Etsy Update

I went on a dyeing spree the other day and made some of my favorite shirts yet!









Aren't they kind of amazing? I'm not even really bragging since half of it is just luck - I guess the other half is my extreme talent for stuffing wet shirts into interesting shapes and pouring dye onto them?

If by any chance you'd like to purchase one, just go here!

I made a dress!

Yes, the title says it all. I made my very first dress, from a 60s pattern I got on ebay. I didn't want to use nice fabric since it was my first one, so I used this weird blue and black mini houndstooth stuff I have a million yards of that should probably really be like...suit jacket material or something. The dress should really be out of lighter weight cotton or something like that....next time!


Don't mind the open back...I don't have any buttons, so it's not totally finished.




Not only was it my first dress, it was my first time making sleeves, using interfacing, making ruffles, gathering, and only the second time making anything from a pattern. Not bad, huh? I really want to make this again in a better fabric and not mess up the things I messed up the first time...I'm bad at following directions sometimes, especially confusing patterns.

Bowsbowsbows

I've made lots of bows from the scraps of vintage fabric I have left over from hemming/remaking thrifted dresses...I think they're pretty cute! I'm going to put them up on Etsy as soon as I have clips to attach to the back. I'm thinking of making three kinds - hair bows, clip-on bowties, and bows with safety pins on the back (clothes bows?).

Fallish Shirts

Here are the shirts that I dyed two days ago! I like how they came out...the greens and browns and reds are really good for fall.









This week I'm going to work on getting them listed on Etsy, maybe saving a couple to print on (but we have to get gold ink first, so maybe I'll just dye some more for that).

PS. I enrolled in some illustration classes at SVA and I'm nerrvous! I haven't been in school for so long, I'm afraid I forgot how or something.

Yesterday's sewing

Here's the other version of the shirt I posted yesterday!





And here's something I hemmed, not too exciting, although it was the first nylon thing I've ever sewn...kind of special?





I looove the pleating on the neckline, it's so pretty!

More dyed shirts!

I'm really liking all the cool colors.

Seersucker blouse

Today, I sewed my first ever successful thing from a pattern! It's a cute little blouse from a pattern I got on ebay - someone had written 1962 on it by hand!


Like I said, my camera is on its way out...





It's so cute! You might not be able to tell, but the shirt is split down the middle front and the stripes are going perpendicular. I actually made two of them and the other one is with two different fabrics (how it was shown on the pattern). I added the collar on this one but not on the other one...I still have to hem the bottom and sleeves on the other so I'll post it another day. After having to rip out a not-small amount of seams, it came out pretty well. I mean, not perfectly, but hey...first thing ever! I even pressed the seams and did everything properly. Sewing is a lot of fun...I just wish I weren't so intimidated by the fabric stores here in the so-called "fashion capital of the world".

Dyed Shirts!

For the past few days, I've been super busy making all kinds of stuff! Check out these shirts I dyed -








My favorite...terrible picture, I think my camera is on its way out.


My awesome setup in our huge bathroom.

There are eight more drying right now! I plan on printing over some of these (abstract metallics, on the dark ones) and others just leaving plain. They're really nice dyes because (unlike RIT), the dye molecules actually attach to the molecules of the fiber, so the shirts won't fade! Maybe in 20 years or something, but not any time soon.

I can hem!

Last time I was home, I picked my mom's brain on hemming - a simple task that has always eluded me. My usual method went as such:

1. Lay dress flat, cut a relatively even line through front and back all at once.
2. Turn under about 1/4", pin a few times, sew on machine with thread that matches as well as possible.
3. Done!

So that was obviously terrible. I have a sewing book (the sewing book?) for people who don't know how to sew but the drawings never really were clear to me. She explained step-by-step and now I know how to hem without using a machine and without the seam showing from the front! It's amazing...even though it takes me forever because I'm slow at hand sewing, it makes such a difference. Here are two that I did yesterday:


The one on the left was the first which explains the slightly poofy hem (I didn't iron it so well). They were both thrifted over a year ago and have been waiting patiently in my overstuffed "sewing projects" box for me to take them out of below-the-knee territory. I fully plan on wearing the polka dot one with black tights, even if it would look slightly like minnie mouse.


This dress is my next project. I got it at an estate sale - the fabric and the shape! And it was handmade! Amazing. Sadly, the bottom part got in an accident with something in the basement and is ruined. Not-so-sadly, it looks adorable pinned above that line (super poofy and cute). There are huge seam allowances and I'm going to try my hardest to let the waist out a half an inch because it's juuust too small for me. Otherwise, up on Etsy it will go.

finished!

I might start the other one tomorrow - they always come in sets of two, it must have been a couples activity.

pbn

I got some old paint by number kits on ebay and I just started one! People in the 50s definitely had a lot more patience than people do now...I think most people now need instant gratification or they're not satisfied. I spent like 1.5 hours and this is all I got done:

nesting doll project

I started (finally) on my blank nesting dolls that I've had for about a year. I decided to make them floral themed and the first/outside one that I've done is covered in camellia flowers, from the illustration I made last week. It's obviously not done yet...I'm going to add a face, decorations on the scarf, fix parts of the flowers, and lacquer it so it's shiny. I like it so far!


front & back

painting

Matt and I painted the kitchen! But...we only got a pint and it turns out we need two coats, so it's not done yet :( Tonight we're going to get another pint of it and a gallon for the living room! It's so exciting because it feels like a real place to live instead of just something temporary. It's also kind of weird because I haven't lived in a place with colored walls in like 6 years. Today, I painted this old lamp I got as a "housewarming" gift from my mom when I moved into my first apartment (2004!). It used to be a really ugly taupe color but now it's cool and silver!




Tomorrow I will post pictures of the painted walls!