by Sherri Sylvester | May 5, 2014
I had the pleasure of pattern testing the Bohemian Babydoll Dress and Top (affiliate link*) a few weeks ago. It was right in the middle of making Easter Dresses and a super busy weekend, but it was an easy sew – and went together really quickly thank goodness! We did a double photo shoot of the Easter dresses and this dress in the same afternoon, even switching locations, super bloggy-like. (ha!)
I had never used an Elegance & Elephants pattern before, but had happened to buy the very popular Spring Showers Jacket pattern just a few days before I volunteered to pattern test. I found Heidi’s instructions very clear, and the photos are easy to understand as well. This is especially nice because sometimes I prefer illustrations for their clarity, not a problem here!
This pattern creates a really nice looking summer top. I really like the high/low hem and that the bottom of the bodice is high in the front and low in the back as well. It makes a really fun line if you use contrasting fabrics. (You can see this in the first photo). The sewing is simple as well because there are no closures to deal with! And of course my girls are ecstatic about the ruffled sleeves (though it looks cute without them as well, they are optional). I know something is good if my oldest wears it again directly after it has come out of the wash – so great when that happens!
I would be remiss not to talk about the way this pattern is setup for printing. When you open the pdf there is the option to use bookmarks on the side to choose the size pattern you would like, so you don’t end up printing more pages than you need. It works really well – I was super impressed!
We ended up cutting into some fabric I’d been saving since last year again. I say we, because my daughter chose this one herself. She’s very drawn to florals at the moment, which is nice because they are trendy again! I originally bought the Shelburne Falls by Denyse Schmidt (in Maple) July of last year when I visited Needlework for the first time. It was destined for some couch cushions, but that was way-laid when I thought they might look too “quilty”. Not so matchy for my (aiming for) mid-century modern vintage-esque living room. The bottom of the dress is made from a random print I found last year. It matches well and I got to de-stash some more – hurray! The girls are really in a “twins are fun” mode so I might just make up another one in the same prints so they can enjoy their new phase for as long as it lasts.
If you want to get the pattern you can find it here: Bohemian Babydoll Dress and Top (affiliate link*). Thanks!
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* This post contains affiliate links, which means that I receive financial compensation for any sales made through these links.
by Sherri Sylvester | May 2, 2014
Welcome to an Online Fabric Store post with a discount just for you! Let me introduce you to the 8th Canadian Online Fabric Store in our series – Stay Home Fabrics, located in Edmonton, Alberta. Lindsay’s shop has fabulous fabrics, patterns and quilt batting – one stop shopping for your next project!
Lindsay Freistadt keeps shop from the home she shares with her husband and two children. She grew up attracted to anything creative and has now found her favorite – sewing! I’ll let her tell you more:
I have always been drawn to creativity in all its forms. I love the absolute freedom that comes from being able to make something yourself. From choosing the fabrics and design to picking out the final details. I feel like we all follow other peoples rules all day long but at the end of the day, when I go to my sewing studio, all rules disappear and it is all me.
I have been sewing casually for many years now inspired by a couple of good friends, one a co-worker and the other unlikely source, my boss. They both have taught me many things about how to improve my projects and skill level. Just this past year I began taking custom orders and doing a few shows for mostly home décor items, pillows, curtains, baby blankets, hand towels etc. I love letting the fabrics speak for themselves and giving them space to show their beauty. I never could cut the pieces up smaller because I loved how the entire pattern looked. Sounds funny I am sure.
I totally get the “cut the pattern up” comment, so glad I’m not the only one! I’m also happy to welcome Lindsay as a new Thread Riding Hood sponsor. You can find her ads on a few posts this month, so be sure to click over and see what new collections she’s ordered in. If you can’t decide, order her fabric swatch collection and get a piece of every fabric she stocks! Perfect for matching and oh-so-fun to play with.
Thread Riding Hood: What inspired you to start Stay Home Fabrics?
Lindsay: My love of fabric, pattern and design inspired me to start Stay Home Fabrics. I wanted to give Canadians a place where they could buy fabrics online and know the quality of the fabrics was always top notch, the shipping would be fast, and they would never have to pay duty or customs again. I work very closely with my good friend Sarah to pick the newest modern quilting fabrics to have in stock. So if I ever refer to Stay Home Fabrics team or say “we”, this is who I am referring to.
