preparing for winter

Well soon I'll be getting ready to move upstate, where the winters can be pretty brutal. Taking this into account I've decided to break out the knitting needles and start making myself some warm winter accessories. I used the pattern Foliage from Knitty.com and made the chunky weight version of the hat using Paton's rumors in Fern Heather. Its a really fuzzy, soft yarn, but it might not have been the best choice of yarn to show off the actual lace pattern. Oh well, anyways, here are some pics.

As modeled floor

Sort of side shot

Top View




Thats all for now

...and one more

So I just got a shipment of jersey fabric from fabric.com and I have been trying to think of ways to use it all. Why not take the easy way out and make another circle skirt? I'm not too crazy about the print, but hey it was under 2 dollars a yard.

Back view


Fun circular-ness



stupid camera timer/ action shot



Nothing spectacular, I know, But I had fun making it. I've been suffering from major craft ADD as of lately and I keep bouncing around from one thing to another. I'm hoping to finish a few of these things up while off from work, but I also need to do some hardcore cleaning out of the apartment to prepare of the upcoming move. Well, I'll leave you now so I can wage an internal war with my priorities, ah to craft or not to craft?

Going 'round in circles

I've been wanting to make a circle skirt for sometime now, so I figured why not give it a go today. After quickly browsing the circle skirt tutorial on whatthecraft I set to work. I had the striped jersey laying around (purchased at the local fabric store) and used the sleeves from one of the donated t-shirts I have laying around to make the waistband. I added elastic to the waist and presto, I have this wonderful floaty fun circle skirt.

Showing off the fabric

... And because no post of a circle skirt is complete without a super-twirling action shot... (did I mention how dizzy I got during this shoot?)

I love the way the stripes fall on this skirt, I've been walking around the apartment all day and watching how it swishes back and forth. All thats left to do is hem it I suppose, back to work!

Lime green and appliqued

I couldn't help myself. I loved the t-shirt to lounge pant project so much that I had to give it another go. As I had mentioned in a previous post I had recently been given a bunch of huge t-shirts from the bf. No pictures of the shirt beforehand, just think huge lime green t-shirt with some text on the chest. Again, I used the t-shirt to lounge pant tutorial from the live journal t-shirt surgery community. This time around I added elastic at the waist, and made a fold over waistband.

I managed to cover up the plain lettering by adding a pocket made from scraps of the t-shirt (it's kind of hard to see due to the glare.

I wanted to do something fun with this pair so I pulled out the bed sheet I got from the salvy and cut out one of the picture panels. I added interfacing to the panel then ironed and sewed it on.



The bf couldn't believe how fast the entire project came together while I intermittently worked and watched the simpsons last night. It could be possible that I spent more time answering questions about the project than actually at my work station. Now what to do with the other shirts...

I walk the line

So a while back I got this shirt from work(with sleeves intact), someone had carelessly left it behind and had not called to claim it for at least 2 months. That meant it was up for grabs and it was all mine. I had originally intended for the shirt to be turned into a short sleeved hoodie, I honestly don't know how it turned into this off the shoulder number.

From the front:The sleeves can be worn either on top on or off of the shoulder.

From the side: I added gray and black striped jersey panels to both sides for visual interest

Sleeve detail: Three rows of zig zag stitching (2 black, 1 pink) were added to the edge of the sleeve to create a decorative ruffle.

Well, there it is in a nutshell. The tank top underneath the shirt is to preserve my internet modesty, but now that I see it I'm thinking I may add some kind of half tank in the gray and black fabric. For now I'm happy with how it is.

Comfiest lounge pants ever

Recently I've been seeing a lot of posts using this tutorial on the t-shirt surgery live journal community, so I figured why not jump on the band wagon. It was just luck that my bf happened to be getting rid of some HUGE t-shirts he has received from work and school over the past year.

Here's my first attempt, not too shabby. The only thing I did differently was cut the shirt in half from front to back, rather than right up the middle (and through the design).

The whole project took about 3 hours with multiple 15 minute breaks, but not counting the time I spent the night before ripping out the sleeves while watching the Simpsons.

