Please donate to my transplant fund at http://cota.donorpages.com/PatientOnlineDonation/COTAforSolanaC/
Sunday, June 12, 2011
MIA
No updates for awhile. I'm in the hospital. Hopefully will be able to post more projects by next weekend.
Monday, May 30, 2011
One Woman's Trash is Another Woman's Treasure: Week 2
Sorry for not posting Friday. Internet was on the fritz. I suppose that means you get two posts this week, weather permitting. Basically whenever the weather gets crazy (snow, rain, wind) I lose internet. The joys of living in the mountains I guess. This weather is not typical for a California May. By now I usually have a nice tan going and have the best swimming spots picked out. With all the rain and cold, I haven't set foot in a body of water yet. And we don't get tornadoes that touch down. Wednesday, four touched down in my county. Luckily, no one was hurt. A lot of property damage but that can be fixed.
Having some camera issues, hopefully that will be worked out by the end of next week.
I am not a fan of the "holes in my jeans" style. I can't see spending money on jeans that are already ripped up. My sister is the opposite of me. She buys them with holes. If they don't have holes when she buys jeans then she will make tears herself.
I've decided to use a pair of these holey jeans as a canvas. I made patches to cover the holes. On these patches I figured it would be fun to put some sort of design. So I had to come up with a theme for my jeans. I figured that since I majored in Genetics putting "genes on my jeans" would be the way to go.
Using my genetics textbooks I drew out the structures for the nucleotide bases and twenty amino acids. I used a white dressmakers pencil to draw the structures on the fabric. I hemmed the raw edges back and then used a contrasting thread to stitch the structures (sort of a rustic form of embroidery).
After I finished with the structures, I hand stitched the patch over the hole. Then I turned the jeans inside out and used light weight fusible interfacing (followed package directions on application) on all the patched areas to add more strength and hold the stitches in place.
There's another pair of holey jeans in the pile. I'm thinking of making patches for all the cities I've been to and sewing them on. Sort of my version of "traveling pants."
Having some camera issues, hopefully that will be worked out by the end of next week.
I am not a fan of the "holes in my jeans" style. I can't see spending money on jeans that are already ripped up. My sister is the opposite of me. She buys them with holes. If they don't have holes when she buys jeans then she will make tears herself.
I've decided to use a pair of these holey jeans as a canvas. I made patches to cover the holes. On these patches I figured it would be fun to put some sort of design. So I had to come up with a theme for my jeans. I figured that since I majored in Genetics putting "genes on my jeans" would be the way to go.
Using my genetics textbooks I drew out the structures for the nucleotide bases and twenty amino acids. I used a white dressmakers pencil to draw the structures on the fabric. I hemmed the raw edges back and then used a contrasting thread to stitch the structures (sort of a rustic form of embroidery).
After I finished with the structures, I hand stitched the patch over the hole. Then I turned the jeans inside out and used light weight fusible interfacing (followed package directions on application) on all the patched areas to add more strength and hold the stitches in place.
There's another pair of holey jeans in the pile. I'm thinking of making patches for all the cities I've been to and sewing them on. Sort of my version of "traveling pants."
Please consider donating to my transplant fund at http://cota.donorpages.com/PatientOnlineDonation/COTAforSolanaC/
Friday, May 20, 2011
One Woman's Trash is Another Woman's Treasure: Week 1
In the pile of clothes my sister gave me was this blue dress. I'm a sucker for blue. I just love it. I especially love how this shade of blue looks against my skin. And the brown makes a nice addition. So while I was in love with the fabric, I was not liking the style of the dress. I am a very small person and anything that doesn't have shape makes me look like I'm wearing a sack.
First I made a sketch of how I wanted the dress to look. I figured a band in the middle would add the shape I was looking for.
Once I had finished my sketch, I took out my scissors and started cutting. I removed the brown band from the bottom. I measured the band and found it to be the exact size of my waist so I put it aside to be used for later. I then cut the top from the bottom. I sewed the top portion to the brown band, creating a new bodice for my dress. The bottom part, I sewed godets in to add some flare. I then sewed the new skirt to the bottom of the brown band.
The end result was a dress with enough shape to make me look good. I did run into some problems. My serger went on strike. The foot pedal stopped working so I couldn't serge my seams and edges. My sewing machine has a fit when I work with knit material. So in the end I used my mother's machine. It's a Husqvarna Viking and it made quick work of my dress.
The cost to make this dress was $0. Since I like blue so much I tend to keep blue thread on hand. It also helps to keep a stash of black and white threads as well.
