I don’t know about you, but I always love to check out the fabric stores and thrift shops of any city or town I happen to be visiting. Despite being surrounded by fabric every day – both at the store and at home – I always like to see what other stores have to offer. Two of my fabric searching passions are conversational cotton prints for fashion and crafting projects (I have churned out 6 variations of New Look 6407 in various quilting cotton prints and now I’m on a surgical cap kick for my sister the doctor and my dog’s vet) and slightly heavier fabric like printed canvas for tote bags.

Tote bags are great for both personal use and as gifts. Here in Victoria, all of the grocery stores are trying to encourage everyone to bring their own bag.  I just don’t like the non-plastic bags they have available to purchase!

Here are the instructions for the tote bag that I make (or have made something like 50!) in a vintage fabric I found at a thrift store.  I like the 60cm length of straps because I then have the option of carrying the bag or slinging it onto my shoulder.

Supplies

2 pieces of fabric measuring 50cm x 50cm square (for the bag)

2 pieces of fabric measuring 8cm x 60cm OR 2 pieces of 1″ webbing 60cm long (handles)

2 pieces of fusible interfacing measuring 8cm x 60cm long (if you use the fabric for the handles)

Sewing

1. With right sides together, sew the 2 square pieces along 3 edges – 2 sides and the bottom. (I like to use my serger as it sews and finishes the seams all at once)
2. Pinch the bottom corners and stitch across 6cm from the corner.  
3. Press down 4cm hem along the top of the bag.
4. Divide the front side and back side of the bag into thirds for your handle positions.
5. For the handles, fuse the interfacing to both 8cm x 60cm pieces of fabric.  (If you are using webbing, skip to step 8)
6. With right sides together, sew along the long sides of the straps.
7. Turn both handles inside out and press.  Top stitch along the long edges if you wish.
8. Tuck your finished handles under the top hem at your predetermined spots.  Make sure your handles are not twisted!    As you stitch, tuck under the raw edge of the hem.
9. Flip the handles up and stitch in place.  I like to stitch a fancy “X” for extra strength.  
10. Flip bag right side out and admire!

 

In a previous post, I talked about making a quilt using the store’s Northcott Sesquicentennial Challenge block.  The quilt was pieced, quilted and bound and then washed it to remove the water soluable marking pen.  But the red dye ran all over the cream fabrics 🙁

Luckily, I did not put in the dryer but hung it to dry.  (The heat from the dryer will set the colour and then you are really hooped!)  After an investigation on Google and talking with a local quilting teacher, I tried to remove the colour using the synthrapol method.

Well, I’m happy to report that the synthrapol method WORKED!  Hallelujah!

I ran the hottest water from the faucet until there was about 10cm or 4″ of water in the bathtub.  I stirred in 3 tablespoons of synthrapol as per instructions then immersed half the quilt.  I wanted to try half the quilt so I could display a before and after effect.  After a couple of hours soaking, I drained the tub of the resulting pink water and rinsed out the quilt.  Then I hung the quilt to dry.  Check out the before and after below!

(It is much more dramatic in person.)

Another product that I was told that works well is Breezy Colour Absorber sheets.  They are sheets that I could have added to the washing machine when removing the water soluable marks.  They sound handy to have when you wash your new pair or jeans!

So there you have it.  Lesson learned.  Have you had success in removing colour bleed?  What did you use?

BTW, both the synthapol and the Breezy sheets are available in the store or on our online store under the notions tab.

 

Our spring sale starts today!  25% all regular priced fabric.  Come down to the store or shop online.  If you shop on line, type in MARCH2017 into the discount section on the shopping cart and enjoy sale prices as if you were in the store.  Ends March 19th.  Happy shopping!

Only 2 more sleeps until the Victoria Creativ Festival (March 10 and 11) held at Pearkes Arena.  Check out what classes are being offered here.

We will be in the merchant mall with both fashion and quilting fabrics.  See you there!

We are involved with Northcott’s Trans-Canada Block Party!

This party is arranged as a quilt shop hop.  Visit any of the participating stores to pick up their free Sesquicentennial block pattern or purchase a fabric kit of their individually designed block.  Put at least 6 different blocks together into a quilt and submit a picture of your quilt to submissions@northcott.net for a chance to win $500 cash and a BERNINA 570 Quilter’s Edition Sewing Machine (value $4700).

More information can be found on this link and here.

Which stores are participating in your area?  A list of your favorite quilt stores is here.

At this time, the pattern and/or kit are only available to walk-in customers only.  Kits will be available online after September 1, 2017.

Here is our modern quilt inspired block.  Make up a dozen of these blocks and piece them in rotation to make a beautiful modern quilt.  Pick up yours today.

 

Escape the winter blahs with a little side trip to Bali!
Our guest speaker for our February Sewing Forum will be
Barb Alexander, owner of Bali Fiber Tours.

