Category Archives: CHILDREN

What sewing machine?

June 3, 2021

Janice sewing on a JUKI industrial machine, a design is first cut in cotton toile to test it on mannequin, in the background

Here is a question to the new and experienced tailors out there. What brand of sewing machine is your favourite one?

I learned to sew on a child’s sewing machine. I wish I still owned it but when I was younger, I wasn’t thinking about the value my childhood toys might hold to me in the future.

It disappeared to where I do not know. After my mother died, traces of childhood from the old house were dismissed as quickly as my father sold the house.

When I lived at home I my mother taught me how to sew. The machine was set up in a nook off the kitchen. Ready-to-go made it easy to grab a bit of time here and there to work away on a project. I don’t remember what brand the machine was, I wasn’t aware of brands so any machine would do, it was possibly a Kenmore or a Singer but I really don’t remember.

My parents bought me a second hand machine to have in my residence when I went away to Fashion College. Industrial sewing machines and Sergers and industrial irons were available at the college but it was nice to have the convenience of a machine in my room for the weekends and evenings if I didn’t feel like going back to school to get work done.

My friend’s sewing machine across the hall from me was a Singer Featherweight, what one would think of as a classic granny sewing machine with gold filigree embellished on the black body of the machine. In spite of their decorative appearance, they were known as the workhorse of sewing machines and tailors still covet them for straight forward sewing projects, or to have as an extra machine for example, at the cottage, where one could leave today’s computerized sewing machine at home and still carry on with a project while away for the summer months at the lake.

Singer Featherweight

A Bernina 830 sewing machine belonged to another friend of mine in residence. Of all the sewing machines that my friends owned, it was one we could only dream about because it could do everything and they were expensive. Swiss made, known for even stitch balance, stitches never became a tangled bird’s nest underneath the throat plate. It came with beautiful presser feet attachments for specific sewing techniques and more sewing stitches to choose from over any of the others. The signature red carrying case held the machine along with a red box to hold feet and bobbins, a removable sewing table for free-arm sewing, a foot pedal to control the sewing speed, and the new knee-lever for raising and lowering of the presser foot, freeing the hands to hold the fabric in a specific position.

The parents of my friend across the hall bought her a Bernina 830 as a graduation present. My parents gave me luggage. They were preoccupied with my mother’s illness. She died suddenly the year after I graduated.

How many sewing machines have you owned?

At this point mine was just the second hand one, without any expectations of buying anything else. The year my mother died my husband thought we could stretch and buy a Bernina 830 Record, even though he was a Grad student and I just started my career. We found the best price in Ottawa, so we drove there from Kingston on a Saturday morning and bought one! It was the most wonderful gift I had ever received because Jim lived with my grief first hand while it took over my body physically and mentally. There is nothing that can be done but to wait it out. But out of love, he thought the machine could bring a bright spot for the moment and it was a show of support towards our future together. The machine that could do everything was what I started my fashion business with the following year. I did all the sewing in the first year from gathering to buttonholes, seam finishes, invisible hemming, sewing on buttons, stitches for knits, zippers, topstitching, special stitches for bathing suits, T shirt knits, and decorative trims.

Bernina 830 Record, ‘my machine that could do everything including grief therapy’ is c. 1980

Golden Sun and Silver Moon, design by Janice Colbert. Quilt detail image. 32″ wide x 37″ long. Cotton fabric, mother of pearl buttons, metallic tassels, machine quilted with cotton and metallic thread.

In the 90s, quilting was back in fashion. Quilt shops were popping up everywhere. I wanted to learn about this for weekend projects. I found that my neighbourhood quit shop, where I took my Bernina 830 for its annual servicing, was an excellent resource. ‘Quilters Quarters’ was having a contest. My Bernina was up to the challenge of free motion quilting with metallic thread. It was the first time I ever entered a quilt but I gave it go. I placed second for my original design!

Quilt back. Batik fabric, quit label.

Once we invested in the usual industrial machines, a JUKI for the universal or straight stitch and the Serger for finishing edges for my fashion design business, I still relied on the Bernina for buttonholes, and sewing on buttons, invisible hemming and a few specialty stitches. I hired a tailor once the orders were more than I could handle. Yvonne, with experience from the garment trade in Denmark, brought a lot of expertise with her, and could stitch anything that I could imagine. The Bernina was her baby too.

Janice at the worktable, Raw Silk is spread in preparation to cut her jumpsuit design

Thumbnail sketch, Janice Colbert Raw Silk Jumpsuit, side pockets, convertible collar. The front, sleeve cuffs and belt have mother of pearl buttons. Self fabric belt adjusts with buttons.

Janice Colbert, Prairie Blouse, detail image. Mother of pearl shoulder buttons, ruffled collar, gathered sleeve-cap, satin ribbon. Fabric, Challis.

Janice Colbert, two tiered skirt, detail image, satin ribbon. Fabric, Challis.

I just wondered what machines have you owned from past to present?

Twenty years later, in the early 2000s, my Bernina 830 Record was still full of life and running well. No complaints at all. The new trend was computerized sewing machines with machine-embroidery designs. I wasn’t computer savvy. My vision was in the other direction, the less technology the better. I was designing a lot of quilts and attended many workshops with two quilt shops in particular in Toronto.

