Archive for the 'scraps' Category

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IPHONE COZY

Published on September 14, 2009 in accoutrement, scraps and stitchery. 16 Comments Tags: bunny blossom, cozy, gelaskins, iPhone, kozyndan, polarize, style.com, things.

I finally decided to get myself an iPhone. My first priority was make a cozy for it, as I have a tendency to knock things about. I had a mental list of features it needed to have – interior credit card/money pocket, closure, wrist handle and clip.

This summer I often found myself heading out the door to walk Maisy with my cell phone and keys in hand, since most of my dresses don’t have pockets. (note to self : start putting pockets in your dresses!) We also walk to and from work everyday and often times I couldn’t hear/find my phone in the depths of my birdie sling. I had been inspired by this pet pouch to make something that might attach to the handle of Maisy’s leash.

My original plan was to do a zipper closure. However, when I was designing this pattern, I quickly realized that having a zipper would mean that the cozy would have to be much bigger than I wanted it to be. A magnetic snap was out of the question, so a button was the logical solution. The clip came off an old bag I had a long time ago. I try to scavenge hardware off anything I might be getting rid of. I used a scrap piece of cotton batting off one of my quilts to add a layer of protection in the middle of the fabrics. That sweet piece of lacy crochet trim is from Melinda. She used it on her zippered pouch and gave me the rest. I have decided I need to have more trim in my life.

The cozy is perfect. When I head out the door, I just clip it to Maisy’s leash. I even clip my keys into it. No more fumbling around in my bag!

I’m loving my iPhone and have already tricked it out with:

Bunny Blossom Gelaskin by Kozyndan

my favourite app is Things. I’m constantly writing lists in my head, on scraps of paper and generally, worrying about getting things done. Now, every time I think of something I need to do, buy or remember, it just goes into my Things list where all the items are sorted by priority, tags and projects. I have it on my iMac also and they wirelessly sync to each other. I feel more organized everyday.

i just downloaded the Style.com app yesterday and I love it. It’s fashion week in New York right now and I can watch all the shows easily on my phone.

i love anything Polaroid, so I had to get Polarize to change my photos to look like Polaroids that you can even write notes on.

i really wanted to have bird songs for my ringtone, so i recorded all kinds of wonderful birds from enature.com and created my own… i love hearing the Purple Finch, Northern Mockingbird and Sage Thrasher when people call.

PATCHWORK PILLOWCASES

Published on March 21, 2009 in local, patchwork, scraps and stitchery. 5 Comments Tags: Dwell, La Merceria, my first quilt, patchwork, pillowcases.

I’m doing well with my goal of working on more ‘house-related’ projects. I just finished these simple patchwork pillowcases. The patchwork strip is an off-cut from the queen sized quilt that I’m currently hand quilting. Since it will likely be quite a while since I actually finish the quilt, I thought a few pillowcases might motivate me to move faster. I can’t wait to get the finished and washed quilt on the bed! I can’t even imagine how satisfying that will feel.

The pillowcases are very simply done, with an envelope pillow-style opening at the back. I just copied the pillow cases from our new Dwell bedding. (bought at the cutest little shop – La Merceria). I’m planning on doing a duvet cover next but I just figured out that it will require about eleven metres of fabric. So, I’m going to need to do a bit of planning.

I’ve also got a couple window treatments in progress and I’ll post those once they are complete. With the nice weather approaching I’m trying to focus on doing these home projects before I get the itch to start making dresses again.

ORANGE, GREY & NAVY

Published on March 12, 2009 in colour, patchwork and scraps. 6 Comments Tags: Log Cabin, Log Cabin Heart Medallions, scraps, visual diary.

I have a new obsession.

Over the weekend I started making these mini log cabin blocks from scrap fabrics from my stash and from the scrap bin at the workroom. I collected all my favourite scraps and then sorted them all by colour. Then I started creating little mini colour palettes for each log cabin block and so it began…

Here’s what I love about this. Each tiny block is an exercise in colour. I can try out dozens of different colour palettes without committing to an entire quilt or large scale project. I can be experimental, spontaneous and playful without worrying about the outcome. It’s soo much fun!