Thread Riding Hood: What is your favorite type of sewing project?
Lindsay: I absolutely love to make anything I can use in my home; Quilts, pillows, hand towels, baby blankets, and anything for my kiddos. My favorite project to date would have to be a set of French Print Curtains and matching Pillows for a girlfriend. They were very unique and added such flair to her room. Did I mention I also love interior design!!!!
Thread Riding Hood: What is something coming up in the near future that you are especially excited about?
Lindsay: I am very excited to be bring in new lines of fabric. We will be bringing on more and more Kona cotton basics this year as well as Robert Kaufman, and a few surprises. I am also excited to be working with more and more small artisans who are taking part in our small artisan program which gives them access to special ordering and 15% off all orders over $200. If someone wants to join this program they just need to email us at stayhomefabrics@hotmail.com for information on how to sign up.
Lindsay has been super-amazing and has provided a discount code for Thread Riding Hood readers until the end of May! Search her collection and stock up! Use the code: “threadridinghood” to save 10% off your entire order. Thanks Lindsay!
And, so I don’t leave you hanging… here are 6 of my favorites to get you started with your shopping! (Click any of them to get to her website.)
by Sherri Sylvester | Apr 4, 2014
Welcome to an Online Fabric Store post with a giveaway today! I get to introduce you to the 7th Canadian Online Fabric Store in our series – Fabric Spark, located in Toronto, Ontario. Since I’ve been collecting online fabric shops on Pinterest, I’ve had quite a few contact me and ask to be added to the list. Daryl’s shop opened just recently and already she has an extensive and beautiful collection!
Daryl worked in advertising and marketing for 30 years before she sold her business and took a year to “live creatively” in 2013. The name of her store comes from a desire for every fabric she chooses to spark your imagination – to get you thinking about what you could create with it! I’ll let her tell you a bit more about her background…
“I’m from a large family of do-it-yourselfers. They’re all really creative and we are great cheerleaders for each other’s work. We do a few group projects too. Last year we were dying fabric at the cottage and all of us had purple hands for a few days.
I’ve been sewing since Miss Fair taught me how to straighten the grain in Grade 7. I’m sure she didn’t predict that I would stick with it, but I’ve always loved fabric and have an embarrassingly large personal stash. I buy fabric when I travel and people buy me fabric as gifts. I’m especially fond of Indian textiles, I have a few saris that I treasure.”
When Daryl contacted me, she wanted to know if I would like to curate my own fat quarter bundle for her shop. Would I? Ummm… ya! So, without further ado – here is the Thread Riding Hood Fat Quarter Bundle currently available for sale at Fabric Spark! (Eeeekkk!) I’m so excited to have been able to choose from Daryl’s amazing selection. I still have the page I printed out with over 35 fabrics to add to my “must have” list!
Thread Riding Hood: What inspired you to start Fabric Spark?
Daryl: “I called 2013 my year of living creatively. I committed to making every gift that year, and in the process, became smitten with this amazing community of creative talent around fabric, quilting and sewing. They are generous, inventive, funny and enthusiastic makers. I think that collective is what really inspired me.”
Thread Riding Hood: What is your favorite type of sewing project?
Daryl: “I think the honest answer is whatever I’m working on in that moment. I’ve only made a couple of quilts but I loved making them. With my sisters, I slipcovered all of the old furniture in my little cabin in the woods and loved that. I love smaller projects like bags and pillows. I am probably the most chicken around apparel – but I LOVE the Merchant & Mills patterns so I’m being brave and sewing clothes.”
Thread Riding Hood: What is something coming up in the near future that you are especially excited about?
Daryl: “I’ll be at Creativ Festival on April 25 and 26. Fabric Spark will have a booth in the show. I’m excited and curious to see what that’s like. I have four sisters helping me who are all incredibly talented makers (sewing, knitting, needlepoint, felting, etc.). I’m excited about us being there together, though not at the same time…we won’t all fit.”
Daryl is giving away my most favorite fat quarter bundle ever – mine! (hee, hee!) This giveaway is open to all Thread Riding Hood readers, internationally (No one gets left out, hooray!). It will be run from today, April 4th – until Thursday, April 10th at midnight. Enter by filling out as many sections as you wish in the Rafflecopter widget below. More points = more chances to win!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
And just so you have somewhere to start shopping… like you need an excuse?! Here are links to all of the Thread Riding Hood bundle fabrics – pick your favorites and go get ’em! Of course, they are amazing all together – so you can also get the bundle here.
