by Sherri Sylvester | Sep 12, 2015
Catch up Saturday! I’m excited to let you know who won the last two giveaways and what you all chose as the name of the Janome Skyline S5 I’m using!
First up, the Bess Top Pattern Giveaway from Fabric Spark. My Bess Top made with Anna Maria Horner’s Loominous fabric has been in constant rotation over here, until I accidentally left it at my brother-in-laws last weekend. I’ll be getting it back tomorrow, thank goodness! Just in time to pair it with a nice fall sweater I think!
The winner of a paper copy of the Bess Top pattern from Fabric Spark is: Entry No. 394! Rebecca H. who said “What a darling top. I would love it in blue. I liked Katrina Roccella Imprint, the Add Night one.”
Next, the winner of the amazing (Merchant & Mills filled) Torn and Frayed, Revival Issue kit from Cannonball Collective. I just put another hole in my jeans and will be doing more visible mending soon to patch them up. You can buy the stand-alone kit on their site if you’d like too!
The winner of the Torn & Frayed kit from Cannonball Collective is: Entry No. 381! Elena W. who tells me she has a pair of jeans at home waiting for some mending, perfect!
Last, but not least… (drumroll please…)
I am pleased to introduce you to Bluebell!
Ok, so you’ve seen this Janome Skyline S5 already, but now she has a name, Yay! Thanks so much to everyone who voted, and especially the last minute folks on Facebook who helped break the tie! I am off to use the monogram letters on the machine to make her a nametag. I’ll post a photo on Instagram later today! (Find my Janome sponsorship info here, and the Skyline S5 review here)
Whew! I’m off to sew, sew, sew this weekend. Lots of fun stuff coming up. You can see sneak peeks on Instagram, along with photos of the pencil cases I talked about earlier this week!
by Sherri Sylvester | Sep 9, 2015
Today’s project… (Yes, I know it’s late afternoon!) is to work with these fabrics to make a myriad of “pencil” cases for my oldest to take to school. Both girls started back again yesterday. Thankfully with lots of excitement, and they were still happy when they got home, Day 1 success. It’s pretty hard to believe that our oldest is in grade 3 this year!
Reminds me I should hold on tight, soon they will be graduating high school!
I’ve been reworking our office lately and am feeling the push to de-stash again. There’s just SO MUCH fabric! I’d love to sew all the things, but I know in reality (and from experience) that I can’t use up the giant bin or teeny tiny scraps, or all of the knit fabrics. Maybe one day soon you will see an Instagram de-stash happening… just as soon as I research how in the world to pull one off!
The little piles of fabric were made by my oldest. In an effort to let go of some of my favorites, I decided to give her open access to my smaller scrap shelf. It’s mostly full of fat quarter sized pieces that I’m sure I’d know what to do with if I was a quilter. The photo above is only the “good stuff”. I don’t even want to think about the “by colour” sorted baggies in the bin under my desk…. or the “smaller than small” pieces I’ve got put away!
Speaking of stashing fabric….
Public Service Annoucement/Fabric Enabler: Double Decker Fabric is back for a short while. This Canadian online shop is closing and all remaining stock must go! Get 40% off on all quilting cottons and amazing pricing on solids. Don’t miss out! (P.S. They ship within Canada and the US! P.P.S This is not a sponsored post, I love supporting Canadian and this is a great shop!)
(Oh, and note to the weatherman… rain for the first two days of school should not be allowed! “First Day of School” outfits and boots just don’t match!)
I’m Curious… If you are not a quilter, what do you do with your small scraps?
by Sherri Sylvester | Sep 3, 2015
As promised! Please pick from these popular (at my house) sewing machine names for the Janome Skyline S5 I’m using. Thanks so much to everyone for your suggestions – it was so hard to narrow the list down to these 6 options. I even had to poll my family to decide!
Oooohhh I can’t wait to see what wins! (edit: the poll is closed, find the winner here)
[polldaddy poll=9059934]
by Sherri Sylvester | Aug 30, 2015
Today you can enter to win this Torn and Frayed Kit, the Revival Issue from Cannonball Collective!
I posted my experience with this subscription box a few weeks ago. I’ve been wearing my revived jeans everywhere since and love them so much more now! All of the box contents are still sitting in their tin box (less the Merchant and Mills, which are out for use!). They are waiting for the next mending job – and there will be one I’m sure!
A few days later I got an email from Cannonball Collective asking if I’d like to give one away. Eeek, YES! I love being able to share the fun with you! This kit is so much fun and is filled with super high quality sewing gear. Hello Merchant and Mills, Moco thread, Japanese fabric and more!
