Wednesday 26 November 2014

A Completely Different Bag

I finished the bag from my Japanese quilting book.  I love it! It's put together very differently from other bags I've made. The directions and techniques made sense and worked very well. The product has a different feel and looks and handles beautifully.

You make the front, back and side panels in sections, completing each before sewing them together. This would make for an excellent on the go project. The patterns come in sheets in an envelope in the back. I traced it off. The patterns are well drawn and very detailed if you want your project to look exactly like hers.

The Japanese style here includes lots of hand stitching and imperfect shapes, although she really leaves that up to you. I decided to go with machine stitching all throughout. It was easy to do that. The instructions are neatly laid out on the page and included good pictures. I like enough words and pictures without too much to confuse me. It was a good balance. However, I'm not sure there is enough there for a beginner sewer. Sometimes it's good to have something just for the big girls.

I followed the directions to make a bunch of log cabin blocks and then randomly combined them to make a panel for the front and the back. I used a line of fabrics that all went together nicely without any glaring colours or patterns (Persimmon by Basic Grey). Then you quilt this back and front panel to the backing. I wanted to try a heavily quilted look and stitched almost every line. I also used lots of decorative stitches and a light gray 50 wt Aurifil thread.

Then you quilt the side panel with a grid pattern. I wondered if I should put something heavier for an interfacing, but the close quilting seemed to do the trick.

Now you stitch the back and front to the side panel, add handles and then sew a facing to each side, encasing the top edges and handles. You stitch the facing to the quilted inside panels and use a binding strip to cover the inside seams. All done!

I have loved this book for its cover for some time. I have now made the cover bag and would love to work my way through the book. I probably will! However, I can really see how including handwork would be excellent. The finished bag has the feel of something you would keep for a long time, so not something you mind spending time on. These bags are perfect for this. I am also be challenged by the monochromatic colour scheme. My first bag worked out well, but mmmm, the possibilities! From the way this bag shaped up I'm really looking forward to trying the other shapes.

the inside - note the cream facing

 The outside

Monday 24 November 2014

3 days of bliss

The Atlantic Sewing Guild  had a 3 day sewing weekend and I made good use of this luxury. It gave me the opportunity to stock up on little Christmas gifts. It took me two nights to cut, plan and pack for the retreat but then all I had to do was sew.

I made cup cozies. Go to Starbucks. Ask for a cardboard cup cozy and use that as a pattern. As I am more a large Tim's tea drinker myself, I added a bit of wide elastic to join the end seams together. It's good to be flexible.




Then I went on to Kleenex cozies for the well equipped purse. I'd be lost without mine.






New this year was the ear bud case. I used a package of 5" pre cuts for these. I got the tutorial from Dog Under My Desk but made some changes in the directions. I like to do the cutting after I sew, so I traced the circle onto the inside lining after the zipper was inserted and the layers stacked. Then I sewed and cut. Much faster and more accurate in the end.

I only made one dog. I will need more dogs. The pattern from Soho Purl works very well and the pieces fit together nicely. Always stuff things one bit at a time and push it in firmly. Wobbly dogs look half finished. This is a great dog!


I bought a fabulous quilted projects book and I got part of a bag completed. I'll be working on that again next week. It is an incredible book - well laid out, perfect instructions, patterns included and detailed. I also bought the new Anna Mazur purse book and it has yet to impress me. I will give it a chance but it's back shelf for now.

The most fun I had was completing the new Tilton skirt. I had seen a review at Communing With Fabric and was pre warned that it was long. At 4' 11 1/2" I need to know these things. I went to my stylist (DH) and he vetoed the waistband. It was a wide and turned down band. He also wondered why the skirt needed a bump out to one side. I decided to cut out th medium, eliminate the waistband and hope for the best.

I was using a gorgeous double faced wool knit. It had great body and softness at the same time. Perfect drape for the project! Thank heavens for a sister in Montreal! How else could I sew?

I wanted to do single layer tailoring and make the skirt reversible. First I basted the s=kirt together and got the fitting experts involved. A retreat brings out the opinion in everyone and these were MOST welcome! Skirt too big. Skirt too long.

I recut to the size small. After auditioning many decorative stitches we decided on one and I put that skirt together with overlapped, stitched and then trimmed seams. I added  a narrow waistband of faux, stretchy leather with 1" elastic inside to give it body. Perfect! I then cut off about 3" from the bottom, which was a bit risky. The skirt structure does not lend itself to cutting at all. No hem treatment.  The fabric does not fray or run.

I love the skirt, but I think we are all still wondering why it has a big bump out to one side. It makes my twirls all wonky. I do like to twirl. As you can see it has 2 colours to choose from.

Now, do I have enough left over for a vest? The girls also say I need boots. Hmmm....





Sunday 9 November 2014

Tale of a Skirt

I finally finished the skirt from well below the earth's crust.

If I hadn't still loved it, right up to the last stitch, it might have been a wadder.

Let's also admit that every problem was really operator error.

I've made this skirt before so I really knew what I was up against. I got the idea from a Thread's article many moons ago, but didn't like the way they approached it. Still don't. My way is better, I just don't listen to myself either, at times.

The idea is to feature a fabric you don't want to cut into. My first skirt was a silk plaid. This time it was a Bali batik with border prints. I wanted to keep the border intact.

So you make a skirt yoke to fit you and then attach the skirt fabric to it. I took a strip of base fabric and measured out my hips and drew in a waist line, about 5" apart (as they are on me). I cut lines from the waist down to the hip line, about 5" apart. Its not an exact science. Then you overlap at these cuts to form dart like structures that create a waist to your measurements. You end up with a curved skirt yoke that fits you.

Of course you may also have a skirt pattern that fits and does this for you. I needed to spend needless time on a fool's errand, apparently.

Then you cut the darts so the dart fold is gone and use a fusible interfacing to hold the whole thing together. It's flat that way. Now you have a base to attach the fabric to. I also added a second layer of fusible (not shown here) to give more strength.


Important! Now sew in the back seam, up to where the zipper will be. If you don't you will spend a HUGE amount of time draping, sewing, ripping and resewing that seam until it lies flat. I knew that from last time. There is no excuse. I refuse to discuss this further. No point.




So roughly divide the skirt fabric into nice units. Divide the waist into the same number of units. Maybe 14? Mark these units with something removable.  Pin the skirt to the skirt yoke, matching the units. You will have more skirt fabric than yoke. Now relax, and start smooching that excess fabric to the skirt, making little or big pleats that flatten the excess out. Don't be too particular. You are looking for a bit of a gypsy flair.


Baste these folds down. Leave the seam allowance for the zipper alone and don't send any folds in that direction. Get out your threads and fancy sewing machine feet and maybe some trims and start stitching that yoke down. Again, go for a gypsy look and keep your lines wandering. I enjoyed that part muchly. You really can't overdo it. The yoke will give you stabilization. Stick in a zipper. Add a waistband or waist facing. Wear!






Do you know batiks? Quilters use them a lot. They are lightweight, smooth and gorgeous! They also don't seem to fray and are quite stable and on grain. The selvedge is smooth and I could use it for the hem without any wrinkles or pulling.

Thursday 6 November 2014

With Just Their Teeth!

I was walking in the park a week ago with a friend and we noticed a tree down near the entrance. We took a closer look and determined that it was the work of an industrious beaver.

















Fast forward a week and here is what you get.


Many more trees down.

Water well up to here. The Forest Hills extension is threatened!

Streams are morphing into ponds.








That's what you get when beavers move into town. They're like biker gangs. Tough, and they only come out at night. Can you believe what these little guys do with their teeth? Their teeth!!!!