Fall Capsule Wardrobe - Done!

About a week ago I posted some sketched plans for a fall wardrobe…

…mostly black, white and coral…

…with some possibilities in other colours!

Well, was the last week of vacation, and I sewed up a storm. I’m done, baby! 

I spent yesterday hanging out with my sister, who was kind enough to take pics for me. I got a little giddy taking pictures in someone else’s back yard for once - as you’ll see! 

First up: 

White Renfrew Tank: Leftovers from my first-ever knit project!

Floral Long-Sleeved Renfrew: I can’t wait to wear this in cooler weather! (Yesterday was HOT!) The fabric was a gift from Sally at the Quirky Peach. Thank you, Sally! I love it!

Coral Stretchy Jeans: Hmmm. I love the colour, but I’m not sold on the fit! I added an inch of width to the pattern I always use, since they usually come out pretty skin tight… but now they look and feel a big baggy to me! I’m considering taking them in from the knee down.Also, you can tell in the pocket picture that this thin denim doesn’t hide ANYTHING! I can’t find any denim locally that is as heavy as the stretch denim in my RTW pants. 

Next up: 

Grey Stretchy Jeans: I had FUN on these! I’ve always avoided contrast stitching, but I went for it on these. Had to make them fun and colourful somehow! I used regular thread and a triple stitch in both red and turquoise. Again, they feel a bit baggy. The fabric is a lovely stretch denim from Gorgeous Fabrics, bought with a gift certificate from my sister for my birthday. (Speaking of which, look how she just happened to match my wardrobe! She’s even wearing a me-made Palova knit circle skirt!) 

Black Mission Maxi Tank: I’ve used this pattern for 3 dresses and about 5 tanks this summer - it’s a winner! I made this one from a metre of amazing black bamboo knit that Anne gave my years ago to wear as a scarf/shawl sort of thing. I wish our local shop still sold fabric this nice! 

Stretch Pencil Skirt: I”m wearing this right now, and it’s SO COMFY! It’s a heavy, seriously stretchy twill that I bought from the remnant bins last year. The pattern is based on the Cake Hummingbird skirt, including my adjustment for a big booty. I didn’t want to have panels cutting up the print on the front, so I traced a version with darts instead. As you can see below, I just sewed a piece of wide black elastic on was the waistband. No zip needed! 

Pink Leggings: I wear skirts with leggings a lot, since I sit/crawl/dance/etc in my work day. I had just enough pink spandex cotton blend to make some short leggings. I use the Style Arc Laura Leggings pattern, and it works great! Just a single seam on each leg and some lazily applied elastic at the waist. 

Sharpie Skirt: My favourite! I got the black and white polka dot heavy cotton at Ikea, and used the same Hummingbird hack pattern as above. This one isn’t stretch though, so I may have over compensated with ease! It sits lower than I usually prefer, and is quite loose around the hips. On the other hand, I can sit comfortably and there’s definitely room for heavy fleece tights underneath! 

As planned, I made the plain skirt first then coloured in random circles with Sharpie. I still haven’t washed it, but I’m hopeful that it won’t fade TOO badly! If it does, I’ll just colour it in again! I’m looking forward to wearing it with bright cardigans in the winter. 

And that’s that! 2 skirts, 2 tanks, a tee, and 2 pairs of jeans. I like the combination of basics and graphic prints, and the slight twist on my usual colours. Everything will fit into my wardrobe easily and get worn often.

Even better, the sewing process was totally relaxing and zen, since it was all TNT patterns. That’s my kind of sewing! 

Now that I’ve depleted my stash of stretch denim, can anyone suggest a good place to buy some online? I’m looking for medium-to-heavy stretch denim or twill, preferably in bright colours? Thanks!

p.s. Some people have let me know they they are having trouble leaving comments recently… If that happens, could you contact Discus? They say everything is ok on my end, but clearly something is going on… Thanks!

I'm speaking at a... KNITTER'S Fair????

Oh me, oh my! My fabulous sister Anne, whom many of you know now from twitter (@AnnieBeeKnits) or the first Sewcial Bee Challenge, has been invited to speak at her local knitter’s fair, and she’s roped me into it too! The fair was the largest in Canada until just recently, and it’s still pretty big… though who knows if we’ll get 10 people listening or 200?

