I really wanted to try a project out with Anna Maria Horner’s new cotton voile. When you feel it, you can hardly believe how silky smooth it is. Voile is a very lightweight fabric that is slightly sheer and has great drape. I had never sewn with it before, so I was unsure of how tricky it would be to handle.
I chose to use a tried and loved pattern from Stylish Dress Book. Style “B”, is a favourite. I’ve seen it made up in various different fabrics and on different people and the result is always really cute.
I’d like to make a note here about drafting out this pattern, that I didn’t mention in the post about my first style “B” top in nani IRO. When tracing out the pattern pieces for the sleeve you’ll notice that the two sleeve pieces (top of the sleeve & gathered bottom of the sleeve) are printed beside each other on the pattern sheet. When you trace the bottom of the sleeve, you may notice that it is the same width as the top of the sleeve. In order to create the gathering and fullness in the bottom sleeve piece, you need to split that pattern piece down the centre and spread it apart by 10cm. This is something that you can easily miss, because the only notation for this is found on the huge pattern sheet and is well, in Japanese.
Sewing with the voile was no problem. Even making bias trim was easy to manage. For any pattern that has a ‘flowy’ style, this fabric would look amazing the way it falls and drapes. This is why it is a great fabric to use for many of the Japanese Dress Book patterns, as it can make that extra fullness of some of the styles look more elegant. For sure, the best part is how it feels. Wearing this fabric will just put you in a blissful mood.
This particular print is called, ‘Colouring Garden‘ and the colour is ‘Berry’. I really appreciate how Anna Maria Horner has taken prints from her ‘Good Folks’ collection and recoloured and reprinted them in flannel and now voile. It’s exciting to have new fabrications to choose from.
p.s. I just ordered a copy of Stylish Dress Book 3!!! from Pomadour on etsy. Thank you Marilou for the special alert!
It’s been a few weeks since the Intro to Hand Work class finished and I miss it. I really enjoyed the freedom of sewing without a sewing machine. It meant that the class group was able to sit around the large table, chatting and working away at the same time. It also meant I was able work on my project when I was on transit or sitting in bed late at night.
We basted our final sawtooth star blocks with a layer of batting and a muslin backing, just like a mini quilt. I kept my quilting design very simple, echoing the shape of the patchwork lines. It’s cool to see the hand quilting pattern from the reverse side. I used both a round quilting hoop and a square Q-Snap frame when doing this project. I like having the flexibility to switch between the circular and square frame as I choose.
Hand quilting is amazing. I just love the way the it looks. When I see it, I unrealistically want every quilt I make to be hand quilted. The slightly uneven quality of the stitches is so charming.
Turning this one block into a pillow was so incredibly satisfying because the entire project was completed within just one month. It seems a big feat, compared to the ongoing quilt projects I have that are a year or more in the making.
I chose to use the turquoise powerlines on grey print from Repeat for the back of the pillow. It couldn’t be more perfect. I love everything about this graphic pillow. I’m so proud of it!
I’m pondering my next hand piecing/quilting project and think it’s about time I did an English Paper Pieced pillow. I created this gallery with some of my inspirations.
365 : jaime’s alphabet stamps
Jaime & Rhya have been inspiring me by showing up to our Stitch n’ Bitch nights and working on their journals. I especially love the sweet stamp sets they use. I got my own set of alphabet & number stamps for Christmas from my brother and Jerisse that I’m excited to start using.
365 : camilla engman book
Whenever packages arrive, I stop what I’m doing and tear into them immediately. It is one of my favourite things. (that doesn’t involve sugar)
This book is a visual delight, by the way.
Can you believe it’s time for another fun trunk show? Our Valentine’s shows are always such a bright, warm spot in the dreary winter. Check out the City of Craft blog to see detailed vendor profiles for some of the show’s talent. I hope to see you this Sunday!
I hope you don’t mind, but I wanted to show you my new homemade underwear. I have been collecting pretty elastic trims from Mokuba in anticipation of creating a new collection of cute undies for myself. These two pairs were made using the same patterns we use in the Underwear class. They are the most comfortable underwear I own. Not only because the fit is amazing but because this organic knit bamboo is so soft and lovely.
Making these two pairs hardly depleted my trim stash, so next up I want to knock off some undies I already own and create my own patterns. Next Monday I hope to schedule in a whole day just devoted to this project.
Amy of Angry Chicken is all about making her own underwear too, so I’m not the only one!
Doing the 365 project has got me thinking a lot more about photography. I’ve also been reminiscing about my days at Ryerson in the Media Arts program. My major was photography, so I spent a lot of time taking photos and even more time working in the darkroom developing prints. The red light bulbs, the vinegary smell, and making test strips to determine proper exposure… things have changed so much since then.
One of my courses in school was a computer graphics class, where we spent the entire semester writing code to create a program that would literally do what a Photoshop filter can do in 3 seconds. Seriously! I’ll confess, I never wrote that program but ‘borrowed’ a friend’s. I must have known at the time what a ridiculous exercise that was.
I don’t often spend much time doing post production on my photographs, mostly just adjusting the colour balance and exposure. Surfing around in the last few weeks I’ve been hearing more and more about Photoshop Action Sets that you can download and use to create fun effects on your images. My favourite find so far is Pioneer Woman. I downloaded her free action sets and used the ‘Seventies’ action to create these vintage photos of the workroom. Another blog with great free actions is Coffee Shop. It’s very easy to get carried away with these, but it’s pretty fun in moderation.
While I’ve discovered lots of random tidbits here and there, I haven’t found any solid photography blogs to subscribe to. Do you have any that you read?
I’ve been following Adele’s 365 and am excited by her new interview series based on photography.
365 : hand pieced sawtooth star
I stayed up until 3am Friday night finishing my block for the Intro to Hand Work class. I decided to do a more complex border around the star. It wasn’t planned, but I like how the turquoise ended up creating a diamond frame around the star. Quilting geometry is endlessly fascinating.
365 : hope valley fat quarters
I really love taking photographs of fabric.
365 : east wall of the workroom
