Manitoulin Threads

  Medallion Print Knit for the Win While I love eye-catching and unique prints, sometimes my wardrobe calls for more subtle prints.  I’m an elementary school principal, and there are times when I have meetings and such that are more formal than the regular everyday happenings of a school of youngsters. Enter, the Elliott Berman Textiles Medallion Print Viscose Knit, which comes to us from Italy. This fabric has an amazing hand to it.  It is substantial enough that it doesn’t cling to every lump and bump, yet has a beautiful, flowy drape to it. A lot of my wardrobe consists of navy blues and burgundy colors, especially my blazers and dress pants.  I decided to make a top that could be worn on its own, but also have a jacket popped over top for any meetings that may pop up. I chose the Sinclair Patterns Danielle Relaxed Fit Batwing Top.   I can’t say enough good things about Sinclair Patterns.  I love that their patterns come in Petite, Regular and Tall siz...

  Since 2022 is the Year of the Tiger,  I thought it quite fitting that I start off the year with a tiger-print make. I sewed up a Digital Safari print and it is a slinky viscose knit panel from France. It comes in royal blue plus two other colourways. (click the images to go to the fabrics). When sewing with panels or large-scale prints, I usually drape them over my dress form to get an idea of scale and placement.  (I tend to want to avoid bulls-eyes over certain parts of my anatomy, for example). With this stunning panel, I wanted to choose a pattern that would break up the print as little as possible. I decided to go with a tried-n-true (TNT) tissue pattern that I have had in my stash for years - Vogue 9057 by Marcy Tilton.  Most of my sewing these days tends to be with digital patterns and my projector, but sometimes I have the perfect pattern languishing in my stash, waiting to be made up again.  This is one such pattern. Though the pattern is now out-of-p...

 I have decided that I really need to up my activewear game.  I tend to make functional (read boring) activewear, and I'm not really sure why.  It will be WAY more fun to exercise with some eye-catching fabrics and designs. So, when I saw this metallic stripe activewear at Elliott Berman Textiles , I knew it would be my first project for looking good while working out. STRIPE TEXTURE METALLIC ACTIVEWEAR KNIT. FRANCE I used needed a dolman sleeve funnel neck top pattern for creating my vision.  I decided to go with the  Petite Stitchery Arlo top/dress pattern.   This pattern was quite perfect as the front and back use the same pattern piece, and the sleeve is designed to be cut on the fold so I didn't need to redraft it with a center cut line.                        I then created the pattern lines by using a quilting ruler with the 60-degree angle markings and slashed the body and sleeve portions o...

What an amazing idea.   Vicki of   Another Sewing Scientist  has created a google map to Map the Sewintists 'round the world.  Be sure to visit the map and add your pin.  The directions are included on the left hand side of the screen.  Just a caution: when I first viewed the map and attempted to edit on my iPad I couldn't get it to work.  I tried to find a work around but finally gave up and went to the Mac to get it to work.  If anyone has an iPad workaround it may be helpful for others to post that info. Visit her original blog post where she shares the details of her endeavour. View Map the Sewintists in a larger map

Exciting news.  Ontario sewing bloggers are planning a meet up on Saturday, February 23rd on Queen St. West at 1 pm.  The event is being organized by Crafting a Rainbow blogger Gillian and Adrienne of  All Style and All Substance . The meet-up sounds like an amazingly fun time.  I wish I could take part, but I am playing hockey that weekend AND it is a 6+ hour drive away.  Perhaps another get-together in the summer will happen and I will be able to partake.  Anyway, I know I will be anxiously waiting for posts and pics sharing the good times and, of course, the fabric porn!

I have an obsession with purses.  However, I don't own many purses because (a) I have very expensive tastes in purses and (b) I am too cheap to spend a fortune on a purse. available at www.coach.com So, after a summer-long yearning for an amazing Coach purse with a hefty (for me) price tag, I decided that if I wanted a new purse I was going to have to make one. I used OOP Butterick 4624View C, but I changed the pocket options. I used the navy, tan and orange colour scheme from my dream bag (though the only orange I could find to include was a bead I added to the zipper pull!).  The main body of the bag is prequilted denim fabric from Fabricland.  I usually hate what I find there, but this is actually quite nice. I love long straps because I can only manage cross body bags...that leaves my hands free to hang onto each of my kids. I even added on a leather shoulder pad detail to the strap. The front of the bag has a zipped exterior pocket that I framed...

My latest pattern order is from Style Arc .  I decided bite the bullet and actually order 4!!!!! patterns for bottoms. Here are are my new patterns: Katherine Pant and Jilly Jeans Karen Walk Shorts and Tori Crop Pants I can't wait to try these patterns.  If they fit as well as the other Style Arc pants (I've tried the Linda and the Elle so far) then I will have a wonderful stable full of TNT pants patterns soon!