The new machines caught my eye when I was buying fabric and heard about an information session coming up where a Bernina Rep would demonstrate all the bells and whistles. I was attracted to the machine because the new models could replace hand embroidery with machine embroidery that was easier on the eyes and hands and could be completed in less than 30 minutes to an hour or so, instead of days and weeks. I felt the many Alphabet fonts would be useful for embroidering things for fashion and cloth accessories for the home, but other motifs were copyrighted so I didn’t think I should use them in my designs. With a lot of deliberation my husband encouraged me to invest in an Artista 170 with better lighting on the sewing area, a larger worktable and more decorative stitches that included machine stitches that look like hand quilting.

Machine stitches that look like heirloom quilt stitches. Numbers 310 to 338.

Bernina Artista 170, my machine is c. 2000

My machines were put aside but not completely out of reach for many years while I completed a BFA in Drawing and Painting at OCAD University in Toronto. The machine embroidery aspect was used here when I produced some installation art that combined textiles with machine embroidery for my Contemporary Issues in Art course. My intention was to promote awareness about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome through art work. I was struck by some information I had heard on CBC radio about the brain injury to unborn infants that is caused by a mother’s drinking. In a world where we seem to to right anything, it struck me really hard to learn that the brain injury to the unborn is a life long disorder and is the leading known cause of preventable development-disability in Canada. With early diagnosis, children with FASD can receive services to help maximize their potential.

Assignments were due on a short turnaround time because the concept, process and direction of work was discussed in a Critique more than whether the work was polished. Time for that would come later in a studio practice.

At the time (2001) beer companies advertised a lot with their latest slogan.

I cut newborn-size nightgowns from cotton muslin. The beige colour was an intended connection to the artists canvas. The catchphrases I chose ‘this buds for you’, ‘the silver bullet’ and ‘out of the blue’ were machine embroidered on the muslin with pastel blue, pink and yellow thread. I sewed the gowns but left the side seams and hems unstitched to demonstrate the incomplete life the children were born into.

During critique the students felt it wasn’t clear that the gowns were for children because there was nothing to indicate scale, so it was hard to tell what size the gowns were representing.They also wanted to see the gowns hemmed and the side seams stitched closed.

I moved on to other assignments and didn’t have time to return to my project.

Artists 170 , embroidered textiles. for the home. If you have named your home, you can create custom textiles. In this case, linen tea towels for our our Key West cottage. Linen fabric, rayon thread.

Do you like the machine that you are using today? Is there a beloved machine that you regret parting with?

During Covid the limping home-sewing market had exploded. More folks were captive at home and wanting to go crafty. My project in 2020 was to return to sewing because it was something that I loved doing since I was small.

Twenty years later progressive technology outpaced the infant of computerized sewing machines, the Artista 170. The new machines were shockingly more sophisticated more expensive, and noticeably larger than anything before. It looked like hands-off sewing was available to anyone that didn’t know how to sew. Questions could be answered with video lessons—that made it seem like sewing experience wasn’t needed—the machine would do it all for you. People were in a race to buy sewing machines. We all worried about supply chains. I was able to buy the last Bernina 770 QE sewing machine from what was the last shipment in Canada from Bernina until who knew when?

B770 Quilters Edition and embroidery capable, my machine is. c. 2020

I was a little afraid at first of a sewing machine the size and weight of a small outboard motor. To name a few differences from the 170, the computer screen is larger, there are wider decorative stitches that make for more luxurious designer touches on projects, and larger embroidery hoops and the extended free arm is 13-inches long. The bobbin holds 80% more thread than standard bobbins, and the machine can read what foot attachment you have on the machine. This one was going to take even more time to figure out when all I wanted to do was sew. I was used to knowing where everything was on my old machines in a split second. I’m used to delayed gratification, I sat down and put in the time.

Width comparison of ornamental stitches: Bernina Artista 170 above, compared to Bernina B770 QE, see below

Ornamental stitches: Bernina B770 QE

While decluttering I came across the nightgowns from OCAD days. To become more familiar with all the embroidery stitches available on the B770 QE sewing machine could sew, I decided to finish them. My school project that was begun in 2001 on a Bernina Artista 170 was finished on the Bernina 770 QE. The side seams are stitched closed and the hems with embroidery patterns for children show more clearly that the gowns are for the nursery. The colour palette, drawn from the Bone China Bunnykins Tableware mugs, are included in the photos to indicate the scale of the twenty-inch long gowns.

Infant nightgown, ‘this buds for you’ Artista 170 machine embroidery text. Hemline with children’s novelty stitches, cars and caravans, B770QE, muslin fabric

Infant nightgown, 'the silver bullet' Artista 170 machine embroidery text. Hemline with children's novelty stitches B770QE, muslin fabric

Infant nightgown, ‘the silver bullet’ Artista 170 machine embroidery text. Hemline with children’s novelty stitches, turtles, B770QE, muslin fabric

Infant nightgown, ‘out of the blue’ Artista 170 machine embroidery text. Hemline with children’s novelty stitches, frogs, B770QE, muslin fabric

Here is a recent project combining the painting of the tumbling blocks or hexagon pattern with textiles and embroidery. The text was inspired by the Elizabeth Bishop poem ‘Manners’ where her grandfather says, “Say hello to everyone one you meet.” I added some further suggestions.

Wood towel rack and pegs. Acrylic paint, linen, rayon thread and machine embroidery. ‘say hello’, ‘hold the door’, ‘words heal’

Detail, linen, rayon thread, machine embroidery.