(“Uh, GIllian,” you are thinking, “You don’t knit!” Yeah, that’s true. I used to knit 10 years ago, and then it gave me carpal tunnel, and I gave it up completely! Doesn’t matter though, because the presentation is on my favourite topic ever: COLOUR!!!)

Here’s the description that posted on the Fair website: 

• 
  

  ColourRIOT: Making and using your personal colour palette in knitting and beyond!

  
  

  Knitting designer Anne Blayney (AnnieBeeKnits) and avid sewer Gillian Whitcombe (Crafting A Rainbow) are sisters with a passion for colour and textiles. They know just how exciting — and overwhelming — a shopping trip to the Knitters’ Fair can be, and they’re here to help you find the colours and projects that will fit into your wardrobe instead of languishing in your stash or closet.

  
  

  The sisters will start with a basic review of colour theory, and look at how to combine colours to get energetic or calming effects. Then, they will help you identify what colours you are drawn to and what colours make you sing, gathering inspiration from everyday life and from useful tools in the real world and online. They’ll discuss how to pull those colours into a cohesive palette of colours that are most ‘you’. Next, they’ll apply that colour palette and colour theory to yarn, moving beyond solid colours to the world of hand-paints, kettle-dyes, self-striping, and variegated yarns that are so enticing in the skein but can prove more challenging to use effectively. They’ll help you learn which yarns will work best with a variety of techniques for colourwork, lace, and cables, so that you can put your Knitters’ Fair purchases to their best use.

  
  

  Anne Blayney is a conference planner by day, and a knitting addict at all times. Her most recent published design, the Hue and Value Shawl, is a perfect chance to play with colour combinations. Gillian Whitcombe is a teacher and a lifelong colour aficionado. She is building an entire wardrobe of hand-sewn clothing in her very own signature colour palette, one gorgeous fabric at a time.

  
  

 

Anne is going to cover the basics of colour theory, then I’ll talk about making a colour palette to really focus in on the colours you love and wear most. Then it’s back to Anne to connect it all to yarn! Better yet, Anne planned everything out and made a *beautiful* presentation months ago. I just need to figure out how to explain my section! 

(My own personal colour palette!) 

Which brings me to my point: I need your help! I’d like to be able to show a variety of colour palettes for different people!

• If I made you a colour palette, would you give me permission to use it in the presentation? 


• If you made yourself a colour palette, could I use that?


• If I’ve never made you a colour palette, but you’d really like one, let me know! I’m pretty busy these days, but I could find time for a few. (And then can I use that as well?) 

 Please?  Pretty please? Thank you, my lovelies! 

 

Blog Voices

I’m such a sucker for blogging trends… so without further ado, here is my Blog Voices video! (With bonus tour of my sewing room! ;) 

List of Words:Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught

List of Questions:

What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?
What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
What do you call gym shoes?
What do you say to address a group of people?
What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
What do you call your grandparents?
What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
What is the thing you change the TV channel with?

Just for kicks, I’ve been thinking of other questions that would work, like: 

• What does a dog say? (Canada: woof or bark; Japan: wan wan)


• What is the container called where you throw unwanted things out? (Canada: garbage can; UK: dustbin) 


• What do you call plastic slip-on sandals that go between your toes? (Canada: Flip flops; Aussie: thongs)


• and of course, a clothing related one: What do you call a strappy sleeveless top worn by women? (Canada: tank top; UK: singlet)

Do you know other words for any of those? 

Fall Capsule Wardrobe

Inspired by Kristin from K-Line (local blogger shoutout!), I decided to think of my current upcoming porjects as a capsule collection. For some reason that makes me feel better about the fact that they are mostly black, and therefore don’t fit into my beloved colour palette! 

(The problem there is that I have a billion pair of black fleece tights that I wear constantly in winter, but black isn’t one of the colours that I think I look best in! I prefer grey or navy as dark basics… but black is the colour fleece tights are sold in, so everything I wear with tights in winter must therefore go with black! No navy winter skirts for me!)

Here’s what I’ve got planned: 

Top Row: Bright coral stretch jeans, dark grey stretch jeans.

Bottom Row: Stretch twill pencil skirt with elastic waistband, Grainline-knockoff pencil skirt with Ikea fabric!

