After a few hours of take-down, the Creativ Show is just a memory. Gone are all of the great vendors, classes, lectures and fashion shows... but, what fun it was! Where else in the Toronto  area could you find so much to satisfy your creative obsessions?

One highlight of the show was getting to meet the great gals of Sew Be It Studio. I had the chance to speak with Dilys T., Andrea B. and Linsey W. They have not one but two great studio workshops to help you turn your revamping dreams into finished seams! These gals have the skills and they want to spread the magic with classes that are basic to funky, summer camps, fashion events and even private parties. All of them have serious backgrounds in fashion, theatre and costume design. Check out their website and maybe even a class. Sounds like serious fun!

I also had the chance to visit Linda Sparks of Farthingales Corset & Costume making supplies. Who knew that there were so many triclks to proper corset construction. I learned about coutil. According to Wiki:
Coutil (or Coutille) is woven herringbone twill cloth created specifically for making corsets. It is woven tightly to inhibit penetration of the corset's bones and resist stretching, which would reduce the corset's reshaping ability. Fiber content varies. Most common coutil fabrics are made using cotton, polyester, or a combination of both fibers.

The array of corsetry that she showed was inspiring! And to think, I only saw her presentation because some folks stopped by the booth and happened to mention it! It just goes to show, you never know what you will learn, who you will meet and what you will find that inspires you unless you get out there, look and listen!

Watch for shows, let us know if you have heard of any "must see" events (send through the contact us link), and we will do our best to spread the word!

Stitch on!

Well, we have officially launched the challenge at the Creativ Fest today in Toronto, ON.

We had little flyers to hand out, promoting the website and we had a chance to get some feedback from  some attendees. What was interesting was that many of the average aged women at the show said that they were already doing this on a regular basis! I hope that they will join us here. 

Some other interesting notes from the show:

Was it a bit smaller? Yes. A few regular exhibitors were not there. Scrapbooking and stamping seemed to be a little less represented, but Scrapbook and Cards Today, A GREAT CANADIAN Publication was there, as well as friends from Canadian Scrapbooker! And Carla & John from A Needle Pulling Thread had a booth filled with covers from previous issues and current projects. They work really hard to showcase CANADIAN Needle Arts Talent. Stop by and say "hi!"

Knitting, crochet and fabulous fibres were represented as well as some great fabric/quilting booths. But there was not to much in the way of garment fabric. Linda MacPhee had her fabrics there and she is doing a fun presentation on ReCycled Sewing. You had to look far and wide to find some of the newer, trendy quilt lines from Heather Bailey, Tina Givens  or even Michael Miller or Amy Butler. But there was variety to be had. Samples were abundant, as well as some inspiring work from Lenore Crawford. Beading was still well represented as well as threads & sewing machines. (One particular booth had some fabulous ReCycled garment and accessory samples...). More news tomorrow!