by Sherri Sylvester | Feb 28, 2018
You know when you want to start doing something – ie: sewing your own purses… but you are concerned that you will love it too much, and then it will become an obsession?
And you won’t be able to stop… and then you will need all the patterns. And all the materials. And then your stash (which is already significant) will grow and grow… and take over your whole house?
That’s me… and I want to make all the bags! And, oh wait… sewing has already taken over the house anyhow…
I started sewing bags when I created the Forest Glen Satchel – my first “real” pattern. I made a Chobe (from Elle Puls) in 2016 and created the first purse of my dreams – perfectly slouchy with lots of room.
Fast forward a year and Swoon patterns kept coming up in my Instagram feed. I needed to make another bag! How could I justify buying another pattern when my Chobe was still going strong? How about for a gift?! Surely my mom could use a new cross body bag? So the justification (and new obsession) continues! (*lol, I think?!*)
All that aside, I do love making bags and have quite a few more that I have to photograph to show you. The process ticks all the boxes in my goal to sew as neatly and professionally as possible. I think my girls will be needing new purses soon so I can justify a few more?! (Their Sweet Talk Phone Bags are still great, but I should have used a bit of Scotch Guard on them – kids are hard on their purses!)
Find the Glenda Convertible Clutch Pattern review below…
Glenda Convertible Clutch Review
Things I Liked
- This bag is so cute! It has a timeless design and you can’t go wrong with that.
- I learned a lot of fun tricks in the instructions.
- It has great structure – this is probably helped by my using vegan leather for the exterior.
- I was super impressed that the Skyline S7 I had on loan sewed through all of the vinyl layers without any issue.
- It was fun to add a tiny piece of sewing fabric as the interior pocket lining – yay for moms that sew!
Things I Didn’t Like
- Honestly, nothing! The instructions were great and it turned out well.
Things I Changed
- I wanted a smaller bag – it’s actually quite long, despite how it looks in the pattern photos – so I removed 2″ from the width. Instead of 11″ wide, mine is 9″ wide.
- I also lengthened the strap to 50″ for a cross-body length.
Things for Next Time
- I think I would keep the smaller width next time as well. The wide width looks nice for a clutch, but seems very wide to use as a purse with a strap. (Plus, my pattern pieces are already taped in place at the new size!)
by Sherri Sylvester | Dec 18, 2017
I have a huge thanks to give out to my mom today. She loves to sew and that’s how I got hooked – hooray! It also gives me a good excuse to make anything that happens to relate to sewing – since I can’t possibly use them all myself, lol!
This sewing machine mat is so cute. It’s the free Undercover Maker Mat tutorial from lillyella. Good looking and (hopefully) useful all in one! I say hopefully because I haven’t used one myself – it was a gift for my mom a couple of years ago. I also say hopefully, because it seems a bit tricky to take the mat out from under your machine – with potentially full pockets – and tie it on as a machine cover.
That said – I had a lot of fun making it and using some fun stitches and my paper piecing skills to make it special. The batik fabric was chosen by my mom a few years before, and it matches the wonky star table runner I made her that year. I added a cardinal button for the removable thread catcher, since she and my dad love to bird-watch.
One thing I had not done before was use a fancy stitch as a quilting stitch. The decorative flower stitch on the natural background fabric is number 28 on my Janome Skyline S9. And the stars look so cute as an embellishment to sew down the binding that hides your raw edges. I also used a shiny machine embroidery thread that I picked up on sale for some of the decorative stitches. It makes them look special!
I’ve been knee deep in Christmas sewing, jury duty and regular life for the past month. But I’m excited that the sewn gifts are looking almost finished, early even! Amazing!
