Oh my. You know when you get so hooked on something that you just can’t stop? That’s me with my new package of rainbow permanent markers. (Technically they are Bic brand, not Sharpies, but indelible markers are always “Sharpies” to me!)
A month ago, Sue from Sewin’ Steady asked if I’d like to write a guest post for her blog while she is away this week. Of course I said “Yes!” - Somehow it’s so much more exciting to blog for someone else than it is for myself! ;) I wasn’t sure what i’d write though, until I saw 36 rainbow pens ($20 at Walmart), then I knew just what I’d do!
I was HOOKED! I roped my Mom and sister in, and pretty soon we were Sharpie-ing dishes, clothing, and easter eggs! But was that enough? Oh no… I had to find something new to colour! And so I present to you… The Sharpie Dress!
Yup! I made a dress, and coloured it. Will it hold up in the wash, or fade over time? Who knows! But for now, my Sharpie urges are sated and I’m very happy with my new dress!
Back to the beginning. I got this Japanese lawn for cheap, but the greyish backgroup always threw me off. The background is printed in a lovely bright blue, but the flowers themselves always seemed a bit sad. This was my first project back after a bit of a sewing slump earlier this month, so I purposely didn’t plan or fuss about anything. This is definitely an improv dress!
Sewing deets: I used the Colette Truffle bodice as the base, and loosely cut the skirt to be a 1/2 circle-ish shape. The bodice is lined with bedsheet, and the skirt with crinkly gauze. The neck and sleeves are bound with black bias tape, because that’s all I had! (Something narrower might have been better, but this dress was all about enjoying the process not fretting over the product!) I like how the last-minute bias trim around the hem helps to give it some body. As Bob Ross would say, “There are no mistakes, only happy accidents!”
Colouring a dress: Really fun when you start, and painful by the end! (Literally - my longtime repetitive stress injuries in my wrists flared up big time as I rushed to finish… This is definitely a project to do over time or with a friend!) I did get help from one of the other crafty ladies when I took this project along to a craft night at a local sewing store (Hi Mary, and Hi, Needlework!). In the end, I put on lots of episodes of Time Team and The Joy of Painting, and got down to business! The colour blend beautifully on the fabric, so it really looks like a painted print.
Where to colour? I had two golden rules for colouring in the dress: don’t colour over the bewbs, and don’t make it look like rainbow sweat stains! (Truly, I’m a classy lady, doncha think?) I enjoyed colouring dark concentrations in some areas, then fading out to black and white with just a few bright flowers or leaves.
And there we have it! My sharpie dress. I really love the finished product… but I’ll be honest: I HAVEN’T WASHED IT YET. I’m going to but I really wanted to give the ink a day or two to set. In the tests I’ve done, the ink does run if you just stick it in the wash (especially the pink). However, in test #2, it seemed to fade but not run if it was ironed first. I don’t mind it it bleeds or fades… but I don’t want Sharpie rubbing off of other laundry (or heaven forbid, and upholstered chair that I sit on!) I’ll keep you posted on how it goes!
Why do we sew, though? Did I really need a new dress? Or did I need a creative challenge that would restart my mojo and make sewing fun again? For me, this time, it was definitely the latter… in which case this dress has already been a success.
Thanks again to Sue for inviting me to post over at her blog today - Go and check it out if you haven’t already!
Sorbetto, Hazel, Renfrew, Cambie, Wiksten Tank, Scout Tee… I bet every one of us could describe those patterns even if we haven’t sewn them ourselves. We could discuss individual versions (I bet you know exactly who sports a black-and-white polkadot Sorbetto, or a turquoise colour-blocked Hazel!) and endless pattern hacks (sleeveless dress Renfrew, FTW!)
On the other hand, has anyone here sewn, say, a Lily? A Crescent skirt? An Upline Jacket? Recently, I’ve been thinking more and more about why some patterns become big hits, and other… fade away after a season or two. I don’t have any answers, but I do have lots of questions!