The only twist here is the Ikea skirt. It’s a direct copy of Jen’s Moss Mini in this same fabric, which has already been copied by other bloggers at least once! My cunning plan is to colour in some of the white dots with Sharpies, to make it more rainbow and fun. My Sharpie dress from last summer has held up well in the wash, so I think it should work on this cotton too. 

I’m hoping that I can use the Cake Hummingbird skirt as a basic shape, but tweek the front to have darts instead of separate panels that would break up the print. I’m also wondering about elasticating just the back of the waistband to make it a bit more comfortable? The fabric is pretty heavy and unforgiving!

Top Row: Long-sleeved Renfrew with floral print jersey that was a gift from Sally at the Quirky Peach! Plus a Mission Maxi black tank top…

Bottom Row: …and a slightly blousy white tank with leftover fabric from the very first knit project I ever made! I don’t own any white tops besides that original Renfrew, so I don’t really know if I’ll wear this… It’s either the perfect basic that I’m missing, or too boring to get worn! 

That’s it for my Fall Capsule Wardrobe… see what I mean about all the black? BOR-ING!!! I’m hoping there is enough colour in there to keep me interested. 

That said, there are a few more things I’m planning to make that don’t really fit the colour scheme…

Top Row: Crinkly jersey Hemlock Tee (if I can grade the one-size free pattern to be loose and casual on me! Otherwise, it might be a Renfrew.)

Bottom Row: Not sure if I have enough fabric, but bright pink capri leggings suddenly appeal to me… and I’ve got some light blue chambray from the 2nd hand sore that I’d like to play with making a Saltspring-inspired casual dress - crucially, with straps wide enough to cover a bra so that I can wear it at work! 

Phew! That’s quite a lot! Lots of easy stuff with TNT patterns though, which is perfect as I head back to teaching. It’s not the time to make sewing stressful too. 

Do you get the itch for new things when the school year starts?  I’m still such a sucker for pretty binder, pencils, paper and all those delightful office supplies that I’m convinced will make life more fun. New clothes are part of it too, for me… A fresh suit of armour to protect me from the unknown, so to speak. How about you? 

p.s. All my pics are drawn with Notability, which is an awesome writing/drawing/list-making app for ipad and iphone!

In which I fail repeatedly...

Hiya! Get ready for some bad pictures and worse sewing!

If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you might have already seen these recent failed projects, but I thought I’d blog them as well to keep myself honest! I’d hate to have anyone think my sewing always worked! ;) Keeping it real, here. 

First up: Tank with Two Fronts

This was actually an attempt to save a previous fail! I’d made a horrible frumpy pussy-bow tee from this heavy jersey, so I thought I’d recut it as a mission maxi tank. Unfortunately I got a bit gung-ho and cut two fronts! The end result is that the straps fall off CONSTANTLY! The arm bindings seems a little tighter than the neck-binding, which isn’t helping anything. Lots of helpful Sewcialists suggested putting a band accross the shoulders to keep it all in place, which is a great idea. I may just be lazy though and wear it with a cardigan - because cardigans fix all manner of sewing sins, ammiright?

Part Two: Self-drafted Bodice

Remember how I had so much fun rotating darts to make a floral sundress this summer? Well, I pull out my sloper again, and this monstrosity is what emerged from my attempts at drafting!

Yikes! Not even my husband can think of anything kind to say about this one, and bless him, he tries hard with everything I make! I don’t really know what went so wrong with this one… I think the non-stretch woven was less forgiving than before, and the attempt at the v-neckline was misguided… but seriously, how did it all go SO wrong?

Failure, Part Three: I could hide anything under there!

"No problem!" I thought. "I’ll just use the skirt pieces alone instead of putting them in a dress!" 

It’s a Picnic Blanket skirt from Tilly’s tutorial…  It’s also the frumpiest skirt I’ve ever made! This gathering is doing my figure NO favours - you should have seen it before I ironed all the gathering flatter! Yikes! 

I *might* still use the button placket to practice buttons (since Leila and Clare #sewingdared me to sew something with buttons yesterday!) And of course, I could always cut the skirt down to an A-line… but really, I think this fabric is just unlucky, and need to learn it’s lesson in the UFO pile for a while!

But don’t worry, there’s a happy ending…

Part 4: TNT patterns to the rescue!

