Scrap Tank Tutorial

Do you guys know Max California? If not, you should! She's a sewing extraordinaire, one of the coolest people around, & a total sweetheart. Max asked me to put together a tutorial for a guest post (read it HERE!), & I couldn't have been happier to oblige. I love this chick & her darling family--& you will too, so go visit! So, for her, I put together a video on how to make a scrap-embellished tank top (which you saw a few weeks ago) from start to finish. The technique is pretty simple & can be used on ready-to-wear clothing as well. Everything you need to know is in the video. Have fun!





Did I encourage you enough to send me photos if you make it? If not, here: addie@addie-marie.com. I'll love you forever!

P.S. Last week, I also guest-blogged for Chaucee over at The Searched And Found... Go check it out!

Tattered Tank

My friend Hannah (a fantastic photographer) and I went out this evening to get some super cool photos that I can't wait to show you, but they're unedited right now, so here's a little something in the meantime.



This is a top I made today, after looking through my fabric shelves & coming across some bamboo I'd forgotten I had. It's that 95/5 bamboo/lycra blend that I adore so much, & it's a dream to wear. I made a scrap-embellished tank last fall, and intended to do a whole bunch more but then never got around to it! So I dove right in & am super pleased with the result.





It's pretty basic, but my favorite part are the scraps climbing over the shoulder. You can't see it so well, but it's a piece of chiffon that has a vine print, & I melted all around the print and then stitched along with the pattern.



Hope the end of your week is super lovely.

Tattered Skirt Tutorial

Finally. That's right, I have finally finished editing the tattered skirt tutorial. It's been 5 months, I know. I hope it's worth the wait!



The skirt is also for sale HERE.

Questions? Comments? Tips? Thoughts? You know I'd love to hear.

Official Tutorial Skirt Pictures

It's almost done, sweeties! I just want this to be really good, you know? It's also taking a little longer because I have about zero experience editing videos, and dang, it's hard to do it well. (Which, it should be noted, I'm not doing. Doing it well, that is.) But I finally got a chance to run out with my dad to get good pictures of the skirt (which are needed for the video, as well!) & I thought I would share them with you!



I just want to note, stilettos + snow do not work together.





Oh, this thing is so poofy. It's also big on me, so it sits much lower on my hips than skirts normally would. I had a lot of fun adding details, which you'll see better in the video, and it's funny that I made this in a couple days, but it took me a month to finish my other skirt.

xo!

WALLET GIVEAWAY

OH EXCITING.

I've never done a giveaway before, and now seems like a perfect time. Watch the video if you like seeing me make a fool of myself, & then read the specifications below.



To win, you must:

• Be from the U.S., or have an address in the U.S. that I can send it to
• Become a follower of my blog
• Leave a comment on this entry with your email address

Contest ends midnight CST on Friday, January 15th.

& that is all. Thanks, darlings.

Something Fabulous Is Coming Your Way

One of my (--many, many, many; I always go overboard--) New Year's resolutions was to make a couple tutorials. Video, preferably.

And it seems like I'm actually going to fulfill this resolution. I'm really excited about how this is coming together, & I can't wait to share the finished product with you. I won't say any more beyond that it will hopefully involve sitting on tables, candles, and mad slashing of fabric with razor blades. (I think the image I have in my head is much cooler than this will actually turn out to be. Even just writing about it here makes it sound lame.)

Anyway, be excited. Be very excited.

Tattered Bamboo Shirt

Handmade with ingredients found in the depths of antique stores, burned down, abandoned houses, and handed-down notions.

Luxurious bamboo knit.

Meant for secret trips through forests & walks to creeks at midnight.

(DazeoftheWeek and AdrianneMae are both connected to this shirt in otherworldly ways. Well, not otherworldly. But check 'em out.)

Let Them Eat Cupcakes!

I had the fabulous opportunity to put a couple items in a show at a local art gallery. I chose to put my previously posted Cross My Heart vest, and had originally planned to make a scrappy skirt as well.

Being me, I left it off until the last weekend before the show. I started making a skirt, and I really didn't like where it was going. Distraught, I brought it before my mom, and together we brainstormed new ideas for it. I decided to make a dress, using a lovely bird print chiffon I'd had on hand for months. The only thing I had originally planned on was that it would be scrappy, and it would be blue & pink--candy colors. I sketched out a design.

As these things tend to, once I began to sew it, it drifted even further from the design. I wanted it airy, fluffy, over-the-top and wonderfully ridiculous. I wanted the scraps to be eating up the dress and taking over, a conversion from formal to madness. I won't bore you with too many details, but a few bobbins worth of thread, singed fingers from melting chiffon edges, a couple more discussions with my mom, and four layers of skirt later, I had myself a dress.

It's a magical thing, to get so excited about something you're making that your heart starts beating faster. :) I named this the "Let Them Eat Cupcakes!" dress because its color scheme and fantastic craziness reminded me of the clothing (and hair!) of Marie Antoinette's time.