Example #1: Lily vs. Hazel
Colette released these two sundress patterns at the same time. They both have a boxy, square neckline with straight straps, and a relatively straight skirt. Lily is a princess-seamed dress that is more fitted, and Hazel has simple gathered skirt. So why are there only 8 versions of the Lily in the Colette Flickr group, and 50+ Hazels?
In Hazel’s favour:
It’s a beginner pattern, and quick to make.
It allows for fun diagonals on the side bodice.
It was the first pattern chosen for the Colette Sewalong 2.0.
On the other hand:
I haven’t made it myself, but it seems to me that a lot of people have trouble with the high-waisted Hazel bodice and the sometimes-unflattering gathered skirt. By contrast, it seems like the few people who have made a Lily are really happy with the fit!
Lily seems a lot more va-va-voom than Hazel without being tight or revealing. At the same time, it’s probably more office-appropriate than Hazel. Those seem like good selling points to me!
It’s a pattern popularity mystery! All I can figure is that the fun stripe options and interesting-but-easy construction won us over initially… and once lots of Hazels started popping up online, it just gained momentum. Maybe there just weren’t enough versions of Lily floating around to really make us covet the pattern?! Myself, I think I started on Team Hazel at the release, but versions like this and this are bringing me over to Team Lily!
Example #2: Patterns that WERE popular, then faded away
When I first started reading sewing blogs, EVERYBODY was making Beignets. They were so cute and sassy with all those buttons… but then suddenly, like that, they were gone! From the Flickr groups I see that there have been a few posted in the last couple of months… but mostly, we’ve move on to Gingers and Picnic Skirts!
Looking through the older creations of indie pattern designers, it’s interesting to see how our styles and preferences have changed. I LOVE me some Sewaholic, but the Crescent skirt doen’t seem to get made often. Colette Crepe was big for a while… but I think that like me, a lot of people gave up on it when the amount of fabric it takes really settled in! Lonsdale was a big hit last year… but I can’t think of one that I’ve seen made this year!
(Now that I look at it more carefully though, I realise I’m in the process of making a very similar skirt right now myself!)
So what happened to these once-popular patterns? Well, I guess in part that once bloggers have made a few, they just don’t need any more versions in their wardrobe. Maybe fashions changed? Or maybe the momentum just ran out for these patterns, and something newer stole our hearts?
One proud survivor is the Sorbetto pattern. It’s been a big hit for a year now - testament to how much we love a free pattern and a quick make, I guess!
Example #3: Patterns that never made it big
Today I ordered a really cute dress pattern that I’ve been eyeing for months from an indie company… and yet despite repeated internet searching, I can only find it mentioned or made a handful of times! It’s this Princess-seamed "Go Anywhere" dress from Sewn Patterns.
Look! It’s got options for cool directional prints or colour blocking… it has pockets… Those are things that sewists love! (Bonus fact: That redhead model is actually the designer!) The pattern gets rave reviews from the Spool Sewing blog and is apparently really easy to tailor for different body types. Sara at the Pretty Pickle included it in her Indie Pattern Wishlist, and it turns out that a quilting store not too far from me teaches the dress as a class.
And yet somehow, this pattern hasn’t caught on. Why? As snobby as it sounds, I think part of the problem is the company’s graphic design and online presence. The pattern envelope is fairly modern and clean, but the Sewn website is a little old-fashioned. They have a blog, but I can’t find a single version of any of their patterns posted to the blog! No tricks, tips or tutorials… no giveaways… no Twitter or Facebook… and therefore no momentum!
Style Arc’s Linda Pants seem to be one of their most popular patterns.
Another pattern company that I’m fascinated by is Style Arc. They’ve got the most RTW-type patterns of any company I can think of, and a huge range of offerings. (Seriously, look at how many kinds of trousers they have alone!) From what I’ve seen, people what own Style Arc patterns seem to really like them… and from the sheer volume of patterns I assume that the company is doing pretty well. How come then they aren’t more common among bloggers? They aren’t cheap, but they are no more expensive than other indie patterns. Personally, I get almost overwhelmed by choice - From so many similar designs, how can I know which one is right for me?