After messing up three projects in a row, I got some timely encouragement from Twitter, and turned to a  TNT pattern instead……and 30 min later, I had another pair of Maria of Denmark Laura Lounge pants finished! If you haven’t tried this pattern, I really recommend it! It’s cheap, fast and easy, and results in a very comfy yoga-pant-esque pair of pjs! 

How do you bounce back from failed sewing projects? And can gathered skirts ever look good on a pear-shape, or should I give up now and save my fabric?

Sewcial Bee, Part Deux

We had another Sewcial Bee! This time the Challenge was laid out by Gida Studio: To sew something inspired by food! 

My first thought was to sew a Parfait Maxi, which I was #sewingdared to do months ago… but that’s a lot of little pieces…

Oh yeah, that’s more like it! Now for fabric…

I got this tissue knit online, and the stripes are really wide… which I think might not be the most flattering! I wonder if I can pleats some of the stripes to add some interest?Hmm… 

Watching the Great Australian Bake-Off on Youtube for foodie inspiration!

Got some pleats in, time to cut! Single layer, so the stripes match. I’m extending the shoulders in hope of making a flutter sleeve kinda thing…

Sew it up, then unpick the pleats at the shoulders. Hmmm. Not bad, but didn’t make the fluttery sleeves I was picturing! Oh well. 

This fabric was my actual inspiration: cute Japanese double gauze with red and yellow watermelon *and* horned stag beetles, which are a bizarre obsession of Japanese boys in the summer!

I only bought .5m though… What could I make? To instagram and twitter for suggestions! 

Oh wait, I’m lazy. I’ll just PRETEND that I made it into something! Voila! My watermelon-inspired Sewcial Bee Project! 

We had some new people join in on this round of the Sewcial Bee, and some great projects made! You can see what the others made in the Flickr Group. Feel free to join in next round if you are interested!

Summer is really winding down here… getting down to 10*c at night sometimes! I’m starting to think ahead to fall, and wondering what to make! Are you shifting into the next season’s sewing yet? DO you plan ahead what you’ll make, or take it project by project?

Lazy Tips for Sewing Knits: If it works, do it!

Look guys, this tip is seriously lazy, and I know that’s not for everyone. Some people delight in perfection - I delight in getting shit done and moving on! That’s a very personal preference, and I’ve never say you were right or wrong for wherever you fall on the spectrum. 

Personally, my theory is that sewing is a problem-solving adventure, and whatever works is good enough. 

Let me illustrate by showing you the construction details of a pink sweater-knit cardigan I blogged about last winter. 

This one!

One this one sweater, I’ve got…

…turned-and-stitched cuffs…

…edges stay-stitched with a lightening bolt to prevent stretching…

…navy serging and pink stitching…

…terribly inserted clear elastic to stabilise the shoulders…

…and best of all, a safety pin holding the collar down at the back neck!

Yup! That’s 6 totally different construction techniques on one sweater! And despite the safety pin and navy serging, I wear this sweater at least once a week. It has held up through many washes, and no one else is the wiser about it’s technical “flaws”! When I made it, I was new to sweater knits, and altering the pattern so much that the instructions were pretty useless. As I came to each part of the sewing process, I just tried whatever made the most sense in my head. 

That’s the beauty of sewing for me - there really isn’t a right or wrong way to do things, as long as you end up with something wearable at the end! I know it can be intimidating to start sewing knits because we want our clothes to look perfect inside and out, or we feel like we *need* a serger/coverstitch/some-other-tool to make it just right. That can be paralysing.. so in the meantime, I say: Jump in. Try it. Fake it ‘til you make it. If it works, do it! 

Do you need things to be perfect inside and out? Or are you happy with whatever works? 

Sewing Dares: 8 months in!

Back at New Years, I started handing out Sewing Dares… and wow! I can’t believe how many people joined in on the fun! 

Here are the finished dares so far: 

• The original dare was for Kristin at K-Line to knit a pair of socks - something she’d planned to do in her NY resolutions. Her dare is most definitely completed… she went from disliking socks-knitting, to grudgingly being fascinated, to liking it, to make more!  Tenacity, thy name is Kristin!


• The second dare was for Pretty Greivances. She bemoaned a lack of TNT blouse, so I dared her to choose one pattern and make three tops! **Dare Completed!** I like all of her new tops! 


