Archive for the 'textiles' Category

MATHILDE : POPPY & HONESTY

Published on May 6, 2013 in clothing, stitchery and textiles. 11 Comments Tags: Liberty of London, mathilde, poppy & honesty, Tana Lawn, the great british sewing bee, tilly & the buttons.

Mathilde Blouse by Tilly Walnes
Liberty of London Tana Lawn : Poppy & Honesty
Photos taken at the High Park Cherry Blossom Hill

I’ve been working on my Mathilde blouse for a few weeks now and finally finished it up last night. To celebrate, I woke up super early this morning (6:30am!) and rode my bike over to High Park for a special photo shoot of this lovely top. What a gorgeous way to start the day.

I’ve been wanting to make the blouse for a while and finally got to buying the pdf pattern. This happened to coincide with my discovery of The Great British Sewing Bee (courtesy of some nudging from Guy). First off. Have you watched this amazing series?? You MUST. What a triumphant piece of television that had me on the edge of my seat, cheering and crying over a brilliant group of people SEWING their way through challenges. I won’t give anything away, in case you haven’t seen it. But please do give it a watch! There are just 4 episodes and it is delightful. Through the first episode, I was wondering why one girl seemed familiar and then I realized it was Tilly from Tilly & the Buttons! This got me very inspired to work on my Mathilde while watching each episode.

I’ve been saving this piece of Liberty from our last delivery at the shop. The Poppy & Honesty print was my favourite and in blue & grey, no less!

The blouse fits me perfectly and I love all the details, like the tucks running down the sides of the front and the full, gathered sleeves. Instead of buttons, I chose to do silver snaps down the back and I love how they look with this Liberty print! I’m a sucker right now for snaps. I followed the pattern, almost to the letter. Tilly has the most thorough instructions on her blog that walk you through each part of the process. It really couldn’t be more clear. I will definitely be making more. There are so many easy variations you can make on this pattern.

This is actually the first new clothing pattern that I’ve made in a while (so many Wiksten Tovas & Tanks!), so it was such a treat to finish this project, try it on and be delighted that it all worked out beautifully. At times, I did imagine myself as a contestant on the Great British Sewing Bee while I was making this along with the videos, but I don’t think I’d do well with a timer on my sewing. I really do a lot of dilly dallying while I’m working!

Thanks for the inspiration and fantastic pattern, Tilly!

Also – Congratulations to Lauren, one of the other contestants on the GBSB, she just opened up her own sewing shop, Guthrie & Ghani! Clearly, it’s time to take a trip to the UK!

WIKSTEN TOVA : PLAID COTTON SHIRTING

Published on April 24, 2013 in clothing, stitchery and textiles. 12 Comments Tags: Italy, sultan's fine fabrics, Tova, Wiksten.

Wiksten Tova Dress by Jenny Gordy
Red/Blue Plaid Cotton Shirting from Sultan’s Fine Fabrics
Photographed in the town of Morro D’Orro, Italy

Continuing on with posting some Italy photos! I really just LOVE this dress to pieces. Everything about it. This is my first Wiksten Tova as a dress and it was a wonderful piece to travel with. Super comfortable, but also very pretty.

This fabric is a dream. I bought it last year at Sultan’s Fine Fabrics. I adore this plaid colour combo, but the fabric itself is the most beautiful, thin, cotton shirting. I will have to go back and see if there’s anything similar. I could wear this kind of fabric all the time.

One lesson that I learned while making this dress was that if you are carrying your fabric pieces around and you go grocery shopping, it’s not a good idea to put a carton of blueberries in with your fabric. Oh yes, I got smushed blueberry stains on the back piece of the dress. Total disaster. Luckily, my lovely pal, Jacqueline of Soak Wash, took charge of the situation and had me Soak the fabric over night while she checked on it every few hours, giving it a light rub here and there. Miraculously, (or not, since Soak is amazing!) the stains were gone in the morning. Phew. Crisis averted & lesson learned!

These photos were taking in the little town of Morro D’Orro close to where we attended Squam Italia. We wandered the winding streets one afternoon with our tour guide telling us stories of how the town had been bombed during WWII and I snuck into an abandoned building to take these shots.

I have it from a good source that we’ll be seeing some new Wiksten patterns soon. I can’t wait to see & sew Jenny’s new designs!

DARLING RANGES DRESS : HOWELL’S LADDERS

Published on April 22, 2013 in clothing, stitchery and textiles. 16 Comments Tags: Darling Ranges, Howell's Ladders, Italy, Liberty of London, megan nielsen.

Darling Ranges Dress by Megan Nielsen
Liberty of London Tana Lawn Cotton in Grey Howell’s Ladders|
Photographed at the Hotel Alexandria, Rome, Italy

Somehow I have STILL not posted my Italy photos from September! I wore this particular dress on the weekend at the Spring City of Craft Show and it’s a good one, so I wanted to finally share it here.