#4: Market Competition
Like movies, patterns take a long time to produce… and just like movies, it seems that sometimes we get more than one of a similar type being released at the same time! (For example, this spring’s Wiksten Tank and the Grainline Tiny Pocket Tank.)
This summer, we’ve had Colette’s Iris shorts, Sewaholic’s Thurlow shorts/trousers, and Grainline’s Maritime shorts. (Plus, I remember Sarai hinting that this fall would bring a wide-legged Colette trouser.) That’s a lot of options for a pair of shorts! Of course, they all offer slightly different features… but when it comes down to it, I think most of us can’t afford to buy them all! I’ll be curious to see next summer which pattern(s) remain popular!
One of my Sorbettos - a pattern that is here to stay!
So there we have it: my rambling musings on pattern popularity. I’m really curious to hear your opinions on this. Why do certain patterns take the blogging world by storm? Why do some of them fade away after a season or two? How much are we influenced by wanting what we see on other blogs? And put in a different way, if you were launching a pattern line, how would you ensure your designs became a success?
Oh HAI! How are you? I’ve been sewing up a storm lately, and this is just one of the dresses I finished this week. It’s a Colette Parfait, with one major difference…
It’s a maxi! I haven’t worn a full-length dress in a decade or more - Even my wedding dress was short! I’ve been pretty fascinated by the trend though, and Pinterest convinced me to give it a try.
Now I’d like to pretend that I entended the skirt pieces to make a maxi, but truth be told, I was short on fabric (Who knew maxis use so much fabric?!) and it’s actually just trapezoidal panels cut free-form to make the most of the yardage. The original skirt is 6 flared panels… this is 5! Thank goodness the busy print hides the bizarre asymmetrical seamlines!
Here’s my breakdown of this dress: The Good, The Bad, and The Lazy!
The Good
I love the fit of the bodice. It’s a proper sundress, but there is no gaping and the curved waistband is really flattering.
The straps are nice and wide, and cover bra straps perfectly!
I bought this fabric on my Ottawa Street Blogger Meet-Up… Sarah made me buy it! She was totally right - It’s a perfect print for me, and like I said, it hides all the sewing flaws!
It’s a light-weight cotton, so it flows nicely. This dress would not work so well in quilting cotton!
The Bad:
This is the most complicated bodice I’ve sewn yet… and I found it really couter-intuitive! The facings are the oddest shapes. I was going to be clever and sew a lining instead of using the facings, but I quickly realised I didn’t understand the construction process well enough to do that. I went with facings instead, but grrr. Annoying! They don’t flip up once I’m wearing the dress, but as I put it on they flip all over the place!
I always have trouble with the back bodice on Colette dresses, but I though that since this one was just a tiny straight band, it would be ok. Nope! It has two darts in it which create a very puffy bubble shape on me… I basically had to add giant top-down darts to fix the shaping from the bottom-up darts in the pattern!
The Lazy:
OMG, just LOOK at how many threads I have to pick loose after endless rounds of basting! I am so lazy about finishing. Even now the dress is sitting next to me with a pari of scissors, ready to trim, but I’m blogging instead. Bad Gillian!
The zipper. Guys, I strained my back trying to wiggle in and out of this dress… literally, back pain for days. Because I’m too lazy to put in a zipper. I eventually gave in (after the front centre bodice ripped!) and unpicked a side seam for the zipper… but when I finished the dress and basted it up to check the fit I though, “Well, I’d only have to struggle into it once in a day…” and promptly sewed it up without a zipper. It’s a serious production to get it over the, uh, ladies… I’d like to say that I will go back and add a zipper one day, but I probably won’t!
Straps. Too many pieces, plus button holes and buttons… screw it. I cut straight straps instead and sewed them on in one piece!