I hope you have a lovely holiday, and thank you so much for continuing to come back and read my thoughts. We’ll be meeting up with family and enjoying the season, slower than usual I hope! Taking time out for the “little things” has become a lot more important this year. See you again soon!
by Sherri Sylvester | Jun 1, 2017
Enter stage right – Monday – full of after school swimming lessons and general busy-ness, newly finished dresses and previous days of unpredictable rain. Enter stage left – Me – with a rushed plan to fit a photoshoot right smack in the center of it all (before it rained again!). Any guesses to how it went? Lol. Thankfully, after a bit of a rough start (followed by a few minutes of silly selfies), we all got our act together. Whew!
Today is my turn on the Art Gallery Fabrics tour for Katarina Roccella‘s recent collection – inBlue. Aside from my excitement at being asked to show off this beautiful fabric, I’m so pleased that you get a chance to win the Pollywoggles Pattern I used and lots more in the giveaway at the end of this post!
Art Gallery Fabrics provided these Katarina Roccella fabrics and sponsored this post. Pollywoggles Patterns also provided their Primrose Anne pdf dress pattern. My opinions are always my own. Thank you for reading!
First, I have to say my girls and I LOVE these dresses so much! The sweet florals and thoughtful design – I love Katarina Roccella’s design style and my girls do too.
The Bloesem Sweet floral was an instant hit with my oldest and suits her dress well as the main fabric. We used the Bloesem Royal and Chinoiserie Kobalt in the ruffles to highlight and offset it. The little one loves blue, and as we mused over (the many!) she wanted, came back to the light blue backed hot air balloons from Fly Away Laat. Two tiny florals, Weide in Blue and Rose finished it well pulling the corally-pink colour out. I had such a hard time deciding which balloons to feature on her bodice front – did you see the swan balloon?! There were fun surprises hiding throughout this print.
Fabric Quality: I am also glad to write a glowing review of these woven Art Gallery Fabrics. They provide, hands-down, the best quilting cotton to use for sewing apparel. (And I already knew this!) Lately, the trend has been to use apparel fabrics for garment sewing and leave quilting cotton for quilts and other projects. No need here – AGF woven cotton has great drape, feels amazing and behaves beautifully in garment projects.
Sewing Pattern: This is the Primrose Anne pdf pattern from Candian pattern designer Pollywoggles Patterns. I sewed her kids’ robe pattern earlier this year and was so impressed with the instructions that I asked to use this pattern when AGF emailed about their tour. (Thankfully Heidi said yes!)
I think my favorite part of the dress is the back bow and clever strap construction. Close second, though, are the tiered bottom ruffles – which I think match the spirit of Katarina Roccella’s fabric – and look so pretty on the girls. The minute they put the dresses on you could see they felt great in them. Lots of twirling to be had! And speaking of ruffles, I was super grateful for the rolled hemming foot (included with my on-loan Janome Skyline S9) when I needed to hem the 7 yards of ruffles per dress!
In fairness to Heidi’s original pattern, I did alter one dress from the intended tea length. My youngest is going through a “maxi dress please mommy, so they can’t see my shoes” phase! The elastic back bodice makes this dress really easy to fit and should allow it to fit the girls longer as well.
I’m getting long-winded, so I’ll end with the giveaway and ask you for your thoughts. (Plus, take a look through the tour links below – so much great inspiration and options for boys as well!)
What your thoughts are on the fabrics and dresses? How do you approach your garment projects? And have you ever been in a hot air balloon?
Tour Schedule
Monday
I Married Superman
Tuesday
Coffee and Thread – Handmade Frenzy
Wednesday
Sunflower Seams – Handmade Boy
Thursday
Thread Riding Hood – Pear Berry Lane
Friday
Ammon Lane – Sew and Tell Project
a Rafflecopter giveaway
by Sherri Sylvester | Feb 15, 2017
It’s extra fun when a random happening turns into something for my youngest and you too. Spoiler alert: There’s a discount code and giveaway in this post!
My youngest kinda gets the short end of the stick with clothing. The girls they have reached a stage where they both wear basically the same size clothing. This means my oldest rarely “grows out” of something while it still fits the little one. Ready-to-wear clothing isn’t the simplest solution, I end up hemming or altering a lot and may as well have made it myself!