Also – I’m going to blame jet lag for my serious look in the first photo. This was just our second day in Italy, so surely I was both tired and overwhelmed.

There are lots of things that I love about this dress besides the wonderful Liberty print that I used for it. I especially love the v-neck, since I don’t really have any other dresses, except my City Limits wrap dress with this neckline. I used Mother of Pearl snaps instead of buttons which I also love. Next time I make this dress, I’ll still use snaps, but just regular coloured snaps that are not as heavy as the Mother of Pearl ones. Since there are so many, they are a bit heavy on the lighter Tana Lawn cotton.

I made one alteration on the pattern, which was to move & change the bust dart. This was something that I also did with the Banksia Top. Megan Nielsen has included lots of helpful tutorials on her blog about different alterations you can make to her patterns. Very helpful! Other than that, the pattern is pretty straightforward and I’m quite sure I’ll be making another one.

SIMPLICITY 2215 SKIRT : NANI IRO

Published on November 2, 2012 in clothing, stitchery, textiles, the workroom and traveling. 13 Comments Tags: Italy, nani IRO, Simplicity 2215.

Simplicity 2215 Skirt Pattern
nani IRO canvas
photos taken at the NH Excelsior Hotel in Siena, Italy

Our trip to Italy was almost a month ago now and I’ve yet to post any photos from my DSLR. There are SO MANY! I really just need to spend one entire day going through and editing them before too much time passes by. I thought I’d post up some smaller bits to start.

This simplicity skirt pattern is one of my favourites! I have a few other pieces of fabric set aside to make this pattern in again. I just can’t resist the uneven pleats and the pockets.

This fabric might look familiar. Yes, it’s true. I already have a Birdie Sling in this same nani IRO fabric, but I really love it and felt like I also needed to make a piece of clothing with it. I laid out the pattern so that the hem of the skirt is actually the selvedge of the fabric so that I could include all the lovely text and the fringe.

Siena was one of my favourite parts of our trip. I promise more photos of the actual city soon!

LIBERTY OF LONDON : BLOOMSBURY GARDENS

Published on November 1, 2012 in textiles and the workroom. 6 Comments Tags: Bloomsbury Gardens, Liberty of London.

Just thought I would break up this grey week with a little fabric love from Liberty. The new quilting weight collection that arrived last week is so pretty & cheery.

SULTAN’S FINE FABRICS

Published on July 27, 2012 in clothing, local and textiles. 13 Comments Tags: B & J Fabrics, Mood Fabrics, sultan's fine fabrics, Toronto.

I used to work in the garment district of New York City. I think that made me a bit spoiled for textile fabrics. I would spend hours after work wandering the aisles of my favourite shops – B&J Fabrics, Mood Fabrics, NY Elegant Fabrics, etc, etc. The selection was endless. Rows, upon rows of cotton shirtings, linens, wools and everything else under the moon. It was not uncommon for clerks to say ‘this was from Marc Jacob’s/Calvin Klein’s/Diane Von Furstenburg’s last collection’. This selection of fine fabric is one of the things I really miss about New York.

The closest thing I’ve found to that quality of fabrics here has been at the Lida Baday Showroom, on a much smaller scale. Until now.

A few weeks ago, a customer was working on a dress for his wife in the shop, he was using the most gorgeous red & blue plaid fabric. When I asked where he got it, he showed me the card for a shop that I had never heard of. I took a photo of the fabric & the business card and I’ve been obsessing over that fabric ever since. Today, I took a little adventure in a Zip car to check out Sultan’s Fine Fabrics.

Tucked away in a small industrial building was an absolute treasure of a fabric shop.

I was not expecting the sheer volume of fabric and I was so happy that I had a specific fabric in mind as my starting point otherwise I may still be walking the aisles. The owner, Sultan, greeted me when I entered and after I showed him the photo of the fabric I wanted, he took me directly to the bolt. Thank goodness! I would never have found it on my own. Sultan was so helpful and kept pointing out all the different types of fabrics he carried – cashmere, wool, linen, lining, cotton shirting. His main clientele are Harry Rosen & Holt Renfrew for their made-to-measure programs, so you can imagine how nice these bolts were. His selection is amazing & overwhelming. His fabrics range from $2/yard to $5500/yard! My selections were in the $16 – $22/yard range.

I highly recommend going with some specific projects in mind or maybe a time limit. I had to return my Zip car, so I just had an hour to agonize over what to get. I ended up with four fabrics – the cotton plaid shirting, a grey stripe cotton, a brown plaid linen and a mustard-y herringbone. I am excited to sew these up! While I adore printed quilting fabric (obviously!), there has been a bit of a hole in my heart for proper clothing textiles here and there. No more!

Oh yes, and there were ‘cashmeres from Tom Ford’ on the shelf.

If you go to visit Sultan, please tell him that I say ‘Hi!’. You can also shop a selection of their fabrics online!