The hem. I’ve decided to call this one a “design feature” for “added durability”… instead of measuring and trimming the hem, I turned it up THREE TIMES into a deep 5cm hem. That’s a lot of hem. I’m hoping it helps me not to put a foot through the dress!
All that said, I like this dress a lot. I’m planning on wearing it tomorrow for the first time (once I trim those darn threads!) The pattern was a great fit, and everything became clear when I just followed the instructions. I’m thinking of sewing it again for a wedding I’ll be going to in the fall.
Have you tried out the Maxi trend? Back at the end of Me-Made May, it occurred to me to try hosting a Maxi-Skirt Sewalong. I thought it would be a perfect project for a lot of people: You can adapt any pattern, there are tons of tutorials online, and it’s a very wearable trend. I kinda dropped the ball though, and didn’t get it going. Summer is half over now, and so many bloggers have blogged about trying out maxis over the last month that it all seems a bit moot! (Let me know though, if you think it would be worth a try!)
I’m fascinated by the intersection of sewing blogs and fashion: In some ways we are very insular (We are collectively always going to love a fit-and-flare 50’s dress!) , but I’m always surprised when I go shopping to realise how on-trend we are about some things! The Grainline Scout T, the Wiksten Tank… this summer’s hot patterns are just like what is in stores!
How about you? Do you sew with shapes and colours that are tried and true, or do you flirt with fashion from time to time? I’d love to hear what you think!
I’ve been doing a lot of long wordy posts recently… so today I’m going to let the photos do the talking!
Look what arrived in the mail today! I heard last week that the Washi line is being discontinued, so I jumped on line and finally bought some! I got 2.5m of the grey tape print for a dress, and 1/2m each of the two other prints. The colours are just as beautiful as I hoped!
While I was ordering from Pink Castle Fabrics, I had, I just HAD to buy a few other things! I got 1/2m of each of these prints. I love them all, and they all coordinate so nicely together!
I’ve been saving a bunch of knits in my stash for far too long, thinking that I might use them to make and sell stuff. Now that I’ve given up on that idea, I decided it’s high time to put my stash to good use! This turquoise leopard print from Fabric.com was the only peice large enough to become a Renfrew with cowl… that that’s what it became!
This is my life-long friend who is quickly becoming a sewist! (Hurrah!) She came over and used my serger to make this pompom cowl (like the ones I sell), and today she started on a Renfrew of her own. It’s fun to have a sewing buddy!
Remember what I made that striped coral maxi skirt for a tall friend? Well, this is that friend! She graciously let me feel tall, for one pic at least! We went to a Shakespeare in the Park performance of Macbeth tonight. Perfect weather, good friends and family, and sewing. What a great life!
I have to say that since I decided not to sell at a craft fair this summer, the stress has melted away and I’ve really been enjoying every day. I’m even *starting* to think about prepping for my new class in the fall! (No actual reading or prep has occurred yet, you understand… but just thinking about it feels like progress!)
I’m sending good vibes out at all of you, and hoping your summer is going as well as mine!
It’s time to relax. I’m about 1/3 through my two month summer vacation (Yeah, pity me, I know! :P), and for some reason, I’m as wound up as ever. Do you ever feel that stress becomes a habit more than a true reaction? I’ve decided it’s time to re-evaluate things, and make a fresh start.
With that in mind, I’m scrapping the idea of doing a craft fair this summer. I’ve been wanting to do one for ages, and I went as far as applying to one last week… got all excited ordering supplies and planning what I’d make… and promptly lost all joy in sewing. Seriously. I’ve been spending long hours in the craft room, churning out stuff for sale, but always feeling frustrated by the process of repetitive sewing, restricted by making things for a certain audience, and rushed, always rushed.
All my life, I’ve *loved* planning things… the problem is, the planning quickly becomes oppressive! It is fun though… right until it’s not. Since some of you might also be thinking of selling, here’s how I prepared!
