Dear Edna

Fulton Sweater Blazer

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Sat, 02 Feb 2019 18:59:00 +0000

Do you remember the Blackwood cardigan I made and how much I loved the way the heavy knit gave it a kind of casual blazer look? I wear that cardigan constantly and have been wanting to make something similar ever since. Well, my dreams came true when Alina released the Fulton Sweater Blazer and Needlework got this awesome wool double knit around the same time last Fall. And then they both had sales! The sewing stars were aligned. The fabric is called Moon Dust, after all.

This pattern was a real winner for me. There were absolutely no fit adjustments, besides shortening the sleeves a smidge. I cut a size 6.

Because this fabric was quite hefty, I turned all of the hems (pockets, sleeve and bottom) under only once. In hindsight I probably didn't need to interface the collar either because it added bulk, but since I have no experience working with a fabric like this, I decided to just be safe and do it. I also opted not to use the sleeve hem facings, again because of the thickness of the fabric and I was fine with the solid black showing when it was rolled up.

That collar was tricky, as you would imagine. But Alina has a video tutorial that really helps. I watched it a bunch of times before it clicked for me, and still I had to unpick once. I would also recommend that you stay stitch just inside the seam lines at the collar's pivot points. Cutting into a pivot point without stay stitching is dangerous business. You will be manipulating that area a lot, especially the first time you make this, and your fabric will weaken or unravel there. I didn't and I was kicking myself. It worked out alright, but it was super close. I was actually surprised not to find a hole when I turned it right side out. Do as I say, not as I do.

Boy do I love when the insides are neat and tidy and hide a little surprise just for you. How cool is this tag? Mike gave me a set in my stocking this year and it makes me laugh every time I see it. It's the little things.

Kylie and the Machine makes the labels and they are available online (from Australia) and at Needlework (if you're in the Hamilton area). There are so many cute designs -- I want them all!

Final verdict: I love the this blazer! It was really simple to make, but the finishes are neat and professional. It can easily be dressed up or down, as a layer or on it's own. It fits great, feels great, and is actually really warm! Warm and classy is my winter holy grail. It's a combo that is hard to find, and yet very necessary in a life that includes polar vortexes. Stay warm and sew on, friends.

2019 Sewing Plans

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 22:46:00 +0000

I'm not really one for making new year's resolutions, but I do enjoy looking back at the year, everything I did and everything I made. 2018 is especially interesting, because I started a new job in January and shifted from part-time to full-time hours, which obviously had an effect on the time and energy I could devote to sewing. Work habits are super interesting to me, so I was genuinely excited to compare tallies at the end of the year.

In 2017 I made 41 garments (33 for myself); last year I made 26 (22 for myself).

Now, some of those makes were intense, like four pairs of jeans and four button-ups (including a men's shirt), and I counted five pairs of underwear as one make. I also didn't include all the baby quilts, bags, bibs and teethers I made as gifts because I was counting just clothing, for some arbitrary reason.

Still, that's a significant difference considering I worked only a day and half more than I did when I was part-time. But more than the actual time lost, I think it was the energy level that affected me the most. The new job had a steep learning curve and required a lot more brain power than my previous position, so I was usually too tapped-out in the evenings, and when summer came, I was much more interested in relaxing outside on my weekends. You will likely have noticed that my blog suffered as well. If I had the time and energy to do something, I didn't want to spend it back on my computer — I wanted to sew! You understand.

The best part is that I can use this information to plan for the year ahead. Knowing I can only manage about two garments a month will help me keep the ambitious sewing lists shorter. That's the hope, anyways. Haha! I'm also hoping that a couple of sewing "challenges" will help in the same way.

I was pretty sure I wasn't going to participate in the Make 9 challenge again this year. I was moderately successful last year, completing five and starting three.

Honestly, I pretty much forgot about it for half the year. I think I learned that I am a much more seasonal sewist, motivated by making fresh lists a few times a year. This is why when I heard about the Seasonal Sew 3 challenge (created by the Sew Altered Style ladies), I knew it would be perfect for me. I divided up my notebook into four boxes and started filling them in... and it felt so right. I felt organized, calm and overwhelmed-free.

Then a funny thing happened. I realized I already had nine garments picked out for the year. Haha! I can do two challenges at once, right? It actually makes a lot of sense, if you think about it. Macro and micro. One big picture goal and a bunch of bite-sized lists to keep me checking in and adjusting if necessary. I'm into it.

1. True Bias Roscoe Blouse

2. True Bias Lander Pant

3. True Bias Nikko Top *

4. Wiksten Haori *

5. Deer and Doe Magnolia Dress (or similar)

6. Papercut Patterns Palisade Pants

7. Seamwork Dani

8. Helen's Closet Winslow Cullotes (shorts)

9. Alina Sewing + Design Co. Fulton Sweater Blazer *

* Seasonal Sew 3 picks for rest of the Winter.

Two Scarves and a Blanket

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 15:52:00 +0000

The casual crocheter is back for another season's roundup of projects. I was really feeling the yarn crafts this year and managed to complete four projects! Definitely a record for me. On top of the baby cardigan I made my niece, I also made two scarves and a blanket for myself. And after you hear the roller coaster ride I went through in the process, you'll understand why I'm happy to tuck my hooks away for another year.

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have read the saga of this scarf already. Basically, it began as an exact replica of the Daisy Farm Crafts modern moss-stitch blanket, but a quarter of the way through, I realized that I was only a quarter of the way through, and thus needed a lot more yarn. I had also realized by this point that I had made a poor choice in yarn, because although it was incredibly soft and spongey merino, it was handwash only, and ivory, for a blanket that will get used every day. I don't know what I was thinking! Anyway, I slung the luxurious thing around my neck and puttered around the house while contemplating both the fate of the blanket and the state of my mind, ultimately deciding that I quite liked it around my neck. Maybe around my neck was where it should stay. That it did, and it kept me toasty on many snowy walks this winter.

But what happened to my big blanket plans? Well, once I realized that I would need at least three times the amount of yarn than I thought, thus making this a very expensive blanket, it was debated long and hard with my husband (who is the one who wanted this blanket to begin with). I eventually convinced him that this would be the warmest and coziest blanket of our dreams, but he insisted on a few caveats: that it not be white, that it be machine washable, and that I agree to watch all three Godfathers with him while I crocheted. Ha! Compromise. The secret to a happy marriage and a happy maker.

We picked out the yarn together: Cascade Longwood in heathered grey and white. After multiple re-stocking trips to Handknit, I lost track of how many balls I bought, but I think it was 10 grey and 2 white.

Keep in mind, it is an unusual size for a lap blanket. My husband wanted it to be at least 6 feet long, enough to cover his whole body, or for two people and a cat to comfortably share. That's already long, and then it stretched. Oh did it stretch. From 72" to 84", to be exact. This pattern is worked lengthwise (also unusual), so there was nothing I could do about the length unless I wanted to completely start over. I was about halfway through and I honestly thought about it, thinking about the yarn savings, but once I calculated that I would only save one ball of yarn, it didn't seem worth all the many hours of work. It actually fits perfectly across a queen size bed. And, honestly, who every complained about having too much cozy blanket around them? Not me.

The pattern was just about as easy as it gets, but the simple design is what I loved most about it. And I found the mindless repetition to be quite calming and meditative. Perfect for long winter evenings watching movies. (Godfather II was the best Godfather, by the way.)

It was quite the journey, full of debate, indecision and compromise, but we got there in the end. And it is honestly the warmest and softest blanket ever. We have enjoyed snuggling under it every night since it was finished. And that is worth every laboured stitch.

Believe it or not, my final project also had a dramatic life story. Do you remember how I tried to crochet a cat cave last year? Well it didn't turn out great and the ungrateful prince only sat in it once, so I decided to unravel it and make something for someone that would appreciate it... myself! I fell in love with the vintage bullion scarf pattern, which seemed like a perfect fit for my bulky yarn. The pattern sample was even the same colour. It was too perfect to resist.

It was an interesting and fairly quick project to work on as the nights turned colder. I had never made a bullion stitch before and it was fun. You basically wrap the yarn around your hook eight times and then pull through them all! Tough on the hands, but super cool effect.

The scarf turned out beautiful and incredibly warm. It's so firm that it basically forms a wall around my face. Perfect for those really blustery days. Unfortunately, the yarn is on the scratchy side. Great for cat beds; not so great for human necks. So it didn't get much wear this winter. It might work better wrapped around the outside of my coat. I'll give it another season to see how much I use it. Otherwise, it may get a third life as a pillow! Haha! I'll keep you posted.

Blackwood Cardigan

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Fri, 09 Mar 2018 20:26:00 +0000

This Blackwood Cardigan by Helen's Closet is one of my favourite and most worn makes from this Fall. Unfortunately, I don't think my pictures do it justice. Dark colours are darn hard to photograph indoors in the winter. I tried three separate times (and threatened to quit blogging every one of those times). This is going to have to do.

It's kind of fitting, actually — determination was the name of the game with this cardigan from the very start. I was blinded by the cozy factor when I saw this fantastic green cotton ribbing at Needlework and scooped it up without considering at all how a thick ribbing would behave with my pattern. I should know better. Of course I started to panic once I read through the pattern: folded bands around the neck and hem meant there would be three layers of thick, stretchy knit at those seams. And ribbing? Ribbing is apparently notoriously hard to sew with because it is super stretchy and often ripples. Fun times.

I must have been having a good mental health day, because I decided to persevere, stick to my original plan and see what happens. I'm so glad I did! The thicker knit gives it a chic, structured style, kind of a casual blazer vibe, which I love. I was comfortable wearing it both working from home and out for dinner. And, hey, something that is dressy enough for a night out and warm enough for the -20° walk to the restaurant gets a big Canadian high-five!

So what about those construction issues I was worried about? As you can probably tell from the photos, there were some problems, namely wavy seams and stretching. The right side is noticeably longer than the left. Haha! I'm sure stay tape would have helped, and I totally intended to use it, I just forgot when it came time to sew. Them's the breaks. It was virtually impossible to unpick black stitches from this knit too, so I chose to live with it. I don't think it's very obvious when I'm moving around anyway.

I tried to combat the bulky seams by serging the pieces seperately and pressing the seams apart, but I don't know if it really made that much difference. Not worth the trouble, in my opinion.

Something else to note: I didn't care for the way the front neck band wasn't enclosed by the bottom band, you just serge off both ends. Maybe this was another ribbing issue, but I found it hard to get that to look nice and neat. I'll try to change that on my next one.

Other mods... I shortened it by 3". (I'm 5'4", in case you didn't know that already.) I like the look, but it pokes out from under my Fall jacket, which annoys me, so next time I will lop off another inch. I also left off the sleeve cuffs because I'm digging the rolled sleeve look these days, especially with this reversible knit. I changed the pocket design too, cutting them a bit longer and then turning down the top once, rather than adding to the bulk with another band.

That's it!

It's a great pattern, quick and easy to put together and a great, versatile piece to add to my wardrobe. I'm excited to make a few more next Fall in something drapier. Merino, perhaps?

Handmade Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Fri, 16 Feb 2018 16:29:00 +0000

This is very unCanadian of me, but I'm trying this new thing where I don't apologize as much, especially for ridiculous things like blogging. This is a happy place to share and document my hobbies, and if that happens two months after I made something, so be it. No need to stress, no need to explain. Who knows, with practice maybe it will spill into other parts of my life. I encourage you to do the same. #noapologies

On that note... let me show you all of the super cute things I made for Christmas! Ho ho ho! :)

My sister-in-law loves buffalo plaid and pointed out this beautiful flannel when she was in Needlework in the Fall. I was more than happy to make my favourite little 14-month-old a Christmas Geranium dress. After all, I've made her one for every other season since she's been born. It was a great excuse to try out the new expansion pack too, with the sleeves and collar.

