Sew Happy : )

Isn't it delicious.  I mean have you ever.  I just absolutely adore finding new places to wear my threads.  Oh that Marilyn.  Shes just gotta be adorned/adored and what better way to do it than with a custom made thread holder/slash sewing catch all in honor of that Golden Diva.  It's made out of a left over plastic flower pot that was then MOD PODGED with magazine pages.  Did you know they also make sparkle MOD PODGE.  I didn't know it at the time because if I did I surely would have used it for this.  Then for the thread spool holders I used what are called Pin-On Hooks that you can purchase from the upholstery section of the sewing center.  They are these wire hooks (some how I just don't think that Joan Crawford would approve) that are for hanging curtains but i flipped em around and hooked them on the edge of the flower pot to hold the threads.  I did have to bend them a bit to adjust them so the thread would fit better.

the hook on the left is how they come in the package.  Using pliers I adjusted the shape a bit to allow for the spool of thread to sit on it.  I saw these being used hold spools of thread in an old sewing pattern for sewing accessories that was available on Etsy and thought, Hmmmm, that's interesting.  For so long I had been wanting to make a spool holder and had looked on line for differnt ways to do it.  Usually it involved a drill or a hammer and nails.  I just wasn't wanting to get all that complicated with it all nor did I want to spend too much money on it.  I was perfectly content on leaving the spools of thread right where they were in baskets and drawers until I saw this idea with the hooks.  The Pin-On Hooks cost all of $2.49 before taxes and other than having to purchase the Mod Podge it was all very inexpensive.  I've got another project using these hooks to show later.

So until then.  SEW HAPPY  -  HAPPY MONDAY  -  whats on your make list?

It's here, It's here! : )

The Male 3/4 Torso Dress Form Mannequin Display with hanging loop finally arrived, WOOT!  This was purchased on Amazon from Mannequin Maven for 39.99 with added shipping.  I think it came out to be about $53.00 dollars with shipping.  Here he is posed with the vintage lady mannequin that I used to keep in my shop.  I've been wanting to get a male torso/mannequin for a while now and have been shopping around.  Years ago I made a body double where you used gummed packaging tape as papier mache and covered yourself like a mummy (with the help of a friend) in the appropriate areas stand there till it dried, ARGH.  Then cut it off, slipped out of it, added more tape to strengthen it, and then coved it with fabric for an inexpensive alternative to a clothing form.  Well it worked for awhile but was never very sturdy and had a tendency to collapse on itself.
  Not wanting to spend a fortune on one of these I've been looking around and finally decided on this mannequin that was available on Amazon.  It took awhile to find one with the measurements I wanted since I wanted one that was close to my size but smaller.  I wanted it smaller since I can always pad it up to my size in the areas that need it.  Eventually I'll get around to making a cover for it so I can pin into it.  Ha, I will have to admit that I wish I had abs like that, LOL.  Maybe it will inspire me to - GET WITH IT - in the exercise department.  All in all, I'm really pleased with it and it will come in handy for photo shoots and with sewing garments.  It's cool that it has the partial legs because you can use it for shorts/pants.  It also has this sturdy wire hoop at the top if you want to hang it.  Its a very sturdy plastic.
So there you have it the beginnings of the sewing studio.  I've got a clothing rack on the back porch so that may be where all the photo shoots will take place.  There's nothing like early morning and evening lighting for pictures  :  )

Sweet Summer its here! : )

Summer has finally gotten here and, HOW SWEET IT IS, as Jackie Gleeson used to say.  Here is a pic of the top I've been working on.  It just doesn't feel good to crop your own head off of a picture but having a bad hair day (bed head) and bad lighting made it necessary, HA.  Getting pics of oneself isn't the easiest thing to do so I ordered a body double that is close to my body measurements for future photo shoots.  Also, pairing this top with camo shorts probably isn't that sylish, but hey it was a get the pic while ya can moment.
 So now that its sewn up, I really like how it came out.  It still needs some tweeking. As far as tweeking I'd make the waist hem a little longer with slits at each side and the collar about a half an inch less tall.  The collar is about 1 1/2 inches tall and has a bit of a wave to it so top stitching may help that but I thought it would be easier to make it shorter than bigger at the time.   Basically I'm happy with the pattern itself.  It fits well and this basic pattern can be used as a base pattern for other garments.  My goal is to use this as the base and then make other garments from it as I progress along on my sewing journey.  This basic pattern was made using the book, Design-It-Yourself Clothes pattern making simplified by Cal Patch and by following her pattern making class on www.creativebug.com .  The book is geared towards women but you can make a simple basic pattern and then man it up for the fellas or yourself.  Cal Patch also has a class for sewing your own leggings. Not that I want leggings.  But I've since been trying to get back into my yoga/fitness routine and thought I could make some of my own yoga clothes.  The legging pattern could be addapted to making the yoga pants I've seen people wearing in class.  Hence this big bundle of sturdy knit fabric I found at the thrift will be the basis for experimenting with yoga wear.