• Sew Busy Lizzy:Hack a favourite pattern into something new. She’s going to make the Maria of Denmark Day/Night Cowl into a dress, and I know it will be fab! **Dare completed!** But wait! There’s more! One dare was not enough! She’s going to make a bathing suit AND an outfit for her trip to London! That’s bravery!


• Unique Schmuck: Oanh is going to make two sundresses from the same pattern, at the same time! **Dare Completed!** Two lovely dresses finished! 


• Three Dresses Project: Leila is going to (gasp!) use a pattern more than once!  **Dare Completed!** In fact, she made multiples of 3 different patterns! :) 


• Sew Exhausted makes beautiful things for her family - Now she’s been dared to make something nice for herself! **Dare Completed!**


• Notches and Notions: Make something using at least 1 of the giant buttons she accidentally ordered for another project**Dare Completed** 


• Maria of Denmark: Make fun underwear and some lounge pants! **Dare Completed!**


• House of Pinheiro is going to make a loose-fitting top - with Maria of Denmark’s Kimono Tee PDF pattern to boot! **Dare Completed!**


• Stephanie is going to start a blog! **Dare Completed!** Go check our her lovely new blog!


• Jen has been dared to be social on Twitter every day for a week.  **Dare Completed!** @grainlinestudio was a busy tweeter! 


• Sew and So is making #onedresstorulethemall - her wedding dress! meanwhile, she’s been dared to join twitter and post a list of things she’ll make once the wedding dress is done! **Dare Completed!** Well done! 


• My original dare from Pretty Grievances was to mix prints. **Dare Completed!**


• PunkMik is going to make something from Gertie’s book - work appropriate for her new job! :) **Dare Completed!**


• Handmade by Heather B: Heather is going to make something flirtatious for going out/events. Va-va-voom!  **Dare Completed!** It’s really fabulous! 


• Chris Lucas is going to make herself a cute high-waisted pencil skirt! **Dare Completed!**


• Bimble and Pimple: Amanda make a plain single-colour dress! (I trust she will still make it fun though, with texture or shape or trim or something!) **Dare Completed!** I want an exact copy of this skirt!


• Ginger Makes is going to bite the bullet and make a bodice sloper! Oh yeah - and she let Oona pick out fabric for her next Mood Network project!**Dare Completed!** In glorious, glorious style!


• OonaBallona has accepted a dare from GingerMakes and SownBrooklyn to make her dear husband a shirt! Will there be vibrant spandex leggings to match? **Dare Completed** And lookin’ good!


• Jamie at Such a Strange Girl is going to make her first knit top! **Dare Completed** Nice timing! :) 


• Sown Brooklyn will make something designed/drawn by one of her kids!   **Dare Completed!** Wow. I think this was the toughest of all the sewing dares that I handed out - but she’s done it! A superhero inspired dress based on a drawing of her daughter’s! Go check it out!


• Jagoda was dared by Catja from Geometry to make something with her Ikea fabric - and she made floral pants for spring! 


• Kat from Petticoats and Peplums is sewing  matching mother-daughter outfits for herself and her adorable little girl! **DARE COMPLETED!** Oh my gosh. So adorable! 


• Catja from Gjeometry is making something for herself with Ikea fabric from a recent haul, and also de-fuggifying an 80’s pattern! **Skirt DARE COMPLETED!** It’s so cute on her! 


• Buzy Lizzie in Brizzy is going to make a vintage shirtdress!  ***DARE COMPLETED!*** In fact, she made 2! One for the Mad Men challenge, and one for Sew for Victory! 


• Rachel at My Messings is done hosting her Hollyburn sewalong, and is ready for a dare: To make something, anything, that goes under a dress! **Dare Completed!**  Go check out what she has under her dress! ;) 


• Made with Hugs and Kisses is in training to be a teacher, so I’ve dared her to sew an interview dress! ***DARE COMPLETED!*** And she got a job! Yippee!!!


• SewTell has just moved to a new place, so she’s going to sew some cushions for her couch! ***DARE COMPLETED*** Didn’t she choose cool fabrics? Love it!