I spent a lot of time trying to match the plaid everywhere, but realized once I was sewing that most of the seams are gathered and it wouldn't matter. Gah. As long as you center the bodice and the collar, it'll look perfect. Heck, even if you don't do that, it'll probably still look cute-as-a-button. I feel like you can't really go wrong with this pattern.

And I couldn't resist sharing my new-found love of jeggings with my niece too, so whipped up a couple pairs in navy and black. I used a Brindle & Twig pattern for those.

I also crocheted her a little cardigan. This is my first attempt at baby clothing that wasn't a hat and I love it! This girl might get a cardigan every Christmas. Haha! Yeah, I'll be that Aunt. I'm fine with that.

I can't find the label, but I believe I used the Zara merino wool from Handknit. Isn't that colour unbelievable? It was a dream to work with too, although I think it stretched a bit when I blocked.

The pattern is the classic baby cardigan by Lisa van Klaveren. A lot of people said that the pattern worked up small, so I used a sport weight rather than the fingerling suggested in the pattern and it worked great. The neck seems a little large on her, but everywhere else fits pretty well.

I found it quite enjoyable to make, so much so that I made two. I started making it in a soft, synthetic fingerling yarn that I had in my stash, but the strands kept separating and it was driving me nuts. I decided to continue, just to learn the pattern, almost like how I make a muslin in sewing, and that worked out great. By the time I had the luscious merino in my hands, I knew exactly what I was doing. I would recommend it, for baby clothes, at least.

I should also mention that the one thing that I changed about the pattern was that I added button holes. It just seemed fiddly to push them through the stitches.

My other niece has long outgrown cute Christmas dresses and cardigans. She became a teenager this year. Eek! As such, makeup is everything at the moment. I remember when I was her age and could only afford Wet n Wild, so I bought her some better quality stuff... and then made some bags to put them in, of course.

I started with a boxy pouch using this unique gusseted pattern. I enlarged the size a bit, but it still turned out a little smaller than I wanted, like most of the makeup I bought her didn't fit (hmph), so I also made a Noodlehead petal pouch, with some quilt batting added for extra oomph. Now that is a perfect pouch. I immediately wanted several for myself and will likely make that a reality very soon. I hope she liked them as much as I did... hard to tell with a teenager, right?

I usually whip up a few little ornaments or gift toppers ever year, mostly just so I can a play with my Christmas fabrics. (Sewing as play. No that is some pleasant food for thought.) This year I made quilted trivets. I tried to do some improvisational piecing, but I wasn't loving it and found myself much happier with more structured blocks. To each their own, right? I was pretty thrilled to find some gold thread in my Aunt's stash and had fun adding some sparkly quilting with it.

I put together "brunch" baskets for our parents this year, full of my own baking and local goodies, and I tucked my little trivets in there. So cute.

Last but not least, check out these adorable fussy cut blocks! These were the original trivet designs, but as soon as I made them, I fell in love. With images of Christmas quilts dancing in my head, I decided to hold on to them. Of course I didn't end up making any more besides these two, but it could be a fun project to pull out every year and work on slowly. Remind me next year, OK?

Did you make any gifts or crafts for yourself this Christmas?

Saying Grace: 2018 Make Nine

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Tue, 30 Jan 2018 21:07:00 +0000

Happy New Year! Since it's been awhile, I thought you guys might like a quick update on what's up with me both in and outside the sewing room and what I have planned for 2018.

The biggest change that came with the new year for me was that I started a new position at my editing job. Starting any new job is stressful in itself, but for this one it also meant a change of hours from part-time to full-time. This is a big shift for a maker. For the past four years I've had two days a week reserved for me, to work on my business and my craft, and it was blissfully sweet. But when I closed my business, I knew it couldn't last forever. Part of me wanted to start a new venture last year just to keep the long weekends flowing, but a bigger part of me really didn't. And that meant my creative hiatus had to come to an end.

But I'm OK with that. Really, I am. I'm excited to see what it feels like to sew for pure pleasure; I'm excited to have more money for travelling... and fabric; and I'm excited to be doing more engaging work for that money. Still, it's a big adjustment that I can't ignore. It's going to require some grace, especially at the beginning of the year. I don't typically pick a "word of the year" per se, but I have found myself coming back to that one a lot these days.

As you would expect, I did a lot of sewing on my days off, so one of the things that I need to give myself the most grace on is my sewing expectations.

Have you ever counted your makes? I did and I made 42 pieces of clothing in 2017! Can you believe that? I couldn't, but I now understand why I didn't feel the need to shop for a whole year. Yay me! But, holy moly, that is so not going to happen this year.

What's even crazier is that even at 42 pieces, there were still a lot of unchecked items on my sewing list. I wouldn't describe myself as an ambitious person at all... except when it comes to sewing. I think once you realize that you can sew anything, you want to sew everything, and most of the time that's just not physically possible, or necessary, for that matter. This is a common struggle for creative people, isn't it?

In an attempt to reign in all that ~~crazy~~ passion, I've decided to join the #2018makenine challenge this year. It's described as a "gentle challenge for makers" that encourages you to work at your own pace, to be flexible and kinder to yourself, and to learn more about yourself and your creative habits. Sounds like just what I need.

Nine is totally doable. In fact, I expect to make many more than that. But I want these nine items to be my priority. I've chosen them carefully. They are things that I need in my closet, things that I have wanted to make for awhile but keep putting off, and things that intimidate and challenge me.

Here they are, from left to right in the collage at the top of the post...

1. Melilot Shirt: I made a sample of this for Needlework last year but failed to follow up with one of my own, mainly because sewing a collared button-down in shifty rayon was a nightmare. But this is a style I would love to wear, so master it I must.

2. Suzon Shirt: I bought this pattern in Paris a couple of years and it has intimidated me ever since. It was written in French, for one, but the ladies at République du Chiffon kindly sent me an English translation last summer. So no excuses now. Check out Sara's version in white. I want!

3. Range Backpack: I've been a faithful tote collector for years, but I'm one sore shoulder away from tossing them all and joining the backpack trend. Plus, this Noodlehead pattern is hella cute. A must for schlepping supplies to craft night, at the very least.

4. Bras and Underwear: Another one that has been on my list for awhile. I've been dutifully saving my knit scraps for just this purpose. I was going to limit this goal to underwear, because bras are a whole other world in sewing, with new materials to acquire and fiddly techniques to master, but some of my current bras have actually become physically painful to wear lately, so this is pushing me to give it a go. I'll definitely start with a simple, comfortable bralette, but check out this beauty by Kirsten for inspiration. Again, WANT!

5. Archer-Alder shirtdress: If you've been following my Instagram, you will know that this one is already finished! (Blogging also clearly a challenge on my new schedule.) It has been on my list for a long time and I love it just as much as I thought I would. More details to come on that one (hopefully).

6. Ginger Jeans: Yes, I've made these once before, but I haven't made any since. Meanwhile, all of my RTW jeans are getting seriously worn out. And I have four metres of cone mills denim waiting patiently for their time in the sun... or snow. I'm determined to knock these out before Spring.

7. Fairfield Button-Up: This one is obviously earmarked for my husband. He's always picking out fabric for himself at the store and I keep putting him off, saying I need more practice. But by the end of this year, I should have enough buttons and collar stands under my belt to give it a go, I think.

8. Chitown Chino shorts: This is probably the biggest hole in my closet. I have only two pairs of shorts that I like to wear and both are white. Maybe it is my body type, but I find shorts to be one of the hardest things to shop for. Having a tried-and-true pattern nailed down would be amazing.

9. Winding Ways Quilt: I promised my parents a queen-sized quilt for their bed this year and picked out this rather ambitious pattern for it. My initial tinkering hasn't gone very well, so I may be choosing a new pattern by year's end. Stay tuned.

It's looking like a year of buttons and butts. Haha!

I'm trying out a bullet journal this year to keep track of my life and my makes. I shared a quick flip-through on Insta stories a few weeks ago, but if you're interested in a more detailed blog post, let me know. I'm really loving it so far.

Other than sewing, I'm hoping to give myself some grace at home too. No big decisions or big house projects, if I can help it. Just decorating and general cozification. In terms of travel, I'm looking forward to a trip to New Orleans and Austin in May. And you know what that means... I'm going to want to finish all nine of these makes before I leave. Hahaha! That defeats the point, doesn't it? Ok ok. Seven then.

Cheers to a graceful 2018!

Faux Jumpsuit

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Fri, 27 Oct 2017 15:26:00 +0000

I knew it would take an amazing outfit to get me to pose in public and I was right. Enter the jumpsuit of my dreams. Which, it turns out, isn't a jumpsuit at all, but two separate pieces that give the appearance of a jumpsuit. Faux jumpsuit for the win!

For anyone that has worn a jumpsuit, you know that this solves some very real struggles with this style, namely, having to completely undress whenever you use the bathroom. I also find that the torso-crotch region never fits quite right in a one-piece — always too baggy or too tight — with two separate pieces, I can fit and adjust that area easily. And if you're on the fence about whether you're even a jumpsuit-wearing kind of woman, it's a great way to try it out and still have two wearable garments if you don't like it. But I think you will. We're talking pyjamas you can wear to dinner, here. You can't really go wrong with that. Let's all get on the faux jumpsuit train, ladies!

I have to give credit to Sarah, who first blew my mind with this idea a year ago. I've been dying to replicate it ever since. I didn't have either of the patterns that Sarah used, but since I'm getting more confident with pattern drafting, I decided to try tweaking some of the patterns I already own: the kimono bodice from the Sallie Jumpsuit and the Hudson Pants. Both of these are knit patterns, and I was set on making this in rayon, so there were quite a few adjustments to be made.

Get ready to nerd-out on some serious pattern-hacking!

Let's start with the top.

Like I said, I used the kimono bodice from the Sallie Jumpsuit pattern. To account for my woven fabric, I cut out a size 12, which was two sizes up from my regular size 8. And since it's just a bodice block, I lengthened it by 6 inches and extended the side seams out slightly (3/4" at hem) to account for my hips.

The back and front of the original pattern are identical. This wasn't an issue in knits, but in woven , this made the back gape quite a bit. I found that my standard 1/2" forward shoulder adjustment fixed that quite nicely. However, because it's an all-in-one kimono sleeve, you'll want to make sure you only apply it to the shoulder and not the sleeve portion or it will flare out. I found a slightly curved shoulder seam helped with this as well and easy to do after-the-fact if you forget.

I raised the front v-neck by 1", which is perfect when the shirt is sitting properly. The neck looks high in some of these photos -- that's because it is being pulled to the back. I think the ties are weighing it down, to be honest. I may remove them yet.

In terms of finishing, I drafted an all-in-one neck and sleeve facing, but didn't have enough fabric for it, so I made only a neck facing and simply turned under the sleeves.

Finally, I lowered the armhole by 1/2" for a little more movement.

This illustration isn't to scale, but maybe it will help you visualize everything that I did.

Now for the pants.

These are way more straightforward because the Hudson Pants work really well in a woven and there is already a great tutorial on how to do it on the True Bias blog. Basically, if you've already made a pair of knit Hudson pants that you love, just go two sizes up from there for the woven. Kelli says to extend the length if you're not using cuffs, but I didn't need to. She also says to extend the pocket length, which I did, but didn't find really necessary in the end. (Insert deep-pocket joke here.)

I only made two more very slight adjustments: I took a 1/4" sliver from the center back, because I liked these to sit a bit higher on my waist and therefore had to account for my sway-back; and I made the waistband slightly narrower (by 1/2" total), because I can only find 1-1/2" elastic around here, and I just prefer the look on me.

