Chabanel mysteries unlocked

One good thing about having summer Fridays off is that I didn't have to jealously read about the latest Montreal meet up online; I got to go.  Well, of course I did.  I have to uphold my reputation as the Sewing Blogger with the Most Meetup Miles.  

This time, we decided to tackle the Chabanel district of Montreal, which is a semi-industrial area on St. Laurent, north of the Metropolitan.   

It ain't a Canadian meet up unless it starts at Timmies.

Tonitex's mountain of fabrics dwarfing our group

We all know who would be all shook up over this fabric, don't we?

Perusing the summer/fall samples at SuziSpandex

I'm going to leave it to Cosmic Caro to do a full summary with the list of places visited, because I just can't remember, and because she is awesomely organized.  Caroline has been building upon her Montreal Sewing Directory, and I can heartily recommend this as THE premiere resource for all things sewing in Montreal.  She has created a PDF of the directory, that not only contains names, addresses, hours, description of goods, parking/transport, and maps, but also nearby eats and drinks in order to reenergize for more shopping.  There is also a list of sewing-related shops, museums and ateliers.  Whew!  I've lived near Montreal for almost 17 years now, and I didn't know about a lot of these places.  Excellent.  

source: igloovert.blogspot.ca

I hadn't planned on buying anything this time around except some cotton/lycra jersey for underwear, but HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  Yeah, right.  You know how it goes.  Here's the damage:

Quilting weight batik cotton.  And it isn't blue batik!  (only because Anne-Marie bought the whole bolt of blue batik.  *shakes fist*)  This is 1.7m @150cm, so there is enough to make pretty much anything, and even though I love love love this grassy colour, is a bit bleck next to my face.  Any suggestions?

Basic neutral linings and underwear fabrics.  Nothing to see here folks.  Move along.  

Three scraps from the bin at my new favourite fabric store, StretchTex, sold for 2$/lb.  These were ~1.5m each, 2lbs in total.  The two outer fabrics are cotton/lycra blends, and are destined to become basic kimono sleeved Ts.  The centre fabric is spandex, and may become a 2-piece bathing suit?  Maybe next summer….

Shops started closing around 16h30, so we make our way over to the resto/bar for liquid refreshment and what turned out to be a huge pattern swap.  Well, when I say swap, I mean that Renée brought the mother load of gorgeous vintage patterns that she snatches up as soon as they are dropped off for donation at her workplace (St. Vincent de Paul, I believe).  I showed tremendous restraint by only taking these 3:

Once the manager got over his initial trepidation at speaking to a group of ladies buried in vintage sewing patterns, we moved on to the drinking and eating and planning portion of the evening.

Future projects, future shopping expeditions, future museum visits, and even future career changes were discussed (keep an eye out for more patterns from Heatherlou's new business venture).  

See you all there next time?

Overeducated Seamstresses

Hey everybody!  I'm sure you've all read it by now, but if not, go to Erin's blog for my contribution to her Overeducated Seamstresses series.  

(I have actually finally finished that 1hr skirt I was talking about.  It only took me about 1 month.)

The Juuuust About Right Top

I'm in Nova Scotia on holiday, and after an unusually lucky week of warm, sunny weather, we are preparing to be hit with hurricane Arthur.

My folks live in the country and have a wood burning stove, a well, and lots of candles and torches, so whatever happens, we'll be ok.  We've made a few shopping trips for essentials:  food, water, wine and library books.

I did manage to squeeze my serger into the back of the car for the drive home, so some quick holiday sewing has been done.  I wanted to test an old Burda pattern I have for a basic cap-sleeve pull-over top,  and managed to just squeeze the pieces on this fabric that I got at Scrap in San Francisco last fall. It's a handmade batik done over a plaid.  Totally too much for my usual taste.  More like something Oona would go for…..

…..well, what a coincidence, because it's Oonapalooza month!  Check Gillian's blog for more details, but basically it's an Oona inspired free for all.  What would Oona do (WWODTM)?  Use a tiny scrap of batiked plaid for a top, of course.  Duh.

Ignore the totally '80s illustrations, and just look at the line art, OK?

There isn't much to say about the construction of a dartless, pull-over top, but I did run into one snag:  my hips seem to have mysteriously grown since the last time I took my measurements, so there was no way this top was going to hang properly.  (The seams were straining just for this quick iPhone bathroom selfie.)  There wasn't enough seam allowance to let them out, so WWOD?  Slice into that baby and make it work.

Now I have a crop top that just about hides my Mom belly.  Here follows a typically awkward set of photos taken on my iPhone in the fading light, just before the mosquitoes came out in force:

"Go stand next to the boat".
"You mean this old dirty boat and pile of seaweed and construction materials and wheelbarrow?"
"Yeah, it's a perfect shot."
"OK………."

I was having a weird hair day, so I kept pulling it back and ruining photos.

This is my "take the feckin' photo already face". 

And this is my required outtake, making fun of Mr. A.S.S.'s photo taking stance.

I'm also wearing my jersey yoga-waisted maxi skirt that I whipped up before my rocker weekend with Clare Szabo, but that was so much awesomeness that it deserves its own post.  To follow….