When Bloggers Meet-Up

September 10, 2016December 27, 2017 ~ Michelle ~ 4 Comments

There’s a blog tour coming.

Isn’t that exciting? You’ll have to come back to see more, but there will be lots! You won’t have to wait long either. The tour starts tomorrow! That’s all I’m saying about it for now. Well, I will tell you one more thing. There are two teams – an Eastern team and a Western team. I’m a Western girl, so I’m on the Western team.

We’ve been planning, sewing, and putting everything in order, and we’ve been having a really good time. We even decided to do a Western Meet-Up.

We had :

Jessica of Gracious Threads

Karin of Mrs. Weaver’s Finest Unmentionables

Lisa of Glitter in My Coffee

Michele of Pink Lilli Bad Gramma

Michelle of Little Heart Threads

And of course me.

We had our meet-up all planned. In order for us to all get together, we met for lunch. Some of us have to work. After our lunch it was time for a shopping trip.

It really was great to have a meet-up, but not all of us could make it in person, so… We got creative.

Me and Lisa first to arrive (2)

Lisa and I were the first to arrive at the restaurant. Lisa lives a little too far west for her to join us, but we just couldn’t leave her out!

Here we all are. We’re just waiting for our lunch to arrive. While we were waiting, we didn’t miss an opportunity to chat up our waiter and let him know we were all bloggers. It turns out he is a fan of blogs, but he only reads sports blogs, not sewing.

We’d had our lunch, and had to say goodbye to one of our Michelles at this point. (There were three of us!) The rest of us hit Marshall Discount Fabrics store.

Lisa and some lovely lace I've seen before

Lisa found this gorgeous lace! (You know I love lace and there were other lace-lovers there that day too.) I kind of have my eye on that polka dot material behind her too. We really were determined not to leave Lisa out of our day.

It was really great having someone like Karin along. She has so much knowledge, and we were all asking questions.

We spent a little longer in Marshall’s than we planned. We were hoping to hit Deep Fabrics too – an East Indian fabric shop. We ran out of time. Hmm. I should still plan a little trip there.

Jessica Lisa and Michele

Just before we all headed back to our blogs, Jessica, Lisa and Michele took one more photo. (I know this is not the best photo, but their smiles are all so great. I had to include it.)

It was short, but it was sweet to meet-up.

Happy creating!

Unfortunately, Michele of Pink Lilli Bad Gramma wasn’t able to continue as part of our tour. We had a wonderful time meeting with her though. Thanks for joining us while you could, Michele.

While in Germany

August 27, 2016December 27, 2016 ~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

My hubby recently made a work trip to Germany. Unfortunately, I couldn’t go with him. My thoughts were, if I can’t go with him, he’s bringing me something back. I was ready to help him with that.

First I looked at Kantje Boord. I have dreamed of ordering from them since I first started thinking about bra-making and had started to follow Sigrid‘s blog.

Sigrid made one bra, and I loved it. Seriously. Loved it. I contacted her to find out where she got the material. It turned out to be Kantje Boord.

I found it. I found it way back when I’d asked her, and I found it again just last week. You can click on the photo to find it yourself.

It was so pretty made up. I looked again to find the photo of Sigrid’s bra, but that I couldn’t find again.

My one problem with this is it’s lace and Lycra. I have a few lace and Lycra bras and bra kits; they just aren’t as supportive as a lace and duoplex bra for me. I decided I wasn’t going to buy it after all.

A few days went by, and I was still thinking about my hubby’s upcoming trip and how I could take advantage of it. Then I had another thought… Sewy! Sewy is right in Germany. I quickly made my way to their website.

I already have a few of their patterns, so didn’t look too closely at those. I did look at the bra kits, but just looked. As I was looking, I decided I wasn’t going to be tempted by anything with Lycra. So what else did Sewy have other than bra kits and patterns?

Well, they had one thing I’ve been trying to find for quite some time: Pareostoff.

Can you make that word out? According to Google Translate Pareostoff in German is… Wait for it… It’s Pareostoff in English. Well, that didn’t help. I was thinking the ‘stoff’ part of the word is close to our English ‘stuff’, so was good with my translation Pareo ‘stuff’. Stoff alone translates to ‘material’. Pareo material. Perfect!

Pareo I love it! Don’t look for it though. Sewy only a little left. Once I’d made my purchase it was gone from the website. It even came in that adorable Sewy bag for storage.

