A Baby Shower Gift

 A very dear friend of mine just became a Grandma. It was time to make a baby shower gift.

My TNT baby gift for the better part of 20 years is an idea from Sewing With Nancy.

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A beautiful hooded towel. I don’t have this great-looking book, but saw Nancy make one of these towels on her show, and I’ve been making them since.

They’re a great gift. I’ve heard back from Moms that they love them and use them for years. I’ve even had Moms ask for one for their next baby after receiving one.

You can see a step-by-step tutorial of a similar hooded towel by Nancy here.

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Isn’t this cute? I’ve never made the bear style.

For the towel I made, I was told the colors were black, white, and pink. I found a pink towel, black ribbon, and used some white thread to embroider on the ribbon.

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After embroidering the ribbon, I attached it to the towel and facecloth.

To make it a little different than simply sewing on the ribbon, I gave the ribbon a little twist every few inches. You can also see here I didn’t embroider all the ribbon.

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Here’s a close-up of the twists in the ribbon before it was sewn down. I used pins hold those twists in place.

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Here’s how the front of the towel will look. There’s a single embroidered ribbon on the other side of the towel.

And of course there’s the matching ribbon and twist pattern on the washcloth/hood.

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Here’s the hood. I draped this over my dress form, Catherine.

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I think it looks adorable. Here’s the whole hooded towel:

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That’s nice and long to wrap that little baby up for a few years.

Do you have a TNT gift you make? What is it? I wonder how many of our TNTs come from shows like Sewing with Nancy? Do you love her show?

Happy Thanksgiving & happy creating!

A Little Upcycling

I love to find a new use for something. I love to go to thrift shops too. I really like a good bargain.

Here’s my latest find. It’s an old wooden spice rack that will now happily serve as a thread holder. And look at how much more room I have! The little plastic thread box I had was full. This is much better.

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How do you like my little toy dress forms? They add the perfect touch of whimsy to my thread rack.

Recently, I was inspired by reading Emerald Erin’s blog. She was going through her closet and working towards a capsule wardrobe. That is something I’ve been thinking about doing too. I have a full closet, but open the door and feel like there’s nothing in there.

After reading Erin’s post, I went through my closet. The problem was, although there were things in there I really had no problem getting rid of, there were some things in there I really did. Even though I never wore them, I loved the material. I didn’t want to get rid of them.

I set them aside. I had three piles on my bed. Pack away. Give away. I don’t want to give away.

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I was not going to put that third pile back in my closet or pack it away. Then I thought of what I could do. Upcycle!

I have Betz White’s class on Craftsy. Here’s a link to take you to the class on Craftsy.

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As well, I just bought a new pattern. (ClubBMV has too many sales!)

I’m sure I can use some of this material towards something like this:

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Or maybe more like this:

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This second pattern is used in the Craftsy classes The Ultimate T-Shirt and The Artful T-Shirt. Both of these classes are by Marcy & Katherine Tilton.

In the photo for the Artful class, they show this same T-shirt with a lot more piecing.titlecard

I’m thinking there must be a way to use some of these materials I love so much and make something new.

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There’s one other thing in that hard-to-give-away pile: a silk skirt. The blue floral material? That’s silk. I’ve been holding onto it for years. I think I wore it once, maybe twice. This is going to make a few lovely bras.

Time to get cutting out. Have you upcycled anything? How did it turn out? Do you love it? Will you upcycle again? What’s your favorite thrift store find? I’d love to hear.

Happy creating!

Pinterest Find and More

Kantje Boord

Do you remember a few weeks ago I posted about my hubby’s trip to Germany?

I’d mentioned some gorgeous material from Kantje Boord. Gorgeous material I’d seen a few years ago. Gorgeous material that Sigrid made into a lovely bra. Gorgeous material that I didn’t order.

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When I initially wrote the post, I couldn’t find a photo of the bra, even though I knew I’d saved it… somewhere. This week, I was adding a photo to my Pinterest page and there it was. The bra Sigrid made.

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Isn’t that lovely? Do you follow Sigrid? I really enjoy reading about her makes.

After seeing how pretty this bra is again, I’m having a second thought or two about not ordering this, while telling myself, ‘I will not be tempted by Lycra.’ Sigh. I’ll have to see when my hubby’s work takes him to Europe again.

Do you follow Sigrid’s blog? Have you been part of a sewing swap before? What ideas do you have for sewing swap gifts?

Happy creating!