Also, I’m using up tiny scraps. A lot of these are leftovers from all my past projects or leftovers from YOUR past projects. I’ve been swiping your little scrap bin throwaways for months and finally I’m using them.

This particular block was inspired by a spread in one of my visual diaries. I’ve been making these visual diaries/collage/scrap/inspiration books since university. It is one of my favourite all-time activities to sit down with my bottle of rubber cement and endlessly arrange the bits and pieces of magazines clippings and ephemera that I collect. Every time I open one of my books I’m immediately inspired. This particular colour palette stood out and I gathered my orange, grey and navy scraps. These are colours that I never would have put together on my own, but they look so delicious!

A crafty nod goes to Jen, whose log cabin heart medallions made me want to do tiny patchwork.

RADIANT DARK

Published on February 9, 2009 in art, local, patchwork, scraps and textiles. 12 Comments Tags: Bev Hisey, cross stitch, Grant Heaps, handmade nation, Made, Radiant Dark.

I almost didn’t head out to this show, but I’m so glad that I did. There is no way that I would have seen Grant Heaps’ textile piece otherwise, it’s absolutely massive. A few months ago Grant put out a call for vintage cross stitch patterns and now I know why. His piece is an interpretation of one of those patterns, made up of one inch squares of fabric loosely stitched together. It’s absolutely incredible.

Grant is a regular at the workroom’s Quilt Sunday and each month he brings in one of a series of quilts he has been working on for over a year. They are each magnificent, using only scraps of fabrics and detailed embroidery to depict a narrative in imagery and text. You can read a great profile of Grant on Toronto Craft Alert.

Bev Hisey’s hand-tufted carpet representations of various diseases and bacteria in petry dishes was my other favourite from this show. Who knew that SARS could be so beautiful?

Take a look here to read about the other participants. Radiant Dark is organized by MADE and is now on my list of MUST SEES for next year.

Of course, there’s one last thing to report on from the weekend – the Love & Rummage Trunk Show! But since today is my day off and I worked extra hard last week, I’ve scheduled in a few hours of seriously indulgent relaxation. I’ve just made a pot of cheese fondue and I’m going to curl up under my quilt and read a deliciously trashy novel. I won’t admit just yet which novel it is, but I’ll give you a hint – it was very recently made into a movie. (MB – Yes, it’s THAT novel and I’m swooning already)

{NOTE: WOW, a huge thanks to Grace for posting these photos on Design*Sponge. Welcome, to everyone who is visiting from one of my all time favourite blogs! Also, Grant Heaps has posted some comments below speaking a bit more about his textile piece. Be sure to check them out to find out exactly how many little squares make up that huge piece)

SILK/WOOL CLUTCH

Published on January 7, 2009 in scraps, stitchery and textiles. 18 Comments Tags: eiffel tower, lip balm, purse frame, Textile Museum.

You would think that after making fifteen snap coin purses, I’d take it easy for a while. The ‘lull’ in my schedule over the holidays actually put me into craft overdrive and I’ve got at least six craft projects in various stages of completion. Some are late holiday gifts with a healthy dose of things for myself. Nothing makes me happier than having expanses of time with which to make things.

Back to this little creation. Having learned the secrets of the purse frame from Reva’s class, I wanted to make my own pattern. I chose one of the larger curved frames (6″ x 2.75″). I made several muslin samples, fooling around with proportion and size. This is close to what I had in mind. The next time I try this pattern, I’ll do mini pleats along the top rather than gathering.

The outer fabric is a scrap of a beautiful Scottish silk/wool leftover from a tunic dress I made a couple years ago. It’s got a shots of orange and blue running through it. I bought it at the infamous ‘yardage sale’ at the Textile Museum. I loved the selvedge so much that I included it and it runs along the bottom of the clutch.

I used cotton batting again, instead of interfacing and I really love the look and feel. It requires a bit more force to get the fabric into the frame, but with the help of an awl, it fits snugly and seems more secure.

You might recognize the orange printed lining from the linen apron I just made, there was more scrap left over from this and I wanted to use it for something for me. I also snatched up someone’s scrap of the Japanese Eiffel Tower fabric from one of the classes to use as the inside pocket. Because every purse should have a lip balm in it, I made a special spot for a lip balm to live happily & permanently (right beside the eiffel tower!)