I say this all with the caveat "if you've already made a pair of knit Hudson pants that you love," because, of course, I took a more complicated route to get there. I used the Men's Hudson Pant pattern!

My husband wanted a pair and I was on the fence myself, so I figured I'd save a few bucks and just make the smallest size (28) of the men's pattern. It was worth a shot for a roomier fit. My husband's pants turned out perfect the first time. Naturally, mine took quite a few "feminine" adjustments: 1" shortened front crotch, 1/2" full-seat adjustment, 1/4" tapered leg, and 3" shortened length. That's a lot more work than a typical knit project requires, and probably not worth the money saved, but it was a good learning experience for me. I'm really curious about how my changes measure up to the women's pattern and may still buy it just to see. That's how nerdy I'm getting about pattern drafting, guys. LOL!

Hopefully all these pattern-hacking details don't intimidate you. They sound like a lot when they're all listed out, but are really not that difficult to execute. And also not at all necessary, if you have no interest in that sort of thing. Any woven tee or tank pattern would work just as well, like the Scout Tee, Onyx Shirt, or Coram Top, to name a few. The Alexandria Peg Trousers and the Luna Pants are similar elastic-waisted style that are already designed for woven fabric.

The key takeaway here is to embrace the faux jumpsuit, OK? Because we all deserve to wear pyjamas to dinner and feel like a million bucks doing it!

100 Days of Farmer's Wife Quilting

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 15:48:00 +0000

A couple pretty big things happened in the last couple months that I've been slow to share. First, the completion of my 100-day project.

Yes! I did it! Woohoo! High five!

In case you missed it, back in April, I challenged myself to sew Farmer's Wife Quilt blocks every day for 100 days. Initially I thought I would sew a block a day, but quickly realized I had to give myself some grace there. If you've ever flipped through the Farmer's Wife Quilt book, you would know that some of those blocks are super complex and would require several hours of time. There's no way I could keep up that kind of intensity for 100 days. Plus, this was real life: in 3 months, there was sickness and vacations and doors needing painting.

But even if I didn't complete a block, I was always working on it: calculating quilt math, cutting out paper pieces, buying fabric. I even hand-pieced several of the blocks so that I could take it with me on vacation.

There were a handful of days, mostly on vacation, that I did nothing at all, but I tried not to beat myself up over those days (I added them on to the end). I'm not a machine. This project wasn't about cranking out a certain number of blocks. The goal was to surrender to the process, to see where a daily practice could take me.

I'll admit, some days were difficult. Days where I only had half an hour to sit down and take a breath, and I knew that half hour was also my only chance to sew, so I dragged my weary bones up to the sewing room. How was that helping anyone? But the majority of the time, I enjoyed having an excuse to sew every day, without thinking about all the things I "should" be doing isntead. At the end of each day, no matter what else happened or didn't happen, at least I did that one thing and I could be proud of that.

There were many things learned along the way, about both quilting and myself, but ultimately, my biggest lesson came from letting go, pushing perfectionism aside and placing greater value on a daily fresh start. Don't like the block you just made? Oh well. Add it to the stack, you'll make a new one tomorrow. It's only fabric.

Then, a few months later, something else pretty monumental happened: I was invited to display my blocks at Needlework as a special installation for Supercrawl! If you're not from the area, Supercrawl is a huge music and art festival held annually on James St. N. here in Hamilton.

I had only shared individual blocks up until that point, so it was pretty special to debut them all together in such a big way. We pinned each block up individually on the wall and the effect was pretty amazing. I always talk about how quilts can sometimes seem strange in pieces, but that something magically cohesive happens when they're together. On this scale, with 86 blocks, it blew me away.

In addition to having my work on display, I was also personally on display. Liz and Kate set up two beautiful workspaces in the front windows of the shop, one for cutting and one for sewing, and I hopped between them for two evenings, demonstrating how I made the blocks. Haha! My introverted side was freaking out, but, honestly, once it got dark, I couldn't see out the windows and could just ignore the onlookers. Hopefully it helped people connect makers to finished products and the time and effort that goes into creating them. That was my goal, anyway.

I joked that I was happy to have the blocks on display as long as possible, that I was in no rush to start quilting. But, joke's aside, I enjoyed having some time to admire and celebrate this accomplishment before jumping into the next step. That's not something that we allow ourselves to do very often. It's not the most humble, but I think after 6000 hours of anything, we earn the right to admire our work for a second.

We haven't taken the blocks down yet, so if you want to see them up close and in person, get over to Needlework as soon as you can. And of course you can check them all out on my Instagram with the hashtag #100daysofFWQ.

Thank you so much to Liz and Kate of Needlework for the honour and to everyone that came by and offered such kind compliments and support!

Many of you approached me to tell me that you were inspired by my project to pick up your neglected Farmer's Wife Quilts or to start a 100-day project of your own. This made me so happy and was probably the best outcome of the whole shebang. To you, I say "Thank you!" and "Hell, yes! You can do it!" I will be your biggest cheerleader!

Here are some more practical pointers for things that worked well for me...

For the Farmer's Wife Quilt

I owe a huge thank you to Johanna Masko and her "Secrets of the Farmer's Wife" class I took back in 2014. I honestly don't think I would've got very far in this quilt without her help. If you get a chance to take this or any of her classes, do it. You will not be disappointed. She is a great teacher and really does seem to know everything there is about quilting.

There are 111 blocks in this quilt. It is very time-consuming. Efficiency should be your priority and your motto. Meaning...

Ignore the templates and do the math. Honestly, I really don't understand templates. They seem like such a waste of time. Even for paper piecing, I found drafting the block to be faster than tracing the templates. Occasionally, when I ran into problems, I checked my math against the templates, but other than that I ignored them.
This is not a scrap-busting quilt. I know, the pieces are so tiny, it would seem like a great way to use up scraps, but for many of the blocks, it's just not efficient. If you can cut 8 HSTs at once with a bigger piece of fabric, absolutely do that instead of fiddling around with little triangles. Save your scraps for foundation paper piecing or blocks with a lot of colour variety.
Keep your fabric sorted according to colour. This makes the fabric selection process way faster. I cut paper bags in half to make 5 baskets: dark, light, blue, green and turquoise. I also had a shoe-box-sized plastic bin of larger cuts sorted by colour.
Small prints are your friend. Personally, I found directional prints and any kind of fussy cutting to be more frustrating than they were worth as well and tried to avoid them. But you might be into that sort of thing.
Keep all of your materials together (fabric, rulers, rotary cutter, marking pencil, etc.), so they're ready to go whenever you have a spare moment.
Stick with it. It really does get easier and faster with practice. Patterns become obvious and formulas are memorized, so that breaking down blocks becomes almost second nature.

Finally, learn from my mistake and resist the urge to sew all the easy blocks first. When I started this quilt a few years ago, that's exactly what I did, which of course left me with all the difficult ones later. Future you will thank you.

For the 100-Day Project in General

Give yourself grace.

Keep your materials organized.

Have a routine and complete your task as soon as possible every day. On weekdays, I sewed immediately after work, and on weekends, first thing in the morning, whenever possible. This is easier said than done when you have many creative passions tempting you, especially around day 75 when you're starting to regret starting this project in the first place. Trust me -- get your project out of the way first and then you can do whatever the heck you want, feeling like a mega-accomplished superstar while you do it.

Choose a specific, structured task, and preferably one that will result in a finished product every day or two. I'm sure some people would revel in a more creative or vague concept, but for me, I know that this structure helped me stick with it for the long haul. I went through the book in order, so a simple turn of the page was all it took to get started each day. Having a new finished product every day made documenting the project pretty simple too -- it felt natural to take a quick shot of a completed block and I didn't have to worry about posting the same thing every day on Instagram. I don't think I would participate in the project again unless I could think of a similarly structured challenge. But that's just me. You do you.

{my scrap baskets}

And that's all I have to say about the whole crazy experience. The next time you hear about this baby, it should be a completed quilt! Until then, here it is laid out on a wall in my spare room, to give you an idea of the scale and how it might look. Gulp.

Shirtdress Summer

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Tue, 29 Aug 2017 16:01:00 +0000

Every summer it's the same thing. I start with a long list of super ambitious sewing plans, and a few months later I'm left wondering how the summer could possibly be coming to an end with hardly a dent in that sewing list. Hmph. I need to work on setting more realistic goals. My only consolation is that of the few things I did sew, two of them were worn pretty much non-stop the entire summer. Those two things were both Alder Shirtdresses.

I love a good collared button-down, I love sleeveless sundresses, and I love a roomy waist. This pattern checks all the boxes -- I don't know why I didn't sew it sooner! I've had it since it first came out, for goodness sake.

That's a lie. I know exactly why. Until recently, I was majorly intimidated by collars. It was a challenge I set for myself to tackle this year, and now that I've learned how, I can't seem to stop. Haha! They can be tricky, but like anything in sewing, it all comes down to a series of steps and the more you do, the easier it gets.

I've been holding on to this fabric for almost as long as I've had the pattern, I think. It's called "Purrfect Hiding Spot" from the Cat Lady collection for Cotton + Steel. And the selvedge was too adorable not to include in the garment. I thought about putting it along a side seam or the front panel seams, but decided to sandwich it within the yoke instead so that I would see it every time I put on the dress. I think it was a wise choice. It always makes me smile!

The advantage of sewing a lot of patterns from one company, is you typically make the same alterations to them all. For Grainline Studios, I almost always have to pull up the shoulders and do a forward shoulder adjustment (FSA).

Once I took 1/2" from the shoulders, the bust dart and waist gathers were in the right place. I then needed to lower the armhole and the neckline by 1/2" as well.

I wasn't sure how the yoke and collar would react to an FSA, so I decided to wait to see how my muslin fit without it first. I was really happy with everything, except that the collar stands away from my neck. Nitpicky, I know, but I'm nitpicky about fit. The neck did not gape before applying the collar. I thought that maybe an FSA would fix it, so I tried it with my second version. But that just made things worse, so I went back to the original. It's a really small issue and certainly doesn't bother me enough not to wear it. It's more of a curiosity for how to fix it. If anyone knows, please share.

The only other thing that I changed was to add inseam pockets. All my dresses have them now, so I'm too used to having them there. When I'm wearing my muslin, I keep pawing for them. It's such an easy thing to add, it's kind of odd that they weren't included to begin with. It was easy to tack the pockets to the front panel seams too, to keep them from flipping to the back.

I had a tough time with the pivot points on both dresses. I'm almost certain there will be holes there over time. Again, no one seems to mention this, but if anyone has any tips for perfecting that area, please share.

Everything else about this pattern was great and constructed as instructed. Even the hem was perfect, which is unusual, as I'm 5'4". You will probably need to lengthen it, if you are any taller.

The other Alder that I made this summer was my muslin in a plain grey chambray. I took these photos spontaneously on vacation in Halifax, so you get to see it in its most commonly worn state, wrinkly AF. I could blame my suitcase, but let's be real, it looks like this at home too.

While my husband was taking these photos, two ladies asked if we wanted our photo together. What was I going to say? "Umm, no thanks, this is all about me and my pretty dress." LOL! I never take photos in public, so this was a first for me. Turns out they were both from Hamilton too! Blogging is weird.

I'm sure you've gathered that I love both of these dresses. I love how you can throw on one item and instantly feel both stylish and comfortable. It's casual, but not too casual. Haha! And I think they'll transition to Fall quite nicely as well, paired with leggings and an Astoria sweater. I'm not ready to pack them away, that's for sure. Or maybe I'll make another one? I've seen some cute Alder-Archer mashups out there.

What has been your favourite handmade garment this summer?

