Our bloggers today are:
Remember to visit each blog for a chance to win prizes they’re giving away, and if you haven’t commented on my post yet about a sewing mistake, you still can – just comment below for a chance to win an Emmaline PDF pattern from me.
Welcome again to my stop on the Canada 150 – In the Bag tour! This is just a short (well, I tried to keep it short) sweet post to let you know a bit about some of our fabulous sponsors! Remember, all our sponsors are Canadian. And our tour just wouldn’t be as much fun without their awesome support – prizes for you!
Being a transplanted Westerner, I’m covering the Western Canadian sponsors for our tour.
I’m starting off with Stay Home Fabrics, an online fabric shop located in Saskatchewan.
Stay Home Fabrics is located solely online with 99% of their customer base being Canadians. They also have quite a few customers who make handbags. They offer a large variety of fabrics: fleece, minky, linen, cotton, flannel, knit, and interfacing.
Above is a photo of their wall of fabric. That’s a nice selection.
Next stop:
Traveling west to Alberta, we come across another online fabric shop – Crookshanks Custom Textiles.
Crookshanks is unique in that it specializes in cotton Lycra. (Oh, I love CL!) Crookshanks owner says:
“I had noticed that there was a need for geeky/nerdy based fabric from Canadian sellers. I’m one of the few Canadian groups that’s doing original, nerdy artwork. I think it’s a niche for sure, but there is definitely a market for it that just needs to be tapped.
There are a couple of women who make handbags, but cotton Lycra needs to be stabilized first and many don’t know you can do that for handbags.”
Just take a quick look at some of what Crookshanks carries and how it can be used:
LOVE!
Continuing on our westward journey, there’s nowhere to go after Alberta but British Columbia, at least not if we’re going strictly west. In B.C. we find two more of our sponsors.
First we come to Blackbird Fabrics. Any of my bra-making readers will recognize Blackbird Fabrics as one of the Canadian suppliers of bra-making materials.
“I have sales from all over the world, but Canada and the US is where I ship to the most. More than half of my business is from Canada, so I would say it’s a viable market! I pride myself on great customer service, staying personally connected with my customers and the community on social media, and I make sure to only bring in fabrics and supplies that are great quality – things I would want to work with and sew with.
Garment fabrics is the bread and butter of my online shop. Alongside the fabrics, you’ll find sewing patterns, workroom supplies, and some lingerie supplies. I’ll be expanding the lingerie section this year, and I’m working on sourcing a nice range of trims and notions.“
I know Blackbird’s bra-making kits have flown off the shelves in the past, so I’m going to be watching for that expanding lingerie section.
Our last stop is Sitka Fabrics.
Sitka Fabrics tells us on their website, ‘If you do not see a fabric you would like, please let me know! I am more than happy to see if I can order it in.’
Each blog has an exclusive giveaway, so be sure to visit them all.
(These links will be active on and after the day they are scheduled.)
Tangled Blossoms Design ◊ With Love in Every Stitch ◊ Happy Okapi
Michelle’s Creations ◊ Barabooboo ◊ Soca Sewing
Glitter in my Coffee ◊ Michelle’s Creations ◊ Seam of my Pants
Seam of my Pants ◊ Creative Roots Sewing ◊ Happy Okapi
Giveaway ends at midnight EDT (North America)
CANADA DAY 150
Please join us in thanking our tour sponsors by visiting their websites.
* Jewellery is the Canadian spelling.
Welcome to my stop on the Canada 150 — In the Bag tour.
This tour is a bag-making, bag designer, bag supplier tour, so by my title, you may have guessed I’m featuring a bag from Emmaline Bags.
Most of the bag patterns shown on our tour were donated to the bloggers by the designers. You will be able to buy them, and maybe even win one. (I’ll be giving away a pattern on June 10th, so keep checking in.)
Here are all our sponsors, but some of these are our Designers too. (At the end of this post there are links to all of our sponsors & designers)
All of our Designers offer great patterns you can purchase, however, I really wanted to show there are free options out there. We are celebrating after all!