These shorts/gauchos turned out to be incredibly comfortable, absolutely perfect for summer days spent around the apartment. So thats one shirt down, four more to go.

long time no post

So I've been working a bunch, and switching back and forth between working days and nights which has led to my lack of posting (insert sad emoticon). I have been getting things done though.
I made my first bag ever which I'm pretty excited about. Its going to be an overnight bag pretty much. I based the bag on a smaller messenger bag that I've been using for years and made a few changes to suit my needs. I added on an elastic cup holder for my coffee mug (works with water bottles as well. The bag that I based my pattern on had no inside pockets which I've always hated due to the constant shifting of things during my commute. I added in a zippered pouch/divider pocket so I can keep my electronics separated from my keys, wallet, and reading materials among other things.

Next up is a fairly quick clothing recon (majority of it done in less than 5 hours-that's good for me). I bought the shirt at target a few years back, wore it a few times, but as always I hated the t-shirt neck line. The green fabric was a fat quarter I picked up at Michael's a few weeks back. For this recon I "drafted" a pattern piece for the green fabric I used due to the fact that I didn't have much room for error. After showing it off to the bf he suggested adding some of the green fabric elsewhere on the shirt to give the shirt a "more unified" look. Not a bad idea, I'm just too lazy to do it right now. No action shots yet, maybe once its fully completed

updates

No, I haven't forgotten to post, I've just been really busy. Got back from camping yesterday, we had to leave early due to the severe thunderstorms in the area. On the bright side, I managed to start and finish a t-shirt recon today, I will post pictures eventually when I get around to taking pictures. I also need to post pictures of the new messenger bag I made. I do have a few pics of the seating cushion I made from an old t-shirt and a vinyl table cloth to bring whilst camping. So here it goes, enjoy.

The camping chair in action

Camping pictures

Fit to be Dyed Part II

So here they are, dyed and everything. Unfortunately I didn't take any dye process pictures, but you didn't miss much, just some navy blue RIT dye.

Here a quick picture of the back. About 20 minutes into dying the jeans I looked over at my sewing station and saw the back pockets chilling with my pin cushion, I quickly tossed them in hoping that they would be able to soak up some color. They did, but not as much as the actual pants did.

Despite the mismatched/wonky back pockets I'm pretty happy with the jeans. I'm hoping that once they go through the wash some of the residual dye will come out and the pockets won't look so bad (to me).

Its nice to know that I can overcome whatever issues the fashion industry has with my body by taking matters into my own hands.

Fit to be Dyed

For a while now I've been wanting to try out the whole skinny pant leg trend thats been so popular. I've tried on pairs in stores and I could never find a pair that looked right, it would be loose at the waist, fit at the thigh, and bunch up like crazy at the knees. I figured why not give it a go myself. I had seen a bunch of tutorials on craftster and similar sites, but they all started out with jeans that fit properly through the waist and thighs. The particular pair of jeans I had in mind were about four sizes too big.

After a trip to the library I came home and began looking over the readers digest complete guide to sewing to see how to go about reconstructing these or if it was even possible. I began by removing the waist band and back pockets, then tried them on. Holding the excess fabric in the back I pinned it into a large dart. Then after carefully removing the pants I measured the pinned fabric, divided the number in half and made two darts going through the middle of each pocket...is that clear?

After getting the waist to fit I tried the pants on inside out and marked where I wanted the pant legs taken in. Then after taking off the pants I basted the new inseam and tried on the jeans to see if they needed any more adjustments. Once I was happy with the new inseam I sewed the new inseam using a straight stitch and then reinforced the new seam with a zig zag stitch.

I was overall happy with the end result, but light denim skinny jeans aren't the most flattering thing on earth, I knew what had to be done, it was time to dye.

Mens shirt to summer shirt

It all started out with a striped mens shirt from H&M, I spotted it the second I walked into the salvation army a few months ago. Originally I thought about turning it into a simple racer back tank top and doing some free hand embroidery. However, after beginning the project I started to not like the horizontal stripes as much as I originally thought I would (Please excuse the mess in the pictures).

After a bit of playing around with it I cut off the torso of the shirt and made an empire waist by adding a band of vertical stripes. I cut the remaining torso fabric in half and added extra fabric from the sleeves to give the bottom part of the shirt more swing. I also added a scalloped/ruffled edge on the bottom of the extra fabric and on the edge of the sleeves.



