Archive for July, 2009

LOVELY DESIGN ADDRESS FILE

Published
by
Karyn
on July 30, 2009
in accoutrement and local
. 8 Comments

I don’t remember how long the Lovely Design address file has been on my wish list. Perhaps about 8 years? I remember that I first saw it in a magazine when I was living in New York. I knew that I had to have one.

Over the years, I have remembered this address file many times and tried to purchase it repeatedly, but it was always sold out and then it went out of production. Finally, a few months ago, I saw that Sharilyn was going to be making them again and I emailed her to get onto the waiting list.

It finally arrived last week, well packed in colourful paper scraps and it’s just perfect.

I have her Beautiful Leaves of Canada poster. I just need to have it framed. I also noticed that the Beautiful Conifers of Canada poster might be available soon and I’m going to snatch up one of those too.

  • Share/Bookmark

LOG CABIN

Published
by
Karyn
on July 29, 2009
in patchwork, stitchery and the workroom
. 9 Comments

I’m starting another quilt. I don’t really have a solid plan yet, but it’s meant to be a gift. For christmas. For someone who does not read this blog – my brother. So, I feel pretty safe talking about it here. Hopefully you can keep a secret dear internet!

I took the Log Cabin block class last week and learned how to make these blocks quickly with some handy tricks. I picked a green/cream/aqua colour palette that I think he’ll like. I also decided to not do the traditional “light colours on one corner/darks on the other corner” and opted for concentric squares of lights and darks. I don’t know the size or the design I’m going for, but I’m pretty proud that it’s July and I’ve started to work on this so early. It’s totally out of character for me!

  • Share/Bookmark

MISC. THREE

Published
by
Karyn
on July 29, 2009
in misc.
. 2 Comments

We’ve been having so much rain that mushrooms are popping up all over the place. These little cuties have appeared in the hanging baskets in my backyard.

  • definitely going here, the next time i’m in brooklyn. i love the term ‘apothecary chic’ (via Refinery 29)
  • lizzie allen’s hand screened printed wallpaper, the london collection (via Notcot)

  • Share/Bookmark

DOUBLE WEDDING RING UPDATE

Published
by
Karyn
on July 21, 2009
in patchwork, stitchery and the workroom
. 10 Comments

I took a look today and realized that I never posted my finished quilt top and quilt back for my Double Wedding Ring Quilt. I’m not sure how that happened. I love looking at this quilt, the colour combination still delights me. For the backing I used the submarine print from Tula Pink’s Neptune collection and then scrapped together the leftovers from the border and the rings.

It’s amazing how quilting projects can stretch out in time. When I started making this double wedding ring quilt, I thought I’d be done in no time. What on earth was I thinking? I was able to put the entire thing together and get it basted during the four week class. I was undecided about the quilting though. I machine quilted around the blocks and then debated if I should continue on the machine or try to hand quilt. I couldn’t decide, so I took a ‘break’ from the project instead.

In the meantime, I’ve been working on hand quilting my queen-sized quilt. Slowly. I am getting better, at least. My stitches are not perfect or even, but at least they are shorter. I’ve been experimenting with using the small little inbetween needles and I’m now using the smallest ones – size 12. In the beginning I did not understand the purpose of these teeny tiny needles, but now I’ve seen the difference in stitch length it can make.

The other night, I decided to figure out just how far along I was. When I realized that I was only about a third of the way done, I was slightly crushed. At this rate, it’s going to be a quite some time before i take my last stitch on this quilt.

Soooo.. I’m switching gears and bringing out my Double Wedding Ring quilt. When I took a look at it over the weekend, I realized that I could quite possibly hand quilt this in a relatively short time. (compared to a queen-sized) So, I’m going to do my very best to finish this quilt soon. (using my typical loose definition of ’soon’)

Karyn's Double Wedding Ring

Karyn's Double Wedding Ring

  • Share/Bookmark

STYLISH DRESS BOOK 2 : DRESS “S”

Published
by
Karyn
on July 20, 2009
in stitchery and textiles
. 28 Comments

Liberty of London Summer Challenge : Project 4
Stylish Dress Book 2 : Dress “S” in ‘My Little Star’ Tana Lawn Cotton

After warming up with a few smaller projects, I finally bit the bullet and REALLY cut into some Liberty of London fabric to make a piece of clothing.

When I chose the ‘My Little Star’ print, I thought it was really bold and a bit crazy. In reality, it’s a totally soft and muted yet still slightly rock and roll.

I had picked out Dress “S” when I first got Stylish Dress Book 2. The square gathered neckline and wide gathered sleeves had me at first glance. The pattern calls for a contrasting fabric in jersey for the sleeves and another fabric for the neckline. I decided the star print would shine better on its own.

The dress came together pretty quickly once I got going. When it was done, it was a bit too loose for my liking. One of the characteristics of these smock dresses is that they are rather loose fitting. On one hand this usually means the patterns are more forgiving with fit and very comfortable to wear. On the other hand, sometimes they are too unshapely. I thought perhaps just taking in the side seams a bit might make the fit more flattering. It wasn’t enough.

