Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Sewing Room



I had this picture on my camera, and while I meant to take better photos of my sewing room, this will have to do. I didn't put up the drop cloth behind my sewing table yet... and I don't know if I ever will get around to that, haha. But in this photo you can see my serger on the right, and then a couple sewing machines. Behind that, there's a shelf unit with fabric, thread, notions, a heat gun, and various other tools. Next to that you can see an ironing board--which isn't set up most of the time, I just have it there when I'm doing larger projects--and Doris, my dress form. Behind the ironing board there's more shelves, with more fabric (surprised? I have loads of it.), and then a mini ironing board on top of that. Also on the shelves are a some bins & containers, filled with patterns, paint, and old mock-ups.

So, yeah. That's where the magic happens. Oh! I almost forgot to talk about what Doris is wearing! This is a dress I made from a pattern (Vogue, but I can't remember the number). It was a pain to make: all those pintucks! I was a good seamstress & ironed (if you know my sewing habits, you'll know that I usually never iron until the end), but man, it was a headache. I brought it with me on this trip, though, so I'll try to post a picture of me wearing it. (It looks better on me, especially now that it's fully ironed, hemmed, & otherwise pretty much done.)

Oh, goodness. It looks really messy. We're maybe going to paint it eventually, white & green (like my room!). And it really doesn't look too bad in real life. You'll just have to trust me on that one.

Monday, March 30, 2009

On The Road

Colorado, where I am right now! (3/30)


Written March 29th:

We're on vacation! We left two days ago, and are currently sitting in Nebraska, watching a train go by, with the faint smell of cows wafting through the open doors. I love seeing the graffiti on trains: it truly is art. Sure, it's illegal, but that takes all sorts of skill to do, and I can definitely appreciate that.




It's hard, being away from my sewing machine! Especially when I'm sitting in the car for hours, with little to do (besides school). I brought a knitting project that I haven't started yet, but I'm afraid I don't have the most patience for knitting, and this is a very challenging project! Luckily, mom is here, and as I've mentioned before, she's crazy good at knitting.

Yesterday we were in South Dakota, so here's a photo from there--the Corn Palace. They've been covering the building with corn cobs since 1892, in these murals. It seemed...well, honestly, it seemed really silly to me, but that's coming from a teenage girl, so think what you like of it. :)

Here's a picture of me, last night, wearing a fantastic pink necklace I bought from a cute little antique shop.

Hope it's spring where ever you may be!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

A dress for me for Spring!

I have an inspiration wall. It is mostly filled with pages ripped out of Vogue, Elle, and other such fashion magazines (and, okay, maybe there's an errant photo of John Krasinski somewhere in there...), and some dresses I absolutely love for the designs, some I snatched for the techniques pictured, others for the fabric, and some just because the photos are pretty... but it's rare that all these culminate in one page.

This is one of (and quite possibly the best) my favorites. I'd never heard of the designer --Alberto Makali-- until I looked him up online (what would we do without the internet?), and when I paged through his Spring 09 collection I realized that this dress is not one exception of awesome beauty, drool-worthy fabric, and stunning design. I loved practically all of his dresses. His designs are flowing, bright, cheerful, elegant, sexy, bubbly, and drop-dead gorgeous. The fabrics--oh, the fabrics!--are almost prettier than anything I've seen in my life, and they look like they would be softer than kittens to wear. Everything has a soft, gentle draping nature, often contrasting with, say, leopard print fabrics or the vivid colorings.

Gush, gush, gush. But here's why:


Not the best picture, but come check out his website!

All this chatter does eventually lead somewhere, I promise you. As I mentioned, I have been in love with this dress for ages. Mostly because of the fabric--something I unfortunately couldn't just dig out of my stash or magically replicate! So I had to do what I could with what I had when I decided to make this yesterday afternoon.


I did my best to replicate the dress in the photograph, but I realized later that it's not actually a bubble dress--it looks like it's a fitted dress, and then has this thing attatched & gathered in front? But I don't care, I like mine!

It has a princess seamed bust, a huge circle skirt, gathered in front under the bust & bubbled at the bottom. Side zipper (which I almost failed at. It's not even invisible or anything!), spaghetti straps... The belt is just a scrap of red corduroy that went perfectly with it. It looks a lot more like the dress in the picture without the red belt, but you'll just have to trust me because I forgot to take pictures without it!

