Essentials in Invermere

Both quilting supplies and clothing

Earlier in July I was in Invermere, BC on a bit of a mini-long-weekend-holiday, and while my traveling companion was sleeping in, I popped into a little shop (the only fabric shop by the looks of things) called Essentials (which, conveniently was just around the corner from our hotel… though I did get led off-course by a library used book sale….).

Wow, that was a run-on sentence if I ever wrote one!

In this small town, Essentials plays two rolls – quilt/sewing/knitting store on one side, and clothing/department store on the other.  You can see from the photo above – if you turn one way into the store you get bolts of fabric and racks of notions, but if you turn the other direction you have dresses and sunhats.  It made it a bit strange for me, but likely it’s a necessity in a small town – it’s unlikely that there would be enough quilting business to keep a store of this size around in the long term if that were it’s only business.

(As an aside, they did have a space for lease sign up outside, and I overheard the managers (?) chatting about a new location, so who knows what it will look like in a few months!)

Cottons in Essentials

The quilting section was quite nice, with several shelves of fabric, and one shelf of nothing but fabric on sale – woohoo!  I didn’t find any Asian prints (one of the first things I look for) but lots of bright prints and children’s prints.  It must be interesting to ‘curate’ a store like this – trying to appeal to a wide enough market without stocking things that just won’t sell.  There was also a nice selection of cuddly fabrics for backings and flannelet fabrics too.

Such pretty yarn!

I was also on the look out for wool roving – but they didn’t carry it.  In fact, the wool/knitting section was quite small – there were a few things that were pretty, but nothing that appealed to me.

More pretty yarn!

I also took the below picture to remind me of something similar to what I want to make with some of the fabric that I got there…. which, once I actually can get the chance to sew – I might share on the blog later!

Similar to a tote I'd like to make

So.. the fabric itself – this gorgeous corset/dressmaking print cotton…

Corset & dressmaking print fabric I bought

I took the above photo in-store, so it’s not great….

Fabrics from Essentials

I also picked up some pretty tan and pink striped fabric, and two batiks from the sale table.

Now just to find the time/location/laundry/etc… etc.. etc… to make something up.  I really need to STOP buying fabric!

You can find Essentials (until they move!) at:

729 12th St
Invermere, BC V0A 1K0

(250) 342-9313

Steampunk Stripes

Photo from Steampunk Couture's Spring 2011 line

One of the fabrics I’ve been looking for has been a brown and black stripe, not unlike some of the striped fabrics that Steampunk Couture uses off and on. It has eluded me for a long time, but I finally found something!  It isn’t as wide of a stripe, but I think it will be good; a nice way of having both blacks and browns in one outfit – I usually wouldn’t use both in one.

The fabric I found is a wide brown stripe with a narrow black stripe (I was looking for something even, but I don’t mind this at all) but on either side of the black stripe is a single thread of black metallic.  The fabric is very light weight (about the weight of cotton broadcloth), so it certainly won’t work for pants – but I’m thinking that it would work nicely for a pair of bloomers not unlike the white ones on the left in the picture below, or the top of the skirt on the right. (From a previous post.)

Paper dolls

Here’s a photo of the fabric itself – it’s not a great photo I’m afraid.

Black and brown pinstripes with a quarter for scale.

While I was up in Edmonton not too long ago I also picked up a few other striped fabrics with the intentions of doing something neo-Victorian/Steampunk with them.

Pink and black striped taffeta from Marshall's and brown/tan/blue striped cotton from a quilting shop

At Marshall’s I picked up a pink and black striped taffeta that was super-cheap (one of the few really good deals that I got there).  I think I picked up something like 9 meters of it, so I can pretty much do whatever I choose…  At a quilting shop I picked up the bottom fabric – a brown, tan, cream, and blue stripe in cotton.  I didn’t get as much of this because it was a lot more money.

The house renos are still going on, which is frustrating, because it means even when I do have time to get creative (which is rare) I don’t have the room to do it in, or the access to all of my supplies.  I still don’t even have laundry (almost a week without it!).  I know I should just go with the flow, but I’m getting frustrated.

