I was reading all about the recent Toronto Sewing Blogger Meetup and I thought, we should do that in Montreal! Who’s in?
I was thinking it would be nice to meet on a Saturday afternoon, grab coffee around 1 p.m and hit the fabric shops on Saint-Hubert: Effiloché, Couture-Elle, Rubans, Boutons and more (or less, if everyone finds what they need right away). Montreal has some great fabric shops, but there is so much to choose from that it can be overwhelming, at least for me. I need a second opinion. That could be you!
But when? My schedule is just crazy, but the following dates would work. Do you have a preference? Let me know in the comments, or contact me directly.
April 20
May 18
May 25
I know some would prefer a Sunday, but most of the shops are closed that day.
And of course, out-of-towners are welcome and having a blog is entirely optional. If you are worried about language, don’t. All the shop clerks will speak both English and French.
Si vous êtes francophone, soyez la bienvenue. Je serai heureuse de converser avec vous dans la langue de votre choix. Je blogue surtout en anglais (question de paresse), mais je suis complètement bilingue (à part quelques coquilles ici et là).
So who’s in?
Update: The Sewing Meetup will take place on May 25. Read more here.
I made three, in sizes Medium and Large. They are a bit big, but in a nice way.
The pattern was very easy to follow and quick to finish.
Bucket Hats in Oliver + S Little Things to Sew
The only thing I changed was to use iron-in interfacing, instead of sew-in. I used Pellon 950F Shir-Tailor, and I really like the results: crisp, but not too crunchy.
Three bucket hats
I chose fabrics with a lot of contrast, and if you to do the same, choose your top stitching thread early. I did all the top stitching. The instructions say it’s optional but I think you need it to give the hat structure.
Check out that top stitching!
If I were to make it again, the only thing I might change is the top stitching on the hat brim. It says to stitch concentric circles at 1/4″ intervals, but I think it might look nicer to sew in a continuous spiral.
A pile of bucket hats.
The fabrics are all by Ann Kelle from her Urban Zoologie collection, and they match the lunch money cuffs I posted yesterday.
Three bucket hats
This was a great stash busting project. The yellow and whales were leftover from my Sunshine Bug Quilt and Whale Quilt. With this project and the Lunch Money Cuffs I posted yesterday, I was able to use up all my red and yellow solids, and almost all of the cute animal prints. There might be enough fabric left for a small zip bag for each kid. We’ll see. Me and Anne Kelle might need to take a little break now.
No one felt like cooperating for a photo session today, so you only get photos of hats. Maybe next time.
Bright Whales by Ann Kelle from Urban Zoologie (Robert Kaufman).
Kona Corn Yellow
Red Ladybugs by Ann Kelle from Urban Zoologie (Robert Kaufman).
Kona Red
Liquorice Cats by Ann Kelle from Urban Zoologie (Robert Kaufman).
Free Spirit Designer Solid in Pink
Sewing Level: Beginner.
Modifications: None.
Results: Great. I would recommend this pattern and plan to make more.
Kid No 1 needed to bring money to school for a bake sale fundraiser. But she’s a bit young for a wallet or purse, and doesn’t always have pockets for change. What to do? This is the latest project I made for the kids.
Three cuffs ready for wrists.
These are the Lunch Money Cuff, which I made following Christie’s tutorial over on a Lemon Squeezy Home. It’s a nice easy tutorial and I whipped up three cuffs in an evening.
All three cuffs.
I’d love to call this stash busting, but it’s more like scrap busting. Each cuff only takes four 8.5” x 3” pieces of fabric. It’s a miracle I had even that much.
This is the Anne Kelle ladybug fabric. Sorry for the bad photo.
The fabrics are all by Anne Kelle and were leftovers from some other projects. The whales were from my Whale quilt. The yellow was from my Sunshine Bug quilt. The ladybugs and cats were from a couple of Oliver + S Ice Cream Dresses I made a while ago. The velcro is the heavy-duty variety and left over from Halloween costumes. All I had to buy were the zippers.
Two cuffs in whales and ladybugs.
With this project and another that I have cut, but not assembled, I managed to use up all of my Kona Red and Corn Yellow, and most of the two red prints. I thought I had used up all the whales as well, but then I organized my quilting fabric and found a bit more. Oops!
I didn’t make any modifications to the pattern. The tutorial says the cuffs are the right size for kids aged five and seven. It’s a bit loose on my two-year-old, but then she also won’t have any money in hers. Still it’s fun to have the same thing the bigger kids have.
Mini cuff. This one probably won’t get any money in it for a couple of years.
At least I think the last one is Turks & Caicos. There are a couple solids in similar colours on the website.
It’s just in time for Easter and the colours just scream spring. It’s perfect timing as well. I bought some small toys for the kids for Easter – we don’t like giving too many treats. Now there is something for me from the Easter bunny too. Fun!
Now what to make… Zip bags? Something for the baby? The diamonds would make some pretty spectacular quilt binding. I’m going to have to think about this.
