The sweet satisfaction of easy projects!

It’s my second day of summer holidays, and already I’ve gone on an epic fabric quest roadtrip AND made up three quick garments! Now that I don’t have to teach everyday, I’m not feeling like wearing woven dresses as much… so bring on the comfy knits!

#1: Stripy Tank

Inspired by the awesome Renfrew tank dresses made by Andrea from Four Square Walls and Mela from Pincushion Treats, I decided to give a Renfrew tank top a try. I didn’t have much fabric though, so mine is just a shirt! I’ve been liking the loose a-line shape in the Wiksten/Tiny Pocket tanks that everyone has been making lately, so I thought I’d give that a go too! I’m not sure it’s the *most* flattering shape on me, but it sure is comfy!

As Andrea suggested, I used narrow bands to bind off the neck and arms… but I was a bit stuck on how to do the hem. I haven’t figured out all that stitches on my serger yet, so I did some kind of strange fold-fold-serge-open technique that I adapted off a YouTube video. Wish I remembered what it’s called, but you can see a better example in my second shirt!

#2: Kimono Sleeve Tee

I got this fabric for $3.50/m yesterday in Fabricland, which was a big surprise: Usually their knits are either awful or expensive! For this shirt, I just traced around a RTW shirt, then used the Renfrew pattern piece to cut a scoop neck out in the front. I did that weird fold-fold-stitch-open thing on the hem again, with looser tension in the needle threads which gave it this exposed “ladder” stitch on the outside. I still want to figure out how to do a better seam finish, but this will do for now! 

I’ve got one more gift project to sew before the day is out… Back to the sewing room! 

**Edited: Yeah, so that gift project… I only had 50cm, so I tried to cut perpendicular to the grain… and 2 seams it, it was clearly doomed to be way to small. Oh well. Lesson learned: Respect the grainlines!**

My 30th Birthday! (AKA. How I know that I picked the right husband!)

You’ll have to excuse me yet another not-sewing-related post, but it’s officially my first day of summer holiday today, and I’m excited to catch up on blogging the past month!

I turned 30 this month, and got to celebrate my birthday in Canada for the first time in a few years. We had a lovely family BBQ with my parents, my in-laws, and my sister’s in-laws…

I received not one but TWO gift certificates for the local fabric store, and my sister’s MIL gave me to big boxes of sewing notions from her stash! Woohoo! I’m so lucky that everyone supports my sewing so much! 

But the big thrill of the night was my husband’s gift! You see, he’d been making cryptic comments and asking sneaky questions about music and memories from my past for days… and then spent an entire 8-hour day locked away in his study doing something secret! I was dying to know what it was, and he was really nervous about whether I’d like it… Clearly no need to worry, as this next photo sequence shows!

He made me the most wonderful, thoughtful collage of the first 30 years of my life! We only met 4 years ago, but he’s clearly been listening to all of my random anecdotes over the years, because ever detail was just perfectly perfectly planned!  The basic structure is a tree with a branch for each 5 years of my life. The tree is made of turquoise silk from my stash, and the leaves are cut from free records that came with magazines! It’s the perfect blend of him and me. 

Here’s a tour, starting at the roots… There are all kinds of hidden messages and secrets, but I’ve tried to explain a few of the details!

…and the top half, representing our time together…

…and finally, the top left: our wedding last year, and Jamie himself.

I wish I could explain it all as eloquently as Jamie does - Sometimes I forget that he’s an English teacher at heart as well as a Drama teacher! This collage means the world to me though, and I won’t lie: I’m tearing up right now as I type! I just love that he put time and effort into making me happy, and thought of every little detail and significance. (For example, the branches at the top representing our relationship, profession and passions grow out past the frame to show how we’ll continue to grow together! *Tear!*) He also made me a mix CD of songs from each era on the tree, which was a great soundtrack to me week! Money is tight this year, but this free gift was absolutely perfect.

I hope this doesn’t all sound too cheesey… I’m just damned proud of my man. (He knows I’m blogging this, and was rather pleased to be important enough to show off to the world. Um, duh!) The collage is hanging in our room now, and makes me happy every day. Thank you, my darling!

Enough of this sappy stuff - Now for some pictures of a truly ugly dog! 

The weekend after my birthday we had a lovely time with our generation of the family down at my in-laws house in the country. 

Thanks for sticking with me through this long post - I hope that your summer has begun well, and lots of floaty sundresses and short shorts are in your sewing future! I’m heading down to the sewing room for most of the day today, and hoping that I’ll have a maxidress Parfait by the end of it! 

