Canadian Designer Blog Tour

Hi! Welcome to my stop on this awesome Canadian Pattern Designer Blog Tour hosted by Lulu & Celeste!

I've sewn patterns from a lot of the designers featured on this tour... E+M, Filles a Maman, Audrey & Tiffany, and Thread Theory. And I've loved all of the ones I've sewn.  There is actually a sew along this month in the Fabric Igloo B/S/T/A & Fun Stuff Group for the Thread Theory Comox Trunks if you want a fun chance to try out a great Canadian designer!

But on to my pattern for the tour... I am REALLY excited for this one.  This is the third Pattern I've made from FABulous Home Sewn.  When I saw their name as part of the tour, I decided it was a great chance to jump into more of their patterns.

 This is the Perfect Petal Purse, which is super cute and makes the cutest accent purse for Inara's flower picking escapades :)

And this is the Zippy Keepers Pattern, which I actually keep in my purse all the time.  The small size is great for coins and the larger for cards etc.  (Embroidery is Sherlock inspired from Knits and Giggles)

So, since I've made those two... I am very excited to show you my Sunburst Clutch:

This pattern is absolutely darling.  It takes less than 2 FQs to make.. and you can do the front flap details in multiple fabrics and use up scraps if you want too:

The front flap is constructed with multiple angled panels that fit perfectly together (just be very careful with your seam allowance).  This gives you a great chance to play with different fabrics to get the effect you want. 

The pouch is about 8x5".  It closes with a magentic snap closure.  Inside there is a key ring loop and a small zipper pouch. 

The pouch is the perfect size for just taking the essentials with you, and if you decided to make it in fancier fabrics -- something lacey or vinyl, maybe?  You'd have the perfect clutch for a night on the town. 

I love how bright and summery these fabrics make the clutch look.  It makes me want to attend a garden party!  I picked up the fabrics during a "Wacky Wednesday" sale in Whimsical Fabric & Me.  It was a great deal on a coordinating set of FQs and I am SO GLAD that I got them on a whim, because they work so perfectly for this pattern and I plan on taking my clutch everywhere I can get without the kids! 



The pattern is very detailed in the steps and the pattern pieces are professionally done and everything fits together perfectly.  The designer even includes a quick note on what type of interfacing she chose to use for the stability she wanted, which was a great detail to include because then I knew what to use to get more or less stability. 

I will definitely be making another one of these and if you are looking for a cute clutch that is fast to make and has that little extra detail to make it special... well this is it.  And I would definitely grab any of her patterns while they're on sale too!  Patterns are already marked down in the Craftsy Shop, but if you prefer to use Etsy, the code is "ocanada" and gets you 15% off.  Code expires midnight tomorrow, so shop while you can!!

Thank you so much for stopping by to see my creation... AND now take a moment to enter the giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway


And make sure you check out all of the other fantastic bloggers and designers that are being "sewn off" this month!:

June 1 - 3 Gracious Threads - Interview Creative Bug - The Wholesome Mama - stitched by crystal 

June 4 - 6 Jalie – Interview Shaffer Sisters – Call Ajaire – hibbadoray 

June 8 – 10 Thread Theory – Interview Handmade Boy – Rebel & Malice – Sew Out of Control 

June 11 - 13 Audrey & Tiffany – Interview All Things Katy! – Not Sew Fast – Conversas de Hermana 

June 15 – 17 E+M Patterns – Interview From-a-Box – Made by Sara – Climbing the Willow 

June 17 - 19 Victory Patterns – Interview Swoodson Says – Thread Riding Hood – Sprouting JubeJube

 June 18 – 20 FABulous Home Sewn – Interview Create3.5 – Calm and Carrion – Stitches by Laura 

June 22 – 24 Filles a Maman – Interview Pattern Revolution – PhatQuarters – sewstarly – House of Estrela 

June 24 – 26 Closet Case Files – Interview gloria june – Rebel & Malice – Sew Far North 

June 25 – 27 Elegance & Elephants – Interview Sprouting JubeJube – AmandaRose – Mae & K

 June 29 - 30 Lulu & Celeste: new makes and a round up post 

July 1st Last day to enter Giveaways and Final Round up Post!

Pattern Review: Cozy Nest Ellory Bag

So I don't test a lot of bag patterns, though I feel like my bag making skills are slowly improving.

I find that testing for Cozy Nest Designs is a great way to improve those skills.  Her patterns push my comfort zone and show me how to improve my sewing and I totally love that.  So, meet the new Ellory Bag.

First, I want to give a quick shout out to my friend Kim who sent me this fabric that she got at a Quilting Con in Texas.  Isn't it just gorgeous??

Okay, now the bag details:

Finish size: 14w x 10.5h x 4d
Difficulty: Intermediate
Notions Needed: zippers, metal rectangles for handles, and (optional) bag feet

Loot I used bag feet!!