Step 1: Pinterest Board
I pinned pictures of things I had made, and inspiration from other people. I started thinking about what range of items I could sell, and how I would present them.
Step 2: Charts!
For every item I was considering selling, I broke down how many I’d make, the cost per item and total cost of making the number I wanted, the time per item and in total, and the retail price and potential total sales. Then at the end, I crunched the numbers to figure out roughly how much I’d make for every hour of labour on different items. That final column was really useful for looking at which items were worth my time! The chart also helped me look at what price points I was offering, and think about items to fill the gaps.
Step 3: Testing
This is about as far as I got. I tried out a few new projects, and timed myself making them. Not very relaxing, but useful! In the picture above, I’m trying out Novita’s reversible bag pattern. Great pattern, but the part I liked best was sewing the darts, because it reminded me of making clothes!
I still hope to do craft fairs again some day, and I’ll very happily continue making things for a local boutique. I just don’t think I’m cut out to run a business! I think I got lured in by the lovely image of standing behind a table full of pretty things I’ve made, chatting to cool new friends about sewing. In real life though, I get more joy from making and wearing my own clothes than I do from making household things!
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In the name of relaxing, I’ve declared today a “Cottage Day”. I don’t know about elsewhere, but in Canada, rustic cottages on a quiet northern lake are the ultimate summer location. Since we don’t actually own a cottage, we take “cottage days” at home: A day to relax, turn off the tv and computer, and just read and relax. In Japan, we’d have cottage days at our apartment: drag some chairs out to the balcony and just take things slowly for a day.
Today, my cottage day is begining with a little bit of blogging… but as soon as I’m done, I’ll be turning off the computer, reading, and working on one of these two dresses-in-progress:
Anyone recognize this pattern? I’ve had it cut out since the first day of the holiday - and I haven’t sewn a stitch! That must be fixed!
I’ve also begun a third version of the Colette Truffle in this Japanese lawn… this one is going to be a fun summery version with breathable gauze lining and a (sort-of) circle skirt. I’m looking forward to a nice easy project!
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Before I go, I’d just like to thank you all for your very kind response to my last post about Iron Maiden and the earthquakes in Japan. I’m still processing a lot of things, but your kind comments ar much appreciated! Thanks, everyone!
Those of you who follow me on Twitter (@GillianCrafts, btw!) know that last night my husband and I went to see Iron Maiden perform in Toronto. I know it’s not remotely sewing-related, but forgive me if I blather on about it for a bit!
Here’s the thing: Jamie and I had tickets to go see Iron Maiden in March in Tokyo last year, and man, we were pumped. So pumped that when the earthquakes hit two days before the concert, we were actually disappointed the concert was cancelled. Because, you see, in the first 24 hours after the quakes, there was no word of nuclear disaster. None. Sure, there were 30+ quakes a day, but we figured that if our building had lasted through the big ones, we’d be ok. We had a friend staying with us, and we put him on the bus and sent him merrily off to his regularly scheduled flight. I remember saying that first night that the less-than-10 deaths reported on the news showed the difference between the impact of disaster on a well-prepared country like Japan instead of a poorer nation like Haiti. What did I know?
But maybe I should go back a bit farther. When the first quake struck, I was leading an assembly of the 120 elementary students at my school north of Tokyo. It was, without a doubt, the scariest thing in my life. The only thought I remember is, “Wow. I didn’t know wooden floors could roll in waves so big and not break!” None of us knew what to do (Can you believe that we’d had fire drills, but never an earthquake drill? Thank goodness we elementary teachers were all together when it hit - the high school teachers like my husband were all by themselves with students in the classrooms.)
We evacuated and sat in a windy, cold field with the kids huddling under emergency blankets. I was one of the lucky few who a) knew my family was ok, because Jamie was with me, and everyone else was in Canada, and b) had my cell phone on me so that I could tweet out that we were safe before the service cut. No one knew what had happened, or where… we heard it was in the south, then the north. A Level 7, an 8, or a 9? Army helicopters swarmed overhead, leaving the nearby airbase on rescue missions… I remember one of my students crying about whether her dog would be safe. We waited.