Forty years later, my older machines sew quality work a little differently. I return to the Artista 170 for projects and design files I have saved on that machine. The Bernina Record 830 is still with me. The machine can sew as good a buttonhole with the best of them.

Embroidered Life

MAY 13, 2021

When I was a child I had to create things. I was happy to receive embroidery kits with the design printed on linen with all the colours of embroidery floss included for a Christmas gift. I found it was something fun to do while waiting for my aunt and uncle and cousins to come to our house for Christmas dinner or for us to go to their house because we alternated each year. I liked quiet projects but that didn’t mean I wasn’t an athletic girl because I was busy with downhill skiing, skating lessons, dance school, riding my bike and skateboarding, slalom waterskiing and Royal Conservatory piano lessons. My mother and paternal grandmother influenced my interest in needlework. Both women always had a project on the go.

My grandmother crocheted and knitted many outfits for my Barbie dolls that she sent by mail from Montreal along with a pair of crochet slippers for Christmas gifts. Here are examples from her creative soul; a Chanel inspired coat and hat with lips buttons and a short jacket and slim skirt with navy-blue contrast on the collar and hem. Striped stocking stitch sweaters with bateau neckline, a miniature button and matching hats with pompon. My grandmother knit clothes for my dolls but I designed clothes for my sister’s dolls.

My mum was a knitter when it was the style out of necessity to wear hand-knit sweaters, mittens, scarves and hats for both men and women. I think they both did cross stitch, needlepoint, crewelwork and smocking. My mother certainly took my sister and me to a dressmaker to have dresses made with smocked yokes.

Crewelwork detail, rattan chair and geraniums, tapestry wool on linen.

I was receptive to experimenting with the needle arts. I followed what the popular trends were in needlepoint, rug hooking, crewelwork, crochet and knitting. But needlework was a pastime that went by the way because my real interest from a young age always was design.

While on summer break from design school, and with a friend from school, we attempted to sew two smocked Peasant Blouses. The neckline and shoulder of the raglan sleeves have the honeycomb smocking stitch and the sleeves are gathered by running a length of embroidery floss through a channel created by the wave smocking stitch. There are six cross-stitch roses on the blouse. Because of the smocking on the neckline and shoulders the blouse was sixty inches wide at the hemline and fell just short of the waistline. The blouse was not comfortable to wear.

After design school, I was too busy to make anything other than what was related to clothing designs for my business. Years later, after my daughter was born I took up the 1980s quilting craze because I wanted to make a quilt for her and kitty-corner to my store, Janice and friends, there was a quilt store. I took a class once a week to make a twin size quilt.

Infant’s nightdress, smocking on front yoke only and sleeve cuffs, two sets of fabric ribbon closures on the back neckline and waist.

Raglan sleeve dress, smocking front and back and on the shoulders, snap closures on the back neckline.

I was lonely for my mother and grandmother who both died prematurely. Mary, my mother-in-law became the only needlewoman that I knew. She smocked flannelette nightdresses and knitted beautiful baby sweater-sets with hats and booties, works of art in traditional knitting patterns for our children.

Mary surprised us for our daughter’s first birthday with a smocked dress.

Classic Yoke Dress for English smocking on the front and back yokes and the set-in sleeves, button and loop closure with placket on sleeves and the back neckline.

To see that dress style again. I was hooked and asked if we could make a dress together.

I bought the fabric, Mary did the smocking and I sewed the dress in time for Christmas.

Smocking is usually worked on soft fabrics, batiste, cotton, lawn, silk and crêpe de Chine. Smocked dresses require a lot of yardage because you need 3 inches of fabric for every inch of the smocked pattern completed. For this dress the measurement around the hemline for a small child is 72 inches. Children’s clothing remains the best-known use of smocking.

Here is the letter that arrived by post when Mary had finished her smocking portion of our project, Thursday, November 27, 1986.

She shared “a few little tips.”

“I have added the blue as you suggested. I am enclosing some floss in case you need to make button loops or on the edge of the collar. Sometimes they put an edge [blanket stitch] around the collar, but mostly for older children when the collars are larger.”

“The buttons are a good idea, again a button can be used at the wrist if you find difficulty getting her hands through or if too big—you are good at making plackets. I shy away from making them.”

“I ran a red thread on top of both front and back to help the fraying. It can be taken out after you put in the yokes—or left in will not show.”

“You will notice there are small seam allowances under the arm and side seams. Just sew over the smocking needed for seam, keeping the lines of the pattern even. The smocking is done this way so there are no blanks without smocking and the pattern is more even.”

She signed off with hugs to my family with wishing me Good Luck! Decades later on reading her letter again, her words struck me. She deferred to my youthful experience because I was educated in design. She took my suggestion to add some blue thread, enclosing extra floss in case I needed to make thread button-loops, and said, “I shy away from making plackets.” In hindsight I remember that when her father died from pneumonia, her mother sold the farm and moved with her two daughters into town. Her mother took in sewing to keep the family afloat. Mary knew more about sewing than she let on, but was never one to shine a light on her ability. I heard stories about her sewing the curtains and covering the upholstery when the family project was to refurbish a Volkswagen Camper Van—the Hippie Van— and she sewed garments for herself and her daughter. But that was long before I met her.

The last smocked dress that Mary made was a sundress. The hemline circumference on this one is eighty-eight inches. Smocked dresses, intended for special occasions, don’t show signs of wear, because young children grow rapidly and need new clothes for every change of season.