No, I'm not actually smoking! I was just going for a French look &, well, the French smoke. A lot. FYI, smoking's bad for you & bad for your skin! Take a note, kids! ^_^

Like my new haircut, by the way? It's short! It has a million layers and I think it's absolutely spectacular. It can get all ruffled and mussed and it still looks amazing. (Sorry I'm not being modest.) That's a tribute to the guy who cuts it, & has nothing to do with how I style it (because I fail at things like that most of the time.)

"Daaahhhhling!"

I love these sunglasses. So much. I'm going to wear them all the time on our vacation.

I told you it was huge, didn't I? If I didn't: It's a huge skirt.
Deliriously happy.
I will make this into a prettier belt when I have time.
Here you can really see my layers well. I love my haircut! I love my dress! I love life! I love that I'm going someplace I can actually wear this dress in just a couple days! I think being happy is just the bestbestbestest thing ever. I hope you're happy too, darlings.

P.S. I'm leaving on Thursday and I'll be gone until April 13, but expect a post or two from me on the road. In the meantime, check out all the pretty shops in the posts below this! And get outside if it's spring-like where you are, okay?

Monday, March 9, 2009

ThreadBanger Guild & A Featured Artist

Hello, darlings! I'm here to promote a FANTASTIC group of artists. We're called the Threadbanger Guild (we'll be an official Etsy Team after the 15th), and our creations range from amazing works of clay to gorgeous jewelry to awe-worthy clothing and epic purses.

If you're on Threadbanger (which you really should be!) & you have an Etsy, you should join up! Check out the thread on how to join & why you should, & the advertisement guide (put together by yours truly!), and please check out our shops!!
Or go to Etsy.com & search "tbguild" to find our listings. And scroll down this page--that's right, below the Blog Archive--to get a quick peek at what we've made.

You know how I've been dying to have better photos with a more artsy, raw feel? I found the perfect example of what I want while sifting around on Etsy today.


♥Photo & Dress by the amazing SarahSeven

Yes. That is what I want. Click on the link above to view her other incredible creations! Seriously, folks. Look at the lighting! The unfinished wall behind her! The gorgeous model! And, of course, the main focus point: the dress! (Incidentally, I have the same fabric. ^^) Really, this is art. What I would give to have photos styled in a similar way!

Alright, you surely have enough inspiration from all these incredible artists that you'll survive without my creations for a little while longer. I'm off to work on a dress I've been putting off for over a year. You'll surely see photos of it soon!

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Just a quick plug...

In case you didn't see it in the little Twitter box to your left, I'm have a 20 % off sale!

That's right: 20% OFF EVERYTHING IN THE SHOP. All this weekend!! CLICK HERE!

This includes plenty of the snazzy items I've posted here. I'd really like to clear some of these things out before I put my Spring Collection up, so have a look at what I have there! This is really a great deal, but wait! (Haha, do I sound like a commercial?) Mention TWITTER in your order and get an additional 5% off. That's 25% off! Definitely not a discount to sneeze at. The sale ends Sunday, March 8th, 11:59 Central Standard Time (GST -6).

Be a doll and buy something?

For the curious & impatient... I will be posting my Spring Collection items starting April 15th. I'd love to put them up sooner, but I'll be someplace fantastically warm, sunny, and far away, and unable to ship any orders. Who knows, maybe I'll post a picture or two on here, a bit of a preview, while I'm on the road? We'll see, darlings.

♥♥♥

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Fairytale-esque Skirt!

You all know how much I love Gibbous. I feel like it's my birthday & I am opening presents every time she lists a new skirt. After a year of gazing longingly through my computer screen at her skirts, I finally decided to make one.
I worked on this throughout all of February, and believe me, it took a good while! I started out with a pile of blue fabric, and a spool of blue thread. I made a basic waistband, and then just started pinning long scraps to it, using my free-motion quilting foot to piece everything together. It was extremely time-consuming because of the whole pinning part, and all the stitchery that attatches the sides of the pieces together (because, no, it's not just strips hanging off. I'm more modest than that. They had to be seamed at the sides, every piece.), and I'd estimate about 25-30 hours went into it. I had to do it in smaller doses, because I had this big problem focusing on it, and my attention span rivaled that of a flea.

I wish I were rich enough to buy a skirt & support gibbous, but I'm not. And I probably never will be. Like any good DIYer, I just had to figure it out for myself.









Skeleton keys make me happy.

Okay, that's it. Lots of pictures, lots of blues. Have a lovely evening. :)