Just recently, the very friendly Dorienne of Double Decker Fabric contacted me asking if I’d like to host a fabric giveaway for my readers. Would I ever!
Double Decker Fabric is a Canadian online business that Dorienne runs near the Rocky Mountains of Alberta. She has some very nice quilting cottons in gorgeous bright colours. These are great for modern quilting but would also work really well for craft projects and kids’ clothing. She has some fun prints but also solids and geometrics. Overall, a really nice, modern selection.
Double Decker carries lots of bright, colourful, modern fabric.
It’s so exciting to see some more modern quilting fabrics available in Canada! No?
The Give Away
The Prize
Dorienne has generously provided the following collection of 5 fat quarters. These are from the new Safari Soirée collection by Birch Fabrics and are all 100% organic! (I love organic fabrics.)
The winner of the Double Decker Fabrics Give Away Prize will win 5 fat quarters from the Safari Soirée collection by Birch Fabrics.
How to Enter
All you need to do, is leave a comment on this blog post letting me know what you would do with the fabric if you won.
The Rules
I’ll pick one winner at random, and Dorienne will send the winner the Safari Soirée fat quarters. Please make sure you leave a valid email address when you comment so that I can get in touch with you, if you win.
The contest closes on April 2nd, 2013 at 12pm (noon) EST.
I’ll announce the winner here on my blog.
So, what would you do with these fun fabrics? Let me know in the comments.
Note: I will be sharing the email address of the winner only with Double Decker Fabrics for the sole purpose of getting their prize delivered. No other email addresses will be shared.
I think I probably started this quilt in the depth of winter last year. That probably explains why I chose such bright, colourful, sunny fabrics. So it’s fitting that I finished it yesterday, the day after another big snowstorm.
This is a stacked coins quilt. It was quite quick to piece the front.
I didn’t piece the back this time, but used a single piece of Tangerine Dots from Anne Kelle’s Remix collection. It’s a baby quilt, though it would also fit on a toddler bed, so it’s small enough for a single piece of backing fabric.
Sunshine Bug Quilt – back with Tangerine Dots from the Remix collection.
For the quilting, I just did some straight line quilting, but it is quite dense over the white sashing.
Again, I followed the tutorial by Red Pepper quilts on machine stitched binding. The binding is entirely machine stitched. I save quite a bit of time this way.
So far this quilt has no home. I didn’t have anyone in mind when I started it. Of course that’s probably a good thing, because they would have been waiting a long time for me to finish.
My toddler has already refused it. She wants a quilt with birds instead. I’m working on that. Even though she doesn’t like it, I like it a lot. I really like the sunny colours.
I didn’t use a pattern for this quilt – it’s quite a simple design. But if you are a beginner looking for a pattern, there’s one that is very similar in the Moda Bake Shop called the Stacked Coins Baby Quilt. This project is linked up with Finish It Up Friday.
Sunshine Bug Quilt
Quilt block: Stacked Coins
Size: 36 by 43.5 inches
Fabrics:
Sashing and binding: Kona White
Orange stacked coins:
Deena Rutter’s Happier collection for Riley Blake Designs: Happier Floral in Orange, Happier Bugs in Orange
Kona School Bus, Papaya, and Corn Yellow
Beetle Boy by by Ellen Crimi-Trent
Spots in Taffy from Kaffe Fassett for Westminster
Stof basics fat quarter bundle in orange/yellow
Backing: Remix Tangerine Dots by Anne Kelle for Robert Kaufman
Batting: Hobbs Heirloom Cotton
The internet is abuzz with talk of Google Reader shutting down. If you’ve been using Google Reader to follow me on this blog, and are looking for a replacement, here are some alternatives.
What Is Google Reader?
Google Reader is an online RSS reader. It lets you add blogs and websites to a list that you manage. Whenever those sites add new content, it shows up in Google Reader. You can categorize the list of websites into groups. That way you can just read the types of articles you want to, when you want to. I use Google reader and have a “sewing” list, a “world news” list, a “silly news” list, etc.. It helps me prioritize my reading when I’m short on time. I often ignore the “silly news”, for example.
What Is an RSS Feed?
Most blogs, including those that use WordPress (like this one), Blogger and tumblr, produce an RSS feed automatically. These feeds contain either entire articles (blog posts) or article summaries – the website owner controls what shows up in the feed. You can subscribe to these feeds and be notified whenever your favourite blogs and websites add new content. In order to subscribe, you need an RSS feed reader (sometimes called a feed aggregator). This can be an online tool like Google Reader, or a software application on your computer or mobile device.
How Do I Subscribe to The Finished Garment?
You can get the RSS feed link for this blog here: https://finishedgarment.ca/feed/
Just copy this link and put it into the RSS reader of your choice.
Don’t have an RSS Reader?
Here are some options.
Feedly is a nice, intuitive RSS Reader that lets you see your blog subscriptions in your web browser, or on your iPhone, iPad or Android phone.
Flipboard is a slick RSS reader for iPhone, iPad and Android phones. You can’t use it on a desktop computer though.
Reeder is a good tool if you are a Mac user. It has apps for iPhone, iPad and Apple computers.