Children gravitate quickly to exploring the world of gathering bugs in the ravine, sand boxes and play forts and painting with mud. The time for fancy dresses is short lived.

Smocking embroidery is a labour intensive needlework art and it’s best to be done when one has time and young children in your life to enjoy it.

When I had my store I made this door hanger for my business. The atelier is OPEN!

For my on-line Handmade Shop, I’m working on hand and machine embroidered brooches on linen fabric.

The colour ways include, orange, pink, blue and grey-ecru with red thread.

Left to right, ecru, pink, green and red French-knots sewn with Perle Cotton outline the edge of each brooch.

Wool and an antique-brass brooch-clasp finish the back. Each brooch measures 4.5 x 2.5 inches.

Closing time at the atelier.

9 x 18 inches. Satin stitch embroidery sewn by hand, embroidery floss, cotton, eyelet lace.

CHRISTMAS ALL THROUGH THE HOUSE

NOVEMBER 26, 2020

CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS

Naïve art, fabric stockings, married for three months, this was our first Christmas in graduate-student housing. Jim was the superintendent so we had free rent for a tiny one-bedroom apartment a few doors from the student pub in Kingston. I made the stockings out of red flannelette. I didn’t have enough fabric to cut the front and back in one piece so there are two seams on the back of each stocking where three pieces of fabric had been joined.

The English paper piecing rosette is here in a smaller version of the one used on the Retro Tea Cosy. White eyelet cotton is used for the cuff and rosette, the heel and toe on my stocking. Jim’s has navy-blue stars and red polka dots on a white background.

The hanging loop is red bias-binding tape that also edges the cuff, and defines the heel turn and toe. The stockings are large enough to hold a bottle of wine, a tangerine in the toe and a few luxury chocolates, but they are small (19.5 x 6.5 in.), in relative terms to our expectations where Christmas stockings and everything else has been scaled to fit our large-sized lifestyles that include big stocking that still won’t hold all the spoils and extravagant consumption at Christmas.

VIYELLA SHIRT

I made this Christmas shirt that for my husband over 40 years ago.The heritage 1784 Viyella is the oldest branded fabric in the world. The strong but soft twill-weave fabric is a wool and cotton blend, 80% lambs wool and 20% Egyptian cotton. The fabric was the first and most natural performance fabric centuries ago. It kept one warm in cold temperatures and cool in hot temperatures. Modern technical fabrics offer this today. Viyella is known for cosy clothing styles. Designers with a vintage flair, for example Laura Ashley, were drawn to it. The original wool/cotton blend is no longer available. It has been reversed to 20% wool and 80% cotton unless you can find a vintage design like this shirt.

Every Viyella fabric pattern has a name, there are many tartans and plaids, but I could not find the name for this one. Does anyone know what it is called? This classic-fit sports shirt has a topstitched straight collar, front button placket; a slight pleat at the base of the back yoke gives ease of movement in the shoulder. The sleeves have a cuff and a placket.

I had forgotten that at some point the sleeve had a rip in it. I don’t remember how it happened. It was the norm to reduce waste, to mend, not to throw things out. Mending was intended to be as invisible as possible. Here is the repair, to make it ‘good as new’.

The trend to reduce waste is back on the minds of some people. The style is for conspicuous mending. To evolve the garment into an environmental fashion statement.

FIVE-BUTTON RED VEST

What says Christmas more than this flame-red, wool-gabardine-vest with five buttons? The vest was for Jim, and is a similar vintage as the shirt. It has one welt pocket on the front and is fully lined with a satin fabric. The back has a self-fabric belt and a buckle with three eyelet buttonholes.

TREE SKIRT

The first Christmas tree skirt that I had ever made was quick and easy to create because it has minimal stitching. When I was juggling design work with raising two children I didn’t have time for complicated projects. The skirt came about at the eleventh hour. At the moment when the tree was put in place and they were busy hanging decorations we realized that we didn’t have a skirt. I zipped upstairs, pulled out some blue felt and cut a forty-two inch diameter circle with a smaller circle in the centre to accommodate the tree trunk, and slashed the fabric from the centre to the hem to create an opening. Then I cut lengths of nine-inch red-satin ribbons and tacked them eight inches apart along the hemline. I finished the hemline by pinking (zigzag detail) the edge with pinking shears and did the same to the ends of the ribbons to create a theme.

I don’t think I was missed; the kids were still enjoying the tree and the decorations, when I came downstairs with the skirt.

We used that skirt for many Christmases, sometimes alternating with other tree skirts from sophisticated silk with a scalloped hem edged with pearls, burgundy velvet with soutache-cord snowflakes to rustic black-and-red plaid with moose, bear and oak leaf appliqué motifs. I think the blue felt one has always been my daughter’s favourite.

SLEIGH BELLS

I was compelled to make this Christmas costume for my son and daughter when they were in elementary school. A Canadian magazine might be where the concept originated. I’m not sure but it was a brilliant idea.

Two red sweatshirts were required. I shopped the stores to assemble the bric-a-brac. The craft shop had the bells, fabric paint, ribbon and glitter. I didn’t know if I could find unadorned old-fashioned sweatshirts in children’s sizes. If I came up with nothing, that would be the end of the project. Cotton Ginny had them in sizes XS and S.

I so loved Cotton Ginny sweatshirts and sweat pants from the 1980s and ’90s. They were made in Canada and early to market in what became an explosive fashion trend; to move sweat pants from the gym to loungewear and casual street- wear. I had many sets for myself in a rainbow of colours.

