Sewing 101: The dress, the curtains & the birds.

Remember the dress I mentioned I was sewing a few months ago? Well, it is now finished!

Despite a few sewing glitches around the neckline and a 2-week hiatus from completing the hem of the dress, I can now say that not only is the dress finished - but I also wore it!

The dress is form-fitting and slimming. The fit is absolutely perfect as it should be because it was made to fit my body. My favourite part of the dress is the neckline and the bodice area. There is something to be said about making your own clothing. Not just from the satisfaction of finishing a project, but that you actually get to use the finished product, and the end result looks damn good too! FYI - This photo does not do the dress justice.


Truth is, I had help making this dress. My sewing skills from Grade 7 and 8, just didn't cut it to complete this dress flawlessly. I must give credit to my good friend and sewing tutor, Cara of Leopard Spotted Designs. Cara's background is in costume design and she has worked in numerous films and movies as a professional costumer, dressing many famous celebs. She also teaches sewing at a Toronto-based sewing studio.

Cara also made these lovely kitchen curtains for me from (get this) cheese cloth fabric!! This loosely woven fabric, provides privacy, while allowing natural light to penetrate through. Clean, simple and with no frills. I LOVE my new curtains! Thanks Cara!!




And because all good things come in threes, Cara also sewed up these adorable fabric birds for me and I stuffed them with polyester fiber fill. I also added some rhinestone eyes to the birds, just because. I have a vase with some branches in my living room and these birds will look just perfect on there, once I've finished attaching the ribbon on them, of course.



So this ends my foray into sewing 101. I don't think I will be sewing anything else at the moment as I must tend to other pressing matters, like my neglected Etsy jewellery shop.

Accessorize like Cleopatra

If you have a fascination with Ancient Egypt, mummies and curses, you're probably a nerd like me. And you've probably watched all "The Mummy" films too. Okay maybe not.

As a volunteer at the Royal Ontario Museum, I often browse the jewellery section at the Ancient Greece, Roman and Egyptian exhibits. Yes, I am a huge fan of antiquity and as a teenager I wanted to become an archeologist. No lie. I would have had to go away to study at McMaster University. The only Ontario post secondary institution offering an archeology program in the 1990s. Going away to study was unheard of in my family and as such, I never pursued my dream of traveling to distant lands and digging in dirt to find ancient relics...sniff.

So when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. As a result, nowadays I make jewellery reminiscent of ancient civilizations.

Case in point, these Egyptian-inspired sterling silver earrings. They are shaped like a pyramid and are made with (thin yet sturdy) 22 gauge sterling silver wire shaped with pliers. The beads are made of lead crystal, also known as Swarovski crystals. I chose red crystals for their vivid colour and how nicely they looked juxtaposed against the silver triangles.

They look just gorgeous in the sunlight as the crystals pick up the light. I will be making more pairs of these earring using other coloured beads, so if you would like to see another colour in these earrings, leave me a comment here or send me a message via Etsy.

Next on the agenda, Grecian key pattern jewellery...

The weakest link

Hurray, I finally finished the second of two identical sterling silver bracelets. Chain Maille bracelets to be exact. If you're not familiar with Chain Maille, it is also called "Mail Armour" as it was used to make protective garments of armour in the Dark Ages, High Middle Ages and during the Renaissance. You can read some history about Chain Maille here.

Chain Maille jewellery is made from links (or jump rings) that are linked together (using small pliers) to create necklaces, bracelets, earrings, you name it. The end result is very beautiful and very strong and durable. Getting there is another story.


The first bracelet took me a total of about 6 hours to complete within a span of several days. The second bracelet took me even longer ( 10 hours maybe?) because I messed up half way through the bracelet and had to undo several rows of the mistake and start over. What a pain in the you know what!! Argh!

Anyway, both bracelets are now complete and I can send them off to Greece to the woman that ordered them from me. Chain Maille jewellery is not something I make very often due to the cost of the materials (ahem, customs and duty fees, shipping fees, weight of silver) and because of the duration it takes to make it.

Here is a photo of the finished product. Beautiful! It's called a "European 4-in-1" (4 rows in 1 bracelet). There are so many different styles and patterns that you can make just by following the detailed instructions that arrive with your supplies.


Check out my Etsy shop for another style of Chain Maille bracelet called the "3-in-3" bracelet. I've also added a genuine jade laughing Buddha charm on the bracelet for some visual interest and charm. Pardon the pun!