This clutch is for me. J’adore!

LINEN APRON

Published on January 5, 2009 in DIY, scraps and stitchery. 6 Comments Tags: apron, bias tape, holiday gifts, linen, mitered corner.

This is the linen apron that saved me.

I’ve been wanting to make a simple apron for Andrew for a while now. I came across a leftover piece of linen in my stash on December 23rd and suddenly knew exactly how I was going to make it. For the tie, I found another scrap bit of fabric. That orange print always reminded me of a vintage kitchen textile. I made a very long piece of bias tape out of it, enough to wrap around the waist twice and tie. Then I cut the piece of linen to a large rectangle, using the selvedge as the top edge. To finish the other three edges, I folded a two inch hem, then folded it in again and made mitered corners. I love the look of mitered corners and when I have some time, I’m going to make some embroidered mitered corner cloth napkins. (hmm.. great holiday gift idea for next year!) To finish off, I just lay the orange bias tape across the top, folded the pretty selvedge edge down over it and sewed the top edge. It was simple and fast and the apron is so lovely.

NOTE TO SELF: More holiday projects like this next year!

SNAP COIN PURSE GIFTS

Published on January 4, 2009 in scraps, stitchery, textiles and the workroom. 14 Comments Tags: fabric label, gamaguchi, holiday gifts, snap coin purse.

I thought about just letting all the photographs of all the snap coin purses that I made speak for themselves. There were fifteen, a few got away before being photographed. Thing is, of course, that there are some things I’d like to share with you about the process.

I set up an assembly line to make these and tasked myself one step of the project each day. This made the project seem totally manageable and much less stress-y. Things were going really well, except for the fact that the purse frames had sold out in the shop and the new order got stuck in customs for almost 2 weeks. That really threw my short schedule out the window. The frames finally arrived on December 24 and thus I finally finished these yesterday.

I tried using cotton batting instead of interfacing and I really like how they turned out. For this style, I just cut batting to match the top piece of purse and basted it to the lining. I trimmed all the batting down in the seam allowance, once everything was sewn together. The batting adds nice body and helps fill in the metal frame more, which I quite like. One of my little typewritten labels were sewn into the lining of each of the purses.

All the fabrics were from my stash, plus scraps from various projects, skirts and dresses. I had so much fun pairing up the outside fabric with the lining fabric. After so many years of making holiday gifts, I’ve found that the best thing is to pick one thing and make many of them. Over the years, I have made stained glass night lights, hot water bottle covers, lavender & flax filled patchwork eye pillows and zippered pouches. There was no doubt that this year it had to be snap coin purses. They are the perfect gift, pretty and useful at the same time. Oh, yes, and they are fun to make!

One last thing – I learned that these types of purses are called “gamaguchi” in Japan, which means ‘frog’s mouth’. That name adds a whole other dimension to these guys.

BROWN PAPER PACKAGES

Published on January 3, 2009 in DIY, scraps and stitchery. 10 Comments Tags: holiday card, holiday gifts, kraft paper, martha stewart, sewing on paper, Wild Olive.

I’m taking the downtime after the holidays to start thinking about next year’s holiday. Seriously. I hope that if I put a little pre-planning in now I’ll have a smooth sailing Christmas next year. All my presents will be made and wrapped before December 24, holidays cards will be received in the correct year and I will be fast asleep in the hours leading up to Santa’s arrival. This is how Martha does it. She has already planned and photographed the Holiday dinners we will be reading about 11 months from now. I aspire only to be on time, that’s all.

I had the last minute idea to use some fabric scraps in the last bits of my wrapping this year. I cut pieces of kraft paper and zigzag stitched a scrap of fabric to the top. Then I put the gift in the middle of two pieces of kraft paper and stitched all around to enclose it into the package. This clearly won’t work for large gifts, but for many of the small fabric gifts, it’s just perfect. I’ll probably use recycled newspapers or such next year.

I found this post yesterday on Wild Olive. Her version with painting looks really sweet and colourful. I’d love to try this too.