How does your family support your sewing habits? Do they “get” it? 

Some things are just meant to be!

Folks, meet Sarah: 

Same smile, same nose, same head tilt, same expression, and same fashion sense… Despite the purple hair, she looks more like me than my sister. And yet somehow, we are strangers meeting for the first time! 

Last weekend, a very geeky sewing dream came true: to meet a sewing blogger in real life. Oh yes, it’s true - I have a REAL-LIFE sewing friend! I’ve always been rather jealous of the British and American bloggers who get together by the dozen to fabric shop, swap patterns, and coo over each other creations. I try to follow every Canadian blogger that I come across, but we are few and far between. 

Lucky for me, I realized during the Colette Sewalong that one of the hosts, Sarah from Rhinestones and Telephones, actually lives just 2 hours from me in a city near where my in-laws live. When Sarah bemoaned the lack of sewing meetups in Canada, I knew we had to meet!  A few tweets later, plans were made and a shopping date was set!

(How amazing is this comic dress of Sarah? I love her attention to detail and the fabric placement… plus I admire the all-out commitment to being a proud seamstress and nerd!) 

On Saturday, we finally met up. We arrived both wearing turquoise sundresses, and too excited to eat! We hit the shops straight away, and only stopped when our eyes became too glassy to focus on any more cheap loveliness! Sarah is more organised that I, and she’s already blogged about it here.)

Remember last week when I asked about wearing clothes made from recognizable fabric  while fabric shopping? Well, you all told me to do it, and I did! 

You were totally right - It was way more fun! Thanks for the pep talk. 

Of course, massive stacks of fabric were bought…

At the front there, I’ve got coral and navy stretch denim to try making pants; graphic floral linen for a maxi dress; polka dots for a blouse; Navy floral lawn for a Parfait; and some white cotton for underlining. Towards the back, Sarah has some really cute fabric for her daughter, some classic seersucker gingham and stripped shirting, and a really cute (cheap!) floral. Added bonus: We both wore green purses with our turquoise dresses! 

Of course, the shopping was fun… but the best part of the day was finding out just how much we share in common. Some of it superficial and funny, some of it profound. It took me a day or two to process some of our conversations, but the whole experience was reassuring, inspiring, and helpful. Thank you so much, Sarah, for a wonderful day! 

One last picture to end off: Apparently I’m not the only one interested in fabric!

Have you met with other bloggers before? What was the experience like? 

Fabric Shopping Fashion Faux-Pas?

I’m packing for a weekend away, and this question keeps plaguing me: 

Do you wear homemade or RTW clothes when you go fabric shopping? And would you ever wear me-made clothes to the shop where you bought the (recognisable) fabric? 

(My denim dress is me-made of fabric from this store, but I figured no one would be able to tell since I sewed with the fabric inside out!) 

I’m always afraid the clerks will be judging my shoddy seams and wonky fit when I wear me-mades… Though I’m sure they have better things to do! I never wear recognizable fabric to the store where I got it, which is getting tricky since most of my stash comes from the only fabric store in town! 

What do you think? Is it time for me to get over my hang-ups? 

Summer is hot, and the sewing is easy...

It’s hot in Canada this month - hotter and more humid than normal. (Though still cooler and less humid than Japan!) Part of my school are air-conditioned, and parts aren’t… as I tend to jump around and wave my arms like a fool when I teach, so I sweat even in winter! 

Which leads to my newest, fastest make: Sleeveless Pendrell #5! (Or is it #4? One was a disaster. Does it count?) 

*Editors note: OMG, it’s #6! in 3 months? That’s… horrifying? Amazing? I just don’t know!)

It is made of some… umm… fabric. Of some sort. Rayon? I bought it this spring because it matches my spring palette completely. It was a shifty little devil to sew, but if I was less lazy, I would have spray starched it! 

From start to finish, it took 70 minutes! I like how this one falls into slight cap-sleeves… I’ve got to remember to make this an actual design feature, not just as accident of poor fitting! It’s far from perfect, but it’s absolutely wearable. 

Uh, not like this though! Without a belt, it’s frumps-ville. With a belt or tucked in, everything is fine! 

I’m starting to wonder if coworkers will notice I wear versions of the same shirt so much… but really, who cares? Not me, and not them - I’m sure they’ve got other things to think about! For the record, here are my previous versions: 

Do you have any patterns you’ve made an embarrassing number of times?

Pattern Storage!