This is where magical shirring comes to the rescue once again. I can not sing the praises of shirring enough. It is such a simple technique that gives maximum result every time. I had not yet tried shirring around a waistline, but had seen it many times.

I decided to space my shirring lines a 1/2″ apart and wound up doing four lines of shirring. It turned out perfectly. The shirring around the waist seems to echo the wide gathered elastic sleeves and neckline. It has totally transformed the dress and I think for me, it is much improved.

I can’t say enough about how much I’m enjoying working with the Liberty prints. They are lovely to handle and sew with. Plus, wearing them is dreamy! The tana lawn cotton has a super high thread count that makes the fabric very durable, smooth and almost silky. I’ve also never seen such amazing detailed printing on fabric.

We’re going to a wedding in a couple weeks, so I’m trying to design a dress using this print. I’ve already been warned that I’m not to be trying to sew up the dress as we’re driving to the wedding, so I need to get cracking. At least we all know that I’ve got several dresses in my closet to fall back on if I can’t get it together in time.

  • Share/Bookmark

SPOTTED : BEST OF THE CITY

Published
by
Karyn
on July 19, 2009
in spotted
. 5 Comments

What a sweet surprise to hear that the workroom was mentioned in Toronto Life’s Best of the City issue!

  • Share/Bookmark

MISC. TWO

Published
by
Karyn
on July 17, 2009
in misc.
. 7 Comments

This week’s postings were rudely interrupted by some technical difficulties with my server. Things appear to be back up and running for the moment. Fingers crossed.

Friday seems like a good day to catch you up on a few more of my Twitter links.

  • Selvedge has opened a shop. CUTE. love the girls in Liberty dresses!
  • i’m starting to love the idea of whole cloth quilts… but with a map hand quilted into it? amazing.

These photos were taken on Brock of a couple posters that were transformed by all the rain we’ve been having. Pretty.

I hope you have a super weekend, I have plans to eat Chippy’s and play some new fangled version of Frisbee in the park tonight with some dear friends and Maisy.

  • Share/Bookmark

WARDROBE REFRESH #3

Published
by
Karyn
on July 13, 2009
in DIY and stitchery
. 5 Comments

It might be a bit ridiculous to even mention this project, I mean we’ve all cut the legs off a pair of jeans before to make jean shorts. These particular jeans have really special significance to me though, so I wanted to document them as they went into their next phase of life. These were my first pair of Seven Jeans and I bought them at Barney’s. It was the first time I spent that much money on a pair of jeans and they were the beginning of my little denim collection. These jeans looked so great that my friends Angela and Cassandra also bought the exact same pair. I wore mine to death and have repaired them dozens of times, the denim is pretty thread-bare now. I thought I could get at least one more summer out of them as shorts though.

The one little detail I added, that I think is pretty sweet, is some lace trim around the cuff. Just use the zig zag stitch on your machine to stitch along the edge of the lace. The legs of the jeans have gone into my ‘denim box’ for a future quilt made with all different denim. (inspired by this and this.)

  • Share/Bookmark

MISC. ONE

Published
by
Karyn
on July 12, 2009
in misc.
. 10 Comments

My favourite thing about twitter is that I can easily post a link to something I want to share with you. I’ve decided to make a weekly habit of collecting all those links into one post. The idea is to give you some easy inspiration on a Sunday/Monday morning.

It’s raspberry season in my backyard! Perhaps one of my favourite things to eat are raspberries, so heading out to the yard to pick some each day is a real treat. I’ve got both red and white raspberry bushes, so far there have only been white berries this year and they are delicious.

  • i’m so intrigued by all these soft planters i’ve been seeing
  • how much fabric? charts that show the average amount you need for sewing patterns. brilliant idea!
  • pennies as floor tiles – i wonder if it’s cheaper?

  • Share/Bookmark

HAPPY HOMEMADE VOL.1

Published
by
Karyn
on July 10, 2009
in etsy, reading, stitchery and the workroom
. 11 Comments

After posting about my shibori dress, I’ve been hesitant to post my next projects. I mean, it’s going to be hard to top that. BTW – Thank you for your super enthusiastic comments about the dress, I’m glad you like it too!

Yesterday, I got yet another Japanese dress book in the mail. I can never take a peek at Pomadour’s etsy shop without buying myself a book or two. Some people might call this an addiction.

The title of this book is Happy Homemade Vol. 1. I was especially hooked when I saw that there was a pattern for a cardigan. I don’t knit, so making my own cardigan sounds pretty exciting.

Since we also just got in the new nani IRO collection, I think you’ll be seeing one of these cute tops sewn up very soon.

p.s. A couple weeks ago was my one year blogiversary. I haven’t done anything to celebrate, but I’m going to add a few new ‘features’ to the blog very soon. Thank you for hanging around with me this year!

  • Share/Bookmark