Sewing on paper is a lot of fun and I highly recommend it. My cousin, Heather, made the beautiful holiday card below that she stitched on her machine. I really love the black and white photos of her bunnies with the red stitching. Brilliant!

One note about sewing paper on your sewing machine. You should definitely change your needle when you’re done. Sewing on paper will dull your need very quickly. Save that needle for future paper sewing projects and get a fresh one for sewing with fabric.

I also received some lovely gifts wrapped in fabric this year. One in a sweet tea towel and the other in a piece of vintage cotton. Do you have any creative wrapping ideas to share?

TYPEWRITTEN FABRIC LABEL

Published on January 2, 2009 in DIY, scraps and stitchery. 28 Comments Tags: fabric label, typewriter.

I’ve been toying with the idea of having labels made for years, but haven’t gotten around to doing it. Adding a personal label to some of my holiday gifts was something that I thought of in the last days before Christmas. There was no time to order printable fabric sheets (that I now plan on ordering for the shop) or even iron-on transfer paper.

I pulled out my beloved Underwood Portable typewriter and some large scraps of cotton muslin and typed right onto the fabric! If I had planned more carefully, I could have done sweet individual messages to each gift recipient. Alas, this year it will be the same heartfelt message to all.

In order to feed the muslin fabric into the typewriter, I folded it around a piece of copy paper. Ironing freezer paper onto the back of the fabric would have been another way to accomplish making the fabric stiffer, but I didn’t have any at home that night. Once the fabric is fed into the roller, then you just type away! I really love the feeling of typing on a typewriter and especially the ‘clacking’ sound.

To heat set the ink on labels, I ironed them for a few minutes. The labels went on items that are never going to be washed, but I still wanted to do my best to make them as permanent as possible. I had some leftover labels that I threw in the wash out of curiosity. The ink faded slightly from the washing, but is still visible. The idea that the label may fade over time, is actually appealing to me.

Sewing the labels was simple, I used a small zigzag stitch around the outside edge of the label to secure it in place. I really adore them! I’ve decided to add a label or message to as many of my makings as possible from now on. Tiny details can add so much delight to a handmade item.

PATCHWORK POTHOLDERS

Published on December 31, 2008 in patchwork, scraps and stitchery. 13 Comments Tags: bias tape, holiday gifts, insul-bright, patchwork potholders.

I did my best this year to use up fabric from my stash and scraps for my holiday gift making. These potholders were inspired a technique taught by Johanna in the Scrappy String Quilt class. I’ve also been wanting to test out the Insul-bright batting that we have in the shop, which is also supposed to be great in tea cozies, oven mitts and ironing board covers.

One side is made of strips of fabrics, pieced together. In the middle there is a layer of Insul-bright batting and a layer of cotton batting, the back is a single piece of fabric. I quilted all the layers together by stitching in the ditch between the patchwork strips.

I made several different 1″ bias tape strips to do all the trimming. If I had thought the entire project through carefully and considered the amount of time I had left myself to complete these potholders, I would have just sewn them inside out and forgone the need for trimming. Luckily, I like to take the hard road. The bias trim really frames the potholders nicely. I also decided to learn how to do continuous binding and mitred corners using Heather Bailey’s tutorial. I don’t recommend teaching yourself new tricks at 3am in the morning before Christmas Eve, but I am planning on finishing my sampler quilt in the next couple weeks and this made for very good practice.

As I mentioned in my last post, I did hit a major low point around 2am, when I realized that the potholders were taking way longer and going much slower than I had anticipated. I also worried that they would seem insignificant and silly. I was extremely tired, close to delirious. I almost started crying in frustration at the fact that I was so foolish for making gifts. (and more foolish for making them at the eleventh hour) I considered scrooging on Christmas and heading to my warm bed to sleep rather than sew. Instead, I jammed a large piece of chocolate in my mouth and switched over to a simple apron project that took me 45 minutes to complete from start to finish. The satisfaction from that little success carried me through until 5am when I finally completed the potholders and called it a well-deserved night.

In the light of day, I really love how they turned out and hopefully they will be well used in the kitchens that they have gone/are going to live in.