Most of the above tools have a quick easy way to sync your Google Reader account with their app or service. Google Reader will be shutting down in July 2013. If you switch before then, you will be able to take your existing feed list with you quite easily. That means that you won’t have to enter each feed into a new application manually. So make your choice before July to save yourself some headaches.
Prefer to Use a Social Network?
You can also find The Finished Garment on the following social networks.
I have had about 5 meters of chocolate brown baby corduroy in my fabric stash just taunting me. A quick intervention was required.
Enter 4 pairs of the Oliver + S Sandbox Pants.
Three pair of Sandbox Pants by Oliver + S, sizes 5, 3T and 18m.
I know I said there were four pairs. Kid № 1 looked, touched, and immediately put them on. She then declared them officially comfortable and wore them to school. Success! (But no photos).
Sandbox Pants by Oliver and S, size 3.Back pockets, without buttons, on the Sandbox Pants by Oliver and S.Front pocket of the Sandbox Pants by Oliver and S.
The fabric is a dark chocolate brown, and really quite soft. I picked it up on sale at one of the local chain stores. It’s not a very spring-like fabric, but here in Montreal spring is still a long way off. The pockets are lined with Kona quilting cotton in brown. Both fabrics were on sale.
Pant hem of the Sandbox Pants by Oliver and S.
The Sandbox Pants, like all the Oliver + S patterns I’ve tried, are a dream to make. The instructions are great. I bought the paper version of this pattern, in both size ranges (I need all the sizes), on Etsy from Plum Project Studio. I think I bought it right after the paper version was discontinued. You can still get the digital version online and print it out at home.
Oliver + S Sandbox Pants sewing pattern.
I made these in sizes 18m, 3T, 5 and 6. Making that many pairs in that many sizes requires a lot of tracing paper! On the other hand, you get pretty quick at them with that much practice. It’s like an intense pattern testing setup here.
Sandbox Pants by Oliver and S, size 18m.Sandbox Pants by Oliver and S, size 3.
I made a couple of small changes to the pattern. I left off the buttons on the back pockets. I also made the waistband out of corduroy (the pattern calls for coordinating quilting cotton). I had tried this pattern once before with a super heavy twill, and the cotton was just too flimsy for the pants fabric. Even though the baby corduroy is much lighter weight that the twill, I think the pants work better with a slightly heavier fabric in the waistband. I still used quilting cotton for the pocket linings though. I also switched the drawstring waist for a flat front pant with wider elastic in the back. I think it looks a bit nicer that way with the corduroy.
Flat waistband on the Sandbox Pants by Oliver and S.
I plan to make this pattern again. I’ve already had a request for these as shorts in a brighter colour from Kid № 1. Again, success!
The other thing about making so many pairs of pants, is that you can really use the fabric very efficiently. I still had enough to make Colette Pattern‘s Ginger skirt. Hopefully I can get that hemmed and show you tomorrow. I’m pretty excited about it. And there’s even enough fabric left to make a skirt for one lucky kid, as soon as I get to it.
Fabric: baby corduroy, with Kona quilting cotton in brown for the pocket lining. Both were on sale.
Sizes: 18m, 3T, 5, and 6.
Sewing Level: Intermediate.
Modifications: I made the waistband in corduroy, not quilting cotton, changed the waist from a drawstring to a flat front, and left off the buttons on the back pockets.
Results: Great. I would recommend this pattern and will definitely make it again.
It’s similar to Colette‘s seasonal colour palettes, but more long-term. The idea is that once you know what your colour palette is, you can better choose what to make.
Here’s mine.
My personal wardrobe colour palette.
These are the colours I like the most, and that I enjoy wearing. I can see the lime, turquoise and ballerina pink fitting in with a spring wardrobe, while the chocolate-brown and tangerine would work well for fall.
I did a second colour chart with fabric swatches from some of the nicer online fabric stores. It definitely confirmed that I was on the right track. You should try it!
This colour palette is more aspirational than actual. I’ve had four kids in the last 7 years, which means that most of my wardrobe consists of maternity wear. I’m starting at square one. It’s liberating and frustrating at the same time.
It’s liberating because I can justify making a lot of clothing. Yay! But frustrating because a lot of what I see on online sewing blogs, while beautiful and inspirational, just isn’t me.
In a similar vein, you can also read how this blogger (sallieoh) inspired this blog post by Joanne at Stitch and Witter, which in turn inspired this other blog post by Sunni at a Fashionable Stitch about embracing your own personal style. I’m not sure which article is the most inspiring, or if the real inspiration is the blogosphere cross-pollination.
I’m starting with colour. I like bold colours. I like stripes and houndstooth and strong geometric patterns, but I like solids even more, especially black. I like tailored clothing that is inspired by street wear and menswear. I like asymmetrical, minimalist, and modern. (You can see some Pinterest fashion inspiration here and here.)
So you won’t see a lot of peter pan collars, or tiny florals around here, but that just means you’ll see a lot more of me.
, but you can also 
The Finished Garment 