Quilting – rainbow stripes

Original image from http://www.purlbee.com

I love this mini-quilt from PurlBee, a simple stripe with the gradation of colours from red to blue.  I love the brightness, and how crisp the colours are against the white background.  I also just love how simple it is – simple, clean, and one would think, quick an easy to make.    It makes me want to make a similar variation myself – but with colours more my style (and more useable – I can only imagine trying to keep those crisp colours and white background with washing).

So, with Photoshop, I created a variation:

A blue variation

The first variation is with shades of blue – I like the idea of a gradient, and all of these fabrics would be left over from some of my other quilting projects – which I think would be a great way to use some of those fabric leftovers.

Mauve and grey variation

I have been thinking a lot about mauve and grey lately, and thought about a mauve and grey variation too.  I tried this with a lighter grey and didn’t like it as much… but with this slightly mauve darker grey, I kind of like this too.

Warm colours on black variation

I bought a new comforter a while back in shades of bronze, gold, and reds – and I thought that something to coordinate would be good.  I don’t know if I love these colours on black though.

Warm colours on dark red variation

Maybe on dark red instead?

Warm colours on medium variation with contrast highlight

Or maybe on a lighter red, but then highlighting each panel with a lighter colour?  (Here I used white, but I imagine more of a gold…)

Of course, with all but the black and blue, I’d need  to do some shopping for the fabrics!

Hmmm once I get my sewing area back from Reno Hell part 2, I might have to think about doing up something!

Steampunk Costume inspiration: ‘paper’ dolls

Even as a child I never really played with paper dolls – I had lots of real dolls with lots of clothes for them, and I would make up my own little clothes for them as well (with varying levels of taste). However, the other day I was wandering on the internet and found a digital paper doll website – and there were a number of Steampunk dolls too!  I was excited to see how different things might work together, and so made up a few of the different dolls.

The first doll, just playing around

I started just playing around to see what the game would do – this game is called Victorian Butterfly, and it’s rather cute!

The second doll, when I started thinking about using it as an inspiration tool

Next up I actually thought about plugging in something I would actually make. Oddly enough, it’s not too far off from the first one! I tried different variations (with pants and other things) and still kept coming back to this kind of look.  I thought that the skirt (without the apron-thing) would be more flattering, though the leg-o-mutton sleeves aren’t really my thing.

The third doll - less transformable, but neat ideas

Then there was another game, called Clockwork Couture (isn’t there a clothing name called that?). (p.s. yeppers there is!)  You can also play this on Deviant Art if you’re so inclined – I had hoped that maybe there would be more items, but nope.  If you don’t want to play, just go for the game’s music… I had it playing on my computer for an hour or so, even though it’s on a loop.

The graphics are probably the best thing about this game – the selection of clothing is small compared to the other two, and you can’t change the colours – but they are so beautifully drawn!  My only challenge, is that although the individual pieces are great (both Steampunk and fashionable, without being overly costume-y), I found it  hard to find things that really went together well from my perspective.  Another cool thing though is how well-transformed the clothing is by some interesting accessories. An interesting dress goes from a party dress with the addition of stockings, boots, belts, bracers, a jacket, or a hat – to a cool Steampunk look.

BTW, the same artist has an awesome pirate one too, called Polkadot Pirate.  Hmmm it makes me wonder about an airship pirate look…

Yar!

 

The fourth doll with beautiful artwork.

The third game is called Steampunk Costume Creator – which has nice artwork (not as amazing as the previous game, but certainly beautiful!)  The best part is that there are a LOT of different fashion items, so there is a wide variety of looks.  It’s all colour-coordinated too, since it’s all in shades of brown, taupe, white, and black (with the exception of one pair of red-pink stockings).  You can adjust the item though with the Dark, Medium, Light selector.  The only problem that I have with it, is that you HAVE to use a corset, and it ALWAYS goes over top of the shirt.  Unfortunately this  means that a lot of the super-cute vests and shirts aren’t really workable, since they are always working with the corset.  That being said, there are some super-cute pieces, and some great accessories.

Four alternate looks

Have you found any other digital ‘paper’ dolls that embrace the steampunk aesthetic?  Let me know in the comments below!

