Sewing With Purpose and Repurpose

I took an accidental hiatus from documenting my makes, so long I forgot the password to the account! I haven't stopped sewing though, and have been mostly making work appropriate shirts (read: soooo many Archers ) I ordered a bunch of linen from Miss Matatabi and got the last meter of a beautiful blue Nani Iro linen, which came in on the same day Style Arc announced an Easter sale, so I snatched up a pdf copy of the Blair shirt . I first saw Sophie from Ada Spagg's version of the shirt and loved the outfit she put it with, so decided I'd give it a whirl. One meter wasn't quiiittee enough to squeak out a full shirt, so I found a really similarly coloured linen to colour block the back upper piece. Worked out all right! I had to do away with the sleeve cuffs with such limited material, they're finished with white bias tape. I really love the colours of this fabric, so spring appropriate! The linen from Nani Iro is amazing and so nice to work with, and I ...

I recently did a pattern swap with a friend of mine! She has been on a collared shirt making kick recently and it inspired me to get moving on one for myself. She is a big fan of the Archer shirt , so I bought the pull-over pack and we did a swapsies Behold! My Archer: Lookin' stunned, almost like I didn't set the self timer myself.  I found the fabric recently, and it was a bit of an inspired moment. I was at Affordable Textiles Ltd in Toronto looking for something completely unrelated and stumbled upon it. After being told by the guy at the front that he himself had a dress shirt out of the same stuff, I knew it was fate. What do I do with my hands???  I immediately thought of a 1/2 meter of quilting cotton I had in my stash that would look great as an accent. This took a bit of finicking with the placket but I made it work  If you saw an attempt at dynamic modelling in my last post, you will see some very un-dynamic modelling in this post. Lets count ho...

Sensible Sun-wear When my two daughters Alex and Emma were young we lived for a short while in Australia and spent countless hours on the beach, where most children are fully clad in front zip sun suits to protect them from the relentless sunshine. In contrast to Canada where, when the sun does shine, and the weather is warm enough to sport swimwear, we all stripe down and expose as much skin to the sun as possible, with the exception of those who do not possess tan worthy completions. Myself and my youngest daughter Emma were gifted with skin that goes from white to red within minutes of sun exposure, for that reason the Australian sun attire was not abandon when we came back to Canada. The economics of supply and demand in the Canadian swimwear market does not lend itself to full coverage sun attire. The availability of full sun protection beach wear, known on the market as rash-guards, is limited to items plastered with brand names and more appropriate for an 18 year old surfer ...

I recently finished a second Morris blazer ! (My first one is blogged here ) My summer sewing fell by the wayside as I mentioned in an earlier post, so I planned a sewing-saturday with a friend so we could finish up some things on our list! It was just the motivation I needed to get my sewing mojo back (now I have 4 garments that I need to sew buttons on, i h8 sewing button holes) I fell in love with the idea of a "boyfriend" Morris from What Katie Sews and needed to try the same thing. I ended up adding 2.5 inches to the bottom of my pattern (I don't know how tall Katie is but she looks shorter than me at 5'8", she added 2 inches). Other than that I graded from a 6 at the shoulders to 8 at the hips. I ordered the fabric online , I think I would have preferred something a bit thicker but I am pleased with the slightly unstructured look of the blazer. I opted to leave the cuffs unlined so I could have the textured insides showing when my sleeves are rolled...

My boyfriend's birthday was this week, and I really wanted to make him something. He has this grey jersey hoodie that is great in cool summer evenings, but basically as soon as he got it he ripped a hole in it! Which doesn't stop him from wearing it because he is basically a fashion hobo. But I wanted to make him a replacement. The Finlayson Sweater from Thread Theory has a very similar hood and I used that as my base. There was a nice interview done with Thread Theory here as a part of the Canadian Pattern Designer Blog Tour at Lulu and Celeste , there is a 25% off discount code offered valid until July 8th! I'm going to get the wardrobe builder :) I only put one layer of fabric for the hood because the fabric is a knit without a lot of stretch and I think it would drape funny with more bulk. I finished the seams around the hood edge and interior neckline with handmade bias tape that I made out of an amy butler print I had leftover from another project. Here is a ...

I found out about the Monthly Stitch last month, just in time to prepare for one of their contests! I'd been thinking about sewing up this outfit for a while but this was the perfect kick in the butt to get started. I used the Nettie body suit pattern from Closet Case Files , and the Gabriola Skirt from Sewaholic . I used a rayon for the skirt, and left over supplex for the top. I had originally purchased different fabric for this skirt, but I saw it on sale in the depths of winter and the tropical print called to me, reminding me of warmer days! I couldn't pass it up, luckily now its warm enough to actually wear  The shape of the Gabriola Skirt is so flattering, I'm looking forward to making many more! I am pear shaped and didn't need to adjust the pattern at all, which was awesome. The only adjustment I ended up making was an accident, I misinterpreted the waistband instructions! I used a hook for a closure instead of the button suggested. The Nettie bodys...

One thing Me-Made-May has brought to my attention is I have a serious lack of me-made basics! I set about to change that this week, starting with the Plantain Tee from Deer and Doe. I've had this pattern for a while and never really got around to making it, but I really enjoyed seeing all the shirts that came out of the  Plantain Challenge . I picked up a jersey reminant, I'm not sure what exactly the composition is but its soooo soft and I never want to take it off. I got my boyfriend to take photos while we were out today, and all of them are unusable! He is a BAD photographer. I cropped out the camera strap in this awkward action shot because otherwise there would be no photos. Thank goodness for self timer photo shoots! I haven't been taking daily photos of my me made may outfits, but I have been keeping up with it! I wore my Morris Blazer and a knit Chloe Dress I recently dug out of the UFO pile to the Canadian Tulip Festival last week! I want to r...

I was really excited when I saw this pattern release a couple weeks ago, I was just finishing up an exam and paper for my last class EVER and bought it as a treat for finishing everything. Reading other blog's it looks like its been a pattern a long time coming! I'm glad I'm around for the release! Also I want to point out a small change to the blog, I'm using the google+ commenting system now, so if I respond to someone's comment they actually get a notification. That is a huge flaw with blogger and it drives me nuts I used a ponte/double knit my mom had leftover from another project in chocolate brown. I would never pick out something brown, fabric or RTW, but now I'm really glad I have it. It goes with black AND navy, while not being gray (I have so many gray clothes) I had quite a bit of trouble easing in the sleeves, I suspect it is because the fabric I used is too thick for the pattern. You can see above that the seam is kinda wavy, I had to squi...

My closet. So I have a long standing love affair with quilting cotton, I know some people frown upon sewing garments out of quilting cotton, but the patterns are just so much better . I can hardly stand to walk into a store that has quilting cottons and walk away empty handed, I feel like I need to own those bright colourful patterns! I have found the perfect pattern that for my obsession: The Tate Top . I know I made this pattern in my last post, but I didn't realize its full potential for quilting cotton hoarding until this project. I can squeeze out a Tate Top in my size in a half meter of fabric!!!! (if one of the panels is upside down) This justifies soooo many future quilting cotton purchases for me I can hardly wait. I don't need to buy like 3m for a dress, I can spend just ~$7 to satisfy my needs! I got this fabric at  Needlework on James St N in Hamilton Ontario. I was drawn to it first by the bright colours, but the little bees hidden in the mystery frui...