The finished size of this bag is perfect for someone like me whose bag gets taken to the park every day after school.  I can carry my wallet, water, and phone in one side pocket, and then I can fit the kids snacks, a diaper and wipes in the middle, and the always necessary pirate sword and spyglass in the other.

The bag has three pockets.  a big center pocket and two double zipped side pockets, so the bag holds plenty of stuff.

The side pockets use a type of stabilizer that was completely new to me, and is SO COOL.

I'll let you get the pattern to see how cool it is!

And with the lovely finished lining, you can coordinate the inside with multiple fabrics.

What I love:  I love the big pockets and I love how the bag is constructed and stabilized. Plus the instructions were easy to walk through.

What I'd change:  I think for my next one that I will add a nice little zipper pocket to the inside.  The other thing is that I would machine stitch the pocket lining to the outer... man my fingers were killing me after that hand stitching.  (The pattern says to machine stitch, but my arms kept getting in my own way, so I hand stitched).

The bag is so nicely stabilized and it holds it's shape without being weirdly stiff.  It took me a while to make this, though since it is a bag and it was my first time using the pattern, I don't think my time table would be accurate with someone who has a lot of bag making experience.  But, I will definitely be making another one of these, because I absoluley love it and I get tons of compliments on it.

Excuse the slight blurriness of this one.. I was out to lunch with the kids and decided I needed a picture of how the bag sits when you press the top handles together.  The angled shape of the bag makes it the perfect everyday bag in fabric like mine, or you can make it great for nights out with some fancy vinyl fabric (check out the listings for some awesome fabric ideas!).

In case you missed the link at the top the pattern is available in the Cozy Nest Pattern Shop and her Craftsy shop.   While you're in  Craftsy... can I HIGHLY recommend grabbing the Convertible/Reversible Bag!

Perfect Pattern Parcel #7: Handbags Galore!

Good morning! Welcome to my day of this awesome round of the Perfect Pattern Parcel.  This parcel is very exciting.  To start with, this is the LAST parcel of the year, so I'd really love to see huge support of this one so the awesome people behind the parcel can meet their goal and donate tons of needs to school kids!

If this is your first time hearing about the PPP, here is what it's all about, right from the mouth (fingers?) of the founder...

"Here at Perfect Pattern Parcel, we believe in supporting independent pattern designers. It’s our opinion that indie patterns are just, well, better than big box patterns, and we’re pretty sure our customers think so too. So, we allow customers to show their support in naming their own price for each Parcel.  We also encourage customers to allocate part of their Parcel price to the charity Donorschoose.org in order to help classrooms in need. Pattern Parcel donates all profits after expenses from Parcel sales to the charity as well. Its our goal to raise over $20,000 for Donors Choose this year."

And you only have have FOUR MORE DAYS to get in on this awesome deal. To start with, the pattern collection of this round is just awesome. AND, because I really want to encourage you to spend enough the get the *bonus* pattern, that's the one I've chosen to sew up! Meet my Daphne:

I am totally in love with this bag.  Once in a while I get a hankering to quilt, but I am really not a very good quilter.  So this bag... totally scratched that itch

**Editing to add the pic I took on the way out the door this morning with my bag all packed**

Bag is holding: 2 diapers, wipes, extra pants for Connor, bottle of water, bottle of gatorade, various kids snacks, wallet, phone and keys... AND there is room to spare!

Before I start gushing over my bag, let me break down the patterns in this parcel... 

Parcel #7 includes:

Barcelona Bag and Wallet by Pat Bravo

Butterfly Sling Purse by Emmaline Patterns

Evelyn Hangbag by ChrisW Designs

Midtown Messenger Bag by Betz White

Betty Bowler by Swoon Sewing Patterns

BONUS PATTERN: Daphne Bag by Clover & Violet

What's a bonus pattern? Choose a price of $32 or greater for Parcel #6 and you will automatically also be sent the Bonus Pattern! That's only $5.33 a pattern. This is a brand new, never been seen before pattern and is an exclusive opportunity for Parcel #7 customers!

I have to say, this pattern was so much fun to sew.  The directions were clear and easy to follow, and I really enjoyed playing around with my fabrics..

All of these fabrics came from my stash... I have these three packs of charm squares from Anthology fabrics that have been sitting on my shelf for a year now waiting for a project.. The best part? They are 40 square packs, so I can make TWO BAGS out of each pack!  The other batik's in the picture are also Anthology Fabrics batiks.

The bag has two inside pockets, as well, which are a total requirement when I make a bag... or I'm constantly losing my keys and phone (which I do anyways...).  I love how all the different pieces come together to and it was so much fun to play with the different accent prints.
Even the strap has a cool accent piece!

By the way, make sure you find your hardware in advance!  My Joann's doesn't carry the rectangles or sliders and neither does my Walmart, or either of the local quilt shops.  BUT, here's what I did and I think that if you find yourself with the same problem, this solution may help you.  Our town has this thrift store (not Goodwill, they were kind of spendy) that helps fund the local homeless shelter.  I go there every now and then and raid their sewing section for $.25 zippers (used on this purse!!) and other cool notions for super cheap.  Well, I went this time to the purse area... and bought an ugly old bag for $.99 with the slider and rectangle thing on, and cut off the strap and voila!