The Christmas tree, a green painted triangle outlined in green glitter is the focal point of the shirt. There are fifteen gold sleigh bells hand sewn in rows. The tree topper is a gold bell tied with a plaid ribbon. There is a zigzag checkerboard across the chest that alternates with red and white paint in the top row and green and white in the lower row.

Jingle Bells in green paint is hand printed on the front of the left sleeve. A sleigh bell dots the “I”.

The teachers at Whitney School in their Junior Kindergarten and Grade 2 classroom thought the sweatshirts were lots of fun and allowed the jingling and tinkling like reindeer harnessed to fly through the sky before school was out for the holidays. If at times a minor distraction, the teachers in 2020 would welcome such a respite.

DJANGO SANTA

I have been a doll enthusiast from a young age. The first one, a Suzy Smart doll from the 1960s, was on my wish list for my first Christmas in Key West. She sat in her school desk, dressed in a plaid jumper, waiting for me beside the Christmas tree. If you pulled a string, she could spell, add and recite. I received my first fashion doll when I was ten-years-old. She was a Christmas present from my uncle sent by mail from his home in California. I had not heard of Barbie and was delighted to receive his gift complete with a carrying case for her and all her clothes.

I admire the miniature scale of dolls. Where puppetry is prevalent, in the places we have traveled such as Britain, Budapest and Prague, by extension handmade dolls with clay faces and hands, dressed in knitted sweaters and leather shoes are for sale.

This doll has had many lives. When I made him for the first time, I made two. I gave one away to my friend whose husband died suddenly in dire circumstances. The second one was for a fun decoration to have at our ski chalet. He was welcomed to our collection of Christmas decorations. Once the holidays were over we packed him away in a box and left him in the basement.

The next year when we opened the box I was heartbroken. Mice had their way with him as swaddling for their nest. His beard full of dried mouse poop, threads eaten, batting pulled out of the body. His pants had holes and urine stains. The buttons had teeth marks. I had spent days making this doll. Santa was no longer presentable. I couldn’t throw him out.

Six years later, I didn’t know if it was possible to restore him but I had the strength and the time to try. Could I pull the beard off the face that had been attached to cotton with glue? His clothing was washed, new buttons and fancy threads were found to replace what was gone. But still, I was hesitant about the job ahead of me. Is this where I wanted to invest my time? Did I really feel like making another pair of pants for a Santa doll?

Then I had the idea to create him anew as Django, not Santa.

Django is my husband’s alter ego, a version of himself where he lets the crazy out, traveling around, enjoying himself but not focused on anything other than what he needs doing that day, no commitments, no wealth or comfort but never on the street. For most of his life he worked in various roles in kitchens, more of the food processing factories of cruise ships, the small galleys of ships or the tiny food prep areas of private yachts, barges, and other working ships and boats.

This Django has a ponytail (like my husband) tied with green ribbon. The beard is a new one.

He wears a fresh cotton chef’s jacket with a cardinal print and polka dot kitchen pants. The cardinal is a traditional symbol of beauty and warmth of the holiday season. Ribbon suspenders are attached with wood buttons to the waistline. Rag-wool socks were cut to make the doll’s socks and the toque utilizes the red stripe. Black shoes are tied with silver threads. Django wears a black bistro-style apron embroidered with his name. The blue star, sewn with the utility-stitch, refers to a nautical flag he designed that travels with him, most recently to Copenhagen and Moscow.

SMOOTHING OUT THE WRINKLES

Sometimes what appears to be a basic rectangle placemat (19 inches wide x 13 inches high) is considerably more than its four miter seams and simple 2-inch-border. The white fabric with candy canes and peppermint-candy balls and the green fabric with red holly-leaves and white drupes are seasonal and festive. The provenance behind these VIP Screen-Print fabrics by Cranston Print Works Company from Cranston, Rhode Island began in 1806.

For a placemat, even with the two coordinating fabrics, it’s kind of flat—almost anyone could sew this—and could be overlooked for its clean lines.

There is an undertone of sadness that lingers beneath the sparkle and elevated mood at Christmas for those that remember loved ones that have died. The absence is palpable in the missing place setting at dinner. Christmas has always been unusually important for me—in fact since childhood—to make it personal and to build memories.

My mother was fifty-years-old when she passed. She was never spoken about again. Not with my brother or sister who was a teenager then. My father remarried suddenly. My family didn’t gather for any of the holidays. There weren’t invitations or phone calls by any of mum’s large extended family. A relative’s true emotional investment in family members is revealed in rough times. No one asked us how we were feeling through the early years of mourning. My sadness and my fear that I would get breast cancer festered beyond what would be considered healthy and then it became entrenched.

I missed her so much at Christmas dinner. Once we had children, I was afraid that I would die at age fifty and leave behind my children in their early teenage years. I knew what it was to lose a mother. Mental health therapists recommend, to not worry about something that hasn’t happened. As much as I tried to put on a brave face I found myself stuck in the same place, inconsolable at the dining-room table while spritzing the red linen tablecloth. Setting the table for dinner was the worst because she made beautiful dinners. Homemade bread and dinner rolls were always there for the start of the holiday meal.

Ten years later, another Christmas, time to smooth out the wrinkles. I decided to make new memories because mine were too painful. The four placemats from the early 1990s were my baby steps towards the beginning of new traditions and were the first Christmas themed sewing I had ever done.

