Monthly Archive for May, 2009

CAMERA STRAP IN 'ZAIN'

Published on May 26, 2009 in DIY, stitchery and textiles. 18 Comments Tags: camera strap, Liberty of London, Nikon, zain.

Liberty of London Summer Challenge : Project #1
Camera Strap in ‘Zain’ Tana Lawn Cotton

My first Liberty of London project is a simple one, but damn, does it ever make me happy. When I got my Nikon camera last year, the first thing I wanted to do was make myself a new camera strap. I cringed every time I looked at that black and yellow strap.

I planned on making a new strap from scratch and this is likely one of the reasons why this project was so slow to get off the ground. As I thought about where I would get all the right hardware to do this properly last week, I realized that it would be much much easier to just re-cover the existing strap. Sometimes there’s no need to go building something from scratch when you can just hitch a ride on something that works perfectly fine.

How could I resist having a posh Liberty of London camera strap? I chose the print called ‘Zain‘, which seems to be perfectly suited to being a camera strap, don’t you think?

Since this project requires only a small strip of fabric (approx. 4″ x 20″), it hardly seemed painful at all to cut into this precious fabric. I cut the fabric along the selvedge so that I could use the finished fringe as my exposed edge. I ironed fusible interfacing on the back to make it a bit sturdier. Next, I pressed a small fold along the two short sides and then put a layer of ‘Steam a Seam 2′across the back of the fabric. I carefully wrapped the strip around the existing camera strap, overlapping the fabric with the selvedge edge showing. Using a hot iron, I pressed the fabric covering the strap to activate the ‘Steam a Seam 2′ and glue the fabric to the strap. The last step was to sew/quilt concentric rectangles along the length of the strap to secure the fabric to the strap.

I’m so happy. It’s the prettiest camera strap I’ve ever seen and it will be perfect for Paris. We leave a week today!

TATI'S ROOFTOP PATIO

Published on May 26, 2009 in delicious and local. 5 Comments Tags: Harbord, patio, raccoon, Tati, Toronto.

I had my first patio outing of the season on Sunday and it was glorious. Dinner and drinks with Dominic & Cassandra on Tati‘s rooftop patio. It’s almost like a tree house, as there is a huge tree growing through and around the secluded patio. The food and ambiance was just lovely. I recommend it and plan on going again and again this summer. At one point, a daring raccoon made a hilarious attempt to scamper down, but was ‘shoo’d away by the wait staff. I was too busy devouring my Profiteroles to get a good photo of the little guy.

LIBERTY OF LONDON SUMMER

Published on May 25, 2009 in textiles and the workroom. 11 Comments Tags: Liberty of London.

When you own a fabric shop, one must have a few personal rules in place.

#1 – Do not unnecessarily hoard fabric.

Obviously I adore fabric and I certainly adore all the fabrics that I choose for the workroom. Often times, just the satisfaction of having ordered a fabric, unpacking it from a box, putting it on the shelf and watching people buy it for projects is enough for me. Whenever I cut fabric off the bolt for myself, it is for a specific project or pattern that I am about to make.

My seven beloved bolts of Liberty of London fabrics arrived last Thursday and I have unabashedly broken my rule for these gems.

I have cut myself two metres of each of these seven fabrics to add to my collection before they disappear. In order to justify this, I’ve decided on this year’s summer sewing challenge for myself. (last year’s challenge = 13 dresses) I must make at least one thing out of each of these seven Liberty of London prints before Fall. This way, it’s not really hoarding, but merely being well prepared for my summer projects!

I am not the only one with Liberty fever. Check out this, this and this.

HOPSCOTCH

Published on May 22, 2009 in spotted. 4 Comments Tags: hopscotch.

Spotted this on my walk to work this morning. This is a seriously smart game of hopscotch.

It’s been so long that I had to read up on the rules of the game.

WARDROBE REFRESH #2

Published on May 21, 2009 in DIY and stitchery. 17 Comments Tags: McCall's 9366, wardrobe refresh.

I made this pink dress ages ago. It’s from a 1960′s pattern that was a bit too big for me, so I sized it down to fit me. In my re-sizing, I didn’t take the neckline into consideration and made it a bit too small. With the mandarin collar, it not only looked too small, but it felt really uncomfortable.

In all these years, I’ve only worn it a few times which is a shame since I just love the pink stretch cotton fabric, the button detailing and the sleeves. In order to refresh this dress, I decide to cut the entire collar off. When I think about it, I don’t even like mandarin collars!

I tried the dress on and marked a new neckline with chalk. When I took the dress off, I refined the neckline to be symmetrical and cut away that tight mandarin collar. Rather than create a new collar, I thought I would just do a simple bias tape trim. Unbelievably, when I looked in my stash of fabric, I found the scrap fabric from this dress and there was enough to make my trim from it. It’s nice to know that my scrap hoarding comes in handy every ten years or so!

Now, I’m totally excited to wear this spring perfect dress.

LONG WEEKEND

Published on May 19, 2009 in gardening. 8 Comments Tags: bonsai, dwarf pomegranate, Richter's Herbs.

Though I didn’t actually get to any gardening on my two glorious days off, we did visit two different nurseries and picked up lots of lovely herbs and plants for the garden. One of the nurseries was Richter’s Herbs, which is becoming a yearly visit for us. Cinnamon Basil, Lime Thyme, Tangerine Sage, and Spice Basil are a few we’re going to try out. They all smell so delicious!

