My First Juki Project

I finally have the Juki working very, very nicely. It is exactly what I needed. It goes through so many layers of canvas or leather. I have been delaying using it for a project because it is in the basement and my sewing room is on the 2nd floor of our house. (You just don't bring a machine that contains a litre of oil into a nice room with a hardwood floor). But yesterday I tackled a new hobo bag with a beautiful lambskin leather with a reptile print and used my Juki to sew up the leather components.

I forgot to take a photo at home before I brought it to the Arts Market where Daniel kindly took a photo to put up on Facebook for me (thanks Daniel!). You can take a look at the bag in person there - it is a buttery soft leather!

Designing is hard work!

I have been so busy lately trying to come up with my own product line. By this I mean a specific set of styles that I will make over and over in different fabrics and materials. This is difficult in so many ways:

• I am a busy Mom. Mr. Blue Calla works very long hours so I can afford to stay at home to work on my little business and take care of our 2 very spirited kids. Which means I pretty much do it all - cooking, cleaning, laundry, taking kids to school, after school activities, play dates, etc. And I run Blue Calla. So yes, pretty much everything.
• Deciding and designing specific styles of bags is tons of fun but also stressful. What if no one likes and wants to buy the styles I choose? It is a huge investment in time and money that could be completely wasted. On the other hand, it could be EXACTLY what my business needs. Only time will tell.
• Coming up with a design that I have not seen elsewhere. You would be surprised how many times I've thought that a new bag idea is genius and then I accidentally find that very style of bag while browsing the internet. It happens - a lot! Whether it be a design accent on the outside, or a feature on the inside, it has almost always already been done. 
• Finding the time to create. It's practically impossible at this time in my life. But the kids come first so I will do my best!

Last night I finally decided what most of my collection will include. I am still stuck on a design for a smaller bag. I want a bag that can convert from a short shoulder strap to a cross body strap. 

I've purchased so many interesting new materials including some japanese imported fabrics like these:

These lovely fabrics can be found here.

And I've also bought a new selection of jacquard ribbons like these:

I've purchased these from Les' Bon Ribbon which I've purchased from before and have not been disappointed.

In terms of fabrics - I will be continuing with canvas, lambskin and cowhide as well as denim. And whenever I can get some nice colours, corduroy like this shoulder bag:

Pleated Shoulder Bag in Corduroy

Enough typing - time to get sewing!

A Juki for my birthday

It was my birthday on Friday and I've reached the point where I don't care to celebrate very much. (The big 4-0 is approaching way too quickly for my liking!) I spent some great time with my little family and my mother came to visit which was the best part! And let's not forget the cake eating part. I love cake!

AND, I finally got something I've been wanting for a long, long time now. I was going to get a brand new industrial sewing machine but I accidentally came across a Kijiji ad for this used Juki DDL-555 and I couldn't pass it up.

After sewing with regular machines for a few years now, I must admit that I was a bit intimidated by something that has a separate, very large and noisy motor. BUT, I'm good now. It was extremely difficult to get information online about buying, setting up and using an industrial machine so I wanted to share what I have learned so far.

Before you do ANYTHING, get the manual for your machine. I learned so much from the manual that I searched for FOREVER and finally found here. If I had not purchased this manual and read it, I probably would've broken this machine before using it once. 

Industrial sewing machines sit in an oil pan. The oil get sucked up and splashes around inside the machine and keeps everything working smoothly. If the oil pan is empty, this is very bad and you can break the machine if you try to run it.

Second, find a sewing machine dealer who can provide you with service and parts for your machine. I am lucky to have found Paul at The Sewing Machine Centre and I am always amazed at how much he knows about every single sewing machine in the world. He does not service industrial machines himself but he has someone who does. He also has a contact at another sewing store who will be ordering any parts I need including needles. 

I figured out how to thread the machine, wind a bobbin and adjust tensions quite quickly but I am finding it to be very fussy. The tension has to be "just so" for the bobbin and the top thread. I have finally figured everything out and just sewed through 12 layers of duck canvas like it was butter. 

I am in love. 

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.