The holly leaves traditionally symbolize the crown-of-thorns. The main flower meaning symbolizes defense or protection.

Wishing you a safe and happy household this Christmas.

THE DINOSAUR AND THE LADY BUG

FIRST PANDEMIC HALLOWEEN

OCTOBER 22, 2020

The announcement from the Premier of Ontario says that Halloween is not possible this year. We are being asked to celebrate at home.

pumpkin patch, Saugus, Massachusetts

Shrieking Bat

Families that celebrate Halloween have Halloween traditions. After moving house five times over the years, we live in a neighbourhood with lots of young children. Even though our kids are grown there is never any question, we keep the lights on and shell out. Our outdoor decorations are set up weeks before and it is the same for indoors, with a little bit of a haunted house theme such as a shrieking bat that is motion sensitive, when activated it lets out a spooky dirge; bend-able skeletons, large and small; candle holders that have cut-off hands for the base, that kind of thing.

Our own ‘kids’ come over to help at the door and we each have one pumpkin to carve before dinner. The design and carving does turn into a friendly competition. Dinner is not elaborate, two large homemade pizzas, one veg and the other one meat.

Jim and I bought some top hats at Frankie Sez in Jordan Station and Beau Chapeau in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario a few years back, so we dress-up in the steam-punk fashion, all in black. Our dog wears a sweater with a squirrel on it, she doesn’t know it’s there but her favourite sport is running after squirrels.

Grip stand bowl, Halloween candy, miniature candy, Mars, Twix and Snickers chocolate bars, Rockets, Tootsie Rolls and M&M's, shrieking bat decoration

Grip stand bowl, Halloween candy, shrieking bat decoration

Treats at the door are always small bags of chips and miniature candy, Mars, Twix and Snickers chocolate bars, Rockets, Tootsie Rolls and M&M’s. The piano bench, set up in the foyer is where a Grip-Stand 6 litre bowl, like the one my mother used to bake bread, holds the candy. We use to pre-package the treats, with individual bags before that became environmentally unfriendly.

Wine is poured for neighbours that we know, they walk along and sip with their friends while their kids run to the doors. The wine glasses make it back to us eventually.

Older children at our door wear costumes that demonstrate their imaginative minds are on fire, expressed in their homemade costumes. It changes from year to year, but the tradition that kids ‘wear one’s heart on one’s sleeve’ is prevalent every year.

When I was a child, I did not feel the anticipation and excitement for Halloween. I wore store bought vacuum-formed plastic masks, held to my face with an elastic stretched across the back of my head, and a bargain-store satin gown tied at the waist over a snow jacket. I think one year was an attempt at Snow White! There wasn’t any question as to what the weather would be like. Growing up in Ottawa, Halloween was a cold weather event. Trick or Treat was for kids; we definitely did not go out once we were teenagers.

My father, growing up poor in 1932 Montreal often recalled a Halloween experience from when was young. He walked up to a door. Someone was giving out pennies. Heated pennies dropped in his palm and burnt his hands. We certainly do not go in for that kind of thing either.

Another tradition in our family was that I sewed Halloween costumes for my kids when they were small. I welcomed that yearly project. The first one was a clown costume for our daughter; she had not started nursery school and didn’t know what Halloween was. It was really our idea to get her started. I made the costume a little large, thinking that she could wear it the next year as well. Oh the ideas that come from young mothers! That didn’t happen, Halloween is a new opportunity for dress-up every year.

Her costume was practical; a one-piece step-in that was tied at the neck. She wouldn’t be inconvenienced by anything uncomfortable for the sake of drama. She dismissed the ruffled collar immediately. The fabric was a paint drip and fluorescent white stars on cotton; there was room to layer her clothing underneath to stay warm, because the weather did fluctuate drastically from year to year in Southern Ontario.

Clown

yellow paint drip and fluorescent white stars on red cotton

detail, purple pom-pons, purple ruffled collar

Vintage McCall’s pattern

1986, chid size 2-6

*Rickrack trim is sewn to the hem of the sleeves and legs. The gathered neckline has elastic in a casing that ties at the back with bias tape ties. Narrow hems finish the two layers of the collar. A casing is created to run a braid through that gathers the collar. Pom-pons are made from scratch with lightweight cardboard. Pom-pon kits did not exist thirty years ago.

My experience is mostly Toronto based because that is when my kids were the right age for trick or treating. After they were grown and we first moved to our most recent home, ten years ago, there were two neighbouring houses that did a joint haunted house. It was a fundraiser for juvenile diabetes and people came from all over the city. In those years we shelled out for over four hundred kids each year.

Children learn about their world through play with toys that mirror their parent’s work. The range that includes miniature garden tools, toy cars, dishes and dolls, kitchen equipment and electronics is broad and striking.

Clothing construction for a child is a miniature version of adult clothing. The garments have the same hallmarks of clothing construction whether it’s zippers in jeans, collar and cuffs, tailoring features on shirts or pleated skirts. The difference, unless for a formal occasion, is that the fabric is geared towards prints that reflect their interests and easy care fabrics for everyday wear.

If you would like like to learn to sew, a child’s garment is a good place to start. The fitting is less complicated than for an adult and you will learn the same sewing skills. Children are not demanding customers. The have no expectation of perfectly turned collars or exacting measures, and will be proud to wear something that mum or dad, auntie or uncle, or some other teen or older friend made ‘just for them’.