The bag I’ve chosen is a pattern from Emmaline Bags – and it is free. In fact, the additions I’ve made to it are all from Emmaline Bags’ blog, so they’re free too. Well, you do have to buy your materials and hardware…
Here’s the pattern I made:
Isn’t that lovely? I’ve been admiring the Miss Maggie’s Handbag since it came out, and dreaming of a leather Miss Maggie. However, I found some perfect fabrics I wanted to use for my Canada 150 bag.
Here’s my Miss Maggie’s Handbag:
Oh, I love it! The material I used for this was created to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday this July 1st. This is Stonehenge Oh Canada by Northcott. I’m including a link for the fabrics just in case you love it too. Being Canadian, I was able to find this at my local quilting shop.
Here’s the back view of my bag:
Nice hardware, eh? Yup. I really do love this bag.
Pockets
The bag is lovely all on it’s own, but I wanted to add a few things. The first thing I added was a zipper pocket inside the bag.
This zipper pocket is the perfect size.
Here’s the tutorial for adding a zipper pocket to a bag.
SEW AN EASY ZIPPER POCKET METHOD 1- A TUTORIAL.
Janelle (owner of Emmaline Bags) says, ‘Everyone needs an internal zipper pocket in their purse or handbag…’ I felt the same way. I love to have a zippered pocket to keep things tucked away and safe. This tutorial was easy too. I had no problems with it whatsoever.
The fabrics I used for the inside of the bag are both special edition fabrics that were created just for Canada’s 150th. The maple leafs (part of the Canadian Sesquicentennial Collection by Northcott) inspired my maple leaf on the front of my bag, and the Canadiana quiz material (same collection as the maple leafs) was just too fun not to use.
More Pockets
The bag comes with one slip pocket included in the pattern.
That pocket is perfect for a cell phone, or anything else you want to keep separate in your bag. I’m thinking my cell and sunglasses!
You can also see in of all of these pocket photos that I’ve added a magnetic clasp for a closure. This closure is what the pattern suggests, and Janelle has a tutorial for that too.
How to Install a Magnetic Snap Closure
Janelle has some really great tips in this tutorial to keep that snap tightly secured, and I followed them.
Bling Bling
I had to add some bling to my bag.
Who could resist a Sewn label? Not me. Anyone who sees my bag will know it’s an original and handcrafted.
The Long John Strap Anchors, the handmade hanging metal tag, and the leather tassel are more bling. Well, the strap anchors are rather practical in that they attach the straps to the bag, but they definitely bring the bling factor.
So much more love!
To make my tassel, it was back to Emmaline Bags’ blog for another tutorial.
HOW TO MAKE A TASSEL: AN EASY BAG MAKING TUTORIAL.
I had so much fun making my tassel. It was extremely satisfying. Leather is so lovely to use. The leather I used for my tassel was from a second-hand score. A box of leather samples and a few other things for $5.
As well as making the tassel from my upcycled leather, I also made a gorgeous Maple leaf – the symbol on Canada’s flag.
Over the top love!
All the beautiful bling I bought (commonly called hardware) came from Emmaline Bags’ online store. Unfortunately, it’s not free. But you do have a chance to win some.
Hardware Tip & More
In the Miss Maggie pattern, it’s suggested to keep the plastic protective covering on your hardware while you sew your bag. That makes a lot of sense, but some of my hardware didn’t come with plastic on it.
I used some Press & Seal to cover my hardware during the sewing process and it worked perfectly!
There were no scratches to any of my hardware this way. Not only does Beverly Johnson (The Fairy Bra Mother) tell us how to clone a bra with Press & Seal, but now I can see another great reason why we all need this in our sewing rooms! You can see I started by covering my hardware with a bit of felt. The Press & Seal was faster and no pins.
I have one more little tip for you. To attach the magnetic clasp, I needed double-sided fusible interfacing. I know I had some, but I could not find it anywhere. I happen to have lots of single sided interfacing though and more than one sewing machine.
I sewed a strip of interfacing together with the glue sides out. It worked perfectly under the magnetic closure.
How to Win
For my give-away in the Canada 150 – It’s in the Bag tour, I’m giving away a PDF pattern from Emmaline Bags.
