A very quick note to wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy 2010! Thank you for stopping by over the year. I hope there will be many more posts in the year ahead.

Apologies, again, for not writing more often. I have been very focused on sewing lately and not had much opportunity to use the computer. I have also been in substantial pain with my back and leg, so have had to limit sitting time. I have new medication to help, but it makes me feel nauseous and very fuzzy in the head, so not a good combination!

Anyway, the market went well. It was good to be doing it on a relatively small scale with a select group of people. We had a really great turnout and saw lots of new faces, as well as some very good friends who came along to support us.

First market set up

I worked really hard to make enough stock to fill the table and offer a variety of items, from aprons, deluxe baby bibs, handbags, crayon rolls, colouring sets (lined book bag and coordinating crayon roll), reversible coffee cozies, tutus, zippered pouches, Grab ‘n’ Go placemats and felt crowns. If we do any markets in the future, we will definitely work on some better display structures!

Just one more sleep until the big day – the EllaBella Designs’ 1st Annual Christmas Market. This will be my first market and I have been sewing every night to make enough to fill a table. Normally I make items to order, so I don’t usually have much stock on hand. Well, now I do! I will have aprons for children and women, tutus, one of a kind handbags, reversible coffee cup cozies, cosmetic pouches, Grab ‘n’ Go placemats and crayon rolls. I will also be taking orders for custom pieces for Christmas.

If you are in the Nanimo area and are interested in locally made, handmade, high quality pieces, please stop by. Here’s a link to the map. Hope to see you there!

Aprons

Getting ready for Market

I know that Halloween is just around the corner and many people will be focused on that, but Christmas is also fast approaching and now is the time to start thinking about gift ideas for your friends and family. Over the next few weeks I will be hunting down some great gift ideas and posting about them here.

This year I will be participating in the first Christmas Gift Market at the EllaBella Designs Studio. The market will feature the work of several local businesswomen. There will be more information available soon about the other vendors, but I know it will be a great event. The Market is being held on Sunday 22nd November, from 1-5pm. This is a perfect opportunity to choose unique, handcrafted gifts for your family and loved ones – perhaps even a special treat for yourself! I am anticipating a great, fun-filled afternoon in a cozy environment with some very talented ladies.

I will be selling a variety of items, including children’s aprons, deluxe food-catcher baby bibs, coffee cup cozies, crayon rolls, colouring bags, tutus, zippered cosmetic pouches, handbags and Grab ‘n’ Go Placemats.

If you are in the Nanaimo area, please stop in and show your support! You’ll be glad you did!

Apologies in advance for what will no doubt seem like boasting! I am so very pleased with myself for tackling this project when I knew it would be a challenge. We are attending a winter solstice party and I wanted to have something special to wear. We don’t go to any parties normally, so I really don’t have much to wear (honest!). This is a modified McCall’s M4491 – hopefully not modified beyond recognition! It is the first time I have used a pattern to make something for myself. My dressform, affectionately know around here as “Maggie”, was very helpful indeed, as I needed to take the dress in. I changed the sleeves and added a button and ribbon loop at the back so I could hook the skirt up, rather than have it trailing around under people’s feet. I left out the lining and made the back plain. Some parts of the pattern were just too fiddly for me to deal with right now. This was made a little more challenging by having my 4 year old take the scissors to a random piece of fabric laying on the table. Not so random, as it turned out to be a sleeve! Lesson of the day: keep the scissors well out of reach.

I will try to post a picture of me wearing the dress, if I can get said 4 year old to cooperate! I found the perfect belt to wear with it, but have yet to decide on shoes. I have my beautiful gold wedding shoes, so will try those and see how they work.

My grandmother, who is now 94 and lives in Scotland, was a hugely talented seamstress and I am inspired by her. Every item I ever saw of hers was always finished with great attention to detail, down to the under garments on doll clothes. Whenever I make something, I have her in mind and I hope she would be proud of me.

I have been itching to make tutus for my two daughters for ages. I made a pink and white one for Pip earlier in the year, but had no real idea where to start, so just made it up as I went along. I cut the tulle into sections and staggered the layers before sewing them together at the waist. I then sewed some pretty ribbon on the waistband and added snaps at the appropriate place for a closure. I added silk flowers amongst the layers and it all turned out very well.

It took quite a while to do it that way and I figured there must be a quicker way to do it or there would not be so many tutus for sale on the internet! Certainly not at the prices I have seen. The tutus I have made are going to be fantastic for their dress up box and for practising their dance moves. I recently found this tutorial and it was a great guide, though my first try was certainly not as polished as hers are! Maybe next time!

http://plumtickled.typepad.com/plumtickled/2007/08/tutu-tutorial-t.html

This time I used elastic for the waistband and tied strips of tulle to it, alternating the colours. I used 2 strips for each knot, so you could use 1 to make smaller knots, but you will end up tying more strips to get the same fullness. You could also do 1 strip of each colour for a different effect. As you will see, I have used red and black for these. Nice to have a change from pink occasionally! I thought they would look quite festive without being too seasonal. I was sort of planning to save them for Christmas, but I couldn’t wait to see them in them together. They look so incredibly cute and I am pleased, and relieved, to say that they were very happy with their new finery. Not the best pictures, but you get the idea!

Christmas tutu

The girls in their Christmas tutus