The project carries less weight for success because smaller yardages are required; there isn’t the investment of expensive fabric that could be a barrier to learning because of the fear of failure. Children outgrow their clothing quickly while your sewing skills grow along with them.

To begin with you will learn about sewing-pattern instructions, fabric cutting layouts, yardages, suggested fabrics and notions, for the garment you are going to sew. A child’s costume is quite often rated Very Easy, so the project will be finished quickly. I don’t tend to do seam finishes for something that will have little wear.

In general there are repeating clothing construction techniques that appear in more than one costume shown here.

Raglan sleeve: clown, bird and bat

Bias tape casings: a channel for ¼ inch elastic at wrists and legs: clown, bird, dinosaur, ladybug, and bat

Rompers long length: clown, dinosaur

Rompers short length: ladybug, bat

Front zip: bird, dinosaur

Hoods: (sewing a straight piece of fabric to a curved piece) bird, dinosaur, ladybug, bat, Grim Reaper and Batman

Velcro® tape for shoulder closure: ladybug, bat

Appliqué: Donatello, dinosaur, ladybug, ninja and Batman

Cotton fabric: clown, bird, Donatello, dinosaur, ladybug, and bat

Satin fabric: Ninja, Grim Reaper and Batman

Where the costumes details are unique, it is mentioned below the pictures for each costume and marked with an asterisk.

The Bird

pink hood for bird head, felt comb and beak, black buttons for eyes

Vintage McCalls pattern

1988, child size 5-6

front view, felt bird wings, front zipper, pink sateen rompers for toddler’s, child size 5-6

back view, wings and tail feathers

I did not design their costumes.

They are finicky and time consuming to sew without starting from scratch with pattern making.

*The hood has a “beak” visor with three narrow tucks, button eyes, and a felt three-colour comb. The structure comes from a loop of pipe cleaner stitched in a channel of the comb.

The scalloped felt-wings are sewn to the costume at the neckline and raglan sleeve seam line.

Donatello

elbow, wrist and knee pads, purple cotton fabric, polyester batting

elbow, wrist and knee pads, purple cotton fabric, poly batting

face mask and belt, appliqué letter D

Vintage Butterick pattern

1990, child size Small

*Elbow, wrist and kneepads are filled with polyester fiberfill; there is quilting detail and 1¼ inch elastic is enclosed in fabric bands. Felt belt with belt loop.

The Dinosaur

‘feet’ shoe covers, felt, elastic at ankles

hood and felt scales

Vintage McCall’s pattern

1987, child size 6X

I learned that there is the risk that young children will change their minds about their costume several times. It only takes a slight critical comment or a facial grimace, from another child to ravel a decision for the sake of fitting in or approval from a best friend. One solution is to involve your child in the process, choosing fabric and notions; and a hand at the sewing, so they can say “we made it” together.

front view, with centre front zipper, sleeves and felt scales

back view with tail and scales

*A length of fabric stitched and turned for the tail. Felt “feet” shoe covers have elastic at the ankle and zigzag cut edge. The sleeve cuffs are felt with a cut zigzag hem. The sleeve is a drop shoulder style, sewn with the same technique as a kimono sleeve.

The Ladybug

hood with antenna, pom-pon on pipe cleaner tip

Vintage Butterick Pattern

1990, child size 5-6

front view, romper with spots

back view with spots on the wings

*For the wings, interfacing is fused to the fabric to create stiffness. The wings are stitched on a curve, trimmed and clipped before turning right side out.

The Bat

hood with ears

rompers with bat wing

Vintage Butterick pattern

1990, child size 6-7

*The bat wings with four curved edges for each one are enclosed in the sleeve under arm and side seam. Ears are enclosed in the darts on the hood.

The Ninja

hood, black satin fabric

detail of hip length tunic in black satin fabric, dragon appliqué in green felt, cord belt

Vintage Simplicity Pattern

1993, child size 5-6

*The satin tunic has a neckline facing, a slash in the back neckline that ties with satin twill tape and satin rope tie belt.

The Grim Reaper

detail of floor length cape in black satin, zig-zag collar in red felt, cord belt

hood, mask and leg wraps in black satin fabric

Vintage Simplicity Pattern

1993, child size 10-12

*The collar is felt with a cut zigzag hem and a red satin ribbon for the ties. The satin hood pulls over the head and has a cut zigzag hem. The leg wraps have HeatnBond® to stiffen the fabric and satin twill tape for the ties.

Batman

satin hood, appliqué bat silhouette on yellow felt circle

all ages, all sizes

*The ninja, Grim Reaper and Batman are sewn with satin, a slippery fabric. It requires more advance sewing skills to keep the seams lined up and even as the fabric is run through the sewing machine.

sand art, Casa Marina Hotel, Key West, Florida Keys

While the response to a handmade costume was supportive from some friends and parents to sewing things like this for children, there were an equal amount of derogative jabs made towards me for choosing to ded-icate time to these projects. The unoriginal term, Suzy Homemaker, drawn from 1960s children’s household toys comes to mind. It is an infantilizing, dismissive and derisive reference to any woman (but never made to men) with habits linked to domestic activities where women traditionally do the work. The SH term is a cutt-ing remark, just as it was intended. At the very least seamstress, tailor or stitcher would have been nice to hear. I had the years of design training.

I wonder about the motive to put someone down. In part it came from jealousy or regret, for choices made in how to spend ones working hours that negates time put to other uses. Time, like a pumpkin pie can only be sliced into so many pieces before the slices are just too thin to be of any use.