Royal Tyrrell Museum

Another recent trip I took was to Drumheller and the Royal Tyrrell Museum. It started out with good intentions; one of the local Steampunk groups was organizing a group trip down there, and I thought it would be a nice chance to meet up with them, dress up a little, and visit the museum, since I haven’t been since Junior High!  My BFF came along as well, since she also hasn’t been able to go for years and years.  We got there about 20 minutes in advance, and waited around until about 15 past the assigned meeting time in the assigned meeting spot.  I sent an email to the event host, and checked the event message board on Facebook, and didn’t hear that the time was being pushed back or anything – so at quarter-past, we got tired of waiting in the heat, and went inside.  (She had another event to go to that evening, so we were working on a schedule…)

So the Steampunk part of the trip was a bit of a wash honestly… as we were leaving (more than two hours later) we passed a couple who were dressed in Steampunk attire, but at that point we were running tightly on schedule, so I didn’t even stop to say hello…   I was kind of bummed out that the specific point of going was to connect with the group, and also disappointed that the organizer never did get back to me.  It’s entirely possible that she wasn’t able to make it herself, and that the two people who we saw as we left were the only ones who even made it at all.  Oh well… I’ll just have to try again to get out to meet up with them.

BUT… since it’s relevant to my blog, I thought I’d share with you some of the photos from the museum all the same.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get any photos of how I dressed up for the event, since when we were outside, it was just too hot and sticky, and when we were inside, it was like Disneyland on a Teacher’s Conference day… (insanely busy and full of children.)  Note to self… go to these things on a weekday if possible to avoid the crowds!

Rawr!

T-Rex is obviously well loved here – there were at least three models like this… and they are HUGE!  (Ok.. I don’t know if all of them were T-Rex, but I think they were… I’m not so into it that I can tell them all apart…)

Cool bookshelf

Along with just being a display to coordinate with their prehistoric oceans exhibits, I thought that this was a neat setting for a Steampunk-esque scientist or explorer.  Plus, I love the light-filled shelves…….. hahah

Baby Octopus

One of the displays on those light-filled shelves was this little baby octopus.  It too made me think of the Cephaopod Tea Party blog that I like reading sometimes.

Under the sea....

An interesting under the sea display.

wacky carrot-like nautiloids

The under the sea display had these really interesting nautiloids that look a lot like carrots!  There were a number of other weird ones too, but I couldn’t get a great shot of them. 

After the museum we grabbed some lunch (wow it was hard to find a good place to eat in town… we ended up getting stuff from the deli at the grocery store instead) and then headed out to the hoodoos, and from there, home!

If you want to see the Royal Tyrrell Museum for yourself, here’s the info:

Toll free in Alberta
310-0000 then 403-823-7707

Toll free in North America (outside Alberta)
1-888-440-4240

Mail
P.O. Box 7500
Drumheller, Alberta Canada T0J 0Y0

Courier
Highway 838 Midland Provincial Park
Drumheller, Alberta Canada T0J 0Y0

Making a silk purse from a sow’s ear

Photo of the silk purse

A while back I attended a class (at a traveling sewing show) on making a silk purse.  The class wasn’t really what I had hoped it would be, but it was still interesting all the same.
We started with a piece of hand-dyed silk velvet.  I choose one in shades of blue and grey (gorgeous!) and a coordinating piece of silver silk dupioni for the lining.  The strap would be made of silk cord (or rather, a silk strap filled with cotton cording), and the purse would be embellished with beads, ribbons, yarns, and then when I got home, hot-fix crystals.

To start off, we had a piece of fusible interfacing, and ruched up the silk velvet, and pressed it to the interfacing to bond the two together. Normally I wouldn’t use an iron on velvet, but this is how we got the rumpled and manipulated effect, without laborious hand-sewing.  Since the velvet was just the basis for the rest of the embellishment, a few areas of flattened velvet pile wasn’t such a big deal.

Close up of the beaded corner

Then we determined the pocket of the bag and the flap, and started sewing on gorgeous yarns, beads, and ribbons to embellish the purse in a random, almost chaotic fashion. Then once home, we sewed the lining to the purse fabric right sides together (leaving an area to turn) sewed up the sides (and embellished them to cover the stitching) and added the strap.