After a few hours, we went back inside, and set up camp for the night in the gym. Almost all of our students and teachers travelled to school long distances on the train, and the trains were all out. About 250 kids were left waiting in the gym for parents to arrive… by midnight, I guess there were about 100 left who slept overnight. Surreally, the grocery stores were open, so teachers “popped down to the shops” to buy instant noodles. We were in a brand-new building that mitigated most of the aftershocks, but every once in a while all the cell phone alarms would light up and ring in the dark, and the teachers would all sprint from the staff room to watch the sleeping kids in case it was another big one… then wait in the silence, and return to our coffees when nothing happened. Some teachers left in the middle of the night to walk 5 or 6 hours home. Luckily our apartment was nearby!
Which takes us back to Iron Maiden, sort of. They landed before the quake on Friday, but cancelled they concert on Saturday. By Sunday, more information was starting to come in: something was wrong at Fukushima. People in Tokyo were beginning to stockpile supplies and groceries, and pretty soon power-saving blackouts began to rotate through the city. Classes were cancelled on Monday, but teachers had to go to school. Tuesday, the same, but with increasing panic. Embassies were telling their nationals to get out, but our school wouldn’t release us to leave. We had march break coming up, which marks the end and beginning of a new school year, so we all spent the time exchanging hearsay information and prepping for a new term. Bizarre.
Finally, Tuesday afternoon, we got the go-ahead to leave, and promptly paniced to buy any remaining tickets out. Thank heavens for credit cards - on top of the $6000 I spent to get three of us out of there, we took a $500 taxi to the airport because petrol was running short and buses and trains were still cancelled. We got to the airport 9 hours early for our flight, and found hundreds of expats camping out waiting for flights. Until the plane landed in Canada, I really wasn’t sure we’d get out.
The long and the short of it is, we spent 2 weeks in Canada trying to decide if we would return or not. We lived about 200km from Fukushima, but the radioactive dust continues to plume over Tokyo when ever the wind shifts west. Was it worth it? We finally decided that we couldn’t loose the salary and job reference, and we couldn’t abandon our Japanese friends and students. Back we went, and worked out the 4 months until the end of our contract. We continued having quakes daily at first, then slowly less often.
It has, quite honestly, taken until now for me to be able to talk or think about this without crying. I still freak out sometimes when the couch or bed tremors when someone beside me shifts. Of course, I got off lightly - my friends, family and Japanese apartment were physically fine, and not everyone was so lucky. It’s the mental stress that I’m afraid will haunt the whole nation, and us, for years to come.
My husband and I talk a lot about “taking things back”: Reclaiming places or experiences that have been associated with negative feelings and creating positive new memories. Last night, we took Maiden back - and damn, was it a good concert!
It started off with - what else? - Japanese food and some Sapporo beer.
And some vastly overpriced Canadian beer…
…and a hilarious opening show from Alice Cooper! (Seriously, he had a different costume and gimmick for EVERY SONG! Now it’s pyrotechnics! Now it’s a snake! Now it’s the guillotine! Spider costume! Fake sword fight! Non-stop cheese, but entertaining!
We had great seats, surrounded by a sold-out venue of 15 000 people!
And why? Because Maiden are incredible live! I’m only a junior metalhead, following in Jamie’s lead, but damn, Iron Maiden are amazing. I’m a sucker for the soaring operatic vocals, and how much fun they have on stage. They might be 50+, but they are still creating great music in their genre and performing at the top of their game. See?
Ok, totally not my picture! It’s from here, but it’s from this tour.)
Here’s a video clip of what Maiden are like in concert: It’s from a Canadian documentary about their tour when Bruce, the lead singer, flew a jumbo jet loaded with crew and gear around the world, including stops in places like India and Columbia where big bands never tour. Great documentary, great band!