Prizes and Discounts

The Canada Cups – Cross Your Heart Relay is all wrapped up, but that doesn’t mean the fun has stopped. Oh, no. We have more fun for you.

First, let’s see our winners!

Giveaway Winners

Are you one of the lucky 10?
  1. Lavender and Lace bra-making class from Braphoria: Reece Montgomery (Canada)
  2. Two $25 CAD store credit certificates (for you and a friend) from Bra-makers Supply: Denise Marie (USA)
  3. Exclusive pre-release Latte bra kit from The Emerald Studio: Jodi Barrington (Canada)
  4. Complete bra kit including findings, underwires, and lace from Uplift Custom Bras: Angela Smith (Canada)
  5. The Sophie Swimsuit online class, incl. PDF pattern from Closet Case Files: Yiling (USA)
  6. $50 CAD store credit from Blackbird Fabrics: Chelle (USA)
  7. $25 CAD gift card from Ann’s Fabric Shop & a PDF pattern from Jalie: Jeannie (USA)
  8. $50 CAD gift card from Central Sewing Machines: Patricia (Canada)
  9. Complete bra kit from Custom Bras: Kelly Boggs (Canada)
  10. The 10th prize is a bundle of 3 classes from Craftsy, worth more than $200 USD. Their Giveaway is still open until tonight, 11:59 PM MST. This winner will be notified directly by Craftsy.

Did you win? If not, we have a number of tour sponsors who have not only donated prizes, but have also very graciously provided discounts for us.

Just look at all these sponsors! A very BIG thank you to all of them for participating with us!

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I hope you enjoyed our tour as much as we did making it. Let me know if you win, or if you decided to make something new as a result of our tour. I’ve already heard from one woman who said she “was motivated to finish her foam cup bra and make a lace one after reading the review on the Foam, Lace & Beyond class.” That is so great to hear. Did our tour motivate you?

Happy creating!

Canada Cups Posts for Sunday, September 18th, 2016

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Here is our wrap-up post for the tour. What an incredible week it’s been! Don’t forget to enter the give-away and come back for some wonderful prizes.

Sunday, September 18

  • Linda, the instructor from the newest Corset-making class and owner of her own Corset business, is doing our wrap-up on Farthingales.

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All of the talented bloggers on this tour have done a fabulous job!

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If you’re looking for any of the past posts, here they all are.

Follow the magical tour to see what we all have under our clothes

Canada Cups Logo Draft

Sunday, September 11

Monday, September 12

Tuesday, September 13

Wednesday, September 14

Thursday, September 15

Friday, September 16

Saturday, September 17

Sunday, September 18

  • Linda, the instructor from the newest Corset-making class and owner of her own Corset business, is doing our wrap-up on Farthingales

Whoohoo! It’s giveaway day today!

Monday, September 19

Have you entered the giveaways yet? Today’s your last chance.

Tuesday, September 20

Giveaway winners announced on all the blogs:

Life of a Fairy Bra Mother, Little Heart Threads, Glitter in my Coffee, Michelle’s Creations, Mrs. Weaver’s Finest Unmentionables, Braphoria, Gracious Threads, Élégantine!, Shelaine’s Designs, That’s so Venice, Sprouting Jubejube, Flying by the Seam of my Pants, The Wild Stitch, Farthingales Corset Blog

After September 20

  • Come back to visit all the blogs for followup posts. It’s always fun!
  • Craftsy class discounts expire at midnight Sept. 30

Happy creating.

A Review of Sewing Panties Construction & Fit

Welcome to Michelle’s Creations for the Canada Cups – Cross Your Heart Relay blog tour, 2016.

banner-improvedI hope you’re enjoying all of our makes and reviews so far. This time around, I’m reviewing Beverly Johnson’s new Panty class and so is Deb, my booty buddy, from Sprouting JubeJube. Make sure after you read my post, you hop on over to read Deb’s thoughts on the class. If you started with Deb’s review, welcome here!  I do know Deb has been really busy with all her makes and has them all here in a separate write-up than her class review.

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Don’t you love Craftsy? It really is the best. They offer online classes that never expire, and in so many different categories (sewing, cooking, gardening, painting…); the instructors they get are the best and they answer your questions; Craftsy offers kits and supplies as well. They really are great!

You’ll see in my sidebar menu, I’m an affiliate with Craftsy. I decided to do this because I can do this without any compromise. I really do think they’re great. You won’t see me stand behind everything. But Craftsy, I do.