East Coast Road Trip

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Mon, 21 Aug 2017 15:18:00 +0000

I was lucky to spend a couple weeks in the East Coast this summer and it was fantastic. With so much world to see, it's easy to forget about all the beauty we have right here in our backyard. We're so lucky to call this country home and I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate Canada's 150th birthday than a road trip around some of its most scenic vistas.

We flew into and out of Halifax (from Hamilton - bonus!) and rented a car to road trip around from there. We explored Halifax, Peggy's Cove, Lunenberg, and Cape Breton in Nova Scotia; Prince Edward Island; and finally Shediac, New Brunswick.

Halifax was all about food and beer, and since those happen to be two of our favourite things, we were happy as clams. Highlights were the beautiful public gardens, the Highwayman, Edna, Little Oak, and the Keith's Brewery tour. We also spent a glorious morning at the Seaport Farmer's Market, where we had some delectable dumplings and noodles and sampled all the best wine and spirits from the area. We walked home with some heavy bags. Luckily our airbnb was close by.

We were on the fence about day-tripping out to Peggy's Cove and Lunenberg, but everyone we met seemed to tell us that we just had to go there. So we did. Honestly, the winding drive through picturesque little fishing villages was probably the best part. Although, we did have some of the best fish and chips of our lives in Lunenberg and some amazing pear brandy. But I'm sure you could find both of those in Halifax. I would say, if you're visiting only Halifax, it's a great day trip to quickly get out of the city and experience some beautiful small-town Maritime scenery. But if you're heading on to the Cabot Trail, for instance, I'm not sure it's worth going out of your way for.

Which is exactly what we were up to next, off to Cape Breton to explore the Cabot Trail. Our first night we stayed in this cute little "camping cabin" on the east side of the island, near Wreck Cove. We had a little picnic of meats and cheeses and then took our bottle of Noggins Cider down to the beach until the sun went down and the bugs came out. It was a pretty cool way to start the trail.

We took the entire next day to drive the Cabot Trail and it was breathtaking. My pictures don't really do it justice. Maybe this goes without saying, but I was so impressed with all the convenient lookout points along the route. It was so easy to quickly pull off and take a snap. And they all seemed to be located in perfect picture-taking spots. You don't always get that on windy roads. We stopped at every lookout point and even went on a couple short hikes. White Point (first two photos above) was our favourite spot. It was a little inconspicuous, tucked off the main road, and we weren't entirely sure we were even in the right place, but eventually you get to this amazing mossy green cliff. I've never been to Scotland, but I imagine parts of it would be something close to this. There weren't very many people there either, so it felt very peaceful and private.

We stayed in a fantastic airbnb in Cheticamp for two nights and that also turned out to be a highlight of the trip. It was in an old boathouse and had a deck that stuck right out into the ocean. We had two great afternoons sitting out on that deck relaxing. I even did yoga out there the morning we left! It was the perfect spot to recharge between two long days of driving.

Next, we were onto the land of potatoes and Anne. But I was there to see my own favourite redhead, my best friend Carla. I hadn't seen her since she moved there two years ago and we had the absolute best time! It was four days of amazing food, drinks, games and laughter. Lots and lots of laughter. My throat ached and my heart was full.

We treated ourselves to a fancy feast one evening at the Inn At Bay Fortune. What an experience that was! We arrived a couple of hours before the dinner began and were invited to wander the grounds, where they had several food and drink stations dispersed. It was a feast for the eyes as well, everything from the table settings to the building itself were so beautiful. I had to do my best to balance a drink, an appetizer and my camera at all times. Haha!

After the cocktail hour, we all met at the flag pole for a champagne toast before we sat down at our family style tables for six courses of earth-to-table deliciousness. We finished off the night roasting homemade marshmallows over a campfire.

It was pretty magical. And to share it all with our best friends was a memory to last a lifetime.

A trip to PEI isn't complete without visiting Anne. Well, Anne's house. No, actually, the house that inspired L.M. Montgomery's fictional description of Anne's house. Unfortunately, the whole world seems to also want to visit this green and white phenomenon on the hill. It was absolutely overrun with tourists. I visited when I was a little girl and don't remember any of that. In fact, I remember feeling almost alone in the house, taking as many pictures as I wanted with my little pink le clic. Oh well. The rest of the day was spent skipping along the brilliant, red cliffs of Cavendish and all was right in our blissful vacation again.

A few of our favourite spots to eat and drink in PEI were the Blue Mussel Cafe in North Rustico, Rossignol Winery in Murray River, Matos Winery in St. Catherines (owners originally from Oakville), and everywhere we went in Charlottetown: Upstreet Brewery, Brakish (lawn games!), Local 343 (get the ribs), Terre Rouge (get the burger), and Row House Lobster Co. (get the steak).

If shopping is your jam, my favourite was Of the Island in Murray River. It has a super cute collection of vintage, as well as some beauty products and jewelry. The owner, and her adorable dog, are really sweet and friendly as well. I bought a pair of earrings that I've been wearing non-stop. I also really enjoyed the little group of shacks, let's call them shop shacks, in North Rustico. I brought home a little piece of art made with seaweed and sand from Emmet & Ellie's. Non-touristy souvenirs are where it's at.

It was hard to say goodbye, but we had such a good time, I know we'll be back sooner rather than later.

Next we were over the Confederation Bridge and on to the final stop of our trip, Shediac, New Brunswick. I have an Aunt and Uncle that live out their summers in this beautiful little beach town and it was so great to see it in person. We were only there for two days, but we made the most of it, the highlights definitely being the astounding Hopewell Rocks and the equally as astounding, fresh lobster dinner! Such a perfect way to end a wonderful trip!

I also managed to keep up with my 100-day project while I was out there. I prepared seven blocks to hand-sew throughout the trip and was able to complete six! This shocked even me. But it actually wasn't as challenging as I thought. The key was that this was a pretty laid-back trip, with a lot of time in the car. I don't think it would necessarily work on a trip to Europe, for instance. I didn't get much reading done, so I guess that was the trade-up. But I ended up with some pretty cool shots and some great memories tied in to each one! It will be so fun to pick them out of the finished quilt... "that one was sewn on the ferry to PEI, that one was in the car on the way to the Cabot Trail, etc." So special.

Me Made May 2017

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 15:12:00 +0000

Another Me Made May has come and gone. If you remember from previous years, this is an annual event in the online sewing community where we make a pledge to wear more of our handmade clothing. You can set whatever parameters you like for the challenge, but most people, myself included, try to wear something we've made every day of the month. The idea is to get more wear out of the clothing we make, but I get so much more out of it than that. When you wear only handmade clothing for a month, a lot of stuff comes up.

It forces you to to stock of your wardrobe and really think about the clothing you wear, don't wear and want to wear. May is the perfect month for examining your closet, at least where I'm from, because you're transitioning from cold to warm weather. I took note of both what I was bored to death of wearing all winter and what I was excited (or not) about pulling out from my summer things. I realized I rely a little too heavily on t-shirts and cardigans when it's cold, which is at least 6 months of the year in Canada. How boring! I also noticed that I have a lot of tops, but hardly any bottoms. And a few of my sundresses are looking worn and just not fitting well anymore.

Based on that information, I can focus my sewing for the year. Clearly I need to up my warm and cozy game next fall with some dressier pieces and by sourcing some better sweater knits. I also need to get sewing more skirts and pants stat. I always make a couple of new dresses every summer, so I'm not too worried on that end.

Once you figure out what you need to sew, there's no better time or place to look for patterns to fit those needs. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of sewists around the world sharing their creations every day and I love scrolling through it all. Thank goodness for Instagram's new bookmark feature. I saved so many outfits!

All that inspiration is incredibly motivating. It fires up my productivity like nothing else. Even though the 100 Day Project stole a lot of my sewing energy this year, I still managed to sew eight new garments! Three tank tops, sweat pants for both me and my husband, a button-up blouse, a sweater and a t-shirt. Woo! Blog posts coming soon!

Every year the challenge gets a little easier as my handmade wardrobe grows. Daily selfies, on the other hand, do not. Haha! (I only documented 28 outfits, after all.) I think we all suffer through that part. Knowing we're in it together, through the pattern taping, the stitch-ripping, the baby hems, the double needles, and that bloody camera self-timer, is probably the best part of the whole thing.

For a closer look at all of my Me Made May outfits, hop on over to my Instagram. :)

The 100-Day Project

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Fri, 26 May 2017 21:08:00 +0000

I first heard about The 100-Day Project from Elise Joy and was immediately into it. Doing something creative every day for 100 days sounds like a really fun 100 days to me! I've been thinking a lot lately about the practice of sewing, like a yoga practice, and this was a great opportunity to explore that concept. It didn't take me too long to think of a task to commit to either — the 111 blocks in my neglected Farmer's Wife Quilt seemed like a perfect fit. I don't know if I would ever complete that quilt without some sort of challenge like this. And so it began. On April 4th, I sewed up my first block and posted it on Instagram with the hashtag #100daysof FWQ.

I told my husband over dinner that night and suddenly I was filled with doubt. What the heck was I thinking? A quilt block every single day for over three months? Am I crazy? What makes me think I could actually stick to that?

That's why I've been hesitant to talk about it on the blog — I honestly didn't know if I would be able to follow through. Until now. I'm happy to say that today is day 53, over halfway through the challenge, and I've worked on my Farmer's Wife Quilt every single day. It's safe to say I'm in it for the long haul.

I have given myself some grace on the block-a-day. I've made 42 blocks so far. Because I have a million other things I want to make, I try not to devote more than an hour a day to this project and some of the blocks are just too complex for that. There were a few that I cut one day and sewed the next. There were some that I completed one day and re-did the next day (or two) because they weren't right. I was also sick for a few days in there, so I did some construction planning in bed instead. I took a day to cut out all the paper pieced blocks. Things like that.

I don't want to talk too much about my feelings or lessons learned just yet. I'll save them for the end. But I will say that although some days are a real struggle, I am enjoying the process. Not only can I see improvements in my sewing and decision-making skills, but ultimately I'm giving greater value to the idea of everyday being a fresh start. Didn't like the block you just made? Oh well. Add it to the stack, you'll make a new one tomorrow.

I'm posting every day on Instagram, if you want to follow along and cheer me on for the next 48.

Collection Quilt

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Fri, 19 May 2017 18:02:00 +0000

This small quilt may not look like much to you. It's only 38" x 50", not even big enough for a twin bed. But it's hanging proudly on the wall of my home for a reason. Finishing this quilt was a massive achievement that came to mean much more to me than I ever thought. It's one of my most prized possessions.

In short, it's completely sewn and quilted by hand. And I had never appliqued anything other than a small square before this project. Hand sewing is slow sewing — it took me a year and a half to complete—a crash course in discipline and patience. Over time, I began to really value this slow practice, it started to feel like an act of love. I have specific memories sewed into these blocks, where I was, who I was with, what I was thinking about, worrying about. I took it with me from road trips to hospital waiting rooms. It's a beautiful thing.

Like all of my ambitious projects, I started it on a whim. Needlework was hosting a monthly quilt-along and I wanted to be a part of the fun. Plus, like I've said many times before, I love a project I can do in front of the TV.

I knew next to nothing about applique, so figured this was a great way to learn. And it really was! Carolyn Friedlander designed this quilt as one long appliqué class. There are 12 different blocks, each one teaching you a new technique and increasing in difficulty sequentially. The instructions are very clear and detailed and include photos to illustrate the techniques. There are even tips for choosing colours and fabrics. As we all know how indecisive I can be, this was probably the most challenging part for me. I decided to stick more or less to her colour scheme, but chose fabrics from my own stash as much as possible. I chose my fabrics as I went along, but this was a bit of a momentum killer. I would highly recommend picking out all your fabrics first.

Deciding to quilt by hand, another very time-consuming method after a year of piecing, just seemed like the natural thing to do with this quilt. Although I really wanted to be finished, I liked the idea of it being entirely by hand. Maybe a part of me also didn't want it to end?