• My awesomesauce sister Anne is a dye-hard knitter (See what I did there? Hahaha - puns.) She’s going to design and co-sew a knitting project bag! She’s started with a Pinterest board full of ideas… ***DARE COMPLETED!*** We had a lot of fun figuring out how to make zip bags with a vinyl window!


• Andrea at Stitch Parade is going to make a garment (using a print!) that celebrates her new life this year on the west coast of Canada. ***DARE COMPLETED!*** It’s gorgeous! I’m looking forward to meeting Andrea when she moves back to Toronto this summer!


• Becky from Sew-and-So is busy finishing up her wedding dress, but after that, she’s going to indulge/break her stashbusting pledge by buying new fabric and a pattern for something fun! ***DARE COMPLETED!*** She’s chosen great fabric and a cool pattern - Can’t wait to see it sewn up after the wedding! (Even better, she’s given herself the dare of sewing up some lingerie with fabric chosen by her husband!) 


• Kate took a break from blogging to plan her wedding, but she’s officially Mrs. Nakano now, and she’s got a new blog to match! She’s been dared to make and blog something soon! ***DARE COMPLETED!*** Kate Blogged not one, but TWO new garments!   


• Sally from The Quirky Peach is going to use stash fabric to make one of the new indie patterns she bought recently! She did give it a shot, but wisely tossed it when the fabric wasn’t working out… ***DARE COMPLETED!*** Aren’t her shorts cute?!?


• Dottie Doodle is going to make a comfy outfit for her days working from home that is also cute enough to wear out and about! ***DARE COMPLETED!*** She’s made a bunch of cute casual skirts, and now a lovely Derby dress!


• I was dared to use piping… and now I’d piped two Hummingbird skirts! **DARE COMPLETED***


• I also tried out dart rotation on my new floral dress, so that’s another dare down! ***DARE COMPLETED!***


• Hanny Bobbins is going to use her new serger to make a knitting project bag! ***DARE COMPLETED!!!*** I love the bags hannah made… now to find some “fusible fleece” myself - the magic ingredient! 


• Falling Through Your Clothes has too much in her stash (poor woman! :P) so she is going to use one piece to sew something for herself, and give away another piece or use it to sew for someone else! ***DARE COMPLETED!*** I’m calling this one a little early, but Vanda has been sewing some cool stuff for herself, and she’s coming to Toronto for a meet-up and swap, so I think we can consider the dare done! ;) 


• Morgan from Crab and Bee is going to make an unconventional garment (like a romper!!) in a fabric that she dyes, prints, or designs! I can’t wait to see it! ***DARE COMPLETED!!!*** Already! I JUST gave this dare, and she’d done! And it’s perfect on her!

These dares are still in progress: 

• I’ve been dared to make a maxi dress out of Liberty Lifestyle fabric… 


• Hot Mess Heifer is going to make not 1, not 2, but 3 t-shirts!(She’s made two already! :)


• Seamless’ Elena has been dared by SewBusyLizzy to make one dress for work, and style it 4 ways!


• Clare from SewDixieLou: Make an everyday, “signature” dress from her vintage stash


• Inge from IngeMaat: Remake one of her least “Top 5 Fails” from 2012 into something (anything!) that she loves or is useful. 


• Erin at Dog Under My Desk is going to sew a t-shirt! (You won’t regret it - T-shirts are my favourite sewing project!) 


• Amity Originals is going to make trousers! (Brave woman!) 


• Suzy Sewing is going to do two dares: Make a t-shirt AND use a croquis for sketching dress designs.


• Buckingham Road has accepted two dares: Make something out of knit, and make pants, a skirt or a dress to go with her fantastic Cordova Jacket! 


• Thewallinna gave herself a serious challenge: Finish her couture dress!


• Suzanne of http://mybeaubaby.blogspot.com/ has been dared by Oona, Ginger and others to make a garment that she’ll proudly show the guts of, perhaps to the point of it being reversible. 


• GMarie is going to recreate a RTW dress with red cherries from Vogue 8728! 


• Velosewer practically dared herself to make a bra, so I added in the challenge of making matching underwear! 


• Kirsty from Rocket Sews is going to draft her own knit dress, and maybe even make a tutorial for us! 


• Erin from Miss Crayola Creepy is going to remake one of the patterns from the Colette Sewing Handbook - I first met her during the sewalong this time last year, so it seems like a perfect dare!