Back to Sewing Panties Construction & Fit. I started watching. I watched the class half way through the first night. Then got up the next morning and watched the rest of it. I felt ready and confident to draft my own panties which was something I’d wondered if I could really do before the class.

Beverly assures us that drafting our own panties isn’t hard. It’s just a few simple measurements. Then she proceeds to show us just how to do it. This photo is from Craftsy showing Beverly making her master panty pattern.

She was absolutely right! It’s not hard.

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The drafting of the panty is very reminiscent of Suzy Furrer’s Sloper classes. Once we’ve drafted our pattern, Beverly moves on to show us the three basic styles of panties – Brief, Hipster, and Bikini – and how to make each one from our own master pattern.

From those three styles, Beverly shows some more variations like making your own French cut panties. There is also a style with the seams in the front. I had just been looking at the Make Bra DL21 pattern. I’d read great reviews on them and how the seams didn’t show at all. I’m going to try my hand at drafting my own!

My big question is how will my class-drafted pattern compare to my favorite pattern?

Before I made a pair up, I wanted to compare my class-drafted pattern to my favorites: Kwik Sew 2286.

Here are both back pattern pieces – the black outline is the class-drafted pattern; the white pattern piece is my 2286 pattern:

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The pencil wasn’t showing up very well in the photo, so I redrew the lines in black on my computer. The class-drafted Hipster hits the center back exactly the same as my 2286s. The hip sits a bit higher on the class-drafted pair. As well, the class-drafted back is a bit wider in the hip and gives a little more cheek coverage. I had no idea my 2286s were cheeky!

I was thinking about the size difference, and remembered Beverly does suggest in the class to start with a 20% reduction when drafting the pattern. Clearly, my 2286s have more than 20% reduction, which shows even more on the front piece.

Front

Again, the front is bigger on my class-drafted pair. And the Hipster line sits a little lower. The leg opening on the front of my class-drafted pair (again, outlined in black) is definitely lower, and that would be something I’d want to change.

Gusset

The class-drafted gusset is shorter and although you can’t tell in the photo, it’s a touch narrower as well. I’d even narrowed the gusset pattern piece on my 2286s.

For my panties, I’m going to use my favorite 2286s like I often use my sloper – to help me get the fit I want. I will change the leg opening on the front, lengthen the gusset a tiny bit, and since I haven’t found my 2286s to be too small at all, I will narrow the class-drafted pattern.

It’s time for new panties! New, drafted-to-my-measurements, incorporating-all-the-aspects-of-my-favorite-pattern, and matching-my-new-bra new panties. These are not just any panties!

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Oh, I like these. I incorporated the lace application on the legs the same as my 2286s, and did a lace front panel to match my bra.

I wanted to show you a few more details. One of the things I’ve learned making my own panties is the side seam is a weak spot when you’re using lace on the front like this. So, for these panties, I used a 1/2″ strip of knit interfacing to reinforce the seam.

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As well, having a lace front isn’t quite the same without some elastic. It will often be too loose. So a little bit of lingerie elastic behind the lace is hardly visible, but makes a big difference when you’re wearing them.

Elastic behind the lace

I like everything to look as nice inside as out. I pin my lace out of the way and use my Pinking blade to trim away the excess fabric.

Pinking the edges

There’s only one more thing to add. This is one of the bows I made for my bra.

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Here’s my matching set.

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 I love them both!

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I loved making self-drafted panties, but that wasn’t all I made. As well as making these panties, I reviewed a pattern.

 

 Here are the panties I made:

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Yes, it’s the Pin-Up Girls Boy Short Collection.

Along with covering Beverly’s newest class, Deb from Sprouting JubeJube and I are both reviewing panty patterns, but not the same pattern. I’m reviewing the Pin-Up Girls Boy Short Collection. Although I know what pattern Deb is making, I’m not going to tell. You’ll have to go to Deb’s blog to see her pattern review and all her makes. She really did make some lovely panties, and we found out we love the same materials. Really. We have the same Cotton Lycra stash. That’s all I’m saying.

Let me show you the Boy Shorts I made.

Front of panty

 They look just like Boy Shorts, but they also looked bigger than what I usually wear.

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And they are bigger. To be totally honest here, they looked HUGE to me!  It’s mostly the different shape. Boy shorts have material over the leg and what I usually wear doesn’t. Oh my! Here they are being compared to my favorite Kwik Sew 2286s. I know what size not to use so my next pair will fit.

The best part of these panties is the back. I made view 4. They really have a super cute back and I will use this feature in the future.