My mother-in-law used to say, “We all have different ways of earning a living and different ways to spend it.”

Once we realized Covid-19 had gelled across the world, it had become nearly impossible to buy a sewing machine. The wait lists are long for all price points. People are returning to traditional projects, brushing up on sewing skills or learning to stitch for the first time. Some have the fantasy, from watching TV shows about The Making of Things, that they can become the next best sewist (new word combination of sewing and artist) and assume their idea is scalable without learning the breadth of construction that fills volumes.

The only adult size costume, an original design, that I have made was a Cookie Monster costume for my husband when we were in university in Kingston. I have never made a costume for myself. On revisiting my work here I find the Clown costume is holding a lot of appeal. Next year Pierrot in a top hat might be shelling out at my door.

Happy Halloween everyone!

A BEAR’S LIFE

OCTOBER 8, 2020

Have you wondered what to do with children’s stuffed animals or as some may call them stuffies? Quite often an infant will receive a bear when they are born. Many children have one that is their favourite over all others. And in some ways they are a child’s first friends.

After years of daily cuddles they become scruffy and later set aside as children grow out of them. That doesn’t mean they are unwanted, even into young adulthood they are not to be donated or thrown out. Honestly, I feel the same way. They hold memories for me too.

My daughter and son both had their bear that was the one. It was the same style of bear, 16 inches tall, one had a brown one, and the other one was white.

They should be considered as textiles and won’t do well in a scruffy box stored on a shelf in the garage or attic enduring decades of exposure to heat and cold. After a run through the wash cycle they should as a minimum be wrapped in acid free tissue paper and kept in a climate controlled situation.

When I was thinking about how to store the bears, I thought about how it is the convention that women’s quality handbags include a dust cover to protect them when not in use. That is where my idea came from to design a custom dust cover for the bears.

To begin, I gave the bear one final wash. The results were not dramatic but any remaining dust was removed before storage. The bear had developed a wattle in the neck area, a characteristic of aging for anyone. The stitches around the head had come lose so I was able to fill in the neck with some stuffing before stitching back up. I found a curved upholstery needle and 12 weight Sulky Cotton Petites made the sewing less cumbersome.

I chose a neutral colour for the cotton and drafted the pattern pieces for a bespoke envelope style pillowslip.

Cut a length of fabric that allows for a 6-½ inch overlap and some extra length to accommodate the curve over the head, snout and the rounded tummy.

I programmed the text—the bear’s name and the year of my child’s birth—on my embroidery machine. The embroidery could be equally successful stitched by hand with the fabric stretched in an embroidery hoop. Machine embroidery goes a long way in helping those with less flexibility in their hands. On the other hand it is known that hand embroidery is relaxing.

Sew a narrow double folded hem across the width at both ends. You could use the same colour thread as the embroidery. The side seams are sewn as a French seam, shown here, but a one-half inch seam that is pinked or overlocked would work as well.

Here it is! Embroidered pillowslip completed, 20 x 16 inches.

It is nice to make a label. Include your name, the date of completion and a short message.

Snowball . . .

Goodnight bear!

GRAD COLLECTION: SWIMWEAR 1978

MAY 28, 2020

The woman’s one-piece swimsuit or tank suit, also called a maillot (as described in the grad fashion show catalogue) is a tight swimsuit with a deep neckline and high cut legs worn in lieu of a bikini. This one has a halter neckline and crossover bodice.

The coordinating tunic cover-up with bishop sleeves, has gathers along the neckband, a small opening in the back of the neckline with ties, similar to the front opening on child’s tunic cover-up (see below). Self-fabric tie-belt. The fabric is a floral organza.

Janice's sketch, bishop-sleeve cover-up and one piece maillot

bishop-sleeve cover-up and one piece maillot

one piece maillot and tunic cover-up, bishop-sleeve

organza, 15-inch repeat

Mother & Daughter fashions were a vogue that began in the 1940s. Clothes for formal wear or play were made identical for mother and daughter. Brother-and-Sister clothes were the same idea, dressing brothers and sisters in matching styles. It was also done with Sister-and-Sister. In the 1960s I had several outfits, usually for the holidays, identical to my sister’s dresses except for colour, like the Bouclé spring coats I mentioned in the About category. The look can be a bit twee, when the outfits are identical.

The child’s swimsuit is also a maillot in the same green nylon/spandex. The similarities stop there. This one has a bandeau neckline with a ruffle, halter straps that criss-cross and then tie between the shoulder blades and cutaway sides.

The only similarity is the fabric for the tunic cover-up. The child’s version is sleeveless versus the bishop-sleeve for the woman’s tunic. There is a ruffle at the shoulder line to give some protection against sunburn. It ties at the front and there is a ruffle at the hem.

The organza has a 15-inch repeat. The tunic is 14 inches long from the shoulder to the beginning of the ruffle. That is barely one repeat so the effect is of an oversize print on a child’s body.

The woman’s cover-up is about 36 inches long, which is 2 ½ repeats, the fabric is still beautiful but the impact isn’t as dramatic.

child’s tunic cover-up, organza print; one piece cutaway swimsuit, nylon/spandex

I loved the opportunity to work with a child. It was fun making the patterns pieces that had more in common with doll clothes. Children on the runway make the audience sit up to attention. They offer lightness to an environment that can be fraught with drama and tension.