• Rochelle from Lucky Lucille (also part of the Colette Sewalong with Erin!) is going to make a vintage playsuit for summer, and then release her first PDF sewing pattern! Go Rochelle!


• Sandra from Just Sew Sandra is going to pick one of the challenges from the Great British Sewing Bee and try it out herself! Will she finish a project in the time limit? Wait and see! :) 


• Anna from A Look of One’s Own took on two dares: make something with one of her new Sewaholic patterns, and make a circle skirt for dancing! 


• Melanie from The Seeds of 3 accepted two dares (muhuhahaha!): She’s going to make on the the Cake Riff patterns into a dress, and sew something with a print that is not a stripe! (I know she’s done, but not blogged yet…)


• Jen from Grainline is back for a second sewing dare: Making a wiggle skirt!

 For those of us with incomplete dares hanging over our heads… remember, stop if it’s not fun!  Lemme know, and I’ll scratch it off the list. If it’s not exciting and motivating, there’s no point, right? We’ll give you a new, more exciting dare instead. This is our hobby, for goodness sakes! :) Make it fun. 

If that hasn’t scared you off… There’s always space for new dares! If you want one, just leave a comment below or hollar at my on Twitter. Get the graphic yourself, and start sewing/blogging/daring more sewists! 

 Happy sewing! 

Lazy Tips for Sewing Knits: Pattern Paper Matters

My last lazy tip was about cutting tools (wherein I pledged allegiance to my rotary blade). This one is also about cutting, in a round about way! 

When I cut knits, I never ever bother with pinning the patterns to the fabric. Some of you do though, and I puzzled this week over why you might need to… and here’s what I came up with: 

Tracing your patterns onto something “grippier” than tissue or paper lets you cut accurately and easily with barely any pics or weights! 

Let me explain…

On the left, we’ve got a normal tissue pattern. In my experience, trying to cut around tissue patterns (even already pre-trimmed to size) is awful. The pressure of the wheel next to the tissue makes the pattern piece shift and jump and twist, and it’s really hard to accurately cut the right shape. 

In the middle is printer paper from a PDF pattern. It’s more solid, but again, it tends to slide around too easily on the fabric and needs to be very carefully help in place while you cut. 

By contrast, on the right is my favourite stuff: kinda like Swedish tracing paper, it’s basically like interfacing without the glue. In my local store it’s call Trace-a-Pattern, and it sells for about $4/m. Oh, and it’s 60” wide! Score!  (If you live in Ontario, it’s usually stored under the cutting table on a roll at Fabricland!) 

What I love about this stuff is that it grips onto the fabric, and bends and flexes with the pressure of the roller as you cut. That means that you get a much more accurate cut! It also irons beautifully, so you can fold it up to store it, then press it flat in a jiffy! (Unlike taped-together PDFs - I’ve melted a lot of tape trying to iron them flat again!) 

If you’ve used a rotary cutter, you’ll know that sometimes it creates a “tidal wave” of fabric pushed just in front of the blade. (Ok, I need to sharpen my blade, I know!) With this Trace-a-Pattern, the pattern itself grips the fabric and helps to tame the wave! 

Here’s my cutting set-up!

I made these pattern weights ages ago (when I was making my first ever dress, perhaps?) Mine are just 10 washers inside a little pouch, but anything heavy works. I only have 6, but that’s enough to cut any size pattern piece for me. (I’ll be honest, I wouldn’t usually put so many on a little pattern piece like this! :P)

As long as I’ve traced my pattern onto Trace-a-Pattern, the cutting is really easy! Sometimes I don’t bother tracing, especially if I’m not sure the pattern will become a TNT. In general though, I love reusing patterns, so it’s worth the time to trace it. 

Have you noticed a difference cutting out patterns made with different materials? What’s your favourite to work with? 

Sewcial Bee Time - Correction!

So you’d think that after living in 5 continents, I’d be better at understanding time zones… but nope, apparently not! I got more than a little befuddled about when the Sewcial Bee Challenge would be posted, so here’s the correct times: 

GMT: Midnight between Saturday, August 10, 2013 and Sunday, August 11, 2013

Toronto-time: 8pm, Saturday August 10th

Sorry about that! 

:) G

Almost time for the next Sewcial Bee!

It’s back, baby!

