Monthly Archive for November, 2009

MY DESK/DINING ROOM TABLE

Published on November 27, 2009 in hello, home and stitchery. 8 Comments Tags: French General, hot chocolate, jelly roll, Mokuba, Shinzi Katoh, shoo fly.

I was tagged by Constança to show my desk, which also happens to be my dining room table. At the end of each night (or so) I clear the table off until my next sewing session. This is probably best, because I would have one of those desks that was full of piles and overly messy.

I took these photos over the course of a weekend, so you can see me jump from project to project.

Photo 1 : Working on a plaid cotton quilt top for a Christmas gift, eating Coconut Liberte Yogourt and drinking hot chocolate
Photo 2 : Drafting a shoo-fly block for another new quilt using my French General jelly roll
Photo 3 : Adding the Mokuba trim to my new blue tunic
Photo 4 : Checking out flickr with my new Shinzi Katoh agenda and drinking hot chocolate (drinking hot chocolate seems to be mandatory when working, I am drinking some right now)

I’m usually the worst person to tag for these things, but I was determined to get my act together for this one. The three people whose desks I’d like to see are – Lauren, Ayalah & Rosalyn. You are meant to show your desk/working space as it is, without any editing or styling and then tag three more people. If anyone else out there wants to play along, just post a link here to a photo of your desk. (the messier the better!)

I hope you have a lovely weekend, friends. I’m making great progress with my holiday gift making. I won’t be able to tell you about a lot of it until after Christmas, but I’ve got a few projects that should be ‘safe’ to share with you.

NINE PATCH BABY QUILT

Published on November 26, 2009 in patchwork, stitchery and the workroom. 18 Comments Tags: nine patch, quilt label, quilt sunday, toronto craft alert, variegated thread.

I’ve been wanting to show you this quilt for a few weeks, but wanted to make sure that it got shipped off to baby Chloe in Vancouver before posting the photos here. This is just the second quilt that I’ve ever finished. Can you believe it? I feel like I’ve got about a dozen quilts in progress and I keep starting more!

This quilt has undergone a quite a few changes since I started it a year and a half ago. When I took the Presto Nine Patch class, I thought the technique was so fun that I should make a queen-sized quilt. I think this is a particular ‘syndrome’ of new quilters. You want to make every quilt a bed-sized quilt. It’s incredible how much the more work, exponentially, it is to make a huge bed sized quilt. I am now quite happy to make large lap-sized quilts. Baby quilts are a breeze in comparison. I had discovered my abandoned quilt blocks and thought I would motivate myself for the Crafty Slacker’s contest that Toronto Craft Alert had, but I didn’t do much more than post about my abandoned project at the time.

Little Chloe was born a few months ago and I was inspired to give her a baby quilt in the colours of my childhood – pink & green. My first bedroom as a child was decorated in homemade decor all coordinating in pink and green. I loved the colour scheme and still have a soft spot for those colours.

I made the nine patch blocks smaller than what we did in class and then framed them with matching strips. I used a Kona solid in soft pink as sashing between the blocks. For the back, I used some scrappy bits. I especially love the green camouflage which contrasts the sweet girlie-ness in a nice way. I was able to put the front and back of the quilt rather quickly. I machine quilted by stitching in the ditch around and in the blocks using a variegated thread.

Then, I stalled when it came to doing a label – for a couple months. I was not too happy with the label I did on my first quilt. I had used embroidery thread and tried to free hand the embroidery, both were mistakes. I finally got up the courage to try doing this new label. I pre-drew the writing on my piece fabric and used the same variegated sewing thread that I had for my quilting lines. I’m happy with how it turned out. Variegated thread makes everything better.

For the binding I was inspired after seeing a scrappy binding the Karen W. was working on at a recent Quilt Sunday. It’s such a cute detail.

Before I packaged it up to mail it to the west coast, I washed and dried it to get the lovely puckered look. It is so satisfying to finish a quilt and then wash it! It is also extremely satisfying to hear that Chloe is enjoying the quilt as both a blanket and play mat and hopefully it will become infused with all her memories of growing up.

STYLISH DRESS BOOK 2 : DRESS "B", SHORTER TUNIC

Published on November 25, 2009 in japanese dress/craft and stitchery. 19 Comments Tags: Mokuba, Stylish Dress Book, tunic.

I know, I JUST posted this dress pattern. I warned you that I was going to make it again. (and again) It’s a really easy top to wear, since it’s almost like a t-shirt. It’s also really easy to sew and I didn’t want to trace out a new pattern. (lazy!) Also, I find that almost all of my real t-shirts are too short and I prefer a longer tunic length. I cleared out my drawers the other day and bagged up an entire drawer’s worth of clothing, mostly t-shirts that I never wear anymore. (FYI – new class alert for the new year = t-shirts!)

I was given some lovely soft woven cottons from India. This fabric is incredible. It is so lightweight and lovely with just the slightest sheen to it. I had just enough to make a shorter tunic version of this dress. Keeping with my resolution to use more trim, I made a special trip to Mokuba to pick up the grey blue lacey trim. Hemming with trim is actually a time-saver.

With all the unfinished projects I’ve got piled up right now, it felt great to whip up this little shirt and wear it the same week. I’m going to make another, but I promise to try out a new pattern first.

SHERIDAN TEXTILE STUDIO SALE

Published on November 17, 2009 in local, stitchery, textiles and the workroom. 8 Comments Tags: Sheridan Textile Studio sale.

Sheridan Textile Studio Sale
Friday November 20, 2009
5-9pm
at the workroom

the workroom has a certain fondness for the Sheridan Textile Studio program. Students in this program spend three years exploring printing, dyeing, felt making, surface embellishment, mixed media and digital design. So much fun! Both Debbie and Rosalyn are enrolled in this fantastic program, so I’ve seen first hand all the incredible work that goes on there.