The Distillery District and polka dot beads

This long Easter weekend was a complete blur. It went by so fast. I did however manage to squeeze in a visit to The Distillery District in Toronto. A former whiskey distillery that stopped operating in the 1920s. (Trivia: The movie "Chicago" starring Catherine Zeta Jones was filmed there because of the 1920's feel of the place). The district is a vast area of cobblestone brick paths and an assortment of newly renovated Victorian Industrial buildings transformed into posh restaurants, cafes, artisan shops and artist's studios. You can even go for a tour of the grounds on a Segway.

I especially enjoy going to The Distillery for my fix of Soma chocolates. Pricey? Yes! Delicious? YES! Olive oil, salted caramel and pecan butter crunch are just some of my favourites. No chocolates were consumed on this visit since I had another purchase in mind.

A trip to The Distillery is not complete without visiting some of the in-house artist studios, and getting a glimpse at their crafts. There are several jewellery studios over here. Need I say more?

One such venue is TANK fire + metal. This place is like eye candy for a jeweller or bead collector. It has so many stunning hand crafted glass beads and yes, some beads can be extremely pricey. They also sell their own line of jewellery using these handcrafted glass beads. Drool...

On this particular visit, I perused the bead selection and spotted these lovely polka dot beads. I love polka dots. Red polka dots especially. There is something very spring like and playful about them.


I purchased them. Ouch! A painful purchase when you aren't working. There goes my eating out budget for the month. But you see, I was smitten with these glass beads and gosh darn it, they are SO cute!

Being the proud owner of these happy beads, I have already come up with several ideas as to what to create with them. I will be eventually selling the end result on Etsy so stay tuned for that.

UPDATE! Have a look at the earrings I designed with the above glass beads. Now available on my Etsy shop.

My first selfish purchase of the year.

I have been hankering for a new purse for some time now but didn't feel that I should buy one considering I already have a small collection of (mostly black) purses to begin with and it's growing.

My current 'wintery' purse is in its third year and although it is still in great shape, I dislike it a great deal. Don't get me wrong, the colour is great! It isn't black, which is a change for me. But the functionality of it is awful. It is difficult to find things in there because of it's triangular shape. Small items get pushed to the corners which then requires a longer search period, and I can never fit a book in there or a lunch container, or both. It's a perfect time for a replacement.

As I was browsing through Etsy the other day and looking at some of the items that I had flagged as a favourite, I noticed that one of the sellers TT Peas and Carrots who makes purses was having a post-Christmas sale. Well, I dove right in a purchased this purse:


It's roomy and stylish and I really like the 'lollipop' design on the purse. The colours (navy blue and burgundy) are perfect for this time of year, don't you think?

The new purse is on it's way as I type this and I should have it by next week.

As for the current purse I'm toting (pictured below), it's either going into the Goodwill donation bag or I'll put it aside for a future clothing swap that I might host in the Spring.


If you are hankering for a new purse, you've got until January 18th to take advantage of TT Peas and Carrots purse sale.

Who's got the Funk?

I've been a bit truant in blog posting lately. I guess you could say that I have been in a slight funk. Not sure why. Perhaps it has something to do with being...(ahem) unemployed since April. Perhaps it's because I have been neglecting my jewellery business, or because I'm still not selling as well as I would like on Etsy. Basically, I'm bored and uninspired!

I decided to take down all my Etsy jewellery photos the other day and start from scratch. I will be taking new pictures of my work. I am also creating some new pieces of jewellery. I'm even thinking of developing some grand marketing scheme...well, maybe not that grand of a scheme but anyway, it's time I tried something new.

Here's a sample of some necklaces I have been working on lately.


I had a motley of costume beads that I picked up at a flea market a few years back. They had been sitting around in a bag and I had no idea what to do with them. They weren't the usual precious gemstones that I am inclined to drool over and create with. I felt no rush to use them in my work. Some of the beads were glass, others plastic, a couple were made of tin, and there were brass ones as well. Some of the beads might even be retro - dating back to the 1980s or earlier.

Well, I'm happy to say that I finally took these beads and made them into exotic "Moroccan" inspired necklaces. I actually am quite pleased with the results of these necklaces. I have yet to post them on my Etsy shop but I will be doing that very soon.