First Day at the Arts Market

Yesterday, Mr Blue Calla kindly took a day off work to help me setup my space at the Arts Market. It was a bit of a juggle with kids needing to be picked up from school, van rentals, installing drywall (I do not like drills) but I managed and I am very happy with the end result!

It feels great having my own little space in a store that will actually force me to leave my house sometimes. I plan on checking up every Wednesday to make sure my items are neat and tidy after the weekend shoppers have been by.

I met some wonderful fellow artists while I was there. My neighbour Krystin from everything you do is a balloon was there also setting up. She is very talented with upcycling vintage furniture. Maybe she will let me take photos of her space and show off her amazing work.

My new space! (Oh yes, and me - slouching and wearing my comfy yoga pants)

If you live in Toronto, please feel free to drop by and check out all of the handmade goodies at The Arts Market which is located at 1114 Queen St East (between Pape and Jones) right in Leslieville.

End of Summer

Summer is over and it is back to school and back to work in this house. I barely worked this past summer. The kids are 4 and 7 now and they are just too much fun and I LOVE hot summer weather which means very little time sitting inside at a sewing machine.

We did a lot of this:

And made some new friends:

And enjoyed some spectacular views:

But now it's time to get back to reality. I am super excited to start a new adventure this month. I have leased a small space in a wonderful store called the Arts Market and it features so many creative and talented fellow artists. I love the feel of the market - each artist gets to decorate and stage their area as they want. The market is located at 1114 Queen St East which is such a short distance from my home (could it be more perfect?!) I am busy sewing a whole new assortment of leather bags and some smaller items as well for the new space. Come and visit my booth starting September 19th!

The Perfect Stitch

In my latest adventures with leather, I have been researching and experimenting with different threads, needles and trying to achieve the perfect stitch. While asking my good friend Google questions, I came across a forum post by a factory worker who sews leather items and he mentioned not to waste money on thicker thread and just use a regular, good quality thread. It really won't make a difference. This is good to know BUT I really, really love the look of those thicker threads on leather. It adds to the personality of the bag - especially when the stitch is nice and done in a contrasting colour.

So far I have tried: Gutermann polyester thread, Gutermann extra strong thread, Coats and Clarke all purpose thread and lastly, Gutermann upholstery thread.

The all purpose threads - they work. They work really great actually. They are quite tough and the seams seem to be fairly sturdy. They just don't show up very well and that's not the look I am going for!

The extra strong thread works but I found I needed to use a bigger leather needle (100/16 at least) so the thicker thread would go through the needle without fraying. This is a problem however because I've found that the smaller leather needles go through multiple layers of leather a lot easier (go figure!) My bobbin casing DEFINITELY does not like this thread and it would fray immediately. This one is out!

Gutermann upholstery thread - after hours and hours of research and a lot of trial and error I think I've finally figured it out. This is a very thick thread and looks really great. Pros - can be threaded into a variety of needles sizes and works perfectly fine in my bobbin case. Cons - not many colour choices at my local store and I find the end does fray and unravel quite easily. HOWEVER, here is what I had to do so my stitches came out perfectly top and bottom:

1. lower bobbin tension almost to the lowest tension
2. use my maximum top thread tension setting (mine is 9)
3. go with a bigger needle size than my usual 80/12 leather needle. I can manage with a 90/14 but found it better with a 100/16.

Here is the end result:

I'm a pretty happy girl. I'll have to give it a try with my next bag!

Convertible Clutch Pattern Review

I was browsing on Pinterest today and came across this pattern for a convertible clutch by LBG studio. I love bags that can be used in more than one way as you can probably tell by my convertible bags. So on a whim, I bought the pattern and since it was a rainy day I figured it was the perfect time for a small sewing project.

The pattern is very easy to follow and I think this bag could be made by beginners. I did make some changes to the handle because I like my handles very sturdy so I inserted 2 pieces of heavyweight Pellon interfacing (the sew in kind) into each handle at the last step where you sew the top band onto the body of the bag. The pieces were approximately 7 inches x 1 inch. It did make for some thicker sewing but Pellon is so easy to sew through and I like how sturdy the handles are now.

Another change I made was to insert the magnetic snap to the lining pieces before attaching the lining to the outer shell. It just made more sense to me and I always make bags this way.

This bag is a good size at about 11.5 inches wide x 8 inches high to the bottom of the handle and about 3 inches deep when it is unfolded. It comes with a small pocket inside that is the perfect size for a phone.

I'm not sure if I will start producing these for my Etsy shop but I did enjoy making it. You can buy your own version of this pattern here.

Leather and Vinyl Faux Leather

This week I'm going to be trying something very different and out of my comfort zone. I will attempt to sew leather bags as well as some beautiful vinyl "faux" leather bags. Anyone who has followed me since I first started my Etsy shop knows that I am always changing the styles of bag I sew as well as the materials I use. I was not looking to start using leather but let's just say that these hides sort of fell into my lap. I have been hesitant to use leather because I am an animal lover myself so I will have to try not to think of what I am sewing with.

I have 4 half hides (I believe they are cow hide but again, trying not to think about it too much!) in a very, very soft black, a red, a dark charcoal grey and a medium brown that has this fabulous texture. I believe I will have enough to make one bag in each and 2 in the dark grey but I can't make any commitments here since I have not examined them closely for flaws yet. Plus, I will likely make mistakes!

They all feel rather soft to the touch, especially the black hide. The brown one has almost a patent leather feel to it so I will need to chose a style of bag that will work with its stiffness.

I also found some great vinyl faux leathers for those who are not interested in leather. These are the same price as canvas for me so the cost of these bags will likely be very close to what I am charging for my canvas bags. I picked out 4 colours and textures that I found most interesting and appealing. These are great because they are durable like leather but the cost is much more reasonable and they are easier to work with.

Top to bottom I have a reddish brown with this great pebbled texture, the black has a basket weave pattern, the medium brown looks like standard leather grain and the blue/grey (steel blue??) also has the standard leather texture.

I have a custom doll to sew and then I am starting on some tests. I have already determined the perfect stitch length, thread tension and needle for my machine. Next I will be designing some patterns that are a bit more suitable for working with these materials. I am so excited!!

Time to get started

This arrived in the mail today:

And of course, because I mostly wear solid colours the patterns and all those colours kind of made me panic a bit.

Today I'm going to start by washing and shrinking the yardage before cutting. I also need to deal with the pattern pieces. If you remember this post, I was concerned about cutting the pattern pieces in the correct size. Then I found this amazing blog post which explains how to copy your pattern and cut out a single size which then saves the original pattern from being cut. GENIUS!! And since I am lucky enough to have one of those multi-purpose printers I will be trying out this technique. I will make sure to share how that worked in my next progress report. Wish me luck!

Evening Clutch in Black Brocade - GIVEAWAY CLOSED

This giveaway is now closed.

I found this beautiful brocade in the back of my fabric cupboard and thought it would make a great evening clutch. This fabric is incredibly difficult to work with but makes the most gorgeous clutches! You have to iron it at a very low heat and it frays so much when you have working with it.

I forgot to reduce the heat at one point when switching from ironing canvas to ironing the brocade and there is a bit of melting at the back of the clutch. It barely shows so I thought this would make a great giveaway item! All I ask if that you comment below and tell me if you own any clutches and if so, how often do you use them? I will grant one entry if you are a Facebook fan and a second entry if you follow my blog so please leave a separate comment for each entry!

I will be picking a winner tomorrow night, Monday, March 26th at 9:00 PM EDT. Good luck!