I mentioned before that the kit comes with $10 off cards towards the subscription and I want to give one to you! Cannonball Collective is mailing more to me and I’m sending them anywhere internationally! If you are ordering the kit please let me know so I can send you one. (I will update this post to let you know when they have been taken. The subscription is $95 US every quarter and Cannonball Collective ships internationally. Send emails to: sherri at threadridinghood dot com)
This giveaway is open to Canadian and US readers, from August 30 – September 6, 2015 at midnight EST. Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter – and if you don’t have Facebook to sign in with, you can use your name and email address. There’s a “click to enter”, no social media login entry too!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
by Sherri Sylvester | Aug 28, 2015
Fabric Spark is giving a paper copy of this pattern away today! They provided the fabric for this top. All opinions are honest and my own. Thanks for supporting the shops that support this blog!
Step 1) Procure gorgeous super-soft Loominous fabric. Step 2) Mix in your (favorite) top pattern. Step 3) Sew for 2 hours. Step 4) Remove from sewing machine. Step 5) Press and wear. (Maybe 3 days in a row!) Best. Shirt. Ever. Really! I am IN LOVE with this Loominous fabric from Anna Maria Horner. And I got to use my favorite top pattern The Bess Top from Imagine Gnats. The fabric is Loominous from Anna Maria Horner – yarn dyed lightweight woven cotton, it has an amazing hand and drapes so well. Plus, it’s called Big Love, the Primary colourway – how could you not love it?
I met Daryl from Fabric Spark for coffee a few months ago. She is super inspiring to talk to and I always come away ready to check out amazing bloggers and pattern makers I haven’t heard of yet. So good! Anyhow, We started chatting about working together on an apparel project and I immediately thought back to the Loominous fabric I’d seen in her shop when I picked out my Monthly Sparks bundle.
I had recently made a muslin for the Bess Top pattern from Imagine Gnats. (Imagine Gnats makes my most favorite patterns ever!) So I suggested that maybe we could make a Loominous Bess Top. Lucky for me she agreed! Fabric Spark now stocks the Bess Top, the Alder Skirt and the Roly Poly (children’s Pinafore). Hooray!
Bess Top pattern by Imagine Gnats
Imagine Gnats patterns make wearable, comfortable clothing that’s not too fancy. They all have little design elements that look great and are really simple to sew. And they come in a really wide range of sizes. (I have made the Alder skirt before as well, in fact I wear it the most out of all my handmade clothing!)
The Bess Top (or tunic or dress without pockets) is made from only two pattern pieces. The back curves over the front and *bam* you’ve got sleeves, without even knowing it! Rachel has taught me to use jersey strips to finish the neckline, hem and sleeves and it has changed my life – literally! I’ve been using the technique on lots of other projects recently.
This top is a size 6 throughout, with a size 4 through the bust area. I used the lower neckline and replaced the shoulder pleat with pretty gathers. I don’t hate the pleat, in fact I love it. Unfortunatly, the pleat doesn’t love me, the gathers soften the detail by spreading the extra fabric along the whole seam. Much better!
I’ll do a proper pattern review when I post about the next Bess I’m making, from nani IRO double-gauze. I managed to order some from Fabric Spark before this print (Jewel Song Pocho) went out of stock, but she has others and some Ellen Baker double gauze in stock as well. Everyone is talking about double gauze – really, everyone!– so I figured it was high time I got my hands on some. My first impressions are great, and I’m excited to see how it drapes in a top. Fingers crossed it will be amazing!
Loominous by Anna Maria Horner
When I started working with this fabric I asked for a bit of extra so I could match the main stripesat the sides of the top. In the end it doesn’t look exactly matched because of the ikat-esque “stripes”, but I did end up using about 1/2 yard more than the pattern calls for to match the main sections. Ordering a little extra will save you lots of time and headache!
The bold patterns in this fabric make placement really important. I quickly searched online and found this top by Miss Make – wide strip in the center front – perfect. The internet is such a useful thing! The back of this top is centred on the two large orange stripes, mainly because I was trying to conserve fabric so I could make a little something for one of my girls with the leftovers!
If this Loominous print is not your favorite – Fabric Spark stocks 5 to choose from!
Hooray! Fabric Spark is giving away a paper copy of the Bess Top pattern today!
This giveaway is open to International readers, from August 28 – September 3, 2015 at midnight EST. Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter – and if you don’t have Facebook to sign in with, just use your name and email address. There’s a “click to enter”, no social media login entry too!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
