Buy my stuff at The Rage!

I am super excited to announce that some of my sewn wares are now available for sale at The Rage in Toronto's Kensington Market. The store features local designers and artists. Here's a selection of the new zippered pouches and coin purses I made for the store:




The store will also be carrying some of my greeting cards and pinback buttons. This is my first experience selling wholesale to a retail outlet, so this is a big deal to me. Thanks to Sarah for providing me with this amazing opportunity!

Sewing project: summer top

Finished! I've always wanted to make something from one of those Japanese craft books (which are all in Japanese). I've found a few web sites which provide translations of some of the sewing terms, but from what I've heard, if you have some basic sewing skills you can pretty much just follow the diagrams. I finally invested in a roll of tissue paper for pattern drafting (the books come with the patterns but they all overlap, so you need to draft the individual pieces). This top was very easy to make, except that I found the neckline too big, so I had to gather it a bit.

Sewing project: MP3 player holder

Slight detour from my list of things to make. I don't know why I didn't make this sooner, as I certainly need it. The material was hand-decorated in a fabric design class I took last year. Using a bleach pen, I drew the design directly onto the fabric and let the bleach do its work (you then rinse in cold water with PH neutralizer, which stops the bleach). Then I used a fabric pen to fill in the design. Quite easy and fun to do! For the holder, I basically just took 1 piece of fabric and made a little pouch. Closes with velcro.

Second Etsy store

For a while now I've been considering opening a second Etsy store to separate my Blythe and non-Blythe items. This second store, Zippster, will contain sewn goods such as zippered pouches and snap-frame coin purses, pinback buttons and magnets, and greeting cards. Karen's Creations will now focus exclusively on clothes and accessories for Blythe. Over the next several weeks I'll be adding lots of new stock to the new store. I'm really happy with my banner, which has made me realize that I need to improve the banner for Karen's Creations. Another online store (I'm now at three - ack!) means I now really need to stay organized!

Announcement

I'm very excited to announce that I have been accepted as a member in the Etsy team Blythe Handmade Collective - a group of handmade artisans, crafters, and artists inspired by Blythe and have taken the pledge to buy and sell handmade. The group's mission is to spread the love for Blythe, support fellow Blythe shops, help guide shops to success within Etsy, and to award Better Blythe Business awards to shops that show exceptional Etsian business philosophy and actions. Go Blythe!

Etsy treasury

It's such a nice feeling when a fellow Etsian includes an item of mine in their treasury. One of my Blythe greeting cards was chosen for this one:

Another completed sewing project

The first project on my sewing list is now complete: a pipe pouch for my beau. In total I think this took me under an hour:











There's a pouch for the pipe, and a pouch for the tobacco. It folds up and can be tied closed. The silkscreen print was made in the printmaking class I took - I finally made something with the fabric I silkscreened!