We had a lovely day with the Barrie Modern Quilt Group last Saturday!
Hello Reader
We had a lovely day with the Barrie Modern Quilt Group last Saturday. Even with a little bit of rain scattered throughout the morning, this group of fifteen (only half are photographed above) quilters got really creative with their found and foraged items and exposed some really beautiful Cyanotypes. the workroom Sprucedale is a fun day trip from many spots in Northern Ontario. We can easily arrange a custom workshop in our historic General Store for you and your crafty friends. Or! Book a weekend and enjoy a Handmade Getaway that includes farm to table cooking and a stay at Santosha Farms.
We are hosting a custom Handmade Getaway weekend right now with a crew of regulars from Toronto, including team member Alexis. (Don't forget - No local pickups in Parkdale this weekend!) I'm so excited to spend the weekend in person with so many friends and hopefully get in a bit of sewing with this group. The snack table is overflowing and the handmade projects are already well underway.
Of course, ALL our expected deliveries arrived simultaneously yesterday, as well. It's truly like Christmas in the shop. Fifteen boxes filled with Merchant & Mills, Cairo Linen, Bella Stripe and Bella Check have been opened and scattered across all surfaces so we can get our first look at some of these incredible fabrics in person. I'll be spending the weekend getting lots of photos and videos to show you everything in detail, especially because several of the fabrics are officially sold out, so they will be heading right back out the door with all your preorders.
Preorders will start shipping out later next week, there are SO MANY to work through, but first - Fabric, Friends and Food for our Handmade Getaway.
Orange Spritz, Rushes Green, Viridian Green, Blue Pop & Winter Coulis
Merchant & Mills is HERE! There is so much incredible fabric in the shop right now. It takes about a full day to properly document it all, So I mostly got a few quick photos for you yesterday. I'm happy to report that everything is better in person. The new colour of Jacquard - Winter Coulis - is a very dark & rich berry shade. It's hard to capture - but as you can see we got a lot of it and most of it has been spoken for but there are still some yardage and set remnant pieces available. It can be many months between availability of the Jacquard so if you were hoping for one of these current colours - take a look to see what we have in stock for you now.
The new Bobbette Cross Stitch fabric is TOO CUTE. If you got some of the Green - Lucky You! (it's sold out now) and the Blue has just a couple metres left. I'm going to have a lot of fun handling and cutting up all this fabric for you!
Everyday Chambray, Festival, Sea Holly, Bobbette Rust & Green
SASHIKO : The Untold Story We quickly sold out of first copies of Sashiko : The Untold Story last week, when we posted them. The books arrived this week and this book is truly a beautiful way to dive deeper into this craft from a cultural and historical perspective. If you missed grabbing a copy, we've set up a new open preorder for this book, plus the Sashiko Card Deck, Sashiko Stencils and Simply Sashiko Book. We can hardly keep these items in stock, so this is your opportunity to add to cart to get one or all of these resources. This preorder will close Sunday night - order by then to reserve the items you want. We carry a full selection of thread and accessories to help you explore this Japanese embroidery technique this summer.
Virtual Workshops We've been talking a lot about pattern matching in our recent virtual garment workshops like the Cassidy Jumpsuit and the Scout Shirt & Dress (the first intro session was last night). It's not as hard to do as you think! Personally, I think it's such a fun element of making garments and you can add fun details like bias yoke, pockets and plackets too. It just involves a little bit of preplanning and preparation. Having access to our virtual classroom, the video replays and detailed class notes mean you'll have ongoing support from these resources, your fellow students and me during the whole process wherever you are in the world, at any time of the day.
Handmade Wardrobe Year 2026-2027 is our all access pass to every garment workshop for twelve months. It has been a really great way for a small group of sewists to commit to their sewing practice in an immersive way with the flexibility to join classes live or later on their own schedule. Read our blog post on the program here.
Scout Shirt & Dress - Thursdays, June 18 - July 23 (JUST STARTED)
Honey Dress - Saturdays, July 11, 18 & 25
Sanda Jacket - Tuesdays, July 7 - 28
Quinn Pants - Tuesdays, August 4 - 25
the workroom studio members save $25 on every class.
exposing this cyanotype layout with no glass in the rain
Cyanotype Kits Cyanotype is the perfect group summer crafting activity. It's great for all ages and couldn't be easier with one of the pretreated fabric kits. We've got a delivery of the 30 sheet pack arriving today. Set an email alert if you're interested in any of the other kit options, those will be available soon.
We had a bit of rain on Saturday during the workshop and it added a fun detail to this print. If you want to book a cyanotype workshop for you and your group of friends, just respond to this email and we can book a date for some crafty time in Sprucedale.
the result! the rain added an incredible detail to this cyanotype
Hand Painted Frill Buttons
THE BUTTON DEPT. : Glass Buttons
When folks come to visit the workroom Sprucedale, one of the comments is about how many vintage buttons we have, as you come across the section of stacks and stacks of button boxes on the shelves in 'Aisle 3' across from the 'meat counter' turned fabric display. But what we have on the shelf there is just a fraction of our incredible collection. You can shop another portion of our collection, including my favourite section of our collection - the glass buttons - in our online shop. The final section of our collection lives in the second floor studio in huge bins sorted by colour. If you need buttons for a project - The Button Dept. always has the answer!
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