Every year the students have a fundraising sale to make money for the graduating class’ final exhibition. I’m delighted to be able to host this year’s winter sale at the workroom. I hope you’ll drop by after work on Friday to browse the lovely wares and support Sheridan’s third year Textile Studio class. I got a sneak peek at a sampling of the goodies for sale and they include hand-printed pincushions, lavender sachets and aprons. I can’t wait to see what else they’ve made and to pick up some early holiday gifts.

COLOURFUL FABRIC DRESS BOOK

Published on November 16, 2009 in japanese dress/craft and stitchery. 6 Comments Tags: Colourful Fabric Dress Book, Japanese dress book, nani IRO, Naomi Ito.

nani IRO – Colourful Fabric Dress Book
ISBN 9784579111831

Naomi Ito is the designer behind the inspirational nani IRO fabrics line. Her fabric designs are like paintings that flow across the bolt, often in beautiful double gauze cotton or linen blends. This book not only showcases all her fabric from 2008 but many of her simple designs and patterns. Everything about this book is inspirational.

I’ve had this book for ages and can’t believe that I haven’t made anything from it yet. The cover image is probably the most popular pattern in the book. The dress is very simple, very Japanese and I’ve seen several lovely versions of it made. I’m officially putting it on my Crafty List of Things to Do. There are lots of different types of projects to try including mother/daughter clothing patterns (so cute!), bags, coin purses and a simple apron.

I’m hoping you will pitch in with your comments and thoughts about these books and patterns as I post them to the Japanese Dress Books section. If you own any of these books or have had luck or even difficulty with some of the projects, it would be great to hear from you!

ANTHROPOLOGIE HOLIDAY CATALOG

Published on November 11, 2009 in inspiration. 11 Comments Tags: anthropologie, Chie Mihara.

Once a month, just like a subscription, the Anthropologie catalog arrives in my mailbox. It’s been a couple years since I’ve actually ordered anything from their mail order, but my splurge on Chie Mihara shoes was worth it for the monthly dose of inspiration their paper catalog brings me. Their holiday catalog is extra thick and full of wonderful details and ideas that I’m filing away for future projects. I thought I’d share my favourite bits with you.

STYLISH DRESS BOOK 2 : DRESS "B"

Published on November 8, 2009 in stitchery and textiles. 10 Comments Tags: Japanese dress book, Mokuba, Stylish Dress Book.

I’m so glad you like the new section on the blog! I’m excited to fill it up with lots of Japanese dress books and creations.

I’ve been holding on to this metallic linen for ages. It’s from our trip to New York last year. Sometimes I tend to spend a lot of time waiting for things to be absolutely perfect before making a decision. That sure makes for some slow crafting.

This special fabric needed a super simple pattern that would allow it to shine. It finally dawned on me that Dress “B’ was just that. It was one of the patterns in the book that I’ve overlooked a hundred times because it was so plain.

This t-shirt style tunic called for a bit of trim, which I picked out at Mokuba. The wide linen-coloured eyelet trim has a nice soft contrast to the shiny blue. I chose to simply trim the sleeves and hem, but not the neck. I really love the neckline on this dress, it is so wide and open.

The dress was very easy to sew. You’ll notice that my version is much shorter than the book’s and I did not make the slip that they show with it. As is usually the case, there is no zipper or closure of any kind. The neckline does have a facing, which I understitched to give it a clean finish. I also trimmed a bit off the sides to give it a slimmer silhouette.

I like this dress a lot. I made it for my birthday this year, nothing like a little sparkly linen to celebrate a special occasion. I would definitely like to make this pattern again in another variation, perhaps a nice wool for winter?

BENJAMIN BUNNY

Published on November 4, 2009 in accoutrement and local. 16 Comments Tags: bunny, Kalpna Patel, Old Weston Handmade Wonders.

I got a surprise addition to my bunny family on Sunday. The lovely Kalpna dropped by with a beautifully packaged gift, complete with mini pinecones and my initial stamped on the bag. Inside was a very special bunny, his name is Benjamin. Isn’t he handsome?

Benjamin is a fall bunny, as you can see. Dressed up in his fall sweater and striped scarf, he was ready for an adventure on Monday with the perfect autumn weather we were having. We went off to High Park to check out the fall colours, run through the leaves and then to Sorauren Park to see the annual pumpkin parade.

Kalpna is a regular at our trunk shows, so you may have seen the adorable crochet bears she makes. I’ve been dropping “not so subtle” hints for the last while that those bears might easily become a bunny, which would be perfect for my bunny fetish/collection.

The thing with bunnies is that they tend to multiply, so I’m pretty sure you might be able to pick up one of your own darlings at an upcoming holiday craft fair. Kalpna will be vending at Winter Fling and City of Craft in December.

JAPANESE DRESS BOOKS

Published on November 2, 2009 in stitchery. 11 Comments Tags: Japanese dress book, Stylish Dress Book.

It occurred to me the other day how popular Japanese Dress Books are becoming. I’m not really surprised, the aesthetic is so simple and there aren’t really any other patterns on the market that are like them. Now that I’m also teaching a class about them at the workroom, I thought it was time to organize all my posts on the subject into one section. In addition to cataloging my growing collection of books, I hope it will be a fun resource for you when you’re deciding which books to buy for yourself and which projects you might want to try.

To start, I’ve gone through my collection and listed all the titles I have with their ISBN’s and cover images. Anything that has already been posted about has a link, along with a list of all the projects I’ve made so far. (Stylish Dress Book 1 & 2 are far in the lead with most projects made) I’ll be posting about each of the different books that I’ve got on a more regular basis. Plus, surely I’ll have to buy even more books to show you. Yeah!