First things first - Thanks so much to everyone for weighing in on how to finish my seersucker Truffle! I took your advice, and the dress is just waiting for a final press and some thread trimming before I take pictures. It was so nice to wake up to all of your lovely comments overnight! Merci!

Pattern Storage. It’s a bit of a mystery to me. I mean, those tissue sheets NEVER fit back into the envelope, and then there’s my traced pattern, and sometimes a muslin… Once that project is finished, where does it go? So far, the answer has been: On the floor, with all the other patterns and fabric scraps! 

That was all well and good for the first few months… I’d clip the pattern pieces together, and pile them up somewhere… but with more complex patterns, I’m getting paranoid that I’ll loose something important! 

Enter my dollar store solution: Plastic envelopes! 

Each envelope is big enough to hold the original pattern and instructions, as well as my traced and modified version. I had fun labeling and illustrating each pattern using a Sharpie - though I don’t imagine that the fancy labeling will continue every time I make a pattern! For now though, it was fun, and my patterns are all neat and safe for when I need them next.

(However, to my great shame, I missed a letter in one pattern. Did you see it? Did it drive you nuts? Grrr.) 

So, how do you organise your patterns? 

Sartorial Advice, Please!

Hi! Last weekend I started a version of the Colette Truffle in turquoise and white seersucker. 

It’s almost finished… but I’m torn on the finishing details. I have some bias tape that is a perfect match for the turquoise, so I wondered about using it to break up all the tiny stripes… but I’m not sure what looks best! Can you help me?

Here are a couple of the options I’ve played around with: 

I like having a defined waist usually, so something belt like is my go-to… but on the other hand, maybe the diagonal lines of the drape are more flattering if I’m not broken up into lots of little pieces! I don’t have a big “statement” necklace that would work, but making one is another option… or just wearing a belt sometimes! (I do have a turquoise belt, and a white one too!) Or something else entirely?

What do you think? (This is totally reminded me of getting ready to go out with a bunch of girls - I love having second opinions at my beck and call! ;) 

Thanks, ladies!

Adventures in Applique!

Back in the dark ages, before I was confident enough to make my own clothes (you know, the first 28 years of my life!) I had an ongoing love affair with applique. I’d start with some boring RTW basic, and add my own flair! It was the perfect way to make my clothing more personalized without having to handle those annoying construction details. 

Now that the construction and fabric choice is the fun part, I haven’t done much applique lately. I thought it might be fun though to share some of my pre-blog makes! 

#1: The Original Hoodie

In the mid 2000’s, I spent a year working for Girl Guides of Canada. I won this sweatshirt in a raffle at the Christmas party, and then was soundly mocked for dressing like a student at work!

You see, this shirt started out its life with a huge “University of Guelph” logo across the front. (I graduated from Guelph, so I didn’t much mind, but I can see now that it was aiming a bit low for office fashion!) I promptly ripped on the logo, and tried to think of something to cover the obvious damage left behind. I’d just returned from my first two years in Japan, so a kawaii octopus (taco, in Japanese!) somehow seemed an obvious choice! 

#2: Appliqued T-Shirt

I think this was one of the first appliqued items I made during my second time living in Japan. I cut these leaf shapes out to apply onto a gauze-y scarf…but the scarf was a disaster, so I put them on a shirt instead!

Quick and dirty - They are just loosely zigzagged on. The fraying is *cough* a design detail!  The arrangement of leaves makes me think of a Roman crown of laurels, for some reason. 

#3:Hoodie, Part Deux

Apparently, before I started sewing, I wore a lot of hoodies! This is a bog-standard basic hoodie from Uniqlo (one of the ONLY stores in Japan that sold clothes big enough for me… and even then, they were often too small!)

Japan fueled my undying love for Echino fabric, so clearly, this hoodie needed some cute birds! (Cute + Animal + Applique = Good, in my books!)

For this hoodie, I appliqued with a tight zigzag stitch, which has lasted really well. I’m actually a little sad to see how faded this hoodie is looking - I’ve loved wearing it! 

#4: More Echino,  More better!

Japan loves set-price things, like all-you-can-eat restaurants  or  all-you-can-drink bars. They LOVE 100yen stores ($1), but my favourite were the 300 or 500 yen accessory stores. Most of my necklaces, earrings and purses come from those magical cheap places, including this basic shoulder bag. 

The design was perfect for bike-riding, but the plain khaki was just too dull! I pulled the Echino out again, with a few extra graphic scraps thrown in. It’s all zigzagged on, with some bias tape around the edge.