This brings us to a happy coincidence, 1) the cutest robe pattern – she’s been wanting one for ages, and 2) yards (and yards) of gray fleece already in my stash!
I found the Pollywoggles Patterns Finley and Quinn robe on my friend Rachelle’s blog, That’s Sew Venice. It was quick to make, I cut it out and sewed it all the same evening. Since I made mine from fleece, the seam allowances don’t fray and don’t need finishing – one less step to do. Plus, I made a size too big, so it would last longer!
I have to say (not a #sponsoredpost) that I was really impressed with the instructions and photos for this pattern. Everything is very clear with lots of notations for how to make your sewing easier. For example, attaching the collar worried me once I saw it was a separate piece set into the front of the robe. I’ve had bad experiences sewing these square corners into clothing and was very relieved to make my way through the steps simply and quickly.
Here are a few other things I like about the Finley and Quinn robe pattern:
- The professional finish. It includes a loop for hanging, belt loops, and the inset collar looks great and lays well. A quick extra step for the loops and belt allows them to be flatter with the seam allowances in the center rather than on the side of the loop.
- You can tell a lot of thought was put into it. Heidi, the designer, talks about sewing the belt onto the back of the robe because her kids would otherwise lose it or use it to tie something up. Hers and mine too! I appreciate her thinking about how it would get used and providing a solution for it.
- The size range. The pattern fits sizes 12-18 months through 10. And it wouldn’t be hard to upsize it yourself since it is a loose fitting garment. And how cute would this be on a 1-year-old!
- There are lots of tips and tricks. This pattern includes a section on how to blend sizes and sew with stretch fabrics, plus notes throughout. It also includes 3 ways to attach the pockets – so you can pick the one that works best for your fabric.
- Pollywoggles Patterns is Canadian! I love writing about the Canadian sewing community!
And two things I didn’t do:
- I totally forgot to sew the sleeve cuffs and just realized that as I’m writing this. I meant to check the length on my daughter and finish it up. (Note to self: You should really do that!)
- I kind of messed up the inset collar a bit by rushing (late night) and not pinning enough. Next time I’ll be more careful. I fixed the sections that the straight stitch didn’t catch with a wide fancy stitch on the Janome Skyline S9 I have on loan.
My little one is very happy with her new robe, and I’m pleased to have found a great pattern designer! In fact, I’ve already planning to use another one of her patterns – but it’s a secret, so you’ll have to wait until the end of April or early May to find out. Eeeek, I’m so excited!
When I was preparing to write about this robe, I emailed Heidi to ask if she would like to provide a discount and giveaway for you and she said “Yes!” So, many thanks to Heidi, you can try out her patterns for yourself at a discount and also take a shot at winning one of them too!
Visit Pollywoggles Patterns and use the discount code “POLLYWOGGLES” to get 15% off store-wide! Valid today through Friday Feb. 17, 2017 at midnight EST.
One lucky winner will receive a Pollywoggles Pattern of their choice!
This giveaway is open to everyone, from today until February 20, 2017, 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
by Sherri Sylvester | Aug 15, 2016
I try not to start my blog posts with “I’m so excited to share” – but today I can’t help it – I’m really so excited about my new bag! It’s the Chobe from Elle Puls – same pattern designer that brought us the amazing Bethioua top. When Elke emailed me a few months ago, I was so happy to accept her invite to try the new pattern. My previous everyday bag’s zipper had just broken and this pattern was a perfect replacement – right down to the exact size and style! I took my Chobe on vacation in July and I’ve been using it every day since.
So I made it in gold! I really had to think hard about this… I’ve never carried around a gold bag – but I wanted to use my stash as much as possible. Maybe if we call it beige or champagne it would be ok?! I really don’t mind the colour now that I’ve made it. It helps that it matches everything – which is great because I’m a very non-fussy bag carrier and don’t switch them according to what I’m wearing. The thin stretchy hole-filled vinyl adds a bit of a sporty look. And I happened to have exactly the right Kona cotton to use as a lining. And exactly enough leather in the right shade to match for the base and shoulder strap!