So, I’d ordered some gorgeous material and was sending it to the hotel where my husband was staying. Then I received this in an email:

“Guten Tag, MRS Michelle,

wir haben soeben folgende Artikel versandt, viel Spaß beim Verarbeiten!

Die Sendung geht an:”

After that, it had the hotel address. The hotel address was all I could make out. Hmm. It was time for Google Translate again:

“Good day, MRS Michelle,

we have just sent the following products, a lot of fun while processing!

The show goes on:”

Isn’t that great? I’m glad they had a lot of fun. It’s been fun for me too.

I’ve been looking for black with polka dots for over a year now. I have a black and white polka dot bathing suit and wanted a cover up. I wanted polka dots.

bathing suit

The Pareostoff is perfect.

Bathing suit and Pareo There were no problems with my German order at all. Thank you, Sewy!

Remember a few weeks ago I was working on organizing my patterns? Once that job was done, I decided to make a similar catalog of my Craftsy classes. I was on a roll!

Untitled These will go right behind my nicely organized patterns in my sewing binder. I also plan to work through all my classes. Some classes I devoured as soon as I bought them; others well, others have never even been opened. It’s time.

Happy creating!

A Really Small Slip and Pantaloons

August 20, 2016December 27, 2017 ~ Michelle ~ 6 Comments

Many years ago, my Mum bought me a Cabbage Patch Preemie. I was her preemie baby, so she thought it was fitting. However, my poor girl was neglected in my closet. It was time for me to do something for her.

It was time to give her a make-over. The first thing she needed was to have something done with her hair.

preemie with straight hair

As adorable as she is… well, she’s in a family with all curly heads.

It’s amazingly easy to curl doll hair. A little foil (folded over the end of the hair); a straw (I didn’t have pipe cleaners); I used pin curl clips to hold everything in place; and boiling water. It only took four ‘curlers’ to curl her hair. You can read how to do it here.

curls Curls!

I didn’t take a photo of her with hair in ‘curlers’ – I wasn’t sure I’d love the results. I still may re-do her ‘do. I’ve since bought pipe cleaners.

I also had some fun making her an outfit, because, as you could see, she had nothing on.

So out came some of my cotton Lycra, and a pattern from Madame Alexander 14″ Girl Victorian Doll Patterns:

ma doll patterns Although this outfit is good, I think the next one I’ll try will be an actual Preemie outfit.

I ordered a Cabbage Patch Kids Preemie pattern book a while back now, and when I ordered it, a second book was included – CPK Designer Clothes. Some of the patterns had been cut out in that second book, so it was included for free. I thought that was really nice. Here’s the pattern book I ordered:

cabbage patch patterns

Here’s the pattern book I received for free with my order:

book I have

I’m sure I’ll be able to find some patterns in there and adapt them for my Preemie.

Here’s my Preemie in her new slip and pantaloons. She’s looking so much better, and much more like a member of our family.

Whole outfit

I’m glad she’s not looking neglected anymore. She’s even come out of my closet and has a place on my bookshelf.

Here’s the slip. The pattern for the slip can be shortened to make a camisole, which was really cute too.

Sliip

Here are the pantaloons.

pantaloons

Now for some bigger sewing projects.

Happy creating!

Pedal to the Metal?

August 17, 2016August 15, 2016 ~ Michelle ~ 4 Comments

I wanted to share another tip with you from my time at the sewing machine store.

How quickly do you sew? We’re not talking can you whip up a bra in an afternoon, or a purse in a day. No. This is about the speed at which you set your machine to sew. Do you see that lever? Machine front

Most machines now have a speed lever, or some way to control and choose how quickly your machine will sew. Mine has a tortoise and hare to help know which is slow and which is fast.

Did you know our sewing machines have been designed to work their best when going mid-speed? That’s when they make the best stitches for us.

I prefer to sew right about that mid-speed setting. However, I’ve always wound my bobbin on high-speed, or when doing a three-step Zigzag. I found out that’s a no-no. Our bobbins will wind better at a mid-range speed, and all our stitches will be formed better at that mid-speed.

Happy creating!

The Perfect T-Shirt Take Two

August 6, 2016December 27, 2017 ~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

I love my Perfect T-shirt.

on bench

The concept behind The Perfect T-Shirt is to make a working muslin and make any adjustments you need to that tee and the pattern at the same time. That’s a really great idea.

I did do that, but there were still a couple of changes I wanted to make before I had my absolutely perfect tee.

