’ve only made one skirt and 1.5 dresses in recent memory, I don’t have many patterns to choose from. I think the Sewaholic Pendrell would be a great versatile choice, but since I haven’t made one yet, it might be tough to have 2-3 versions ready by March 24! I’m really excited to make the Colette Truffle this month, but again, I’ll be lucky if I have one done by the deadline!                                                                                                                                              

Which leaves me with only one choice: the Colette Peony! 

I’ve got my wearable muslin in silvery-blue: 

And about 75% of a cotton floral version all sewn up: 

But I’d really like a third choice! Problem is, I’m more excited keep trying new patterns at this point (I know, I know, that’s against the whole point here!) So instead of making a whole third dress, I’m wondering about a refashion of a simple dress I cobbled together last year.

It’s just a gathered skirt sewn to a tank top, with a black elastic “belt”. Problem is, the skirt is unevenly gathered and just unflattering… and the elastic is too tight so I don’t wear it! I have a bit of the skirt fabric leftover, so I’m thinking that maybe I’ll pick it apart, and recut the skirt using the Peony pattern. I don’t knwo if I have enough fabric, but it’s worth a try!