It was, in the end, a perfect concert, and a perfect way to put past memories to rest. Oddly though, we did see someone wearing a tee from the cancelled Japan show: What’s with that? Not cool, dude.
Oh, remember when I said it wasn’t craft related? Back at the beginning of this, the longest post EVER? Well, I lied, a little. I spent most of one of the encore songs wondering how to go about making a vest for Jamie like Bruce’s. Here’s a pic: What do you think?
This one is actually from an older tour… but he was wearing something similar. They both lace up the side… I love the optical illusion and the armour-like quality of it! (Also, while we are here, how awesome are his leather feather trousers? METAAAAAAL!!!)
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That was a lot of backstory and a lot of blurry concert pictures, but it was cathartic for me to share it.
Thank you for listening!
Edited: Please don’t think that we were particularly brave or special… I just wanted to share one of the myriad of different perspectives on the events in Japan! A whole nation is still living with the fallout, physically, emotionally, and financially. This is just one teeny part of that!
Howdy! I’ve been sewing up a storm lately (summer vacation!!!) but not blogging much… partly because I’ve been making a lot of gifts lately! Now that the gifts are given, here are a few of the things I’ve been working on:
My Sister’s Birthday:
I didn’t quite finish the linen Cambie I’ve been working on for my sister, so instead I whipped up a few t-shirts for her birthday. The purple one is a very stretchy jersey with a digital print of knitting, which she actually bought on our fabric run in June. I finally made it up for her - That’s barely a gift, isn’t it? It looks great on her though! (And from the picture above, I’d say her husband agrees! ;)
The cream-coloured shirt was even more, um, cost effective: It was one of her favourites in the early 90’s back when t-shirts were humongous! I guess we all liked it, because my Mom saved it all these years. Luckily it was *just* big enough to squeeze out a Renfrew! It has some discolouration from age and wear, but I hope it gets to enjoy a second life as pyjama shirt!
A Friend’s Birthday:
My first maxi-skirt! This one is a stretchy rib-knit maxi skirt made for my best friend. Can you tell she’s a little taller than I am? :P I had her waist measurement from back when we sewed a dress together in the spring, but I didn’t have a measurement for her height. I figured a jersey skirt was perfect: No hem, so I made it long and we chopped off the excess. (In the end, we cut only had to cut about 5cm off the bottom… I am such a midget!) It was SO easy to sew: Serge two side seams, serge on elastic, and done!
Wedding Shower:
Confession: I didn’t make this apron, butI had to show it off! Isn’t it cute? My mom put it together, and did a lovely job. It was part of a shower gift for my cousin’s fiance. I hope she likes it!
This is only Mom’s second project using the serger and my Japanese sewing machine. (I forget my machine is all labelled in Japanese until something goes wrong or someone else uses it! Then a little English would be nice!) She asked me to finish it with a button hole for the adjustable strap… so I had to figure out how to make button holes! With a little help from the internet, it was SO easy. I don’t know why I dreaded button holes quite so much!
Goodies for Sale:
This one is a Work-In-Progress… I have more to make, and some aren’t even handsewn shut.
From time to time I sew some things for a local boutique, and this time she’s asked for some pillows. I’m really enjoying sewing simple shapes (No darts! No swayback adjustment!), and trying to keep to a simple Zakka aesthetic. Lots of linen, balanced out with fun pompoms!
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And there we have it! Lots of sewing, but no big blogable projects. What’s on your sewing table these days?
Ever wished you could find a stitch-and-bitch night for sewing instead of knitting? It’s been my holy grail for years - In Japan, I even travelled 90min on the train to a knit night just for the lure of communal crafting… only to find that the friend I came with and I made of 2/3 of the “group”! After that, we stayed home.
This past Wednesday, though, I found something close! Etsy Canada co-hosted a hexagon-piecing workshop along with a group of crafty ladies from Hamilton called the Beehive Craft Collective. They are planning an art installation which involve covering parts of downtown buildings with sections of English-paper pieced hexagons. Something like this:
Neat, eh? They need slave labour help to make all the hexiagons, so on Wednesday, over a hundred people people met up to sew, eat cupcakes, and meet new people! Some of the people were Etsy sellers, really looking to network… others were generally crafty or interested in community projects.