I added the hot-fix crystals as well, but haven’t added a closure yet – the weight of the beads on the flap do a fine job of keeping the purse closed.

Photo of the whole purse

The final result is pretty cool, though if I were to make something similar again, I’d make just a little bit larger, and spend more time on adding pockets with zippers into the lining for security.  I don’t like ‘open’ purses generally, and some way of closing them is pretty important to me.  Still, as a quick class, it was great fodder for letting myself go embellishment-wild!

Feedback

Do you think the finished product is too busy, or could you see yourself using something this embellished?  Let me know in the comments below!

Corset class – All laced up

Corset lacing

I have a brief discussion about what to use for corset lacing that I’d like to share as well.

For the most part you want strong laces, that can withstand the tug and pull of cinching your corset up firmly.  I prefer round laces simply because with flat laces, I think they need to be smoothed out and flat to look their best – and unless you have someone helping you get into your corset and then flattening all of your laces, that’s just not going to happen!

A ribbon laced corset of mine. You can see even though I tried really hard to smooth out all the ribbons, it's still not perfect.

Some corset makers use double-faced satin ribbons in their corsets, but generally for regular wear I don’t recommend it.  Again there is the issue of twisting, curling and flattening the laces, but also the holes the laces pass through are round, which means that when faced with strain, the ribbons will naturally start to curl within the grommet hole.  Additionally, I’ve see satin ribbons pass through less-than-perfect grommet holes, and get snagged – which might not mean much, but satin ribbon has a high percentage of floating threads (which gives it that great sheen) which means the chances of snagging your ribbon increases.

The only time that I’d suggest ribbon (and then again, double-faced ribbon) would be for a wedding corset – where the time can be taken to slowly get into the corset and flatten the ribbons, and where the corset will not be worn extremely tightly.  The look of white or cream ribbon (or black, or red, or whatever colour you like) on a wedding corset really does have an appeal, but for normal wear I just don’t feel that the effort is worth it.  YMMV (Your mileage may vary) on this one!

Some individuals recommend parachute cord, which apparently is readily available (though I’ve never found it), shoelaces (I’ve never found them long enough) or other alternatives.  I prefer a simple nylon round cord that I can purchase by the meter or by the spool.  (I have two spools actually, one white, one black, and that suits me just fine!)

A corset of mine with the round nylon cord for back lacing. (Shown on a dressform, so it doesn't fit properly...)

I would recommend avoiding anything:

• Too expensive (you’ll need a lot of cord to lace your corset!)
• Bulky (it will just get in the way)
• Too narrow (it needs to be able to support your tugging without cutting into your hands)
• Too fragile (again, it needs to be able to support all of your tugging)
• Slippery (it needs to be able to tie a firm knot) (Satin rat-tail cord is pretty, but save it for a different project.)
• Too short (having three knots all the way down your corset lacing doesn’t look great in my opinion)
• Too long (you don’t want those laces dangling too far down)

Feedback

Take a look at any of the corsets you already own – what do they use for lacing?  Do you like it, or do you think you’d like to use something different for one you’ll make yourself?  Leave me a comment below!

Colossal Squid at the Royal Alberta Museum

In late June I visited the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton, Alberta.  They had an exhibit called “Creatures of the Abyss”.  (Which runs until September 11, 2011 if you are interested in attending it.) Overall, I actually found the exhibit to be a bit disappointing – it was geared a bit too much to children, so I found the information a bit shallower than I would have liked. All the same, there were some cool displays.

Colossal Squid

The one display that I really liked, and it made me think of a blog I find fascinating (the Cephalopod Tea Party), was the model of the Colossal Squid.  It was enormous and it’s eyes kind of followed us around the room.  Add to that there were a number of displays about how cephalopods use their ink to get away, how different kinds use their legs and jets to transport themselves, etc.  I thought the illustrations of the Vampire Squid were really adorable too.  Also – the Colosall Squid model was scaring some of the children in the room – it was funny to watch and listen to the parents try to convince their terrified children to stand next to it for a picture…

Colossal Squid

From the Cephalopod Tea Party: “a class of active predatory mollusks comprising octopuses, squids, and cuttlefish. They have a distinct head with a ring of tentacles around a beak mouth and are able to release a cloud of inky fluid to confuse predators.”