Because of the serger issues, it took me a day and a half from start to finish to complete the dress (that's including sketching and cutting).
Now I just need this rainy weather to clear up so I can wear this beauty.
First I made a sketch of how I wanted the dress to look. I figured a band in the middle would add the shape I was looking for.
Once I had finished my sketch, I took out my scissors and started cutting. I removed the brown band from the bottom. I measured the band and found it to be the exact size of my waist so I put it aside to be used for later. I then cut the top from the bottom. I sewed the top portion to the brown band, creating a new bodice for my dress. The bottom part, I sewed godets in to add some flare. I then sewed the new skirt to the bottom of the brown band.
The end result was a dress with enough shape to make me look good. I did run into some problems. My serger went on strike. The foot pedal stopped working so I couldn't serge my seams and edges. My sewing machine has a fit when I work with knit material. So in the end I used my mother's machine. It's a Husqvarna Viking and it made quick work of my dress.
The cost to make this dress was $0. Since I like blue so much I tend to keep blue thread on hand. It also helps to keep a stash of black and white threads as well.
Because of the serger issues, it took me a day and a half from start to finish to complete the dress (that's including sketching and cutting).
 |
| The finished product. |
Now I just need this rainy weather to clear up so I can wear this beauty.
If you enjoyed this article, consider donating to my transplant fund at http://cota.donorpages.com/PatientOnlineDonation/COTAforSolanaC/
Friday, May 13, 2011
One Woman's Trash is Another Woman's Treasure
wI know I've been gone for quite a while. A lot of things have been going on around here. Made it hard to get the creative juices flowing much less able to sit at a computer and blog about it all. Things seem to be calming down. At least there's an attempt at calmness. I'm hoping that it will at least last the rest of May. I need a break. And my sewing machine has been calling my name.
Why my sewing machine would be calling my name? I have no clue. I guess it's feeling neglected. Each time I use it though, it complains the entire time. Material is too thick, material is too thin. Rarely does it do exactly what I want it to unless I do some major tweaking. I suppose if I was just making plain fabric pillow cases my machine would be happy. But I like doing crazy stuff like button holes, and sewing in zippers. And my machine needs a bit of persuasion to accomplish the task.
I suppose this is great training for the day I can afford an upgrade. After all the frustrations with my sewing machine, a new one would seem like a God send.
Anyways, the old lady is going to be put to work again. See my sister cleaned out her wardrobe and was going to toss out two large black garbage bags worth of clothes. I convinced her to let me have the bags. After sifting through them and tossing what really should be tossed (never hand down underwear, it's just nasty), I found some gems. These clothes are currently too big for me and some aren't even my style. But the fabric is great and my clothes budget is nonexistent these past months. So I'm taking some inspiration from the blog New Dress A Day and am going to turn my sister's toss outs into new duds for myself.
So my challenge for myself is to turn my sister's old gothic punk clothing into classy pieces with a touch of whimsy. My goal is to produce something new each week. I'm allowing $5 to be spent on notions (thread, ribbon, lace, buttons, zippers, needles) for each project. The bulk of the item has to be from the discarded clothes.
Wish me luck.
Why my sewing machine would be calling my name? I have no clue. I guess it's feeling neglected. Each time I use it though, it complains the entire time. Material is too thick, material is too thin. Rarely does it do exactly what I want it to unless I do some major tweaking. I suppose if I was just making plain fabric pillow cases my machine would be happy. But I like doing crazy stuff like button holes, and sewing in zippers. And my machine needs a bit of persuasion to accomplish the task.
I suppose this is great training for the day I can afford an upgrade. After all the frustrations with my sewing machine, a new one would seem like a God send.
Anyways, the old lady is going to be put to work again. See my sister cleaned out her wardrobe and was going to toss out two large black garbage bags worth of clothes. I convinced her to let me have the bags. After sifting through them and tossing what really should be tossed (never hand down underwear, it's just nasty), I found some gems. These clothes are currently too big for me and some aren't even my style. But the fabric is great and my clothes budget is nonexistent these past months. So I'm taking some inspiration from the blog New Dress A Day and am going to turn my sister's toss outs into new duds for myself.
So my challenge for myself is to turn my sister's old gothic punk clothing into classy pieces with a touch of whimsy. My goal is to produce something new each week. I'm allowing $5 to be spent on notions (thread, ribbon, lace, buttons, zippers, needles) for each project. The bulk of the item has to be from the discarded clothes.
Wish me luck.
It would be encouraging if you considered donating to my transplant find at http://cota.donorpages.com/PatientOnlineDonation/COTAforSolanaC/
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