Sultan’s Fine Fabrics
89 Bentworth Avenue, Unit 2A
Toronto, ON M6A 1P6
416-783-7786

WIKSTEN TOVA IN NANI IRO FLANNEL

Published on May 28, 2012 in clothing, stitchery and textiles. 7 Comments Tags: flannel, nani IRO, Tova, Wiksten.

Wiksten Tova Sewing Pattern
Nani IRO brushed flannel polka dot
Photographed at the Johnson Bank Parking Garage, Madison WI

It’s pretty darn hot in Madison. Definitely too hot right now for this flannel version of the Tova. But I’ve worn this top several times in cooler weather and it’s perfectly cozy. This is the first time I’ve worked with nani IRO flannel for clothing. I made a quick scarf a few months ago, pairing the flannel with a solid voile. It’s so lovely! Super lightweight and soft. It’s hard to see but the polka dots on the fabric actually have a bit of glitter on them. We sold out of this shipment quite quickly, but we’re expecting more nani IRO in the next few weeks.

I love how this shirt fits. I love the bib yoke and the sleeves. I also always love the way that Jenny finishes her hems and cuffs. It’s true, I just can’t say enough good things about Wiksten patterns. Having tried so many, I just really notice the difference in quality which makes sewing these garments so much more fun.

My other Tova in Liberty is here. I also heart it a lot.

LIBERTY OF LONDON SCHOOLHOUSE TUNIC

Published on March 15, 2012 in clothing, stitchery, textiles and the workroom. 9 Comments Tags: Kate Ada, Liberty of London, schoolhouse tunic, Wiksten.

I stitched up this Schoolhouse Tunic a little while ago, but didn’t get to taking proper photographs until the other day. It’s my second version of this great pattern. I made the first one out of voile from the Greenfield Hills collection. I knew my second version would be done with Liberty of London and I’m so happy that I chose this spring-y Kate Ada print.

I tried out the gathered elastic sleeve for this version and I really like it!

I’ve had a busy start to the year with an unexpected project. I’ll finally be sharing some photos here very soon to show you what I’ve been up to for the last few months.

Speaking of Liberty of London, there’s a shipment due to arrive ANY day now (hopefully tomorrow) at the workroom full of Liberty of London Tana Lawn Cotton!!! It will be our biggest shipment of Liberty yet! You can sneak peek the prints that are arriving here. You can expect to see Liberty on our shelves on a regular basis now. Just in time for spring/summer wardrobe making!

One more piece of exciting news!! the workroom will be carrying Wiksten printed sewing patterns! I absolutely adore both the Tank pattern and the Tova pattern, so I’m over the moon that Jenny is making them available to us. Not only can you now buy these patterns locally, but look out for these projects as classes at the workroom very soon. The patterns will arrive in the next few weeks. I’ll let you know when they arrive.

Yay Spring!!

NANI IRO FIGURE EIGHT SCARF

Published on March 4, 2012 in stitchery, textiles and the workroom. 2 Comments Tags: anna maria horner, cotton voile, Figure 8 Scarf, nani IRO.

We got a shipment of nani IRO fabrics last week. It created quite a flurry! About half the shipment was gone within 48 hours of arriving. Wow. I’m placing another order this weekend and I’ll try to get even more this time.

As soon as I saw how quickly the fabric was going, I knew I had to think quickly to figure out a few projects for myself. I decided to try a Tova from the grey dot flannel and also a skirt from this navy painted canvas. I thought it would be fun to do a quick scarf from one of teal dot flannel and one of the solid voiles as the backing. Something with instant gratification and super cozy too!

I used the Anna Maria Horner Figure 8 Scarf tutorial. I used just a metre each of the flannel and voile. Anna Maria Horner’s pattern calls for an 18 x 79″ strip of fabric for each side, so I just cut two strips out of my metre and pieced them together to make the full length. The scarf came together in less than an hour and I totally love it! I made one change to the pattern by shortening it by about 6 inches. I wanted the scarf to wrap closer to my neck. If you’re making the scarf, you might want to test out the length before sewing the loop together to adjust it to your preference.

Best part is, I’m wearing my nani IRO right away.

DRAWSTRING BAG IN RUBY STAR RISING

Published on February 28, 2012 in stitchery, textiles and the workroom. 6 Comments Tags: drawstring bag, drawstring camera pouch, hexagon, melody miller, ruby star rising.

I can make a thousand bags and still need more. I first designed this Drawstring Bag pattern for my camera bag and I still use it every single day. I thought it was time for a new one and wanted to make it boldly coloured. This Melody Miller ‘Ruby Star Rising’ Transistor Radio print that I had in my stash was perfect. It was only after I had made it that I realized that I had been totally inspired by Katherine’s camera bag made with the same Transistor Radio print in the softer colours! I found the perfect cotton ribbon at Mokuba for the drawstring and I just used little bits of the Transistor Radio print to make the hexagon tabs.

I love the bold colour palette of this print so much, I’ve decided to use it as a starting point for my Scrappy String Quilt colours. I’ve started making the blocks and I’m really excited to see how this turns out!