Note: Fabric Spark is a Thread Riding Hood sponsor and I have received my own fat quarter bundle as part of this post. As usual, I will not post anything that I don’t love myself, and my opinions will always be my own.
by Sherri Sylvester | Nov 22, 2013
Today I get to introduce you to the 6th Canadian Online Fabric Store to continue our series. I met Devorah from Studio Fabric Shop, based in Toronto, at Creativ Festival a few weeks ago. She opened her fabric store a few months ago, and comes from a very fabric related background! She balances the shop with working full-time as a clothing designer for her children’s line Red Thread (sold across Canada). If that doesn’t keep her busy enough, she also has three girls at home – ages 8, 10 and 14!
Devorah has generously provided an amazing giveaway (*Update: Giveaway is closed) for you and a discount for her store (she ships world-wide!). Find them at the end of this post. When I met her at the Festival I was impressed with the range of great fabric featured at her booth. I got some from her that I’m hoping to make into a dress for my daughter – cross your fingers I can post it for Monday! Checking out her website is a treat of colour for your eyes! I would say more, but she has provided an amazing description of her fabric style in her interview. If you are intrigued, she enjoys teaching sewing and quilting workshops – you can contact her through her website. I also found Red Thread’s article about children’s clothing shops and trends in Paris (apparently Liberty prints and plaid are popping up everywhere!) very interesting. Lucky her, she got to go shopping there this past summer!
Thread Riding Hood: What inspired you to start Studio Fabric Shop?
Devorah: “I’ve been working as a children’s clothing designer for the past nine years, creating a line called Red Thread. I spend a huge amount of time thinking about fabric – choosing it, designing with it, and making things with it. Many of the fabrics I use for my dresses are quilting fabrics, because I love the wide range of prints, the durability, and the feel of it. I also love designing and making quilts, and this has been a passion ever since I was a child. In university I studied the history of textiles and of craft (I have two very practical degrees in Art History and Japanese Studies) because I am endlessly curious and appreciative of beautiful fabric and the people who create with it.
Over the years many customers have asked me who designs my fabric, how I choose and combine it, and where they can find similar prints for their own projects. After nine years I have amassed a very nice collection, including prints that I have imported, many fabrics that are long out-of-print, and some unusual fabrics that are hard to find elsewhere. My constant requests for fabric collided with my desire to share it, so I decided to open a shop. Now I’m stocking the shop with new fabrics to supplement the collection, but everything is carefully chosen to reflect a particular aesthetic. The shop appeals to people who really like colour, Asian design, and fabulous prints, including larger scale prints than one usually finds in a quilt shop. There are many great basics as well, including some wonderful dots and stripes, but even those tend to be colourful.
When I opened the shop I was thinking of how difficult and expensive it can be to get great fabric in Canada, but I’ve been surprised to discover that although many Canadians have happily discovered the shop, orders have been coming from all over the world. I’m shipping fabric to Europe and Australia because in some cases, these prints (especially older designs) just can’t be found there.”
Thread Riding Hood: Where do you get the inspiration for your sewing?
Devorah: “For me the inspiration always comes from the fabric first. If I’m designing clothing with it, it’s all about how the fabric will make the wearer feel. Is it joyful, or beautiful? Will it make a child feel special or unique? When I’m making quilts it’s all about me and what my eye loves. I often will put fabrics together and come back to them a day, or even a week later, to see if I still love them. Unless of course I have fallen in love with something and need to make something with it right away. Some fabrics are simply irresistible!”
Thread Riding Hood: What is something coming up in the near future that you are especially excited about?
Devorah: “I’m excited about expanding my collection to include other lines that I love. Right now I’m working on bringing in Yuwa Japanese fabrics, and have Art Gallery Fabrics arriving soon. I’m also excited about offering downloadable patterns that I’m currently developing, as well as custom bundles of fabric. I love feedback, and hope that people will let me know what they’d like to see more of.”