I used a solid grey chambray on the back, which shows off the hand-quilting really well. Not that you get to see that while it's hung on the wall. But I know it's there.

Speaking of wall-hanging, I recently discovered this genius method from amy a la mode. All you do is hand-sew a long loop to the back, slide a wooden board or dowel through and screw in a couple hooks to each end. Then you can just use small picture nails to hang the hooks on, leaving very minimal damage to the wall. With a heavier quilt, you could probably do the same, just use a thicker piece of wood.

Finally, here are some shots I snapped throughout the process.

Needlework carries several more Carolyn Friedlander applique patterns and I can't wait to tackle another one, just as soon as some of my other epic projects are finished. More on that in my next post!

Fashion Revolution Week

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Fri, 28 Apr 2017 16:13:00 +0000

It's Fashion Revolution week. A week where millions of people around the world will ask Who made my clothes? A week that asks everyone to be curious, find out, and do something. A week to demand greater transparency, sustainability and ethics in the fashion industry.

This is a cause that I am pretty passionate about but rarely talk about. I think it's because I don't feel well enough informed. So, I've been using this week to learn and to speak up about what ethical fashion means to me. I've been doing this every day this week on Instagram, but I know not everyone is on there, so I wanted to share some of my story here with you as well.

I've been pretty intentional about my clothing purchases for awhile now. And I consider myself very lucky to say I make the majority of my own clothing these days. But making your own clothes doesn't necessarily make a difference. At least not the way I was doing it.

As you know, I've been sewing since I was a girl, but it was only a few years ago, when the world of indie sewing patterns became a thing, that my passion for garment sewing really exploded. I wanted to sew everything all the time! I was so proud to see my handmade wardrobe expanding and my trips to the mall less frequent. One less person supporting fast fashion. Pat yourself on the back, Erin.

However, it was during one of those rare trips to the mall when I had a harsh epiphany. Here I was, literally surrounded by piles of clothing, clothing that looked just like the things I had been sewing, tops and dresses that took me hours of hard work. But here I could pick up something just like it for five bucks and five minutes. I felt sick to my stomach. What the hell was I working so hard for? What's the point? What does it all meeeean?

I knew I had to make a change.

I realized that I had been binging on cheap fabric much in the same way I used to binge on cheap fashion. "Five dollars a yard? Give me ten! And let me go back and see if there are other colours."

Haha! Sound familiar?

Luckily, once I identified the problem, it seemed like a relatively easy one to fix. It all comes down to slowing down. Slowing down the entire process, from fabric selection to technique. I needed time to think, to plan, to research, to test, to unpick, to make a garment last as long as it can in my closet and the world.

Examining my closet and making clothes that I need and that will work with multiple outfits, rather than just jumping on the newest pattern release. Less is more.
Choosing quality, ethically produced fabric. This may involve more research than just looking at the bolt. It may mean leaving fabric behind until I can find out more. Easier said than done, right?
Sewing my stash. This includes fabric, patterns, and old clothing to repurpose.
Taking two days rather than two hours to sew things properly the first time. Muslins and french seams for the win!

It's a practice that needs to be practiced. But I'm trying my best.

I still have a lot to learn. I have a lot of questions and it can be an overwhelming and daunting experience to find answers to them.

"The label will tell you what materials have been used, such as cotton or polyester. But your label won’t tell you where in the world the cotton was farmed, where the fibre was spun into a yarn, where the yarn was woven into a fabric, where it was dyed and printed. It won’t tell you where the thread, dyes, zips, buttons, beading or other features came from." -- FashionRevolution.org

We have to be persistent. If you can't find the answer on the label or on the website, send an email. The Fashion Revolution website is a really excellent source of information. The stats they've been sharing blow my mind. I also highly recommend the book Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion. I was reading that book when I had my mall epiphany. I'm looking for more books to read about the textile industry, if you have any recommendations.

Anyway, that's the rather heady topic that's been in the back of my mind lately, as I sew and as I shop. If you've read this far, I hope you'll start to do the same, if you haven't already. Think about and question where your clothes and fabric came from and who made them. Small changes make big differences!

The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, feat. Roasted Eggplant with Crispy Chickpeas

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Fri, 31 Mar 2017 17:37:00 +0000

What should I make for dinner?

Ugh. The million dollar question. I enjoy cooking most of the time, once the recipe and ingredients are laid out in front of me. But thinking and searching for recipes and dinner ideas, and gathering supplies for said recipes, is a constant struggle. A privileged problem, but a problem just the same. I can't be the only one. I would bet that even chefs are annoyed by the search for sustenance from time to time.

At the beginning of a new season, I'm full of excitement, busting out all my tried and true recipes that have been forgotten for months. Comfort foods in Fall, barbecue in Spring. But that passion doesn't last long. Within a few weeks, I'm back staring at an empty fridge and scrolling through Pinterest, wondering yet again, what should I bloody make for dinner?

When in doubt, open a book. Cookbooks, in this case. The OG of recipe inspiration. This winter I started checking out cookbooks from the library and making as many recipes as I can from them in the three weeks before their due date. Some books fail hard (I'm looking at you, one-basil-leaf-in-the-pasta-sauce Tucci) but others have multiple wins and multiple renewals as a result. The Smitten Kitchen by Deb Perelman is a perfect example of the latter. Everything I tried became an instant favourite. Because this book isn't a new release, I was lucky to be able to renew it several times and cook from it for a couple of months.

Overall, I love the book. All of the recipes I tried were good, if not excellent, and her write-ups for each recipe were written beautifully, with humour and insight, just like her blog. I found myself reading them all, even if I wasn't interested in the recipe. My only complaint is the layout of the book. Many of the recipes require you to turn the page, which can be annoying, not to mention messy, if you need to flip back and forth to consult the ingredients list. There were so many great recipes that I would definitely have purchased this book if it wasn't for the layout.

Here are all the recipes I tried...

Butternut Squash and Caramelized Onion Galette: This blew me away. It's one of the most delicious things I've made in a long time and if you're confident with pie crust, really quite simple. I made it several times this Winter, including a family Boxing Day lunch. Lucky for you, this one is on the Smitten Kitchen blog.

Balsamic and Beer-Braised Short Ribs: This one didn't last long in the memory, and thus I can't think of much to tell you. I remember thinking they were just OK, but can't remember what I did or didn't like specifically. So not much help, sorry. I made them in my slow cooker, mainly because I don't have a dutch oven big enough for 5 pounds of ribs, so this may have affected the taste, I'm not sure.

Parsnip Puree: I made this to pair with the short ribs, as recommended, and they stole the show. This recipe will change your mind about parsnips. At least it did for me. It's a tasty alternative to mashed potatoes and just as easy.

Gnocci in Tomato Broth: If gnocci is on a menu, I'm almost guaranteed to order it. You could put money on it. Naturally, I've tried making it from scratch before, and it was a sticky, dense disaster. With my new-found faith in Miss Deb, I decided to give it another shot. Guys, it was potato pasta perfection! Light, pillowy clouds that melt in your mouth. Note: we decidedly did not like the tomato broth sauce that she paired it with, but that's just our preference and easy to substitute with any of your favourite sauces.

Pizza Dough: I have intense feelings about this one. First I made the "rushed" version and it was decent. It didn't blow me away, but pretty good for a quick weeknight meal and enough to make me want to try again. Next I tried the "leisurely" method, which turned out perfectly. I was declared the pizza-making queen and promptly deleted my pizza delivery app. However, the story doesn't end there. My subsequent two attempts were epic failures in stretching and sticking. The last time I made it, I threw it straight in the garbage, pan and all! Dough and I have never been friends and pizza was not helping our relationship by any means. But that one perfect pizza will haunt me until I figure it out, and rest assured when I do, I'll share it here with you. In the meantime, if you have a tried and true method, please share!

Finally, the featured recipe, Roasted Eggplant with Yogurt-Tahini Sauce and Crispy Chickpeas. Of all the recipes I tried from this book, this one gets the most original and surprising award. I find that eggplant often becomes mushy and bland when roasted, so I had my doubts, but the combination of flavours and textures here is spot on. It also looks very impressive on the plate. Perfect to show off at a dinner party. And here's the kicker: it's super simple to make! It's one of those perfectly-timed dishes -- the eggplant and chickpeas cook in the oven at the same time and you can make the yogurt sauce while they're cooking. For a vegetarian, this is probably a perfect stand-alone meal, but this meat-eating couple found it challenging to beef-up, so to speak. Deb recommended topping it with ground lamb, which I tried, but didn't love. I also tried it with roasted chicken legs one night, which was quite nice. I feel like a rack of lamb would be divine. But then you get into over-complicating a really simple meal, y'know? I'll keep working on it and get back to you. In the meantime, try it this week and let me know how it goes!

Roasted Eggplant with Yogurt-Tahini Sauce and Cumin-Crisped Chickpeas

from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook

Serves 4-6

1 15-oz (425g) can chickpeas, drained and dried

5 tbsp olive oil, divided

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

1/2 tsp cumin*

3 lbs small eggplants, stems removed and halved lengthwise

Sauce:

1/3 cup (45g) tahini paste

2/3 cup (150g) greek yogurt

3 tbsp (45mL) lemon juice

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup water

parsley for garnish

Preheat oven to 425.
Toss the chickpeas with 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1/4 tsp salt, pepper and cumin. Spread them in a single layer on a baking sheet.
On a separate baking sheet, brush another tablespoon of olive oil. Place eggplants, cut side up, on baking sheet. Brush the cut sides with tiny amount of more oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Place both chickpeas and eggplants in oven (chickpeas on top rack) and roast for 30-40 minutes, flipping eggplants halfway through. Test to make sure eggplant is tender all the way through with a fork.
Meanwhile, whisk together all sauce ingredients minus water and parsley in a small bowl. Add water, one tablespoon at a time, until sauce is smooth, with a thick but pourable consistency.
To serve, arrange eggplants, cut side up, on a large platter. Dollop each piece generously with sauce. Sprinkle with crisped chickpeas and parsley.

*The cumin isn't totally necessary, in my opinion. It's not noticeable once covered with the tahini sauce. You could try increasing the amount, but I haven't tried that myself yet.

2015 Quilts: Two Weddings and a Baby

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 17:48:00 +0000

When I redesigned the blog, I found this post buried in my drafts. I could've sworn I had published it ages ago. In 2015, to be exact. Mind you, I still have moving boxes to unpack from that summer, so it's not surprising at all that it fell through the cracks. What is surprising is that I found the time that year to sew not one, not two, but three quilts! Perhaps I'm motivated by extremely limiting circumstances. Or perhaps I sew to survive extremely limiting circumstances. Hmmm.

First up is the Southern Star, a quilt that my best friend commissioned as a wedding gift for one of her best friend's. Talk about pressure. This was the first time that I had to factor in not one, but two other people into my design process and I learned a lot from the experience, mainly that I need to take a chill pill. Ha! A wise person once said, "it's only fabric." I need to remind myself of that more often.

I don't know why I struggled with this design so much -- it's actually my favourite combination: a super simple design and a nice blend of traditional and modern. I love all the white space and that the contrasting squares are so subtle. You may not even notice that they are prints from afar. That's exactly what we were going for, so mission accomplished. I'm told that it lives at the owner's beautiful lake house in Prince Edward County and I can't think of a more perfect place for it!

The pattern is from a book called Urban and Amish by Myra Harder. The pattern as written was a king size. I used the same size of blocks, 5" squares, but eliminated two rows for a final size of 63" x 82", which fit my double bed nicely.

Had to include this shot of me sewing the embroidery patch at the laundromat while I was washing the quilt. Clearly time was of the essence! Haha!