The finished product:

trip to the salvy-a very delayed part 2

I never did get around to posting the next day, but I was able to accomplish some things and start some new projects as well.
Here's a quick look at the wrap pants I made using some very soft fabric my boyfriend's mom gave me. Not to many pictures for this one due to crappy lighting, I was also going to post the tutorial link, however it seems to have disappeared.

Next up is a recon from one of the goodies I got from the salvation army. It was a scrub top with a zany ambulance print and it cost me 2 dollars.
Originally it was just going to have the blue band of fabric going across, but when I tried the shirt on it was kind of snug around the hips and the way the fabric puffed out I looked like I belonged at a maternity ward. So I lovely hacked off the ambulance print and attached the bottom part of a dress from forever 21 that I bought to wear to a wedding but never actually wore.















I'm thinking I may add two front pockets with the ambulance fabric, but thats for another day. For now I'm quite happy with it. Thats all for now, its time to clean up.

t-shirt recon rescue

So I decided to take my new dress form out for a trial run and see if I could resurrect an old t-shirt. I've had this Circle Jerks t-shirt since high school (8 years), it was a men's large and at the time it was pretty fitted on me.


It went to college with me, where one Halloween morning I hastily cut the neck in order to make an 80's costume, if I had planned it better, maybe it wouldn't have been so revealing. So for 3 years it was used as a night shirt.
I started the whole project by pinning the neck line to make a boat neck collar, then I removed the sleeves and set them aside. I took it off the form and sewed it, the put it back on for the next part.






I determined how far up on the shoulder I wanted my sleeves to start, pinned the arm holes and sewed. After putting it back on the mannequin I worked taking in the sides. Working with the dress form made me feel freer. I played around with the side seams and made it so the begin curving towards the front which I found to be very flattering. I picked up the sleeves and cut them in half, attached some ties, and again, pinned and sewed.





Here are some detail shots:
Left:Reinforced side seam ----- Right: Top of shoulder (still needs to be cleaned up)

Left:On the dress form ----- Right:Curved side seam


I am really happy about how this turned out, I wasn't frustrated at all while making this, and I took my time while planning the whole thing out. I can't wait for the weather to warm up so I can wear it outside again.

unexpected day off

Well today is certainly a treat, I've had the past two days off, and today I was "on call". Being "on call" typically means I get a call at 6 am asking me to come in and begrudgingly work a thirteen hour shift. It is a very rare occasion when I don't get this call. I love days like today, an extra chance to continue with the projects I was working on the day before (or whenever).

Yesterday I was able to start and finish a project that I have been waiting to do for a while. I made my very own dress form using the paper tape tutorial on instructables.com


Here's a picture of my dress form in progress. I was able to do the majority of the front and parts of the lower back by myself. For the rest I enlisted the help of my TBF (trusty boyfriend), who was surprisingly good at this. The tutorial on instructables is fantastic, in my own opinion, the best piece of advice in the article would be to precut the paper tape in varying sizes. Preplanning this project (even if only an hour in advance) is a must. I cut darts in some of the strips that I was going to use on my curvier attributes to prevent ugly misshapen bumps on the surface of the form.


After being cut out of the form I taped it back up and cut off odd little bits that would not stay down.

















Once that was all done I finished the surface by applying two coats of clear acrylic gloss medium (cause I like shiny things). Please excuse the glare from my camera.

Chicken curtains

I've been putting off finishing up the kitchen curtains for months, but today I managed to do it (with plenty of encouragement from the bf). It was just a matter of finishing the top part of the curtains and hanging them up. However before I show off the finished results, I would like to point out some of the details. I am very pleased with how the backing of the curtains came out. The backing was a gauzy fabric that I had a lot of difficulty working with in a previous project.

The idea of an elastic curtain rod was inspired by the fact that I did not want to go out and spend money on a curtain rod that would require putting even more holes into the wall of the apartment before we leave in a few months. All the "rod" consists of is some old stiff elastic that was given to me by my bf's mom that was wrapped in the same fabric that was used to line the back of the curtains sewn together and tacked up to the windows

Okay, so I've gone on long enough, here it is all finished (and looking quite snazzy in my own opinion)
It hides the cracks in the glass and blocks the view of the ambulance dispatch parking lot and its nice and cheery, who could ask for more?

well thats enough time reflecting on my accomplishment, whats next?