The neckline on my first tee fits me the same as any other RTW tee – it gapes a bit. Sizing down would be too small, so it was time to figure out what adjustment needed to be made.

I pulled out a favorite resource.

071349_1_1

The recommendation in this book for a gaping neckline is to adjust the shoulders. Perfect. You can download a sample from the book here.

It was time for my wonderful knit sloper to come out again and compare it to the pattern.* (see the note at the bottom of the post)

shoulder

Do you see how the shoulders aren’t the same? My sloper (on top of the pattern) really shows my shoulders are shorter at the neckline edge than the pattern’s. That difference on the front and back on each side adds up to 1″ more than I need around the neckline.

I also adjusted the hip area on the pattern. I had graded up to a Medium in the hips on my first tee and it gave it a bit of a peplum look. As well, the hips were a bit loose, but a Small wouldn’t give me enough room in the Hips. I was right in-between the two sizes, so I re-drew my cutting line right in-between those two size lines.

Sewing up my Perfect T-shirt was fine. I did do one thing differently than what is recommended in the pattern instructions. One thing they do recommend is to sew the sleeves in before sewing the sides up. I really like that flat constructions style of sewing garments. It makes it easier. Along that same way of thinking, I used knit interfacing on the shirt hem and the sleeve hem and added those to the garment while the pieces were flat too. The instructions say to do that after the garment is all sewn. I did that the first time and let me tell you, this is a lot easier. It might be different if I were using the same products Pamela recommends though.

interfaced hem

The only other little bump on the road to sewing this was I adjusted both shoulders to make the neckline fit better and forgot to adjust the neckline binding. So I had it all cut out and was pinning it, and couldn’t figure out why there was more. I went and checked the pattern again.Still didn’t clue in. Remember that inch I mentioned before? That was exactly how much extra I had. I rolled my eyes when I realized what I had done. It was a small bump. I adjusted the binding and wrote it in my pattern for next time.

note

I wasn’t the only one to write a note on my instructions. I went away for a weekend a while ago and I guess DS1 was bored. I have these little ‘hi’ notes all over. I smile when I find a new one. I just found this one this week.

Here’s my new Perfect T-shirt.

front

I also lengthened the sleeves a bit too. On my next one I plan to play with the sleeves some more.

Side

tee back

I’m loving these cotton/Lycra knits my local fabric store is carrying.

collor

Here’s a close up of the only part of my Perfect tee that really needed changing.

We’ll all have to wait until I have a photographer to see it on me.

Happy creating!

Sleep Masks

July 30, 2016December 27, 2017 ~ Michelle

I love to wear a sleep mask at night. I don’t want to see the light from the phone, or the alarm clock, or the smoke detector.

We were on holidays when I first realized how great a sleep mask was. The smoke detector was right over the bed and shining its evil green light in my eyes all night long. I went shopping the next day.

The one I’ve been wearing, well, it was old and falling apart. It was long past time for a new one. I looked around the web and found this pattern.

This pattern (and the image) are both from PetitBebeCreatioNZ on Craftsy. The photo has a link in it, so you can just click on that and it will take you right to the pattern.

It’s a great pattern with wonderful instructions.

new vs old

What’s left of my old purchased one is shown at the top of the photo. It was literally falling apart – that’s just the inner piece. There was also the back and front that fell off it. Below it is the sleep mask I made using the free pattern. These are pretty much the same size.

However, it’s summer here and the sun is up early and down late. I don’t want any light at all. It was time to supersize my sleep mask. I found another free pattern on So Sew Easy. I found the instructions so thorough from the first pattern that I used them again and didn’t even glance at the other instructions, just the pattern.

Here you can see the new oversized one compared to the old fallen apart one. It’s definitely bigger.

Old vs Newest

Yes! Now we’re talking block out all the light.

For comparison’s sake, here are both of my new ones.

Newest vs new

That is seriously oversized! But I’m happy with it.

Another definite bonus of making my own sleep mask is I can measure how much elastic I need to fit me. The store-bought mask had Velcro to fasten it – and that Velcro caught in my hair all the time until I replaced it. This is good right from the start.

Happy creating!

Free Bralette Pattern

July 24, 2016December 27, 2017 ~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

I thought I’d share this with everyone right away. So Sew Easy has a free bralette pattern.

Isn’t that lovely? Just click on the photo and it will take you right to Craftsy to download it for free.

Happy creating!

Did You Know This About Your Presser Foot? About Thread?