#5: The Blazer 

My final appliqued item is decorated with a scrap of fabric you just might recognise from my Me-Made May pictures. (For example, scroll down to the second photo here!)

It’s part of the motif from a long roll of vintage yukata fabric (traditional cotton kimono fabric) which I bought in Japan. We had three stripes of it hanging in our living room in Japan, and now it’s in our bedroom in Canada. Here I am a few years ago, just after finishing the applique! 

I LOVE this fabric… I lie in bed looking at it every day, thinking how much I love it! The colours are so bright, and exactly match my dream wardrobe. 

So why not stick it on my clothes, and wear it?! I’m sad to say I don’t wear this jacket as much as I should… but it’s not stretchy, so sometimes it just feels awkward!

********************************

So there you have it, my adventures in applique. I have to say, digging these out from the back of my closet made me sad at first: They are all looking a bit old and shabby. I don’t really wear them anymore, and that seems sad too.

On the other hand, maybe it’s time to celebrate them and move on. These clothes helped me feel unique and personalised before I made whole garments myself, but maybe I don’t really need to rely on the any more! I love my Me-Made wardrobe, and I hope it continues to evolve. 

What did you sew before you began with garments? How did you show your own personality in your wardrobe? I’d love to know! 

Worldwide Knit-In-Public Day!

Saturday was Knit In Public Day… and my sister Anne’s local yarn store, Shall We Knit, had a big open house event. Even though I’m not a knitter (since it gave me carpal tunnel 7 years ago), it was really fun to see other people geek out over their beloved hobby! (So that’s what I must look like in a fabric store! :P )

Are you familiar with the brand Soak? It’s a Canadian brand which is sold worldwide. It’s a gentle wash for wool, lingerie, and other delicates. They recently released these awesome gift boxes with wool, a knitting pattern, nail polish, hand cream, and Soak wash in coordinating colours! Anne was the hand model for this turquoise colourway, so we had to recapture the image! (Sigh. Why don’t I have her elegant hands?)

Squee! Look at the rainbow-y goodness!

There was a dye demo by Indigo Dragonfly, and the yarn was auctioned off for charity!

Tents were set up outside the yarn store, so we ate goodies and I watched people knit! (Anne made me guess what 3 ingredients were in these yummy squares! The answer: Ritz crackers, condensed milk, and Skor bites. Surprisingly delicious!) Can you tell I’m wearing one of my Peony dresses? It was a cold rainy day, so no sundresses for me!

We finally rounded off the day with a visit to a local historic house, where our friend Erin works as a reenactor! She was a terrific host, and told us all the cool details about the textiles in particular. (Erin is also the sewist and knitter behind Robot A Day!)

A wonderful day - Thank you, Anne, for being a great host! 

P.s. Oh yeah - and of COURSE I went fabric shopping! Found a little something for Jill, and I’ll pop it in the mail this week! :) 

Building a blog community - Thoughts and questions!

Hello! I had so much fun this week reading your comments on my giveaway post that I thought I would do a quick post reflecting on them. I asked you to leave a comment about your experience in the online sewing community, and it was neat to see what you wrote!

(Forgive me - I’m falling back on cute animals pics again to illustrate this post! You don’t mind, do you? I thought not!)

We love the blogging community. Rather obviously, everyone had a positive experience with the blogosphere… or we wouldn’t be here!  

We’re newbies! Quite a lot of us were relatively new to blogging about our sewing.

• Cuckoo Chanel, Kirsty from Top Notch, MarrieB from Purls and Pleats, Jenny from A Short Version of Things, Kate from Future Nakano, Renae from RenaeMade, Maider from Masustak Eguzkitan, Sue from Sewin’ Steady, and I all started in the last 12 months. Jill from the Sew Alongs is coming up on her 1-year blogiversary in July!


• Amy from Sew Well, Andrea at Four Square Walls, Roisin from Dolly Clackett, and Magpie Mimi have all been blogging for well over a year… 

Which got me thinking about a couple of things: 

1. Are you more, less, or equally likely to comment when the blogger has about the same amount of skill/experience/following that you do? I’m afraid I’m subconsciously guilty of this one! I mean, I love reading “big” blogs by people like Gertie, Sarai, Sunni, and so on, but I rarely comment! When they have so many comments already and such a wide community, my highschool brain kicks in and feels either intimidated or of little worth. By contrast, I feel much more confident commenting on smaller forums like the MMM Flickr group or less-famous blogs.