Back lace detail

Isn’t that a lovely detail?

I want to thank Bra-Makers Supply for providing me with the Pin-Up Girls Boy Short Collection, and Craftsy for providing me with the class Sewing Panties Construction & Fit.

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Tour Schedule Itinerary

Follow the magical tour to see what we all have under our clothes

Canada Cups Logo Draft

Saturday, September 17

bloggers

A big thank you to our wonderful bloggers. They’ve all done such a great job!

Happy creating!

An Interview: Central Sewing Machines

Welcome to another stop at Michelle’s Creations. Today, as part of our Canada Cups Cross Your Heart Relay blog tour, 2016, I’m featuring Central Sewing Machines in Edmonton, Alberta.

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Before we start our interview, did you see my post saying why I’d become a Craftsy affiliate? I think Craftsy is great!

Now, on to our feature post. You might be wondering how a sewing machine store features in bra-making/lingerie tour. Let’s find out!

Who is Muriel? Tell us a little about your new ownership venture.

We are very proud to be a brother and sister duo owning Central Sewing Machines. Our official start date was July 19, 2016. We are thrilled to be part of this new world and look forward to bringing our brand to a whole bunch of new venues. 

In fact, if you’re in the Edmonton area, tomorrow (September 17th) it’s Central Sewing Machine’s Fall Open House.

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Where is Central Sewing Machines located?

Central has two locations and classes are held in both our South and West stores. Our South store is at 8649 – 63 Avenue, and our West store is located at 10642 – 170 Street. Both in Edmonton.

 Central Sewing Machines (CSM) offers bra-making classes. Will that continue now under your new management?

Absolutely! We love the idea of offering a lot of variety and as long as our clients want to take these classes, we will continue to offer them.

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The Basic Bra-making class offered this fall.

Oh, that’s wonderful news! Any plans to expand the classes? Offer more? Or have the classes held more often? Or other lingerie classes?

Expansion of classes? Absolutely! We have set up an Education Team. This Team is looking for other types of classes we can bring to our store, along with new teachers who are interested in bringing something unique.  I cannot speak directly about other lingerie classes, but if there is a desire for this, and a teacher willing to offer this, we would love to bring these to fruition.

Mrs. Weaver? (Nudge. Nudge.)

How long do you see this trend of making our own bras/panties/lingerie continuing?

I think this trend will continue to be very strong. It is something that speaks to all ladies, ways they can personalize their own look.

bra-displayThis lovely bra is on display at the South store. Ooh, I love the bow on that bra!

How do you get the word out?

We send out email blasts on our courses. We also have a new website that we will be unveiling shortly which has all of our courses listed. You will be able to search and purchase classes online.

CSM has been offering bra-making classes for close to 20 years. In fact, the first bra-making class at Central was with our very own Fairy Bra Mother!

Yes, that’s right. Beverly Johnson was the first woman to teach bra-making classes at Central.

Beverly, when did you teach at Central Sewing Machines? For how long?

It had to have been 1999 or earlier. I talked to Bev S. (Bev still works at Central) and she wanted to book one class. I told her she should book at least two, as they would sell out. She announced it to her customers and we sold out 3 classes. The next time I was there I taught 8 classes in a row!

At that time the classes were only offered once a year. Is that right?

Yes. I was in Edmonton once a year, but it was always for multiple days at a time.

What were those early classes like?

They always put 24-25 women in a class.  Imagine 75 women on that first trip! No helper either!

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Here’s the classroom where the bra magic happens. Twenty-five students would be really crowded.

That must have been a challenge to try and work with that many women at one time. The classes now have a limit and a waiting list. No more 25 women in one class.

Classes that are too big are not good for the learning process.

How long were you teaching at Central?

I taught there for four years, maybe five.

Who is there now?

Margaret started teaching there about five years ago. She is a great teacher!

Margaret Ferguson is teaching two bra-making classes this fall.  Bra Making – The Basic Bra, and Bra Making – Cup Design Styles.

It’s so great we have some local access to bra-making, and for those who aren’t local, there are bra-making classes on Craftsy!

 I would like to thank Muriel from Central Sewing Machines, and Beverly Johnson, from Bra-Makers Supply, for taking the time to allow me to interview them.

Have you (my readers) taken bra-making classes? The Craftsy classes count.

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Tour Schedule Itinerary

Follow the magical tour to see what we all have under our clothes

Canada Cups Logo Draft

Friday, September 16

bloggers

Thank you to our wonderful bloggers for making this such a great tour!