Take the best parts of Project Runway and the Great British Sewing Bee, and mix them together with the cooperative, supportive atmosphere of the #sewcialists, and you’ve got the Sewcial Bee! We had our first challenge in July just to see how the idea worked out. We’ve made a few changes to the “rules”, and we’re ready for another challenge!

Here’s the deal (in the words of Heather, because I’m too lazy to retype in my own!)

1. This rounds challenge will be provided by GidaStudio and will be posted 12am GMT August 10th on her website and on twitter.
2. We encourage you to pick a project that will take between 4-7 hours to sew.  So you can get a little crazy but not bat-shit insane. ;)
3. You have 48 hours to complete your challenge garment and post it to the Sewical Bee Flickr group. Then we will all aww and ooooo over it.
4. Again there is no judging or prizes…other than that sweet new garment on your back.
5. It’s an open event so tell a friend, tell a neighbor, tell your spouse to take the kids and get the hell out.

And that’s it! Basically, we all get a surprise challenge, dig through our stash, and see what we can come up with! This time we’ve got all of Sunday and Monday to sew, so hopefully it works out for more people’s schedules. Within that time frame though, we’re spendingup to 7 hours on the project. I like short projects, so mine will likely take far less than 7 hours… but for those who really like a perfect finish or a complicated pattern, we hope that 7 hours lets you end up with something you are proud of. 

(Here are our finished projects from July’s challenge to “make a top inspired by a shawl or scarf”! Added bonus: Spot my Dad dressed up in a tye-dyed tee made by my sister at age 6, accessorized with a block-printed tie she sewed him in school! Proud parents make great enablers!)

If you are interested in playing along, just join the Flickr group! And if the dates/time don’t work for you this month, there’s always another challenge next month!

Gifted, Dared, and Delivered!

Hold on to you hats, folks - I made a dress, and it’s NOT made with knits! (Gasp, shock, horror!) 

In June, Leila from ThreeDresses and Heather, aka KnitnBee aka Handmade by Heather B, sent me the most amazing gifts for my birthday, including 3 m of some beautiful stretch cotton woven from Gertie’s online shop. 

Seriously, look how well this matches into my stash?!?

PRETTY!!!

So when I had to attend a baby shower and the dress code said “pretty summer dress”, I knew just which fabric to use!

Rather than have to muslin a new pattern, I thought I’d pull out my bodice sloper, muck around with it, and finish off one of my …

…at the same time! Way back whenever, someone dared me to try rotating darts, so here’s my first attempt! 

Step 1: Trace my sloper onto tissue paper, and rotate the side dart to the shoulder. 

Step 2: Cut off the shoulder and make it into a yoke, and change the new shoulder dart into gathers. (I’ve been really jonesing after dresses with a yoke and shoulder gathers for a year - can’t quite believe it was this easy to draft my own! Next time though, I want MOAR gathers!)

Here’s how it turned out: 

And the finished dress: 

(Excuse the photographer’s thumb, please!) 

I was all set to try out the gathered Cambie skirt and dub this my “Dolly Clackett Dress” for it’s deliciously over-the-top girlishness… but I chickened out. I love Roisin’s look on her, but I worried that I wouldn’t feel myself. (My only ever attempt at a girly gathered-skirt dress was my floral Cambie, which has never been worn and lives in the UFO pile even though it’s not a UFO!) Instead, I went with the a-line Cambie skirt, and I’m much happier!

I used up some pinky-red vintage bias tape that had been kicking around my sewing room to highlight the pockets and the yoke. (BTW, a few people asked how I did my piping - I learned everything I know from this wonderful tutorial by Susan over at Sewing Cake!) 

I scooped out the back to add some interest and make it more of a sundress… totally inspired by everyone’s beautiful Elisalex dresses, I admit!

This was my very first time sewing a stretch woven, and wow! I’m converted. I want all my wovens to stretch! This dress doesn’t have a zipper, but the double-layered waistband still holds it snug. It was also perfectly comfortable to wear for hours in the car! Leila and Heather, you really chose the *perfect* fabric for me - Thank you so much! 

So ‘fess up: How often do you sew something new for an event? I’ve got about 15 dresses I could have worn, but noooo, had to be something new! Does pre-party sewing usually work out for you, or end in tears and disaster?