I'm curious, how many of you wash your finished quilts before giving them away? Personally, I prefer the look of a crisp, freshly sewn quilt. But they spend so much time in my hands and, let's be honest, the floor, that I usually opt to wash them (if time permits).

The second quilt I made that summer was extra special to me, not only because it was a wedding gift for two dear friends, but also because my husband wanted it to be a joint effort and helped with every part of the process that he could, from pattern and fabric selection to block layout. Decision-making is my biggest challenge in quilting (and life), so having someone help me make some of the more difficult calls was a treat. The whole process was more enjoyable as a result and came together really quickly too. It's all a metaphor for marriage, really. I couldn't think of a better wedding gift if I tried.

This pattern is also from Urban and Amish and it's called Chinese Lanterns. Again, I made the quilt significantly smaller. However, in this case I didn't like the look of the design when I removed rows, so I decided to make the blocks smaller instead, which was as simple as removing the longest strips from each block. So half of those shapes are four strips instead of five. It's quite a simple and quick sew that has a big impact. I think I'll be making another one soon, maybe in more earthy tones.

Hot tip: If you're using a binding fabric that tends to fray a lot, like the chambray I used here, after stitching it down, overlock your edges. The hand-sewing experience is so much more enjoyable without having to wrestle with tucking in stray threads all the way around.

Last but not least, this crazy cute baby quilt I made for my friend's little boy. There's something I love about a whole-cloth quilt. It speaks to my love of simplistic design for one; two, it's a great way to show off an amazing print like this; and finally, it's a perfect choice for babies because it may not be perceived as so precious. Do you know what I mean? Sometimes I worry that my more intricate quilts are never actually used because people worry about getting them dirty or ruining them in the wash. I even used to get this comment about my aprons, for heavens sake. That breaks my heart a little. Use your beautiful things, people! The more baby puke the better! Haha!

Keeping It Cozy

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Fri, 03 Mar 2017 19:30:00 +0000

A Linden Sweatshirt, a crochet hat and a cuddly cat. If that's not a recipe for cozy, I don't know what is. Since we're back to winter temperatures again today, it seems like a good time to share two of my comfiest, coziest makes of the season. (Guest appearance by my crazy cat, Pekoe, who wouldn't leave me alone during this photo shoot.)

This is my very first Linden and I'm not sure why it's taken me so long to try. It's been out since October 2014! Perhaps I was just waiting for the perfect fabric to cross my path, because as soon as I saw this super soft, flecked fleece come in at Needlework, suddenly the Linden was all I could think about. I whipped it up in a couple of days after buying the fabric, and I've been living in it ever since. It was super quick to sew too, only took me a couple of hours. I'm thinking it's because there are no hems to fiddle with. Bands for the win!

And before you dismiss a boring old sweatshirt, my husband declared this his favourite thing that I've sewn in awhile. So there ya go. Bringing sexy back, one sweatshirt at a time.

Construction Notes

My friend Liz advised to go one or two sizes down and I'm glad I listened. My measurements fit between 4 and 6 -- I cut a size 2 and it fits pretty perfectly, and actually still quite roomy in the middle.
Shortened the sleeves by 2 inches.
The bottom band cinches in more than others I've seen, but that might have been a result of the ribbing I chose. It still could stretch out too. I'm not mad at it.
Fabric: fleece and ribbing both from Needlework

As for the hat, it was a delight to crochet especially in this beautiful Malabrigo merino I picked up as an early birthday present for myself from HandKnit.

The pattern runs pretty large, both wide and long. It's crocheted as a rectangle that you join at the back and gather at the top, so the width can easily be adjusted at the end, but the length cannot. I found that it looked best on me by just turning the edge up, but if I didn't want that, I would've had to shorten the length by a couple of inches. Just so you know.

Of course as soon as I finished, the weather turned unseasonably warm. I'm almost happy for the return of the cold so I can get more wear out of it!

And one last shot of my crazy cat, just because.

Ebony Tee Two Ways

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 20:09:00 +0000

Meet the Ebony Tee from Closet Case Patterns. I don't usually jump on newly released patterns right away. I'm much more likely to wait a year, so I can waste hours obsessively scrolling through hundreds of Instagram photos and blog reviews of course. I wasn't even sure that this trapeze style was "me", but darn if it didn't look like the most comfortable dress ever. Then one day I suddenly remembered a funky grey jersey print I had been holding onto for a couple of years. It would be perfect for this style. Shortly after that, some bamboo terry at Needlework screamed "Ebony" too loudly at me to ignore. Within a week, I had both a top and a dress.

And then the weather miraculously cooperated with a freakishly warm long weekend in February, so I could give my new Ebony Tees the photos they deserve.

Meant to be. Clearly. Ha!

I'm still not entirely sure the style looks great on me. I'm pretty faithful to a cinched waist. But I do know both garments make me feel great. It's hard to go wrong with knits in the comfort department, but there's also just something about a big flowy skirt that is so feminine and fun. When your clothes have the power to inspire a spontaneous twirl or just give you an extra bounce in your step, in February, it's a very good thing!

Construction Notes: Dress

Size 6 (my bust measured at size 6, but waist and hip were size 8)
Fabric: bamboo terry in plum from Needlework. This fabric is so lovely, it's got some hefty weight and warmth to it, but still drapey and soft. Perfect for transitioning between seasons, at least that's what I'm hoping. I washed it in warm water and dried on medium (to shrink it as much as possible before sewing) and it shrunk a good 4" -- consider yourself warned.
I was a little concerned when I first laid out my pattern pieces and they didn't fit on my 74" piece (the pattern called for 2 yards, 72"). Luckily, I'm short, so I knew I'd have to shave at least an inch off the length, so I just went ahead and did that and it just fit.
I shortened it at the lengthen-shorten lines marked on the pattern, but those were quite high and grading out resulted in some excess fabric in the bust area that I don't love. In hindsight, I should've just shortened at the hem. It's such a wide skirt, you'll never notice the missing volume.
I ended up shortening it an additional 3" at the hem (so 4" total when you count the 1" I took out before cutting).
I'm a little unhappy with the fit of the sleeves. I would prefer them to sit higher on my shoulders and there seems to be excess fabric in the front. I would consider sizing down next time.

Construction Notes: Tunic

Size 6 (my bust measured at size 6, but waist and hip were size 8)
Fabric: lightweight jersey print from Fabricland at least 3 years ago
This is the first time I'd ever sewn raglan sleeves and I'm in love. They are so much more forgiving for fit issues at the shoulder, which I tend to have a lot of. Send me all your favourite raglan patterns!
I lengthened the sleeve very simply using the "blending views" tutorial on the CCP blog. This resulted in a little bagginess in the upper arm, so I shaved a little off between the armpit and elbow about 1/4".
Shortened length by 1".

Your Auntie Made That

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Mon, 13 Feb 2017 18:13:00 +0000

I was going to title this post "Baby Making", until it occurred to me that may be a little misleading to people who may be googling that sort of thing. Ha!

I became an Aunt for the second time this past August, right before we left for Spain, so naturally I dropped all my vacation sewing to make as much as I could for my new niece before I left. She was born five weeks early, so she needed preemie-sized clothing stat and I was happy to oblige. The smaller, the cuter, in my opinion.

Plus, sewing for babies is so fun and satisfying. They're super quick to sew, can usually be made with scraps, and look freaking adorable. I remember feeling special when I was told that my Aunts made this or that outfit for me or my dolls. I still am. And I love that I can now pass that on to my own nieces!

The onesie pattern above is from Sadie & Sam. For the hats, I combined two patterns, the Zaaberry "trio of baby hats" for shape and the Coral & Co "DIY Baby Hat" for the preemie sizing.

I also whipped up a couple of receiving blankets in these cute double-qauze prints. Stores charge an arm and a leg for these, but they are so simple to make. And they get used a lot... or so I'm told.

On the less practical side, I also made this little embroidered monkey stuffie from Kiriki Press. When my brother and his wife first told me they were pregnant, we got to talking about how she would be born in the year of the monkey, the same as me! Seemed a no brainer when I saw this kit.

Then there was the quilt. Obviously I had to make her a quilt. Baby quilts are my favourite.

I was trying my hardest to match the paint colour of her bedroom, which is a dark green-grey kind of colour. I was really struggling, until I went to Needlework and Liz casually pointed out how beautiful this swan print was. It wasn't a direct match to the paint colour, but they worked together. And I proceeded to pick out all the other fabrics within minutes. That's when you know you've got it right, I suppose.

Then Christmas came. This was the only gift I planned to sew this Christmas, so naturally I wanted to sew everything. I really had to reign it in... and I still ended up with a top, three pairs of leggings and two pacifier clips. Haha!

My sister-in-law rides horses and loved the horse print I used for my Darling Ranges dress, so I already knew I wanted to make a Geranium Dress with what I had left of that. It's a little shorter than the top version, because I didn't have enough fabric, but it still works. Also, the pattern says to finish the raw edge of the sleeve ruffle with a zigzag stitch, but this particular fabric frays a lot, so I decided to line them with the same fabric and it worked out well. It's a great pattern with lots of cute variations and it goes up to a size 12, so Freya has many more Geraniums coming her way!

I didn't want to give her a top without bottoms, of course, and leggings are so easy to make. There are a lot of free tutorials online for baby leggings, but most of them assume that you have a baby to measure or leggings to copy. So it took some searching, but I ended up using the "Go To Leggings" pattern from Andrea's Notebook.

Leggings are pretty cheap to buy, so if I was going to make handmade leggings, they had to have some extra special touches, so one pair got a ruffle bum and another got bow cuffs.

The third pair are just simple tights, because every lady needs a good pair of tights.

Pacifier clips are super easy to make. When I saw the colourful assortment of clips that Needlework sold, I knew I had to make a couple. I've also seen people use suspender clips. It's pretty easy to figure out how to make them on your own, but this is a good tutorial, if you don't want to think about it.

Have you ever sewn for babies? What are your favourite projects or patterns?

Ginger Jeans

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Mon, 30 Jan 2017 20:29:00 +0000

Jeans, baby! I MADE JEANS!

If you can't read my blogging tone there, I'm pretty darn excited about it.

Sure, the fit isn't perfect. But, considering I've never even sewn a pair of pants before, the fact that my first pair look like "real" jeans and can be worn in public is pretty monumental for me.

I went into this project excited to beef up my technical skills and just generally learn how jeans are constructed. Like, how does that little coin pocket get there? And where do you even start with a zipper fly? Well, it turns out none of these things are difficult at all. They just take a lot of little steps. If you take it one step at a time and try not to get overwhelmed, before you know it, you'll have a pair of real deal, wearable jeans too! Yay us!

Now I'll give you permission to take my very sage advice with a grain of salt, because I was lucky enough to have hands-on instruction from the pattern designer herself, Heather Lou, in a 2-day Ginger Jeans workshop at Needlework this past December. So I actually have no idea how difficult it would be all on your own. Taking that workshop meant no second-guessing and Googling at every step. It also meant I had someone eye-level with my butt to make all those fun crotch adjustments and pocket placements. (Ahem. Thanks, Heather.) But guess what? No one ever has to find out how to sew jeans alone, because Heather just announced that she is offering an online jeans-making workshop. The class I took with her was so beneficial, I considered signing up for the online one too, just so I would always have it. I still might.

Anyway, enough gushing about lovely, talented Heather. Back to me. Me me me. Let's look at those jeans, shall we?

Woohoo! Look good, right?

So what were those fitting issues I was talking about? It's hard to tell in photos, maybe in real life too, because it's more of a feeling than an obvious visual problem. They just don't feel right.

