Sew Therapy

My Lame Post

2010-01-13T19:21:00.001-05:00

So I know I have been a really neglectful blogger of late. In my defense, it was the holidays and school and life were really starting to get in the way of my hobbies. Right now, my sewing machines are in Ottawa, and I am in Montreal... so no new projects to post. blah.
In other news, Ottawa now has a new fabric store (see link below) that I will have to check out ASAP. Also, Fabricland is having its members 50% off sale this Saturday...
Longtime Ottawa South resident achieves dream of fabric store in her neighbourhood

clutch it good.

2009-12-02T14:44:00.004-05:00

Once again inspired by Rhea's book of wonderful, practical purses, I've taken a simple pattern for clutches and added a new spin to it. I've altered the envelope-style clutch by adding more detail to the fold with overlapped fabric. This took a bit of trial and error folding to make my own pattern for the top fold, which I ultimately cut to maintain the same shape of the original pattern. By altering the pattern, however, you now need to cut two separate pieces of your decorative fabric, which will have a seam along the fold. I think it's worth it though!

I think my next attempt at making this clutch will also add a bit of reinforcing felt inside the back, as I'm worried that the fusible interfacing (heavy) will lose its firmness over time.

Holidays + gifts + wine = Wine tote!!!

2009-11-27T15:53:00.004-05:00

So my sewing machine has crapped out today as I was finishing my current project!! I am very upset. The bobbin is just knotting everything! GRRR
I don't suppose anyone knows anywhere in MTL I can take my beloved sewing machine for a tune-up/repair?? mewl.

Anyways..

I decided a while ago that I was going to make most if not all of my x-mas/hanukkah gifts for this year...which is somewhat trickier if you are thinking of giving your boss something. I am cheating a bit and splitting on a nice bottle of scotch for him with some of my co-workers, BUT was thinking that it needs a bit more pizazz/thought/consideration/customization than that. Wine/scotch tote!!

These are good things to make around this time of year as sometimes you are required to show up to parties/dinners non-empty handed, and you really don't know the hosts too well. And everyone just brings a random bottle of wine. Now yours will stand out! Yours will be thoughtful and considerate! Yay you!

This is the first one I have made, but I am thinking of making a manlier one for the scotch. I don't know, this one seems more like a fruity white wine to me....

You could always make a much less green/red/mistletoe studded one for everyday use. In MTL we have a lot of bring your own wine places, and showing up with one of these is oh so much classier than carrying your wine into the restaurant in a brown paper SAQ bag.

Lappytoppies

2009-11-23T09:56:00.011-05:00

So with this renewed interest in bag making, it seemed only natural to try something novel and more practical. Emma Brennan's book of vintage bags is great if you want to make small, interesting clutches and purses, but lacks the (sometimes superfluous) practicality of the everyday bags you see today. It's obvious that I still love the vintage-looking/old lady fabrics, but have done my own versions of Rhea's laptop bags. Again, I've included the convenient zipper side pocket for power cords, and crafted some fabric flowers to raise the girl factor. Clearly, these laptop bags are only girl-friendly, but I think my next attempt will be to make a man-purse that keeps public beatings to a minimum.

For each bag I adjusted the universal (and ridiculously easy) laptop bag pattern to accommodate the two separate handles, and am hoping both will prove equally sturdy for their future owners. Anyone who thinks hand-crafted xmas presents are a bad idea, please let me know in advance! If so, you will get nothing :)

Knitting + bag obsession

2009-11-19T22:45:00.000-05:00

Now that Bri has broken the ice on knitting posts, I thought I would share some of my knitting and bag combos, but before I get started, I wanted to say that since this blog is new, we are posting projects that have been done in the past. Once this blog gets going, however, we will start being more current! Since these are all older projects, we can't post step-by-step pictures, but we will start to once we get going.

Now on to knit awesome bags!!

The idea originally came from the book Stitch and Bitch by Debbie Stoller, but it is a really simple idea. Basically you just knit a big tube in the round, to whatever size you want the bag to be. Add handles and a lining.. and presto! Very unique, cool bag!

I later made a string of pom poms for it, to make it more wintery looking, and wound them around the handle. This was my first attempt.