Satin Moon

Inside Satin Moon

Not long ago during my trip to Victoria, I popped into a quilt shop called Satin Moon. I’ve gotten into the trend of visiting fabric and quilting stores when I travel, and like the idea of bringing back fabric (or something!) that can come to represent the trip.  Visiting Satin Moon made for a charming experience, in a well-lit, well-organized small quilt shop.  They had the regular assortment of patterns, fabrics, notions, and books.  I most enjoy seeing patterns representing local designs (such as Haida First Nation-style artwork, whales, forests, and mountains), and they also had  a small selection of Asian-inspired cotton prints.

Inside Satin Moon

They have a LOT of inspirational finished pieces throughout the store, and a section in the back with finished quilts for sale.  They also have a section of children’s clothing (patterns and otherwise) for those who love to make kids clothes from the often brightly-patterned fabrics made for quilting.  I also especially was pleased to find 100% wool felt, which is difficult to find.  However they only had it in small prices, but I still picked up a few colours for needle felting.

The staff at Satin Moon were great too – very helpful and friendly… yet experienced enough to know to just let sewers shop!  There’s also a small sale area in the corner with cool fabrics and tools – though nothing I needed (or could convince myself I needed…)

I'd love to try this pattern if I could find the right fabric...

I found the store really inspiring – I love this “window” - I’ve seen it done up in other fabrics too, and think it would look great with a scenic fabric print.

So, other than the aforementioned felt, what about fabric? Patterns?  I unfortunately didn’t see any patterns that I wanted (other than ones I already have, or ones like the above windows that I don’t have the fabric for yet anyways…) but I did find a fantastic Asian-inspired fish print from Kona Bay(12 Art Treasures).  It totally reminds me of a friend, and I love the bold print.  I think that I’ll make a lightweight kimono/robe out of it – or perhaps if I feel brave, a stunt dress.

My one regret – isn’t even mine really – but my mum was LOVING a pattern she saw there – called “Waves”, and I tried to convince her to get it… BUT she was being stubborn, and didn’t.  Of course, on the ride back home to Calgary again, she was STILL talking about it and regretting not picking it up.  In the end, she ended up ordering it from them online – and it came super-quick!

You can find Satin Moon Quilt Shop at:

1689 Government Street
Victoria, BC V8W 0A1
(250) 383-4023

Have you been to Satin Moon?  Karin wrote for Quilters Haven about the shop, as did Dawnie in Itching for Stitching.  If you have been there, let me know what you thought (and what you bought!) in the comments below!  If you need more bloggy goodness, check out the Satin Moon blog – which is a series of images for inspiration!

Inside Button Button

More great gothic buttons from Button Button

Not too long ago I was talking about Button Button, a cool button shop in Vancouver where I picked up some great steampunk buttons and some cool gothic buttons as well.  I thought that I would share with you some additional photos I took from inside the shop – in particular trays of the goth and steampunk buttons they have – including those I purchased… and others I left behind.

I have to admit, I was really tempted by those white and grey skull shaped buttons, but thought they might be a bit to kitchy for anything I’d sew.  I also LOVE the black widow spider buttons – but yellow is a bit too bright for my taste.  If those babies had been on grey I would have been sold!  There were also some adorable plastic skulls with little bows in bright colours, and plain plastic skulls too – so cute!

some of the steampunk buttons from Button Button

Here are just some of the steampunk gear buttons, they also have some awesome wooden gears that I was really tempted by (hmm I should have gotten them!) and I also was really tempted by the little female ‘busts’ to at the top left hand corner – but again, I couldn’t really think of what I would use them for.  In this area Button Button also has some totally cute anime-inspired buttons, and the cartoony buttons at the bottom left of this photo. The lone button in the middle right of this photo actually is a two-part rotating cog… how cool is that?

Wwhat you would have done with some of the buttons I didn’t get?  Would you have found a home for those spiders on yellow?  Let me know in the comments below!