The biggest issue is the waistband. It's far too loose. And trust me, I tried to fix it. Three times, to be exact. In each case, it fit fine when basted, but stretched out after top-stitching. So I'm 99% sure now that it's a denim stretch issue and that I needed to interface with something more stable than knit interfacing. That or cut it on the cross-grain. Either way, that's an easy fix for next time. My hems stretched out too, which is just more proof that the recovery on this denim is crap.

By the way, the denim is from the clearance section of Fabricland and wasn't labelled in any way, so I had no idea of the lycra content. It had approximately 20% stretch.

My measurements are between a size 6 and size 8, so I cut a size 8. But I will definitely cut a size 6 on my next pair. Here's why.

I ended up taking a whole 1" off my back thigh seam (from the crotch and tapering to the knee). I would also prefer the whole hip and tummy area to be more snug. Hopefully that won't affect the fit of the butt too much, because that's looking pretty good as is. This was a pattern drafted for a booty. Ha!

The front crotch was also too long, so I took 1/2" out there.

And of course that damn waistband. On the second version I took it in by 1/2" and on the third version I took it in another 3/4" (three 1/4" darts). How is it still too big? Gah!

I didn't adjust my pattern for height on these pair and took off a good 4 inches from the length, so I'll adjust that properly for my next pair as well.

There are great illustrations of these kinds of adjustments in the sewalong.

A lot of sewers talk about how difficult top-stitching can be, but I didn't have too much trouble with it, especially once I got home to my own machine and my handy top-stitching foot. All those years of sewing apron pockets came in handy here, I guess.

All the hardware was supplied by Heather in my class, but she has a great list of suppliers in her sewalong. She's also going to be selling Cone Mills denim kits again soon, which is very exciting.

Last but not least, I lined the pockets with a railroad striped cotton from my Alice Top fail. Reduce, reuse, folks.

All in all, I found sewing jeans to actually be a lot of fun. Which surprised me, as I was expecting quite the opposite. Maybe it was because I approached the whole project from more of an experimenting and learning perspective and never expected it to be perfect, for once. (Note to self.) It could also be that completing each step was incredibly satisfying. I could see how people would become addicted to the process, especially once nailing the fit.

There will definitely be many more attempts. Stay tuned.

Now, taking photos of jeans, is another story. Let me leave you with an image that expresses just how much fun that can be. So. much. fun. Haha!

Gift Ideas For The Sewist That Has Everything

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Sat, 17 Dec 2016 16:05:00 +0000

The first thing you need to do is get it out of your head that your friend has everything. She most definitely does not. There are basic tools that everyone needs to get started sewing (I shared some here), but there is a whole world of notions beyond that, specially designed to make all the tricky little techniques of sewing easier. And don't forget a lot of the basics need constant replacing. Take it from someone who has collected many tools over the years, sometimes in doubles and triples, here are some things I would love to find in my Christmas stocking this year.

1. Carolyn Friedlander appliqué patterns. Not everyone loves hand sewing, but if you know someone that does, these patterns are a guaranteed hit. Beautiful, modern designs that are easy to adapt to a variety of projects, like pillows, wall hangings or quilts. Carolyn's instructions are always clear and easy to follow as well, which is helpful for appliqué newbies like me.

2. Wonder clips. If your friend is a quilter, they may already have a set of these babies. Mind you, I've been sewing my whole life and still don't have any. They're used to hold down bulky or shifty layers of fabric, when pins just aren't cutting it, like quilt binding, zippers, or knits.

3. Little scissors. These are pretty basic, but one pair definitely will not do. They are never there when you need them, so you may as well get a bunch and leave a pair on every table in the house.

4. Specialty needles. There's nothing more basic than a needle and thread, right? But did you know that needles come in every shape and size for every type of sewing? And before you ask, yes, it really does make a difference. For example, quilting needles are extra strong and sharp to poke through several layers of fabric and batting; whereas appliqué needles are fine, for tiny detailed piecing. Experienced sewers know this, but often ignore it, using whatever old needle is lying around. You also have to replace needles often, another fact sewers often choose to ignore. So this falls in the gift-they-won't-buy-themselves category.

5. Giant thimble jar. This is just cool. I saw it in someone else's sewing wish list and wanted it in my workroom instantly. Everyone needs somewhere to store all their tools, why not make it a giant gold thimble, right?

6. Swedish tracing paper. I've heard sewers rave about this stuff for years, but I've never been able to justify the expense. That's what Christmas is for! Ha! It's basically tracing paper made of fabric, which helps preserve the life of your patterns as well as allow you to actually try them on and make fit adjustments directly on the pattern pieces.

7. Colette Sewing Planner. Now that I'm sewing a large majority of my clothing, it can be overwhelming to prioritize and keep track of it all. The idea of keeping my goals, design ideas and completed projects all in one handy planner is very appealing. Is your friend more of a quilter than a clothing sewer? Don't worry, there's a planner for that too!

8. Rotary blades. This may not seem like a very exciting gift, but trust me, a new rotary blade is heavenly. It cuts through fabric like butter. And again, we often don't replace them as often as we should.

9. Needlework enamel pin. Enamel pins are all the rage right now and there are several sewing-related ones popping up; Colette and Abby have cute ones, but obviously I'm partial to my friendly local fabric shop's.

Fall/Winter Sewing Plans

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Mon, 12 Dec 2016 21:04:00 +0000

Considering I just came in from shoveling snow, I think it's time to bring this blog into the present and discuss fall/winter sewing. Well, just winter at this point, I suppose. If you haven't noticed, I'm pretty passionate about sewing clothing this year and with that comes an equally as passionate search for patterns and apparel fabric. It can get rather overwhelming (and expensive) and I've realized that a little planning can go a long way towards maintaining some peace of mind and getting shit done!

Choosing what I want to sew is a pretty organic process. I keep ongoing lists and Pinterest boards of styles and patterns I like. The mood board above is an example of things I've been pinning lately. At the beginning of each season, I mentally take note of what is missing from my wardrobe, return to my lists, and start to make connections between wants and needs, patterns and fabrics. At that point, I usually assess my stash and see what I can use that I already own before heading to the fabric store. However, it is usually a trip to the fabric store that really gets my sewing mojo going. I love me some freshly cut fabric, especially if you know exactly what you are going to make with it. So exciting!

Once I've gathered all my materials and pre-washed all my fabric, it's time to prioritize. I have two long Ikea shelves in my sewing room and I lay my fabric out on top of those in piles according to garment and put either the pattern or a little index card with a pattern idea on top. I love seeing everything laid out in front of me. It gives me such a clear picture of what I want to make and whether it's a realistic goal. If I can't fit any more piles on the shelves, for example, it's pretty obvious that I'm trying to sew too much.

My method is nowhere near as intricate as Anna's spreadsheets. I hesitate to even call it a method, it's so basic, but it's been working for me so far. It helps me to sew pieces that I actually need and will wear, to rein in my spending on both fabric and patterns, and to physically see my timeline and progress.

Anyway, would you like to see what my sewing piles look like at the moment?

Button-up Shirts
I'm pumped to start tackling some more technical sewing this season and button-ups are definitely on the list. I love wearing them, but get very frustrated with the fit over time. I don't know if they shrink, or what, but I don't have any in my closet right now that are comfortable. Well, I've had the Grainline Archer pattern for nearly a year now, so it's time. And look at all the awesome plaids I've been collecting over the years, waiting patiently for their turn.

I also recently purchased the Deer & Doe Mélilot Shirt pattern. It's a button-up as well, but a more relaxed, off-the-shoulder fit that I'm excited to try too.

Basic Knits

Basics are still the name of the game for me and that means knits. Several of my tried-and-true Lark tees are in the cards for sure. Jen has been hinting that a Lark variation pack is coming in the new year, so I'm tempted to wait to see what that's all about. On the other hand, these are so quick for me to whip up now, it's also tempting to have a few satisfyingly quick sews done right off the bat.

I also want to take a second stab at leggings, with a pattern and 4-way stretch this time to help me out. I chose the Seamwork Manila leggings for that adorable petal cuff that almost make me rethink leggings as pants. Almost.

I wear a lot of cardigans and have had my eye on Grainline's Driftless this season. I recently picked up some merino jersey from (newly online) Canadian shop, Lockstitch Fabrics, for this purpose. It's a little more purply than the slate grey I thought I was getting, but it's still nice.

Astoria Sweater and Emery Dress

I also purchased this gorgeous blue merino jersey from Lockstitch Fabrics. I think it'll look beautiful as a Seamwork Astoria sweater (it's pretty much identical to their sample, so a pretty safe bet).

I had this colourful Liberty print from my stash earmarked for a future Emery dress, but when I noticed how perfectly it matched this blue merino, it felt meant to be. Fancy dresses aren't the most practical for my lifestyle, but they're so fun to sew. Could a matching cropped sweater change everything?

Dove

I mentioned in my Dove review last week that I was excited to sew another one in light-blue tencel and I wasn't lying. Here it is in the queue. It's going to be good, isn't it?

Boxy Tops
I once had a navy blue silk blouse that I loved and ruined in the wash. This is what I had in mind when I bought this blue plaid in Paris this summer. It will become a boxy top, likely self-drafted, or a Lou Box Top if I'm feeling lazy.

I've also been yearning for a loose-fitting peplum-type tee and I can't find any patterns for exactly what I want, so I will likely have to draft that one myself as well. Hopefully there is enough of this awesome double gauze to work.

Ginger Jeans
Jeans! This was once at the top of the list, but I bumped it to the bottom because... I've finished my first pair! Woo! I took an intense 2-day class with the pattern designer herself, Heather Lou, a couple of weeks ago at Needlework. I'm so grateful because I'm not sure I ever would've had the guts to do it on my own. Obviously pictures and details to come for those (I'm still waiting on a button...ugh). I have lots of ideas of changes to make for my second pair and I want to do it before I forget everything I learned in my class. However, those are now at the bottom of this long list of sewing plans.

This is just clothing sewing, guys. I also have a long list of Christmas gifts and decorations, quilts, and home projects I want to make. Gah!

How about you? What are your sewing plans for this winter?

Megan Nielsen Dove

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Fri, 09 Dec 2016 18:25:00 +0000

While I was gallivanting around Spain, some people were being productive, like Megan Nielsen who released another pattern, the Dove blouse. I had the privilege of pattern testing it in June and I'm so happy to finally get the chance to tell you about it, because I like it and because I have a lot to say. I hope you're ready.

The Dove is a very on-trend top, with those bell sleeves we keep seeing everywhere in fashion these days. But don't worry if you're not into the sleeves (I was certainly skeptical), there are two other options, flared and straight elbow length. It was the v-neck, loose fit and hemline that sold me. [By sold, I mean agreed to test. I was provided the pattern free of charge in exchange for my review.]

In addition to a muslin in cotton voile, I made two Doves, the bell sleeve version in floral chiffon and the flared sleeve version in cotton swiss dot.

I was happy I made a muslin, as I discovered that the sizing was a bit off. My bust and hip measurements were XS, but that was much too tight. Once I went up a size, I didn't need any further alterations. This was a HUGE plus for me, as I'm quite used to having to adjust shoulders, darts and length on every pattern. [I believe Megan added length to the final version, understandably, as I'm only 5'4", by no means average.]

Now, just because there were no fit alterations, doesn't mean there weren't struggles.

First, a word about fabric choice. When I went shopping, this floral chiffon immediately jumped out at me and screamed "Dove!", as fabric tends to do. Perfectly bohemian modern, if that's even a thing. Problem is, I had never sewn with chiffon before. Haha! Probably not the best idea when you're pattern testing.