Barb is a sewist who used to own and design her own fabric line of rayon batiks under the name The Batik Butik.  After 12 years in the fabric business Barb started Bali Fiber Tours and now leads women-only textile tours to Bali.

In this presentation Barb will share her knowledge and experience of the different types of batiks, designing and dyeing batik fabric and explain how she met and why she chose to work with the owner of one particular batik factory.  She will bring many samples of her batiks and explain how each was produced.  Other samples of Balinese/Indonesian textiles will be shown and those processes explained as well.

February 5, 2017 at 11:30am

Arrive early if you would like a chair otherwise it will be standing room only!

Free event

I am the maker of the sample garments that hang in the store.  If I’m lucky, and the garment fits me, I get to keep the garment after it has had its exposure at the store.  If not, then the garment goes into the sample sale rack.  When sewing the garment, I usually stick to the pattern straight out of the envelope.  That way if people try on the garment, they know what changes they need to do for their own body shape.  If I do any adjustments, I make notes on the pattern cover on display.  So far, I’m batting about a 30% wardrobe addition success.

We don’t carry these patterns, but I have been on a Sewing Workshop binge.  The Barcelona Top is my last hurrah for winter, since they are predicting a temperature drop to -1*C (30*F) by the middle of next week.

 

I used the bamboo cotton french terry as it is a nice soft mid weight for a winter top.  The fabric was preshrunk in the (cold) washer and dryer with little shrinkage or difference in hand.  I toyed with the idea of using the terry side for the cowl neck but decided not to in the end.  I also eliminated the drawstring since I didn’t want the ballooning around my hips and the drawstring instructions called for using the same fabric which I thought would have been too thick and heavy.  This design went together better by using a straight stretch stitch. Usually I use my 4 thread serger to sew knits, but with the weird meeting points of the front panels, I had better control with the straight stretch stitch.  Thankfully, I didn’t need to unpick anything!

I find the sizing on Sewing Workshop patterns very oversized on most designs.  According to my measurements (41″ bust), I should have made a size Large, however, you can see the size Small was roomy enough.

Do you know how to decide what size to make?  I check out the finished garment measurements.  In this case, this information is found on the back of the pattern envelope.

Or sometimes this information can be found at the bust and hip areas of the front pattern pieces.  They are indicated with a circle with a cross inside.  These measurements will give you a better indication of the amount of ease that is incorporated into the design.

Personally, I like this garment better in real life than in photos, but then I don’t like seeing myself in pictures so I’m biased.  The cowl neck is not much of a cowl, more like a loose turtleneck.  Maybe it was the fabric, but even the pattern piece is not very cowl-y.  Maybe I’ll try this again in a lighter weight knit and see how it sits.

With spring around the corner, I made the following 2 garments with these recent fabric arrivals.

The Madrid top is made from the rayon chambray in the indigo.  Again, I made the Small despite the indication I should do a Large for my 41″ bust.

The fabric has a beautiful drape which means the fullness of this design falls nicely.

I am shortwaisted yet I find the body a bit short so will toy with lengthening (particularly the right under panel) a couple inches.  I used a lightweight fusible non-woven interfacing in the collar but I think I would have preferred the sewer’s dream for a softer finished hand.

One cutting out suggestion is to widen the seam allowance in the right front curve to 3/4″.  The seam allowance is used as support/backing for the buttons so if you trim and serge that seam, you risk losing that backing.

Also, the hem allowances are pretty tight.  The instructions give you a 5/8″ seam allowance that you serge and stitch down.  If you would like to double fold your hem, give yourself about 1″ for the bottom hems.

The last outfit from this sewing binge is the Chicago Jacket.

When this black flocked denim came in, it seemed to generate a strong love/hate relationship among the rest of the staff.  I, of course, liked it and could immediately see a jacket of some kind.  And having just purchased this pattern, it seemed like a good pairing.

This time I made the Medium since I figured a jacket should have more room for layers underneath.  The finished bust measurement indicated on the pattern for a Medium is 46″.  And the finished hip is 48″ which is lots of room for my 42″ hips.

The construction of this jacket is fairly straight forward.

If you use this fabric, you have to take care with pressing the seams because of the flocked design, .  (Flocking is where small fibers are glued to the fabric surface.  The fibers can be glued outlining a design or can be glued across the entire face of the fabric.)  The flocked area almost gives a velvety appearance so if you use your iron on the face of the fabric,  you can ‘squash’ the flocked area.  Not to worry, as you can bring back the design by scratching it lightly with your fingernails or a soft toothbrush.  You can avoid ‘squashing’ the design by using a towel as a pressing cloth.

This fabric did go in the (cold water) machine wash and dryer with no difference in the hand/texture and with little shrinkage.

I like this jacket a lot so will think of other fabrics to make it again.

What do you think of my choices?

If you are interested, you are welcome come down to the store to try these garments on for style and size as they will be on display there for a couple months.