Comment on my post about your biggest sewing failure for a chance to win. Marsha (Seam of my Pants) has already picked the winning post number for me. All you have to do is post. The winner will be announced on the 10th.
As well, on the 10th I’ll be sharing my project that didn’t work out for this tour.
Enjoy the rest of our tour.
Happy 150th Canada!
&
Happy creating!
Each blog has an exclusive giveaway, so be sure to visit them all.
(These links will be active on and after the day they are scheduled.)
Tangled Blossoms Design ◊ With Love in Every Stitch ◊ Happy Okapi
Michelle’s Creations ◊ Barabooboo ◊ Soca Sewing
Glitter in my Coffee ◊ Michelle’s Creations ◊ Seam of my Pants
Seam of my Pants ◊ Creative Roots Sewing ◊ Happy Okapi
Giveaway ends at midnight EDT (North America)
CANADA DAY 150
Please join us in thanking our tour sponsors by visiting their websites.
* Jewellery is the Canadian spelling.
Welcome back for another day of celebrating Canada’s 150th! Remember to visit each of the blogs for a chance to win.
Tangled Blossoms Design ◊ With Love in Every Stitch ◊ Happy Okapi
Our blog tour starts today.
(These links will be active on and after the day they are scheduled.)
Tangled Blossoms Design ◊ With Love in Every Stitch ◊ Happy Okapi
Michelle’s Creations ◊ Barabooboo ◊ Soca Sewing
Glitter in my Coffee ◊ Michelle’s Creations ◊ Seam of my Pants
Seam of my Pants ◊ Creative Roots Sewing ◊ Happy Okapi
Giveaway ends at midnight EDT (North America)
CANADA DAY 150
Have you ever had a sewing project that just wasn’t coming together? I’ve had two of those recently.
A Butt-Kicking
Let’s talk about the first one. It’s a lovely dress. The Carefree dress by hallå.
Isn’t that pretty? It’s been kicking my butt!
It’s not the pattern. It’s dumb little things that keep happening. I cut out the skirt and somehow laid the top out and didn’t have enough material. I had been sure I had enough. I gave up at that point because it was late, and I really like my material. The next day when I went back, I did have enough material. I couldn’t figure out how I couldn’t see that the night before.
Everything got cut out and then had to wait.
I had to take a break from sewing my dress to finish another project that I’ll be revealing in a few days. Let me give you a peek.
Oh! That is gorgeous fabric! It has words from Canada’s national anthem on it.
Well, now that I’m mentioning something… There’s a blog tour coming up right away. Tune in tomorrow for the launch!
Back to the skirt. I finally had some time again this week to get back to sewing it, only to feel like I was getting beat up again. This time it was the waist gathering. I sewed that long running stitch to make the gathers three times. It broke the first two times when I was gathering it. I did get it though. I am determined. I will finish this dress.
Here’s what I have so far.
I’m really liking this. The material was the last of its kind at my local fabric store, and it was 70% off. I liked that too. It’s a lovely cotton Lycra (CL), so will be wonderful to wear.
Here’s how the top will kind of look once it’s done. Well, I’m sure it will look better than this, but you can get the idea.
I’m using the same red CL for the waistband as for the arm and neck bindings.
I’m also thinking of making a hack to the pattern. Rather than sew the top to the waistband, I’m thinking of adding a band to it, and leaving it separate. As well, I’m thinking of making a red top and band so I can add a little more versatility to this rather than just the one look.
Happy creating!
This week I’m trying a new pattern. It’s the hallå patterns’ agnes swing top & dress. I’m making the dress.
This is so pretty! I’ve heard so many great things about this pattern. I was really looking forward to trying it.
Something I Like
Right off, I can tell you something I really like about this pattern. It’s a layered PDF pattern so I can print the size I want, or if not sure, just two sizes. I love that! I’ve also heard the instructions for these patterns are really good. I’ll let you know.
Plans
My plans are to use this adorable pattern to make a nightdress or two. I really don’t like the over-sized, one-size-fits-all sleep tees that are so commonly available. I also love my cotton, which narrows things down too.