(*Update: Giveaway is closed) You get a chance to win a stash-building collection of ten colourful fat quarters. They include fabrics by Kaffe Fassett, Anna Maria Horner, Heather Bailey and Liberty! Amazing and hooray – aren’t they pretty?! I’m imagining an amazing quilt from these! But of course there are so many more projects you could make. This giveaway is open to all Thread Riding Hood readers, internationally (No one gets left out, hooray!). The giveaway will be run from today, November 22nd, until Friday, December 6th, 2013 at midnight.
Enter by filling out as many sections as you wish in the Rafflecopter widget below. More points = more chances to win!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Devorah is also providing Thread Riding Hood readers with a discount code – YAY! Shop at Studio Fabric Shop throughout the giveaway (November 22-December 6, 2013) and get 10% off your order with the code: “taketen”! Here are some of my favorites from her store… happy shopping!
I hope you enjoyed finding out about another Canadian Shop. I found reading about Devorah’s background and attention to detail in her fabric choices inspiring! Be sure to check out her shop to use your discount! As always – you can find more Canadian stores on the Pinterest board. Have a great weekend, see you on Monday!
Note: I have not received compensation for this post and as always, all opinions are my own. I would not recommend Devorah’s shop if I did not think you would like it!
by Sherri Sylvester | Nov 15, 2013
This week has been crazy! My oldest daughter’s birthday party is tomorrow, and even though I have scaled way back this year it still seems to be taking up the week. So, I’m posting few exciting things that have been happening (and a surprise for next week!) so I can go back to cleaning my house for tomorrow. (Lucky me?!) Thank goodness we only have two kids that have birthdays only once a year! I think I’ll be okay.
#1: I finally figured out Instagram! HOORAY! (and I love it.) I’ve added it to the sidebar so you can check it out here. Or you can follow along and see a few things from the last week… My youngest’s latest sewing project, Niagara Falls from my weekend trip… and you have to check out the crazy chairs from our hotel! There will be peeks of projects as I’m working and updates when there is a new post. The Instagrams are generally linked over to Twitter, so if you’re connected there you’ve already seen them – lucky you!
#2: Cynthia Frenette’s “I Can See Clearly Now” Pouch pattern is now for sale! She’s had it up on Etsy since Monday, but if you are not following Thread Riding Hood on Facebook you might have missed the announcement. You can get the pattern on Etsy, check out her post about it on her blog and check out my review of it too.
#3: Surprises! I’m super excited to be able to host another Canadian Online Fabric Shop post next week. And she’s got some surprises for you too – hooray!
And – because a post without pictures is no fun at all! Here’s a sneak peek of what I’m working on – can you figure it out? I’ll be posting a pattern and tutorial for it on Monday and you might catch some more pics on Instagram over the weekend if you are super curious! Hope you are having a great day today.
by Sherri Sylvester | Nov 8, 2013
When Warp & Weft introduced their Sewing Society I was excited to find three new Canadian bloggers that I hadn’t heard of yet! One of them was Cynthia Frenette, whom I’ve been following ever since. She writes cynthia f – a highly addictive blog – trust me I know! Aside from that she is a quilter, illustrator, designer and artist in general. If that is not enough, she keeps Made In Magazine going and has designed fabric for Robert Kaufman. And I’m sure there is more I don’t know!
As I was saying, her blog is addictive, and one day I stumbled on the post of her latest project – a pouch pattern – that asked for pattern testers. I’m super happy to have volunteered and gotten to make it! Aside from raving about how great this pouch is (truly!), I can honestly say it has great directions. I was excited to read through the well-thought out instructions and find they were very easy to follow.
The clear window gives this pouch the great feature of having two “fronts”! You can choose an amazing fabric for the back quilted panel and the lining – because it shows through the window. Score! I was excited to use my Fabric Spot Tsuru bundle for both pouches. Which is a good thing, because I only had one snap hook to use for the handle, and now I can swap it based on whichever I’m using at the time!
I love the size, it is even large enough to fit a regular sheet of paper – so you are able to carry printed pattern sheets and your sewing supplies at the same time! I really would like to make a few more of these to fill with “kid stuff”. It would help keep them occupied when we visit my family via plane in December. And it is easy for them to see what is inside – key to not digging through your bag too much in an enclosed space!
The pattern is almost available and I will most definitely tell you when it is so you can make 17 of these for yourself (or as a great Christmas gift!). Hope you have a happy Friday and a great weekend. See you on Monday!