So once the dress was totally completed, I needed it properly photographed! I teased my hair up high, stuck some flowers in it, did my makeup all fancy-like, and got my dad to use his fancy camera to take some pictures.













I went to the show opening on Friday, and it was on display amidst a bunch of amazing treasures handcrafted by others. (If you know me, message me for details on the gallery! You must go see everything!) People were incredibly and wonderfully sweet, and the whole night was absolutely fantastic.

Hugs and kisses! <3

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. :)

Vests and scraps and quarters

Different is good. Artsy is good. In my treasure-vests you can play I Spy. That's pretty good, too, if you ask me.

Above is the Cross My Heart Vest. I loved working with the colors! It's also adjustable with the tabs, and looks adorable worn open too. (psst. It's for sale. http://www.mateycouture.etsy.com)

Below is the vest I made for my friend's Christmas present. I was so terrified that everyone would think it was ugly... but she loved it! So mission accomplished.

Hope everyone is having a lovely new year thus far.

A thing or two and a link or two!

Of course. I run out of fabric (no, seriously!) right as the rush to get things made for Christmas starts in.

Go figure.

I had my things at a Christmas Sale last weekend, and sold a few pieces to lovely people, and met more lovely people! Crafty folks are really the best sort.

Note to self: Christmas presents and things for the shop are more important than things for your own closet. Okay?

Ah, but the lovely thing of being able to sew is that you get to keep all your prototypes for yourself. Thus, I am mastering new techniques just as an excuse to keep things all for myself. Oh, yeah, and to learn the techniques. This last month, I've learned how to make a cowl neck, split cowl neck, and just today I did a yoke. It looks like a bib. Next time I'll go more square and less...bib shaped. But it's all part of the learning process, right?

So, things I have made:

Threadless T-shirt Recon! Long sleeves, puffed sleeves, cowl neck. Penguins rock!

I generate a lot of scraps. Sometimes I just throw these away, but other times they are definitely large enough to keep, because if I throw them away I get this huge guilty feeling--I am supposed to be recycling fabric, and besides, it costs money! Why should I throw away perfectly good fabric?? To help ease the guilt monkeys, I made this tank top!

That's right, you probably recognize most (all?) of those fabrics. It's pieced together with electric blue thread!


Last minute I used leftover fabric from the hoodie in the post below this to make a short sleeved pullover hoodie. It features puffed sleeves, small side pockets, and three hand appliqued hearts!

It's all for sale here: http://www.mateycouture.etsy.com

I have so many more pictures and projects I have been working on, but it's late so I'll save it for another day. I will, however, leave you with a couple links.

Where is a seamstress without her inspiration? Or, say, a person she obsesses over because they're just that good? Or really really pretty clothes she wants to buy? NOWHERE. That's why I have a bunch of crafting sites, etsy sellers, and....Gibbous. May I present to you folks, the ultimate in avant garde & alternative fashions? Based out of San Fransisco, CA, Gibbous fashions is a line of clothing put together using incredibly detailed and beautiful quilting techniques. They have bits of everything in their clothing--I've seen keys, chains, and flowers. Please. Check it out. Your life, as mine was, will be changed.

Also, it took me three tries but I finally got a treasury on Etsy! It's filled with beautiful pieces of artful goodness, all gold themed. Please check out these awesome artists and their amazing work! http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=35993

I leave you with that: the amazing art of people much more talented than I! But, if you do want to buy something from me, there's FREE SHIPPING ANYWHERE on anything red in my shop... hurry, it ends Monday at 11:59 pm!!

Spring Dress Part 1

I bring you, ladies and gentlemen, an account of my most recent project. Unfortunately, I can't show you the final pictures yet because I lost my camera cable. But until I find it, here's a briefing on the making-of.

I started out with a short, hideous, very wide women's shirt with a leaf pattern on it. Working with Doris, my dressform, I pinched and pinned darts, resizing it to a cute halter top with a sweetheart neckline.

From all my projects I have accumulated a very large stash of scraps and remnants that I say I'll use, but probably never will. Finally, I had a purpose for them! I took strips of many colors and pinned them to the halter. I used a zigzag stitch on the edges, not bothering to finish anything. My goals in making this were simply to have fun, experiment, and NOT use a pattern under any circumstances.

Here you can see the top after being covered in strips, and completely stitched. After this, I cut off the straps and made new ones of the striped pink and white fabric you see in the middle of the bodice. I zigzag-ed the edges of six strips and braided them into two separate straps, creating a funky, rough-edged detail.

This was my experimentation with skirt ideas. I ended up doing something much, much different, but it was fun for me to try different ways to drape the material, and how the different fabrics (satin, cotton) worked together and hung together.

As soon as I get my hands on that cable, I'll post my newest pictures and detail how I've finished it.