Another idea I have for a nightgown is the Butterick 6031. I’ve made the camisole, but if I lengthen the slip it would be a lovely nightgown.
Last year, I purchased some lovely cotton Lycra my fabric store brought in. This year, it’s all on sale 70% off. I’ve bought a few more solid colors and prints just for my summer nightgown project. One of the solid colors is the same as my summer house coat, so I’m thrilled about that. That’s where I’m starting.
Small Bumps in the Road
This bump isn’t a new bump. When I look at my measurements, the pattern would put me in a size 20. I know that will be way too big. Out comes my sloper just to prove to me this is going to be too big..
My sloper has a little bit of ease added to it, and I would want more ease for a nightgown. However, this would still be way too big.
I’ve been down this road so many times though, so I knew to look at my high bust measurement rather than my full bust. And even though I’ve been sewing for 25+ years, I learned about the high bust on this blog! Thank you!
My high bust wasn’t going to work this time though. It was going to put me in a size 2/4, and I knew that would be way too small for me.
Since I could print different layers, I printed off 6/8, 10/12, and 14/16.
You can see below, my shoulder hits between the 6/8 and 10/12.
Solution
If I wanted something a little more fitted, I’d probably adjust the shoulder to a 6/8. I’d make a size 10/12 except for the bust, which I’d make a 14/16. Seeing as I want this loose for sleeping, I’m making the 14/16.
My Agnes Make
This does come together really quickly. It’s quick to cut out, and quick to sew up. A serger is what is used in the instructions, so I’m used my serger.
I finished it with a rolled hem.
My hubby is so cute. He tells me this looks like a summer dress. I told him it is a summer dress!
It’s super comfy and as I’d heard, a pretty easy and clear sew.
I will definitely make another agnes, probably a top because it is a very flattering style. I’ll also make one change.
For my next one I’ll use the instructions from the Perfect T-Shirt to do my bindings for the neckline and arms. I prefer her way. It will take a bit longer, but I think the results are a bit better too. I’m not used to this way either, and feels a bit more in control sewing on the bindings in two steps. This one was just one step with the serger.
Here I am in my new agnes.
Material Disappointment
My one disappointment here is not in the pattern, or the instructions. When I was cutting out the dress, I noticed some imperfections in the material.
I’m calling these ‘slubs’ because this reminds of what you get in slub cotton. However, this isn’t supposed to be slub cotton. I’m glad it’s just a nightgown. I turn the lights out and don’t notice them at all.
Happy creating!
After my attempt at Rad Patterns’ Panel Undies, I decided I wasn’t going to try another pattern size. I was going back to my self-drafted pattern, and using it to make my own version of those adorable panties.
Inspiration
I do really think these are adorable. So they were my inspiration.
However, while I’m changing things up, there were a couple of other changes I decided to make.
Personal Preferences – First Change
As much as I love the side panel, I wasn’t sure I was going to love the seams in the back. So, I decided to leave those out. My panty pattern has the sides coming around to the front to give a similar look in the front, but a smooth back.
I’m still using the two tones of beige, although in the photos here the lighter tone looks off white. It’s not. They are closer in tone than the photo is showing.
Here’s the back of the panty with no seams. I think I’ll prefer no back seams for under clothes. That’s a sad baggy-looking bottom in the photo. Thankfully, I fill it out much more.
And on the left front seam, I added a little lace tab.
Personal Preferences – Second Change
Another change I made when making my own version was to use the ‘Burrito Method’ of enclosing the seams on the gusset. The Split Personality Undies do not have enclosed gusset seams. After making panties with an enclosed gusset, I just didn’t want to not do it.
A Second Pair
For my second pair, I made my basic self-drafted pattern. The one that is so similar to my former favorites, Kwik Sew 2286.
However, for this pair, I doubled the lace at the front and added a lace bow just for something a little different.
As well, this pair has a lace tab on the left hip.
For both of these pairs of panties, I used the pattern I drafted using Craftsy’s Sewing Panties: Construction & Fit! You can also find the same information in Beverly Johnson’s Make & Fit Panties booklet.
