Racer-back tunic

About a month before my trip to Mexico, I had big sewing plans. I was going to sew myself a new dress for the wedding I was attending; I wanted to sew a new toiletry bag; I dreamed about how great Amy Butler's Blue Sky Hat would be for the trip. Perhaps a tunic to double as a bathing suit cover up?

I started and ended with the tunic.

But: I created my first original pattern! I knew I wanted a racer-back design, so I used some skills that I learned from the "knock it off" class at the workroom to shape the back of the tunic.

As with my last "dress b", I used fabric from a bolt sale put on by Textile Museum of Canada (there's another sale happening on May 27th!) I made sure to match up the horizontal lines, and by sheer luck, the zigzags lined up to be exactly in the front-center and back-center.

The tunic was great for a beach cover-up in Mexico. For every-day wear, I can pair it with some leggings, or wear it like a blouse.

Now that I'm back and well rested, maybe I'll try and tackle some of those other projects...

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Back and ready to blog!

I'm back from my amazing trip to Los Cabos, Mexico!

I've missed you and can't wait to catch up!!!

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Double Wedding Ring Quilt

From sewing

Happy Easter!

I wasn't able to go home to visit my family in Ottawa this Easter, but I did manage to send a finished quilt home with my brother.

Back in February, I started working on a double wedding ring quilt for my mom and dad. The original plan was to take the class at the workroom taught by Johanna Masko (who taught the sampler quilt class as well.)  I didn't manage to take the class due to schedule conflicts and decided to go it alone. I missed Johanna dearly, and probably took twice as long as normal.

I'm still thrilled with the end product (don't look too closely...)  The colours were inspired by a piano concert hall and I think it really suits my parents' decor. Next time I'm there, I'll take a picture of the quilt in its new home.

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Variations on a Japanese Dress 'B'

When I first got my serger, I took out one of my Japanese Dress Books (Stylish Dress Book) and whipped up two shirts from the Dress 'B' pattern.

It's a really great pattern, and definitely the one I recommend you start with if you've been itching to try one of these crazy patterns. I had been following some of Karyn's blog posts about these Japanese books, and then I took one of her classes at the workroom.  I think everyone in the class tried to pick a complicated pattern so we could learn as much as we could from Karyn. Having gone through that, I actually recommend just picking a simple pattern that you can take your time with, love it, and want to make over and over.

Dress 'B' is great. Karyn has also made it twice. There are 4 pattern pieces: front, back, and two parts of the sleeve. But I messed up and didn't understand the part about the two sections of the sleeve (to get a bit of a puff) so I just made it one sleeve pattern with no puff.  This latest version doesn't even have a sleeve. I just finished the armhole with bias tape. One part lazy, one part hope-for-warmer-weather.

I also decided to deepen the neckline. This fabric was purchased at a bolt sale in Toronto. I want to say it's pure silk. But it cost me $3 for over 2m of fabric. So I'm going to go ahead and say that it's a "silk polyester blend."

When I went lace shopping with Jenn, I purchased some peachy lace to finish the hemline of this shirt.

One day, when I own a gorgeous sewing studio with my partner in crime, I definitely plan on teaching a class for this Dress 'B' pattern. Here's to many more variations!

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Idiot Laughing on the Subway

I just started listening to the podcast Spilled Milk. One of the cohosts is the lovely Molly Wizenberg, author of the book A Homemade Life and fabulous food blog Orangette.

All of which I highly recommend.

But I have a dilemma.

The podcast is funny, and it does not take much for me to lose control and laugh with my entire body. Even when I'm on the subway.

I was the idiot laughing on the subway today. I'm not talking about a smile and a chuckle. I'm talking about a grin from ear to ear, gasps of air as I attempt to regain composure before my abs quit on me, and uncontrollable shaking. My shoulders and chest do the laughing shake that you think only a cartoon-grandpa would do on tv.

It doesn't help that I'm staring at nothing. It's not like I'm laughing at what I'm reading, or even a movie on my ipod. I don't know where to look when I have these laugh-attacks. I just stare at my feet and hope that people see that I'm wearing headphones.

Do I care? Should I care? I've seen worse things on the subway. but usually late at night. Not during rush hour surrounded by men in suits, and women with perfect hair and makeup.

So far, I've listened to episodes on Ramen, Parships, Hot Dogs, and Spouseless Eating. I love it. And need to figure something out.  Perhaps I need to start perfecting my hair and makeup and sporting a smart-looking-suit?

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Sunbonnet Stella

When I signed up for the Sampler Quilt class at the workroom, I learned 6 different quilting patterns. My favourite was the appliqué. It was so nice to do some handsewing: in front of the tv, at home with my mommy, at a beautiful cottage getaway.

My next project of choice was the Sunbonnet Sue, a popular pattern from the 1930s. When I found out that my good friends Gianni and Shawna were having a baby girl, I abandoned the original (gender neutral) quilt I was working on, and started up a super cute, pink-and-violet sunbonnet sue quilt.

I used a pattern from quilter's cache, picked 4 different fabrics for the bonnets and the dresses, and then used some of the leftover fabric to make some offset squares to add to the quilt.




Besides the machine-piecing of the 12 blocks, the rest of the quilt was done by hand. Four sewing needles later, I had perfected my technique (which I learned mostly from this youtube video). I stitched around every sunbonnet sue, every offset square, all the sashing, and even quilted circles into the border.  My finishing touch was to personalize the back with a personalized appliqué just for baby Stella.

She's totally worth it. TOTALLY.

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Enjoying a lacy Saturday

The weather today was amazing. The perfect spring day to go lace shopping with Jenn.

We both signed up for a class at the workroom to learn how to sew our own underwear. Exciting, isn't it??? We needed to purchase some stretch lace to bring to our first class. There were just too many beautiful colours and patterns to select only one. I decided to choose two. Jenn chose three. I changed my mind and got three.

We also went hunting for elastic trim. There were even more colours and styles of trim. Sussman's (420 Queen St West) has an entire wall of elastic trim! I chose a mint green, lace-like trim and a ruffly pinkish-violet trim. They will be used to fancy up my super-soft olive green bamboo cotton. To celebrate our successful shop, we had brunch at the Bellevue Diner in Kensington Market. The weather was superb, the food was delicious, and company (as always) was top notch. Here's to many more perfect Saturdays.

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