Here is the second:

Great for fall, and use less than a ball of wool. Handles are easily found in craft stores! You should make one...

Novice Knitter

2009-11-18T14:38:00.006-05:00

Although the blog is called 'Sew Therapy', Rhea informs me that I can post other types of crafty pursuits. After several years of incessant badgering from my lovely mother, I finally understand the perks of knitting your own stuff. My first attempt at knitting tackled a project that pays homage to my elementary school days. As a Canadian girl in winter I use to rock the tube scarf/hat hybrid a lot, and felt it needed a modern revival. This was really easy to make (from a pattern of course) and required two different gauges of circular needles. I highly recommend it, because it is sooooo warm, and I often wear it indoors as a decorative scarf. My next attempt was to make a cowl, which was quite daunting because of the finer quality of the yarn. Luckily, I tackled this project whilst preparing for my thesis defense, so I poured my stress into it! It came together in no time at all :)

Finally, I made a simple, thin scarf that is a mustard yellow colour (my camera skills are clearly lacking) and added a great button I found at the annual Glebe community centre fabric sale. I plan to give this as a Christmas gift to my friend, so I shall postpone her invite to this wonderful blog until then :)

Hate having to hold a purse at the bar? No problem!

2009-11-17T10:48:00.001-05:00

I hate having to carry around a purse when I got out to bars, or really when I go anywhere that I would need to be carrying things/waving my arms about. So here enters the nifty, useful, and stylish wristlets.

They don't require very much fabric and so are great for using up bits and pieces of left overs. AND make great presents! They take about max two hours to finish. I got the basic pattern from this book. If anyone wants to know how let me know.

Here are some of the ones I have made so far.

This one below is for my boyfriends little sister, who is turning a whopping 9 years old!

Purses Galore!

2009-11-16T20:53:00.007-05:00

So I would like to formally thank Rhea for getting me back into the sewing swing of things, as I dabbled briefly in purse making a couple of years ago. Now that I have a sewing buddy to share patterns, fabric and ideas with, sewing projects seem limitless in possibilities!

I'll begin with my very first purse, which I got from Emma Brennan's 'Making Vintage Bags'. Some of the best fabrics that I have found thus far have been salvaged from old chairs and couches, because vintage upholstery fabric is generally quite rigid and really interesting! I also added a vintage pearl clip to the side, for a bit of pizzazz :)

Laptop Bag Madness!

2009-11-15T22:43:00.003-05:00

I have a secret love for bags, and making bags. And so, when in Chapters, I ended up buying myself this book It has given me lots of great ideas!

I started with the laptop bag they have in it... but I found it turned out too boxy and pillow-like.

I ended up having to open it up again and cut off a bunch from the bottom.

Later on, someone else wanted me to make them one, but I made some changes: I added handles and a zipper to the top, and didn't add so much to the top and bottom of the laptop dimensions. It came out pretty well!!

Later on someone else wanted one too (that fabric turned out to be VERY popular!!) and I added a side pocket for the power cord etc. I also made one for myself in purple (My love for purple parallels my love for bags) If anyone wants to know how to make them let me know, and I would love to share the patterns.

2009-11-14T20:06:00.000-05:00

I've started this blog because I have recently started to sew.. for therapeutic purposes. I have become addicted and want to share patterns and tips and ideas and how-to's! It will be a great way for me to continue procrastinating from finishing up my master's degree, and I would love some company along the way.

Terrifying, yet oh so exciting!

2009-11-14T03:00:00.001-05:00

I just got myself my very own serger, on Ebay. Sergers are inherently terrifying I think, anything with that many threads/needles/moving parts/things that could go wrong and need to be trouble-shooted. Hopefully I don't end up shooting it right out the window!
I am a Pfaff girl and got the Pfaff Coverlock 4862... Only a mere 30 minutes to figure out how to thread it... I think that is not too bad for my first serger experience!
I have been coveting a serger ever since I started to shop at Katrin Leblond (http://katrinleblond.com/), a store on St- Laurent in Montreal. They have really beautiful clothes etc made by local artists, and I have been drooling over making things with rolled hems. First project: skirt with rolled hem, out of fabric above...