The colour of this fabric isn't really thrilling me but its a sturdy cotton type of double knit.  It would be perfect for yoga pants.  It's a purl type knit on one side and a chevron pattern that I think is called houndstooth on the other.

Here are some red roses from the garden showing their happy faces and a new plant from the nursery.  Not sure what it is but its a trailer and has these little yellow flowers on it.  Planning on using it in one of those little gardens that looks like you can camp out in it.  How does your garden grow?  Happy Summer  :  )

Seuss Couture

During the last two weeks I've basically put all crafting/sewing endeavors to the side to work on this.  A hat for a charity fund raiser art auction with a Doctor Seuss theme.  The MC for the event wanted to go as Oscars Only Orange Oiled Owl - I believe that is from the Seuss alphabet book.  As usual with a tight deadline I decided that a hat would get the message across and be relatively easy. The blue thing is the oil can and there is a amber bead for the oil that dangles over the owls head.  Ha, I think the owl came out cute.  She had sent for a cream coloured dress that had ostrich feathers all over it from  the waist down.  So I made a bustle type attachment that she could pin on to - kick it up a notch - in the ostrich department, LOL.  Then I made a feathered wristlet that she could wear on one of her hands to give it that elegant touch.  I find myself pushing myself to the last minute as far as getting these sort of things done.  And then you have moments like finding out that the glue you purchased the day before was no good. Then end up cursing myself for not checking while buying it because it is now 3 am in the morning (the evening before it due) and a trip to the store is NOT possible.  Which then ensues a frenzied hunt for the glue gun that is finally found after tearing through drawers and making a complete mess of things times 10.  None the less I got it done, Whew!  She made it into the salon the next day just in time for me to throw her hair up in an ostrich sort of updo and I gave her the rest of the plumage to be attached just before the auction.  I hope she got a picture of the whole getup.  

Do you ever find yourself putting things off till the last minute?  Or find yourself having to - Make It Work - as Tim Gunn says on Project Runway.  Either due to unforseen incidents or your own lack of planning etc.  I love the show Project Runway and in the midst of creating this I thought about just making it like one of the contestants crazy deadlines and had fun with it and Made it Work  :  )   

Kitschy Kitchen Crafts

I was in Michaels arts & crafts store the other day and wondering around after I had already found what I needed to just see what was there.  Low and behold this booklet caught my eye and brought back some funny memories.   Ladies from my past had these things on their dish soap bottles.  I also remember seeing them at church craft fairs when I was younger.  They were usually sewn, crochet, or knitted in various ways.  Just the thing for using up scraps or testing out a design theory, :  ).  One of the sales girls who I always run into while shopping at Michaels was there and said, Hey-what ya makin this time?  I showed her the booklet and she laughed and rolled her eyes. I said, Hey-I'm stimulating the economy with this kitsch, LOL, she's always fun to run into.  At first I was going to knit one but then decided to give it a go with some left over scraps and some ribbons. In honor of valentines day I went with the heart theme.  The ribbon at the edge is from the dollar store, the apron itself is out of black felt, the red hearts using red felt and black ribbon for the ties.  Maybe I'll knit one of these aprons up at some point but it sure was fun remembering the ladies I knew back when.  One of the ladies was Mrs. Shirley, the Polish lady that lived across the street who used to look after us while my mom was taking classes at nite for nursing.  She had a dog named Boo and she taught me how to make these layer bar cookies that are so dang good.  I wrote to her many years later asking for the recipe.  We had long since moved away and she sent me the recipe!   She always told me, Go on eat as many as you like.  Ha, that was the first time I ever remember getting a belly ache because I ate so many.  Her husband, when the weather was nice on spring days would blast his Polish music so everyone could hear it.  They invited us over to eat out on their picnic table several times and it was the first time I'd ever had eggplant.  They were such fun neighbors.  Have you got any memories linked to past kitsch/Crafts?  Here's to Kitsch and fond memories :  )

JEEPERS CREEPERS

Have you ever been working on a project and thought you had made a mistake and then went about redoing or fixing what it was only to find out you had done it the correct way in the first place?  That's what I call a JEEPERS CREEPERS moment.  I had drafted the stand collar for the top and thought I had taken the measurements from the cutting edge of the pattern instead of the seam line.  So went and remeasured from the seam line and then drafted a second set of patterns.  After doing so I compared the new with the old patterns and saw they were the same, ACK!  So apparently I had measured correctly in the first place.  So then I decided to pin the collar into the neck opening and check things out.  I'm happy with the results although I should have stay stitched the collar opening at the get-go.  I only decided to stay stitch the collar opening after I had tried on the top a BA-GILLION times.  So I'm sure there is some stretching that has happened and plus the top is pinned and not sewn on the accurate seam line.  Here's a pic of the collar test fitting.