Like most things in sewing, once I sat down to try, I discovered it actually wasn't as difficult as I had imagined. Adjusting my tension and presser-foot pressure helped and interfacing the facings before cutting saved some frustration, I'm sure. It was the hemming where I ran into problems. My sewing machine hates tiny hems, and tiny chiffon hems were vehemently rejected. After much cursing, I ended up rolling all the hems by hand! It's not as painful as you might think, and kind of magical. Check out this tutorial. I am worried about them coming apart in the wash, but so far so good.

The other thing you need to take into consideration when choosing your fabric is the sheerness factor. Dove uses facings at the neckline and the bottom hem. You may not like the way that the facing shows through your fabric, so you may have to plan an alternative to get around that. In this case, I thought that the top was busy enough that the neck facing wasn't too obvious, but I wanted the bottom to remain flowy, so I rolled the hem there.

Naturally I thought that the cotton version would be easy peasy in comparison to the chiffon, until I realized that the fabric was too sheer. Ugh. This seems to happen to me a heck of a lot, where I think it's fantastic in the store and only notice the sheerness once I get home. Anyone else? I have two different white knits that I bought recently and have no idea what to do with for this reason. Maybe I should just avoid white.

Anyway, I digress. In this case, it was too sheer all over, so I decided to line the bodice. Again, not a technique I'm super familiar with and I had a tough time with the armholes being too tight.

And a word of caution about stay-stitching necklines: when it's recommended, it's for a reason. Do it. My machine again was fighting me on this, so I gave up halfway down one side, and boy do I regret that. Of course it stretched out and it bothers me so much that it's unwearable. Lesson learned.

I'm not sure I love the faced hem on this version, either. I guess I prefer a more seamless, flowy hem in a blouse. Noted.

I'm not going to lie, the process of sewing these two blouses killed my sewing mojo for awhile. But none of my frustrations were anything to do with the pattern, and everything to do with my inexperience and the silliness of testing a pattern with unfamiliar fabrics. I could've used some of the super helpful tutorials that Megan put out following the release.

It also could have just been frustration overload. I should've walked away for awhile, but I kept at it, and that often takes matters from bad to worse, doesn't it?

Despite this rather negative post, I do really like this pattern. Sure, the white one will probably be made into something else, but I love the floral one. I've worn it a couple of times now to parties, and despite my sleeves elegantly dragging through the dip on occasion, I loved wearing it! It looks like something I would buy, and that always makes me proud. I'm also excited to sew another one. I bought a lovely light blue tencel recently that is destined to become a Dove. Fingers crossed that fabric is more forgiving.

Summer Makes

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 21:08:00 +0000

I know its weird to be reading about summer fashion in December, but bear with me OK? I had a productive sewing summer and it must be shared!

There seems to be a phenomenon among garment sewers, where an upcoming trip inspires us into a kind of sewing fever: everything we've been wearing all season simply will not do and an entirely new wardrobe must be made. Stat! It's weird, but we all seem to do it.

Case in point: I made these five garments in the month before I left and I was halfway through a sixth when I came to my senses and decided there were more important things to attend to before leaving home for a month than making another sundress.

On the upside, a large portion of the clothes in my luggage were handmade. I want to say 80%? I'm so proud of that, I'm tempted to repack just so I can count. I had big dreams of photographing them in various beautiful locales throughout my trip, but obviously this didn't happen. I quickly fell into vacation mode and I forgot that I even had a blog. Haha! So these photos were all taken post-trip. At least you can see that they all held up to a month of backpack travelling really well!

Sallie Dress by Closet Case Patterns

I hate to play favourites, but I think I can call it on this dress. It's my favourite make of the summer, maybe even of the year. It's so flattering and travels really well. On this trip, I brought it as my dress-up option. Paired with a statement necklace, a wedge sandal and a red lip, I was comfortable in the fanciest of restaurants.

This pattern is actually for a jumpsuit and a maxi dress, both of which aren't really my style, but I loved the shape of the top and elastic waists are most definitely my jam, so I kept it in the back of my mind. Then I saw Helen's shortened version and, bingo bango, the pattern was in my cart.

I sewed a size 6, with no alterations besides length. A lot of the construction could be done without a serger, which is great, because me and my serger don't always get along. I also learned that there are some cases when a straight stitch is perfectly fine to use with knits, which was a revelation to me!

It's a beautiful fit from the front, but there is excess fabric above my tush (as you can see in the photos) and it's a little tight around the middle back, showing off how my bra is digging in back there (look at this photo from my trip... eek). Maybe a size up with a sway back adjustment would be sufficient? I've only just started noticing this sway back issue. I think it's always been there, I'm just more critical of fit now. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing. Ignorance is bliss?

I also wasn't crazy about the pockets. Normally I love pockets, often going to great lengths to show them off, but I like them to be invisible, a secret thing that needs to be pointed out... "Look! Pockets!" On this dress, if I wasn't standing just right, I could see the bulky outline and that bugged me. They'll be gonzo on version 2.

Southport Dress by True Bias Patterns
This cute little sundress gets the "most worn" award for this summer for sure. It's loose and comfortable, perfect for those sweltering days of August, and the high, gathered (adjustable) waist was perfect for my penchant for overeating. It would be great as a maternity dress. That's not a hint, just sayin'.

I made quite a few modifications to this pattern. I cut a size 4 for the bodice and a size 6 for the skirt, grading to a 4 at the waist. I also made a sloped shoulder adjustment. After wearing the dress for a day, I noticed it was gaping quite a bit in the front, enough to make me uncomfortable when sitting, and the armholes were a bit tight. So I ended up shortening the shoulder seams and lowering the armholes by about 1/2" or so for each (I forgot to write that down. Doh.). Yes, this involved removing all of the binding. More evidence of my perfectionism. But when you think about how much I wore this dress this summer, it was totally worth the effort. And I look forward to making this dress for many summers to come.

I also made three new tops: a Wiksten tank in rayon, a sleeveless Hemlock in jersey, and a cuffed Hemlock in polyester. Two were a dream and worn on a very steady rotation before, during and after my trip, while one of them was only worn once. Can you guess which?

If you guessed the polyester, ding ding ding! Sure, that print is super cool, but polyester is the enemy of summer, guys. And if sweaty pits isn't enough to deter you, it didn't sew up very nicely either. Look at those puckering seams. Ugh. I keep thinking I'll wear it now that the weather is cooler, but the colours are so summery, I haven't gone for it yet. And, news flash, polyester isn't warm either! It's so disappointing. You know how excited I was when I bought this, only to have it sit in my closet unworn? Next time you find yourself in the polyester section of the fabric store, do yourself a favour and walk away. Go find the rayons. You'll be much happier there.

My Month in France and Spain

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Fri, 02 Dec 2016 20:10:00 +0000

As some of you may know, at the end of August, I left on a month-long trip to France and Spain. Paris and Bordeaux for 10 days, and 3 weeks through Spain (San Sebastian, Laguardia, Madrid, Cordoba, Seville, Granada, and Barcelona). And it was just as beautiful and delicious and inspiring as you would imagine a month-long trip to France and Spain would be.

Before I left on this trip, I remember my mom asking why we chose the cities we did. What are they famous for? What were we going to see, exactly? Besides the Alhambra, I didn't have anything to tell her.

We were going to eat and drink, sit and relax, walk and explore, then stop to sit and eat and drink some more. We've done the whirlwind tourist thing before, rushing from one site to the next just to snap a photo and say you were there. I'm not knocking those kinds of trips. We had a blast on those trips. But there's a time and place for them. We wanted this trip to be different and we designed it that way, with more room for café lounging, afternoon siestas and evening wandering. It was exactly that. And it was the most happy and relaxed trip we've ever shared together.

Anyway, as you can guess from this already-too-long introduction, summing up a month-long vacation is tough and my procrastination game is fierce. I could easily write a separate post for each city. So, in an effort to keep this to one post and to get it bloody well done already, I've decided to just focus on a few of the things that really stood out and made an impression on me during the trip. As you might expect, these could be boiled down to the food, the wine, and the architecture. These also happen to be the same reasons that drew me there in the first place... or travel anywhere, for that matter. Haha!

¡Vamos!

The Food. We ate at some amazing restaurants in both France and Spain. The photo above was taken at Le Petit Commerce in Bordeaux, for example, where the seafood was out of this world and the service was refreshingly pleasant.

But when I talk about food on this trip, I'm mostly talking about tapas. They are real. And they are wonderful. Most wonderful of all in San Sebastian, where we began the Spanish leg of our trip. This was both a blessing and a curse, because no tapas anywhere else could hope to compare. The tapas (called pintxos in this part of the country) were literally piled on top of the bars. All you had to do was point to what you wanted and the server would put it on a plate for you. It's the perfect setup if you're not too confident with the Spanish language yet. It was often crazy crowded, so you had to get aggressive with your pointing, but that all added to the excitement.

A close second place was Granada where the tapas weren't all mind-blowing, but their free-with-drink nature definitely upped the game. We knew about this phenomenon ahead of time thanks to Anthony Bourdain. In fact, it was one of the reasons we started planning this trip. But that didn't make it any less special. Honestly, I kept forgetting about it and being surprised all over again. It's a good way to be.

My only regret from this trip is that we didn't take more pictures of our food. If there is a time to be those kind of hipsters, surely this was it.

The Vino. My husband and I love learning about and tasting wine, and there was a healthy (or unhealthy) amount of both on this trip.

In Bordeaux, we went on a guided tour of several chateaux in the Médoc region. We also visited the hillside town of Saint-Émillion, where we went on a super interesting private tour of an organic winery. The wine out there is so regulated and prestigious, almost annoyingly so, but it was interesting to learn about. Plus we got to try some ballin' bottles we would never get the chance to try otherwise, there or at home. So there's that.

After Bordeaux, we made our way down to the Rioja wine region of Spain. We rented a car, planning to make Laguardia our home base while we drove around to some of the nearby bodegas. We must've forgotten that we are terrible at driving in Europe and even more terrible at driving the only automatic they had, a full-sized van! After following Google into the town square, where no cars are permitted because of the the underground cellars (ahhh!), we parked the van and abandoned all our plans. But we loved the medieval hillside town of Laguardia so much, we were more than happy to stay put. We had a phenomenal guided tour of the winery in town, Casa Primicia, which is actually one of the oldest wineries in all of Spain.

The rest of the time, the wine tasting was done in places like this, standing at a bar, admiring the selection (and interesting decor), or sitting at an outdoor cafe, admiring the street life. Again, a good way to be.

The Architecture.

There are moments when you travel that strike something in you. They take your breath away, cause a lump in your throat, bring a tear to your eye. You will remember that moment, that place, that sight, forever, and every time you remember it, you will get teary all over again.

This is the reason I travel. Those moments.

In a month-long trip, it might only happen once or twice. But thanks to the incredible architecture in Spain, I experienced multiple moments like these on this trip.

This was modern design with a long history. A combination of bright colours, mathematically perfect shapes, and precise detail that overwhelmed me completely. I don't know how many times I turned to my husband, mouth agape, eyes wide, and muttered, "it's just so amazing." It was a lot to process. I saw textile designs and quilt patterns everywhere. It was inspiration overload and I loved every minute of it.

Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Views from our balcony, Bordeaux

Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux

San Sebastien

Almudena Cathedral, Madrid

Casa de Pilatos, Seville

Plaza de España, Seville

Mezquita, Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba

The Alhambra, Granada

The Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Basilica Santa Maria del Mar, Barcelona

La Mercé. I would be remis not to mention the grand finale of our trip, Barcelona's annual 5-day street festival, La Mercé. When we found out this was happening in September, we reversed our whole trip so that we could be there and we're so glad we did. It was electric! There were parades several times a day with the crazy giants you see here, as well as dances, human towers, fireworks and several other events happening at the same time, like a wine festival and a music festival. And it was all happening right outside of our door. A once-in-a-lifetime experience; no better way to end a once-in-a-lifetime trip.