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
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!
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!
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!
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
All of the talented bloggers on this tour have done a fabulous job!
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
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Sunday, September 11
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Monday, September 12
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Tuesday, September 13
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Wednesday, September 14
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Thursday, September 15
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Friday, September 16
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Saturday, September 17
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Sunday, September 18
Whoohoo! It’s giveaway day today!
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Monday, September 19
Have you entered the giveaways yet? Today’s your last chance.
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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
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After September 20
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Happy creating.
Here are the tour posts for today. Don’t forget to enter the give-away!
Saturday, September 17
A big thank you to all of our fabulous bloggers!
Happy creating!
Welcome to Michelle’s Creations for the Canada Cups – Cross Your Heart Relay blog tour, 2016.
I 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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
There’s only one more thing to add. This is one of the bows I made for my bra.
Here’s my matching set.
I love them both!
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:
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.
They look just like Boy Shorts, but they also looked bigger than what I usually wear.
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.
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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Saturday, September 17
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A big thank you to our wonderful bloggers. They’ve all done such a great job!
Happy creating!
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.
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.
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.
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.
This 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!
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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Friday, September 16
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Thank you to our wonderful bloggers for making this such a great tour!
Here are the tour posts for today. Don’t forget to enter the give-away!
Friday, September 16
Thank you to our wonderful bloggers!
Happy Creating!