Here’s my table - a really lovely group of women! There’s my sister Anne, in the bottom left, who is a published knitting designer and past-president of the largest knitting guild in Canada… at the far end of the table is Glenna, who is taking time out of academia to launch a full range of beautiful knitwear designs and teach knitting across the province… on either side of me are two Etsy vendors: Erin sews beautiful aprons and totes as Dear Edna, and Genevieve makes the CUTEST sewn and needle-felted toys! (Rounding out the group were two crafty women who I won’t name, since they don’t have a business and might not appreciate it - but trust me, they were fun!)
Then, of course, there’s me: blogger and sometimes vendor! (I’m working on a new order for the local store where I sell, so I’ll have to update my Bright Threads website soon!) After our discussion about wearing handmade clothing to fabric stores, I decided to wear my Colette Truffle dress to see if any garment sewers would recognise the pattern. The answer: Nope!
The only other person that I saw wearing a recognisable pattern or fabric was one of the owners of the fabulous new sewing shop in downtown Hamilton called Needlework. She was wearing a lovely Wiksten tank in tunic-length. I cornered her so that I could inspect it up close… and decided that while it was very cute on her, I like a few darts myself! I scanned the room for other possibly homemade garments, and nothing jumped out at me - no Fabricland fabric, no distictive Indie patterns - but I’d like to believe that there are more garment sewers out there somewhere!
Overall, it was a really fun night of sewing! Hexagons were the perfect easy project to keep hands busy while leaving us free to chat and get to know each other. It was lovely to have Anne and Glenna along for the ride - even though they are committed knitters, I think they enjoyed joining the sewing community for a night! I’ve even got plans to meet with Glenna next week to help her make a simple reversible tote bag. Hurray for spreading the sewing love!
Thanks very much to Etsy Canada and the Beehive for hosting the event - I’m already looking forward to going to a open sewing night at Needlework later in the month, and hoping that my doppleganger Sarah joins me!
All photos from the Etsy Canada Flickr group. Thanks to their professional photog for the lovely shots!
Sewing blogs these days are full of adorable, helpful kitties who love to hang out in the sewing room. Not Laptop! For starters, she’s not allowed in the sewing room for fear of her eating threads… and secondly, the only feeling she seems to have for all things sewing-related is distain! Here she is, judging me as I head out to take pictures of my turquoise seersucker Truffle. Silly humans. We do the strangest things!
So here it is! A while back I asked for your advice on how to finish this dress, and almost everyone agreed that it needed some waist definition. I settled on this thin white bias tape because it felt nice and summery!
I’m really happy with how this dress turned out in the end! It took me a week or two after I finished it to even want to wear it… but now I’m sold. I like the way the stripes change direction on the draped peplum, and it all fits well. I lengthened the skirt about 2 inches, which makes it a better length for work than my original Truffle dress.
Like many of my dresses these days, the bodice is lined with bedsheet and the skirt is lined with, um, lining. The seersucker is lovely to wear. I spent a bit of extra time on matching up the stripes on the darts, but really, the “belt” saved me from matching the skirt and bodice stripes. Hurrah!
Strange as it sounds, the reason I didn’t love this dress at first was that I couldn’t figure out how to accessorize it. When I took these photos, I threw on a lovely turquoise necklace that Jamie gave me a few years ago… but since then I’ve been trying other accessories too. Some chunkier, some more delicate… I’m debating wearing this dress to a tea party/wedding shower party on the weekend, and I still can’t quite figure which shoes or necklace to wear! Have you even finished a garment only to realise that you don’t know how to style it?
One last cat pic - by the time we finished our photoshoot, she was hunkered down by the house, giving us the squint of displeasure… or is that possible happiness in her eye?