As for the other patterns in this parcel... when I got the pattern list, I was super excited to see two patterns that I already own... I will recommend without reservation anything that Swoon makes and I may have a few Emmaline patterns that are sitting in my *make me* file.

So for all the right reasons... Awesome patterns, great price, AND great cause... Go out and grab this parcel... and I know it's close to the holidays, but these prices are spectacular, and if you're still looking for Christmas gifts... these are perfect!

Sew-a-bration of Womanhood - Sewing for me... and someone special.

When the call went out for Women who wanted to Sew-a-brate Womanhood, I paused for a moment.  It seemed like the coolest idea, but WHAT would I sew??  So I spent a couple days reading and clicking through the Shaffer Sisters blog, and decided that I really wanted to do this!

I had all these grand designs to sew for my new Sister-In-Law or my Mother, but trying to get the men-folk in my family to communicate things in a timely manner is difficult, so I took a deep breath, put those patterns aside to sew before I go visit family next month, and stared in the mirror for a while...

I've been working on losing weight lately, and its been progressing, slowly as these things do, but I still have such a hard time fitting in things, and it frustrates me sometimes.  On the plus side, some things I've made recently are already getting too big, which gave me my idea for this post..  I'm going to save some of the things I've made to still fit.. My Amy Skirt and Aspen Pants from the Greenstyle Essential Wardrobe Tour

My body... In case you were wondering - I have always had hips and a butt - it's genetic, but after two kids, those hips definitely fit the "child bearing hips" description!  I'm a bit smaller on the top, but really it generally means I spend a lot of time mashing sizes if I make dresses.  

 So I saved my now too big Amy skirt by cutting off the skirt part, gathering it (I collected all the front gathers into one off center spot) and attached it to a RTW tank that I cut off at Empire length.  Then I made big 2" tucks in the gathered area to give it a sort of fun hemline.    

The Aspen's were a little easier to save - I took some off along the waist and hip on both legs, and then made them summer friendly - I cut them off in the middle of the curve along the knee area, and turned them 1" and 1" again outward to create a cuff.  And of course they paired perfectly with my Lille Racerback Tank from Greenstyle Creations.   And just for fun I threw in the new Jaqy bag from Pickle Pudding . *Releases Monday as part of the Aspiring Designers Challenge.  

And then I started to feel a little guilty...  I decided that I really wanted to sew something for someone special, and I knew JUST who do it for.  When we lived in Lacey still, Inara had the most amazing nanny.  She was kind and intelligent and had this amazing ability to connect with kids.  My totally clingy kids, both went to her the first day they met without a second thought.  Connor could say "ma-maw" before he could say Connor, and that was after only one visit.  Well next week, we are making the trip back to visit for a couple days.  The kids made her this in ceramics class.

And even though she sews as well, I wanted to make her something special to say thank you, and to let her know that even though we've lived out here for over a year, I still miss her so much, and appreciate all she did... My brilliant headstrong daughter is kind to little kids, protective of anyone smaller, gentle with animals, intelligent beyond her years... all of those qualities, I owe in part to the time she spent with DeLila.  She was like having a mother here when mine is so far away.  And yes, even at my age, some days you just want your mom. 

So Inara and I sat down and picked out fabrics and sewed up the new Jaqy bag from Pickle Pudding for her - the large size, because she nannies for a new little man now, and watches her own grandkids, so she needs the room!

Goodness, thats a lot of Sew-a-brating, isn't it?  And a lot of story telling. But I had so much fun sewing for me and digging into my creative side, and reminding myself that I do love me, no matter what shape I am!  And even more fun sewing for another woman I love. 

Make sure you check out all the other awesome Sew-a-brating!

The Life Of A Compulsive Crafter | Serger Pepper | House of Estrela | sewVery | Our Busy Little Bunch

Modern Handmade | Golden Rippy | Sew & Tell with Mama Eggo | Shawnta Sews | Fishsticks Designs
Ali Cat & Co | Paisley Roots | Like a mother | Giggles & Beans | Call Ajaire
Shaffer Sisters | I Married Superman | A Jennuine Life | If Only They Would Nap | Once Upon a Sewing Machine

Naptime Creations | Pattern Revolution | Two Many | Rebel & Malice | Simple Simon and Company

SewingSober | Handmade Dress Haven | Daisy Chain Creations | Swoodson Says | I'm Feelin' Crafty So Cal Sewing Mom | Keep Calm and Carrion | DandelionDrift | The Crazy Tailor | Max California 

Falafel and the Bee | Lexi Made | Winter Wonderings | Kid Approved | Scientific Seamstress
Becca DuVal | Peek-a-Boo Pattern Shop | The Berry Bunch | Little Kids Grow | leighlee
Feathers Flights | That's-Sew-Kari