I’m especially intrigued by the Dwarf Pomegranate plant which is apparently the perfect candidate for a bonsai tree and should produce both flowers AND fruit!

I had grand plans of being seriously crafty on my days off, but ended up being deservedly lazy. I really needed the R&R.

5 REASONS THAT I LOVE FRANKIE

Published on May 15, 2009 in i heart and reading. 10 Comments Tags: Audrey Hepburn, Audrey Kawasaki, Ben Kweller, Frankie, owl, Sarah McNeil.

I had been searching hi and lo for a copy of the elusive Australian Frankie magazine for a while and FINALLY found a copy a couple weeks ago. I was excited, but little did I know just how perfect this magazine is for me.

These are a mere 5 reasons that I love Frankie – issue 28:

1. Even just a small blurb about Audrey Kawasaki gets me excited.
2. Seeing a fun article and photo of my friend, Ben Kweller, who is a seriously crazy talented musician and all-around amazing guy.
3. I LOVE owls too!
4. Flowy, gathery smock tops.
5. There is a Sarah McNeil (maker of two bunny works that I now own) article and pull-out poster.

This is not to mention the perfect cover with sweet pintuck blouse, the article on Audrey Hepburn’s movies (Must see – Paris When It Sizzles), or the recipe for Chorizo Potato Salad (I really like potato salad).

I’m excited for issue #29. And the long weekend. the workroom will be closed on Sunday for the holiday, so I will have two days off in a row. All day gardening is on the agenda!

WARDROBE REFRESH #1

Published on May 14, 2009 in stitchery. 21 Comments Tags: skirt, wardrobe refresh.

I’ve been going through my closet with a critical eye, looking for items of clothing I haven’t worn for ages, but don’t want to get rid of. I’ve decided that by shopping my closet and making a few nip/tucks, I’ll add some much needed new pieces to my current wardrobe rotation.

Easiest project first. Skirts. I have so many skirts. When I first learned to sew, I went crazy sewing up skirts since it was the only thing I knew how to make. They all seem to be around the same length – knee length. After all these years, that seems too long for right now. I picked three skirts I made ages ago that I hardly wear, but love. The red is a heavy cotton canvas with leather buttons at the top. The turquoise is a soft corduroy. The grey is actually a lovely iridescent fabric that is silvery grey with a shot of yellow depending on how the light hits it. After trying them all on, the right length seemed to be about 17″. I measured, chopped off the bottoms, pressed up about an inch and hand sewed an invisible hem on each. Three newly refreshed skirts for me to wear in the blink of a crafty eye!

(the smudgy spots on the mirror near the bottom of my leg, must be from Maisy checking herself in the mirror when I wasn’t looking)

STITCH MAGAZINE

Published on May 13, 2009 in spotted and the workroom. 14 Comments Tags: Soak, Stitch Magazine.

With a little help from Anabela, I finally located a couple copies of the newest issue of Stitch magazine at Presse Internationale. There’s a nice mention of the workroom with a couple great photos. (that’s Anabela’s quilt, Grant, Rosalyn and Michelle in the top photo!) This piece came about because Jacqueline of Soak kindly mentioned the workroom and put me in touch with one of the editors. It’s such a treat to be on the same pages as so many great talents in this new magazine.

There is an informative article on Liberty of London fabrics (they are coming in the next couple weeks!), people who are printing their own textiles (Lena Corwin, Ink & Spindle and Lotta Jansdotter) and tons of cool projects and patterns. I’m going to get myself a subscription so that I don’t have to run around the city trying to locate a copy. Plus, I want to make sure this magazine stays in print.

I know there are a few people trying to find copies, so please comment if you see a copy somewhere in the city. Michelle said there were lots of copies today at the Indigo at Bay & Bloor.

Thanks so much to everyone who emailed and tweeted when they saw the article. It’s great to see how popular this publication is already!

TEA PARTY SUNDRESS

Published on May 12, 2009 in stitchery and the workroom. 13 Comments Tags: oliver + s, sugar city, tea party sundress, village frock.

It feels like there hasn’t been a lot of ‘making’ going on around here. As I try to deal with the more mundane (but necessary) aspects of running a business, I’m trying to focus on completing some of the dozen projects that are in my unfinished pile. I can at least get some quick creative satisfaction this way, if I’m not able to start the bazillion projects I’d much rather be working on.

This Oliver + S Tea Party Sundress is almost done. I just have to make the cute bloomers to go with it. Do three year-olds need bloomers? It’s a gift for a little girl who will be three this summer. I hope it fits her. This is the first piece of clothing that I have made for someone else. To be honest, it feels a bit weird. I wish it was larger and actually a cute smock top for myself. It looks like it just might be, but it’s definitely too small.

I’ve been meaning to test out the Oliver + S patterns for some time, but I don’t really know too many little girls and I prefer to make girlie clothes. I was happy to take the Children’s Playsuit/dress class with Reva. Sometimes you just need to take a class to get a project going. What a fun pattern to make! All the sweet details that Liesl puts into her patterns make her clothing extra special. I especially love the piping along the yoke and the facing on the skirt hem. It’s a nice touch that I plan on using on a future garment that I make for myself.

In the end I really liked how all the little boy playsuits turned out. So I might try out one of the boy patterns soon for some of the little boys I know.

I recently bought Sugar City’s Village Frock pattern. It’s for little girls, but I love it, so I’m trying to grade it up to my size. It might seem a bit crazy, but just think how cute it will be if it works out! I’ll let you know how that goes.