Monthly Archive for March, 2009

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STITCH N' BITCH

Published on March 11, 2009 in patchwork, stitchery and the workroom. 6 Comments Tags: stitch n' bitch.

Last night was a really fun Stitch n’ Bitch night at the workroom. There was a most impressive line-up of projects being worked on…

3 x pairs of underwear
3 x quilts (1 quilt being pieced together, 1 quilt being taken apart, 1 quilt being hand-quilted)
1 x cross stitch sampler
1 x pencil crayon sketches
1 x crochet neck warmers
2 x hats (1 warm and woolly, 1 mini with black feathers!!!)
1 x machine letter embroidery
1 x fabric-covered baby blocks
2 x 1″ buttons
1 x felt cup cozies
1 x newspaper article on craft

FRILLY & LACY TRIM

Published on March 10, 2009 in stitchery. 7 Comments Tags: Agent Provocateur, Mokuba, Stella McCartney, Strumpet and Pink, underwear.

Since the underwear class, I’ve been obsessively thinking about making more. Alas, I am not ‘allowed’ to spend time making underwear right now. There are too many other projects & tasks that rank higher priority and need completing before starting something new. Plus, I would really like to give myself an entire day to draft up some new patterns and make a few more pairs from the patterns we used in class. I still can’t believe how comfortable and cute they are.

While running some errands today, I did allow myself to stop at Mokuba (aka. ribbon & trim heaven) and indulge in some lovely trims for my future underwear making. It took a lot of willpower to stop from buying much more. That store is dangerously enticing. I left there wanting to trim absolutely everything I make from now on.

I’m also allowed to do ‘research’, so have been surfing around Agent Provocateur, Strumpet and Pink and Stella McCartney for inspiration.

A FEW OF MY FAVOURITE THINGS

Published on March 8, 2009 in accoutrement, local and vintage. 3 Comments Tags: braille, ella kohlmann, kathryn boyd, kiln enamel, resurrection fern, strawberry shortcake.

Strawberry Shortcake lip balm, braided yarn bracelet by Lily, vintage braille dish

‘Conor’, polymer clay kitty by Ella

Hand-painted ornament by Kathryn Boyd

Crochet-covered sea stone by Resurrection Fern

Wall plaque by Kiln Enamel

FAVOURITE TUNIC #6, AGAIN

Published on March 6, 2009 in stitchery. 9 Comments Tags: "Favourite Tunic, japanese craft book, tunic.

I don’t often repeat a pattern, but I just love this tunic so much. It’s so easy to make, to wear and it feels great on.

The pattern is from ‘My Favourite Tunic, Dress, Vest Book‘. (ISBN 978-4-8347-2762-3) Perhaps one day I’ll try out another pattern from the book. Until then, I would be perfectly happy making six more of these tunics.

The fabric came from my stash of New York fabrics, likely from New York Elegant Fabrics. It’s a lovely shirting cotton that is so soft and delicate, it feels like gossamer. I can’t wait to wear it on a sunny spring day.

This version is slightly different than the first. I omitted the zipper down the back since the top easily fits over my head. The length of the sleeves was dictated by the amount of fabric I had. These were the longest sleeves I could get out of the yardage I was working with and I quite like them. This time I also gathered the sleeve cuff and finished it off with bias tape binding. The final signature touch is the lace trim around the bottom.

I hear it is supposed to be a balmy 15 degrees Celsius today!

STYLISH DRESS BOOK "O"

Published on March 3, 2009 in stitchery, textiles and the workroom. 12 Comments Tags: lecien, Pomadour, Stylish Dress Book, tunic.

Stylish Dress Book (available at the workroom)
Tunic ‘O’ : Lecien ‘Liberty-style floral’

I keep thinking that I should focus on projects for the home this year – quilts, curtains, pillows, roman blinds and box cushions. But then I see a lovely fabric in the shop that just calls to be made into a piece of clothing and I can’t help myself. Sewing clothing was my first love.

This black Lecien floral fabric was hard to resist. I kept eying it and worrying that it would sell out before I had decided what to do with it. It feels and looks like a Liberty of London fabric. So luxurious.

A quick flip through the Stylish Dress Book landed me on style “O”. It’s long enough that I keep considering wearing it as a dress with tights, but short enough that I will likely always wear it with jeans. The sleeves are bell shaped, but not too much. There is elastic sewn around the bodice in a casing and for some reason I really enjoyed sewing in this part. It adds some nice shape and gathering to the standard loose tunic silhouette.

Since many of these patterns from Japanese craft books are so simple, they are usually rather quick to complete. It satisfies my clothing craving quite quickly. I popped over to Pomadour’s Craft Cafe earlier and noticed that there is now a Stylish Dress Book 2! I will try to be good and not order it just yet.

I finally took a day off this weekend! The glory of two days off was so delightful, it felt like a mini vacation. I will try to do this more often.

CRAFTY SLACKERS

Published on March 2, 2009 in patchwork, reading, stitchery and the workroom. 6 Comments Tags: crafty slackers get 'er done contest, nine patch, toronto craft alert, Twilight.

I’ve been a bit of a crafty slacker lately. The main reason is likely my entanglement with the Twilight series. I just couldn’t get anything else done while I was reading those books. It seemed like the best thing to do was just let it take over and read all the books as quickly as possible, so that I could get back to life in the non-vampire world. I finally finished last week. (Thank you to my Twilight enablers – mb & Gillian) Plus, last night I finished reading the online manuscript for Edward’s side of the story, Midnight Sun. Soo good. What I wouldn’t give to re-read the entire four books from his perspective!

It’s been mildly embarrassing to tell people that I haven’t really been making anything because I’ve been hanging out with vampires in my mind, so it’s time to get my craft back on! The freshly re-designed Toronto Craft Alert is having a fun contest right now to get people motivated to finish up abandoned projects. (which we ALL have) The Crafty Slackers Get ‘Er Done grand prize is amazing and even includes some choice items donated by the workroom.

This pink and green quilt was started in the Nine Patch Quilt class back in May! I got really ambitious when I found out how fun the nine patch is to make and imagined a huge queen-sized quilt. I’ve since accepted the fact that not EVERY quilt I make needs to be a queen-sized quilt. My goal is to just use up the pre-cut squares of fabric that I’ve got ready to go. I don’t have any illusions of finishing this project completely by the March 16th deadline, but I’d really like to make some headway on it. At the very least, I’ll complete the top and the back.