2. How do you read blogs? I use Google Reader, and love it… It makes it possible to read WAAAy more blogs than when I actually checked each one individually! On the other hand, I miss seeing the formatting and personality of the blog template, and I’m less likely to comment when I have to click over to the website! What do you do? 


3. Is this your first/only blog? I had a personal blog for a few years while I lived in Japan, and I’ve had active classroom blogs, but this is my first craft blog. It’s also the first time that my target audience isn’t people I already know! How about you? If you have other interests, do you blog separately?

I’d love to hear your thoughts! 

Another repeat!

It seems these days I don’t want to dig into new patterns… Just keep cranking out the old ones! My first new garment since Me-Made May is another two-toned Sorbetto!

This si actually the original fabric that inspired the two-tone design. When I bought this faux-ikat fabric a month or two ago, I cheaped out and only bought a metre. Unfortunately, my hips are too wide to get a Sorbetto out of a straight metre. Thus, the two-toned shirt idea was born. 

I’ll be frank - It’s terribly made, and i don’t care! The black bias tape I used as facing was too wide and therefore pulls at the fabric and shows… I didn’t finish the seams inside… and the navy is super cheap broadcloth. Oh well - It was comfy and cheerful to wear, and I got compliments from my new coworkers! ;) 

My photog told me to spin, so spin I did! Sadly, this shot reveals the unfortunate truth about this design - my %$#@ bra straps show! I guess I took out too much width from the back shoulders in an effort to stop it gaping, and now my straps show with my shoulders roll forward. I had the same problem with my previous version, and I forgot to fix it. 

Tomorrow is Worldwide Knit In Public Day, and I’ll be joining my sister and some knitterly friends in Waterloo. Too bad there is no such thing as “Sew in Public Day”… Or is there?

Hello, hello! This past weekend I offered to send one of you lovely people 2m of fabric chosen by me to reflect your personal style! It’s time to find out who the winner is! :) 

I hope this video works ok for you - It’s my first time posting one! Just in case it doesn’t work well, I’ll post the winner in the comments section!

Me-Made May Reflection

What a month! I struggled the first week and lost a big of momentum somewhere in the middle, but overall I’ve loved my first Me-Made May! I’d watched from the sidelines before, but actually taking part was so much more fun! 

At the start of the month, I did a round-up of all the Me-Mades that I could wear, and proposed an extra challenge for myself: Japanese For Crafters! Each day I introduced a sew-related word or phrase in Japanese, and challenged the Flickr group to try using it in the comments.

The original goal was to have a prop to make me feel less foolish posing every day - and I was more than a little worried that people would be annoyed that I was bending the structure of the challenge. To my relief, people in the Flickr group got right into it! The word-of-the-day led to some neat conversations and always motivated me to take and post a daily pic!

Here’s what my month looked like: 

As a teacher, we talk a lot about engaging students in meaningful discussions. While everyone loves a good compliment, I love to see people digging a little deeper! Another hot buzzwords in teaching right now is “effective feedback” - giving immediate, concrete, and meaningful feedback right away. The flickr group provided just that! A daily boost of confidence, some helpful and kind advice, and a push to continue doing your best! It certainly helped me grow and challenged me to constantly raise the bar.

During the month, I finished 8 garments, including one for my Mom! As you can see, it was exclusively doubles: Two Sorbetto, 2 Licorice dresses, 2 Renfrews, a second Truffle skirt, and a first of two Cambies! It made sewing fun and easy to repeat the same pattern, and meant that I was able to expand my wardrobe quite a bit during the month! 

Another benefit of the month was that I grew much more comfortable in front of the camera. My husband was a huge help: He hopped out of bed early every morning to takes pics, and did silly things while shooting to make me relax! 

Here are a couple of my favourites: 

Sense a theme? Thanks, babe, for all your support! 

Strange as it might sound, the photo component also helped with my self-confidence. I’ve never felt very photogenic, and yes, I slouch, blink constantly, and pull a lot of odd faces during photos… but taking 20-50 pictures a day helped me come to terms with how I look from different angles. Sometimes Japan made me feel a bit sumo-sized, but looking through my pictures and clothes, I really quite like myself. Thanks, sewing! 

The final thrill of MMM was having so many people join in on my proposal to thank Zoe on the last day. I loved reading everyone’s reflections on the month (Told ya - I like instigating meaningful discussions!) I’m so glad it worked out!

(The final day, dressed in Nautical Zoe-tribute!) 

Arigato (thank you) to all the MMM participants, and the people who supported us! 

Matta rai-nen! (See you next year!)