July 15, 2016 ~ Michelle ~ 8 Comments

In this post I have a few tips for you.

I recently had some fun working in a sewing machine store. I felt like I’d found a dream job, but sadly an old injury made its presence known again and I couldn’t continue to work there.

While I was there I was learning so much though. Imagine a job where you have to learn all the different sewing machines, what they do, and then practice. I told everyone I’d gotten a job in a toy store. The only thing that could possibly have been better would be to work somewhere like Bra-Makers Supply. Well, that or a jewelry store.

One of the first things I learned was about my own sewing machine. I’d even taken lessons for my new machine when I bought it and didn’t learn this:

Did you see my presser foot? One of my complaints with this sewing machine had been there’s just was not enough room under that presser foot. Well, no problem now that I’ve learned if I just continue to lift it up a bit more than it goes up on its own there’s lots of room. It won’t stay there on its own, but I’m very happy with this newly found information and have put it to use already.

Here’s something else I learned that is so interesting, and affects all of us who sew – thread can be wound onto the spools upside down! Did you know thread had a right way of unwinding and a wrong way? Me either.

So, what difference does that make? Take a look:

If you look at the beginning of the video, you’ll see I’m taking the thread off the spool with the name at the top, which we’d normally consider to be the top of the spool. As soon as I pull the thread out from the spool, it soon starts to twist. According to how the thread has been wound on the spool, the top of that spool is really the bottom. We need to test our threads (each spool we buy) before sewing so they won’t twist on us in our machines. Really, who knew?

It was suggested to me when I buy thread, bring it home and test it before sewing. Then once I know which way the thread won’t twist, take a marker and put a dot on the ‘real’ top of thread so as to know how to load it. Thread twisting in our machines is not something we want. That’s a great tip!

One last tip, but this one isn’t a video. This is from my recent Ivory Bomb.

In the past I always worked from the front when attaching my strap elastic. I just made sense to me.

strap front However, on my ivory bomb, I decided to pin the elastic to the band from the inside.

I loved how the power net was meeting the edge of the elastic. In the past, I would notice they didn’t always meet perfectly the way I wanted when I pinned from the front. Sometimes the pins would push the power net rather than go through it. I’ll be pinning my strap elastic this way from now on.

Happy creating!

The Perfect T-Shirt

July 9, 2016October 29, 2016 ~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

Last year I saw a Sewing With Nancy episode – Sew the Perfect T-Shirt. I was so glad I PVRed that episode. I have been wanting to make a T-shirt, and who doesn’t want the perfect one?

You can watch the episodes here: Part One and Part Two.

After watching the episode, I immediately went over to Pamela’s Patterns and ordered her Perfect T-Shirt pattern.

Perfect Tee

The pattern has been sitting patiently on my desk with so many other projects for a few months now, but it was time. I bought a whole whack of cotton/Lycra to make Tees for summer. It was time.

I love the approach Pamela takes on the show. You determine your size, and then start with that sized Tee, any alterations are done to that first Tee and the pattern at the same time. I think that’s a great idea! That way you get a corrected pattern and a correctly fitting Tee with one alteration.

There was one glitch. I started reading the instructions (see, I learned from the last project) and then went to our local fabric store to find Stay Tape. Well, it seems no one in Canada seems to know anything about Stay Tape. The stores don’t carry it. So instead of getting on with my sewing, I was trying to figure out a replacement for Stay Tape. We also had a looming mail strike, so there was no way I was going to order anything and possibly wait three months to get it.

I used woven and knit interfacing in place of the Stay Tape. I found a great blog post on Pattern Fantastique describing how to make your own Stay Tape and decided I’d try it.

Here’s the interfacing on the shoulders. I used woven interfacing as Pamela said to use the woven stay tape here.

Interfacing

For the neckline I used a knit interfacing. Both were fine. (Sorry for the blurry pic.)

Interfacing on neckline and sleeve

Here’s my Tee:

Front of Tee

I adjusted this pattern to make a size Small top, with shortened armholes, lowered the bust dart, and graded up a size for my hips. The grading up gives this tee a peplum look, which I wasn’t wanting. The hips are a bit loose, so I may try a size Small for my next tee.

And from the side:

Side of Tee

I love how the darts on this disappear. You can’t see them at all. That was a small concern I had before making the pattern. I didn’t want to draw attention to my bust by adding a dart to give enough room for the bust. It might be different on a solid colored fabric, but on this it’s great!