I really like patterns that allow me to learn new sewing techniques, and the Chobe is great for that. The illustrated instructions are really easy to follow and allow for a super-professional finish.
Here are a few new things I learned:
- Rivets! I got to use them for the first time and I LOVE them! They made this bag look super professional and I was really excited to learn that they are really easy to install. One of them loosened two weeks into my vacation, but that was easily fixed when I got home. And now I own the rivet tools I want to use them everywhere – yay!
- Hardware. Ok, so I’ve used bag hardware before – but I love how ready-made these Snap Hooks look. And the matchy rivets and rectangular rings – have I mentioned how much I love rivets yet?!
- Recessed Zipper. I have a confession to make, the Cat-Eye Zipper pouch was supposed to have a recessed zip – but I couldn’t figure out how to make it work! I was so grateful for Elke’s straightforward instructions. It comes together so well and I’m so proud of how it looks!
Here are a few things I changed when I made my Chobe:
- Cross-body strap. I used the snap hooks to connect a simple cross-body strap. I copied my well-loved Coach everyday bag and snapped them onto the same rings that connect the shoulder strap. This lets you remove the long strap for a cleaner look.
- Flat Front. The fabric I chose didn’t really allow the pieced front to be made easily – since it has holes (and stretch), I needed to line each place I used it. Again, I copied my everyday bag and created a 2 piece front instead. The top-stitching makes it look a bit more ready-made.
- Interfaced Lining. My bag was pretty un-structured because I used thin vinyl instead of the recommended denim. To compensate a bit I added a layer of interfacing to the lining and it’s worked really well.
- Strap Attachment. Because I was so short on matching leather I had to shorten the shoulder strap and attach it creatively. I love how the straps are sewn on the outside of the original bag. But since my fabric was short I sewed them into the top seam instead.
Here are a few things I would do next time:
- Up Cycling. With the Canadian Tuxedo back in style (denim on denim on denim!), I figure we could add a bag to the mix? The original Chobe is made from a recycled pair of old jeans. Down to adding the pocket and label. The casual style would be fun to pull off.
- Outer Exposed Zipper. One day I will learn! For an outer zip to look professional the lining should match the outer, so the fabric doesn’t show on the outside of the bag. Argh. I did this the wrong way on my Makers Tote as well.
- Height. I might make the bag slightly shorter – by about 2 inches or so – since my kids are older now and I don’t need as large of a bag to stash things!
Have you ever attempted to make a bag? How did it go?
In the end my on-loan Janome Skyline S7 sewed through layers and layers of leather with no issues what so ever. The hardest part was getting used to sewing the vinyl outer. I did find that since the pattern was in centimeters I needed to do a bit of conversion before I started. But Elke includes a printable ruler, and I typed all of the measurements into Google and let it convert them for me – easy peasy!
I am so proud of this bag! And am loving the interior fabric a ton. It was stashed to eventually become a skirt, but this seems way better, since I get to see it everyday! All of the professional tips and tricks, the instructions on how to make your own leather handle, the recessed zip. So good!
I highly recommend the Chobe bag pattern. Elke has done a wonderful job on it, and she’s included tons of creative ideas to make it your own – along with great inspiration photos as well. Hats off to her! This bag is going to be my go-to pattern for a long, long time.
by Sherri Sylvester | Mar 21, 2016
Ummm… so maybe I went a bit overboard with this year’s Easter dresses! But before we get to that…
Last week was March Break with busy-ness and lots of fun. I was excited that we had a very manageable work week! It is SO encouraging for me that they are old enough to play more easily while I work. Less interruptions while “Mommy is working” means more efficient working hours for me and better-spent time with them!