Happy creating!
I realized very early on in my lingerie-making journey that I wanted ALL the lingerie patterns and books out there. I wanted them all so I could learn something from each one, and also have a very nice pattern stash.
That hasn’t changed a lot. I’m still buying patterns, even ones I said I’d probably not buy (she says, thinking of the new Harriet pattern – that is really similar to 2 other patterns she already has!)
Yup. I bought the Harriet pattern just so I can have it and look at it, and I’m sure, learn from it. It was just too pretty to pass up.
However, I’m not making a Harriet right now. I’ve still been working on my draft.
The pattern I’m trying now is an adorable pattern for panties or undies as the designer calls them.
Aren’t these just adorable? These are Rad Patterns’ Panel Undies. I’m looking at these and wishing I could find some adorable cotton Lycra (CL) in a print like that.
For now, I’m using some very basic CLs I have, both in a basic beige. I have two different tones, and decided to play on Paint to see which way I wanted to use them.
I have a lighter beige and a darker beige. I like them both, but am thinking of putting them together with the darker beige in the middle as shown on the high cut brief shown above.
Here’s the first look at them, and I like the color blocking look to it.
However, looking at them once they were sewn together, they looked even huger than normal. Have you ever made your own panties? Everyone warned me they’d look huge before they were sewn up. These looked huge even after I sewn them.
Before I went any further with them, I pulled out a pair that do fit me.
These aren’t going to work out. My next step is going to be to take my Master Pattern from Sewing Panties: Construction & Fit and use that to make a similar style. I know that way they’ll fit.
So, it’s back to the panty drawing board for now. I do have something to share about a future project that’s in the works. Here’s a little peek.
I love these fabrics! It’s Canada’s 150th birthday this year, and I’m celebrating. You’ll have to wait for a bit to see the finished project though.
Happy creating!
Even though my most recent bra was a purchased one, I still wanted to make a few pair of panties to wear with it.
Inspiration
While looking for some inspiration, I found a couple of things that were very interesting. So let’s go on a little detour before I show you my new panties.
Look at this:
I found two almost identical bras. The one on the left is the Felina 501 bra. (The one I bought.) The one on the right is the Conturelle 301 bra. Now, don’t they look an awful lot alike?
It all makes a little more sense when after doing a little looking, I found Conturelle is owned by Felina.
Lace
Something else I found when looking for images for the bra I bought was another Conturelle bra.
I’m not sure of the name of this bra. I found it on Pinterest. What I found really exciting is the lace. Do you recognize this lace?
This is the same lace from Kantje Boord. Sigrid made a bra using this lace too.
Just look at this, the unknown Conturelle bra, Kantje Boord’s lace and Sigrid’s bra:
That is the same lace in all three photos! I’ve always loved that bra Sigrid made. I almost bought some of the lace last year, but decided to make a purchase from Sewy instead. Sadly, I looked on Kantje Boord and this lace is not on their website anymore. Darn!
Okay, back to the bra I bought. This is the most comfortable RTW bra I’ve ever owned and it deserves a couple of pairs of panties.
Matchy-Matchy
I wanted to have the panties look like a match not only in color, but design as well. Seeing as I don’t have any of this lace, I had to get creative.
For my first pair, I used some of the lace trim I had to make crisscross designs across the front of the panty. Here is a layout of what I was thinking.
I decided I liked this, and I made up my first pair.
You can see my indigo is a bit lighter than the bra, but I’m still happy with this set.
For my second pair, I wanted to more closely copy the matching panty.
On the matching panties, the lace design is only on the hip. I’m going to do something similar keeping my design to the hips.
I tried this design first – crisscrossed thin elastic bordered by the lace I will be using for the leg opening. Although I do really like it, I have another idea.
So here is my second pair of panties to go with my RTW bra.
On this second pair, I had a little bit of fun. I had a scrap of lace left over, and was about to throw it out. Then I thought of putting a tag on the hip at the seam. I love it!
I’m thrilled with both of these pairs of panties, and love having some matchy-matchy.
Happy creating!
P.S. You might want to look at While in Germany or Pinterest Find and More.