And the back:

Back of Tee

It all came together very well, and I will definitely be making more.

I really like this pattern. Pamela has a second pattern that goes with this one that’s all necklines. I know what I’m ordering soon. I love the darted bust, which saved me from making a Full Bust Adjustment.

I do have a couple of changes to make still. I think I’d like longer sleeves for my tees, and the neckline is a tad loose. I need to adjust the inner shoulders to bring that up.

Here I am on a really feel-good day in a total Me-made wardrobe: top, bottom, and undergarments. And I’m in the mountains (trying very hard not to squint). My hubby says take off your sunglasses. No sunglasses = squinting.

Me in mountains

Happy creating!

Canada Day Blog Hop – Jalie Sewing Patterns

June 30, 2016December 27, 2016 ~ Michelle ~ 23 Comments

Tomorrow is Canada Day. Happy birthday, Canada!

For my stop on the Canada Day Blog Hop, I’ve used a pattern from a Canadian pattern company that’s new for me. Although I’ve heard of Jalie Patterns, I had yet to try any of their patterns. Thank you, Jalie, for providing me with your 2568 Camisole & Panties pattern for our blog hop.

First, I’d want to say, I had a little difficulty finding the sizing for Jalie’s patterns on their website. It’s not prominent, but it can be found. You know all those sayings about reading the instructions first? Well, the sizing information was with the instructions. I could have made things easier for myself if I had started with them. So if you try Jalie’s patterns, don’t search all over their website for sizing – it’s with your pattern.

For anyone who’s wondering, I found Jalie’s sizing spot on. First, I found my size on their sizing charts and marked my multi-sized pattern, then I pulled out my knit sloper to compare. It was so very close, it might as well have been an exact match – my bust and hips on my sloper hit exactly where the sizing charts put me. That’s good! However, I was wondering about the neckline and if it would be too big. I wasn’t sure, so I decided to follow the sizing guidelines. My reason for wondering is I’m a S, M, and XL all wrapped into one. Jalie doesn’t use the sizing S, M, L… Their sizes run from an F to a FF (looking at the Panties). So it’s a completely different way of sizing. Everything is explained clearly, so just follow what they’re saying and you’ll get a great fit.

Jalie’s patterns are multi-sized patterns – 27 sizes in all. Before you faint when looking at all those sizes, take into consideration there are Children, Women’s and Plus sizes all on one PDF pattern. Being multi-sized with so many sizes, there are at times some dizzying lines to follow to cut out your own size, but it’s all doable.

Jalie pattern piece

You can see from this piece of the pattern there are a lot of lines coming together at that one point. I’m used to Adult multi-sized patterns with only four or five lines.

So, how did that neckline fit? It is loose. However, I made this camisole into a nightie, so I’m not minding that it’s looser in the neckline. For a camisole, I would make a smaller size for the neckline and adjust for the bust.

wider lace at neckline

Above you can see the neckline in the pre-sewing stages. I first looked a thinner lace (below), but decided on this one, which is the same lace I used for the hemline.

Lace for neckline

This thinner lace has no oomph at all. The thinner lace was used for the armholes and leg openings.

Here’s my lovely summer nightie:

Nightie 2

To make this I simply added six inches to the bottom of the camisole pattern. It was very easy. As I mentioned, I added some lovely lace to dress up the hem a bit more too.

Now onto the panties. I chose the low-cut Hipster panties from the pattern. The pattern comes with four different styles of panties to make and match the camisole. There are low-cut Hipsters, high-cut Hipsters, Bikinis, and an all-lace Hipster option.

Hipsters

These panties are super cute. Overall, this is a very sweet camisole/panty set.

Set

In celebration of our blog hop, and Canada Day, and everything Canadian, all of Beverly Johnson’s classes on Craftsy are 50% off! Yes, just follow this link and you can get any of Beverly’s bra-making classes, or her swimwear class – but only until July 3rd. ‘Only in Canada, you say?’ Well, we’re not talking Red Rose Tea here. These Craftsy savings are for anyone! (Sorry if you missed our discount. I’m sure there will be more savings in the future.)

And speaking of the Fairy Bra Mother, if you missed it, pop over to Seam of my Pants to read Marsha’s interview with her here. It’s a great interview! (Why didn’t I think of interviewing the Fairy Bra Mother!!!)

As well, don’t forget all the deals I mentioned when our blog hop started. You can find all the savings being offered on Happy Okapi here.

Happy creating!

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