Last week we managed to go to a Raptor’s D-league basketball game, take the kids out to Zootopia (super cute) and, after a warm photo shoot yesterday (thanks to the arboretum) we spent the day at the Royal Ontario Museum. Unfortunately, it has ended with a feverish little one in the house. Hopefully she will be feeling much better soon!
Back to Easter… these dresses are absolutely amazing, if I’m can say so myself! It’s not all of my hard work, but the pattern (and the girls!) that steal the show. These are made with the Violette dress pattern from Violette Field Threads. For the last two years I’ve gone to their patterns to make a special dress for each of the girls to wear on Easter Sunday. But I have to say, last year’s Annabelle dresses have nothing on these!
The construction is really simple, but I recommend that you save up your patience to sew them. I sewed two 9/10 width dresses and each one has about 43 yards of gathered tulle in the skirt! The gathering is a bit tedious, it took me about 3 hours to attach the first layer (there are 4 on each dress). Thankfully I learned and used a slightly faster way for the other layers and got through the last few more quickly – meaning about 45 min-1 hour each. I’ve collected a few tips from my experience below!
The fabrics I used for the bodices and peplums are super fancy “scraps” I had available in my stash. Pieces I couldn’t really make into anything else. My youngest is especially excited to tell everyone that hers is gold silk! The light teal one is a bit sparkly as well, but I’m not sure what the fabric is. It is really nice to work with, though and does not wrinkle easily.
The tulle was tricky because I couldn’t find an exact match for the bodice fabrics and had to get creative. Rose pink for the gold dress with one gold bottom layer, and mostly sparkly silver with one cream top layer for the teal dress. The lining is long enough that these dresses aren’t scratchy which is nice. I was worried the girls would complain about that.
I think I would make this pattern again, but maybe with a fabric skirt. The instructions for that are included and are a little less involved! This is a really cute dress though and I love the wider front neckline and lower back with two buttons. Only word of warning is keep your tulle away from anything stickery, like Velcro. My oldest now has a few holes in the top gathered layer that we are going to creatively fix before Sunday!
8 Tips for How to Sew Insane Amounts of Tulle More Quickly!
1) Leave plenty of time to sew. Be patient and don’t expect to rush. Each tulle layer takes between 1/2 hour and 1 hour to sew. Find a good podcast or Netflix show to distract you and JUST-KEEP-SEWING!
2) Clear off the work area near your sewing machine. Tulle yardage takes up a lot of space and it is not fun to stop and catch falling notions and collect small threads from your tulle. Trust me, they stick really well!
3) Fill at least 4 bobbins before beginning so they are ready . Then you won’t have to switch tasks or re-thread your machine as often.
4) It is helpful to mark the centre of the tulle before sewing so you can match up the gathering properly to the lining. It would be amazing to do this while you are buying the tulle, otherwise you need a really long hallway to cut it into lengths properly. It would be great to buy your tulle already cut and labeled in the various layer lengths if your fabric store will do that for you.
5) The layers are made up of a back and a front skirt piece. It is helpful to sew only one side seam before gathering. The second side seam can be sewn after the gathering stitches are sewn.
6) It was most helpful to use dental floss to gather the tulle layers. I used my rolled hem foot to keep the floss in the center of a wide zigzag stitch. You can even stop every so often to gather up the tulle behind the presser foot. This saves space and yards of floss. I tried to use ribbon this way, but the floss was really effective, strong and slippery to gather more easily. And of course, BONUS – your project will smell minty fresh!
7) I gathered with a 3/8″ seam allowance and then placed the tulle according to the edge (not the gathering seam). This way you can remove the dental floss before going on to the next layer.
8) Pin, Pin and pin again! The more pins you add when attaching the tulle to the lining, the easier it is to sew. I pinned the previously sewn tulle layer first, then added the new one above it and pinned the tulle down flat there as well. Really helpful when you are arranging so many layers inside of your machine.