This is the collar with the top collar and facing all in one.  Still at the front there is a gap of 3/8 ".  Which may be due to the collar partly stretching a bit before stay stitching as well as improper seam allowance pinned at the sholders . Once I actually decide on how I'm going to treat the neck opening Then I can decided on the final collar.

Here is a pair of pants that I've been hemming for quite some time now.  For what ever reason I had no problem volunteering at the opera and hemming loads of pants, hems and petticoats but when it comes to hemming my own jeans I'm a slacker, Ha.  These are being hemmed by hand with an orange thread.  I think its cool to use a contrasting thread on the hem of some pants.  I'm not sure what it is but when volunteering at the opera I really enjoyed being given a set of tasks to do (such as hemming several pants etc) and then taking the challenge to get it all done by the end of the day.  I think what I enjoyed the most was the social aspect of it as well as the having to meet a deadline.  For what ever reason I'm a slacker when it comes to my own sewing.  There are several times when I've worn things I've made that were either just basted, pinned or glued just because I couldn't wait to wear it.   Nobody knew the difference at least I hope they didn't.  A friend once commented that it was charming at how i'd leave the tails hanging from the crochet projects I had sitting around.  Funny I could see that I had left the tails hanging off these things but for some reason I didn't sew them in and it wasn't until he had said something that I thought maybe i should get around to that.  I guess i'm a bit of a sampler sorta guy trying this and that here and there.  Curiosity gets the best of me then I throw myself into something and then I sometimes find myself loosing steam.  I think what it is for me I've found community in the things I've learned and have been curious about and that for me its the high point of it all.  Wether I always come away with something that has been completed isn't always the case.  Now that I think of it, the first time I ever felt like someone really payed attention to me or encouraged me to be myself and try things out was in art class.  I remember when very young in art class we had all this big fluffy yarn and were supposed to pick a picture out of the colouring book and then glue on the yarn to make a yarn picture.  I chose an elephant with spots and then the yarn I wanted to use was this soft pink yarn and fushia coloured for the spots and blue for his eyes.  I heard several comments about me wanting to use pink.  Boys don't use pink, is what another student said.  Probably because someone told him that.  I still liked it and my teacher was the one who came over and encouraged me to do what I was doing and that there was nothing wrong with it.  I loved her for that.  Then there was the time we were in music class and our teacher had asked us to ask our moms for a scarf to bring.  My mom kept asking me what do you need a scarf for.  I wasn't sure but I said the teacher wanted us to bring one so she gave me one to bring.  One of those sheer scarfs with some sort of floral print on it was what she gave me to take.  So the day arrived and there we were in music class with our scarfs.  The teacher put on some music and we were supposed to all go around in a circle holding onto two ends of the scarf and let it float in the air behind us as we all danced around in a circle.  We were supposed to be butterflies.  All the girls didn't hesitate.  They all fell into formation and started fluttering around to the music.  I started to fall into formation but hesitated because I noticed none of the other boys were going along with it.  I stopped and looked back at my teacher.  She said go on be the butterfly.  So there I went into the circle with all the other butterflies. It was fun!  Just for that moment I wasn't being told that I'm not being who I should be or I don't fit what other people think I should be.  I felt so free :  ).  I haven't thought of that in years.  Perhaps its because all the things I've been learning and working on are all just part of a process.  A process of becoming who we are an evolution of the self.  I never thought that art/crafts could teach me something like that.  Every time I work on something or learn some new project I learn something about myself and the people I'm with.  That's what I like about blogs you can see the story behind the picture.  Every project, finished or not has a story behind it  :  )

ACK, I just wanna feel better

This cold/flu bug has been a doozy.  I just want to feel better.  Can I get some sunshine please.  I'm running outta tissues and don't have the gumption to get out and get more.  Wha, Wha, Wha.  Well, thank heavens for ginger, lemons and honey.  Did you know you can multi-task and give yourself a facial steam and hydrate your sinus's all while sitting over a large hot cup o tea.  It's divine I tell you.  My skin looks great and my hairs looking fabulous (all full and tosselled) from all the tossing and turning I've been doing while hybernating under the covers. I tell everyone that my pillow does my hair now, LOL.  Just wish I felt better.  Any who, in the meantime I've managed to work on some stuff.

   I've been working on the pattern drafting of this stand collar for the purple top.  I used 4 methods for drafting the patterns and decided on two methods from Adele Margolis's book, Make Your Own Patterns.  She gives two methods one for where you draft the collar with a seperate facing and the other is a one piece collar with the upper and under collar all in one.  I like the collar that has the upper and under collar all in one the best.  Above you will see a pic of the books I used as reference and then the two paper patterns created using the methods described in Margolis's book.  Note to self, make sure you take measurements for the collar from the sewing line and not the cut edge of the pattern before drafting the collar.  I had to redraft the collars since this was the mistake I made.  I made a mock up of the collar that is too small to just see how it worked up and here it is.

This is the one piece upper and under collar all in one pattern and I really like it.  I've just got to remake it out of the new proper sized pattern.  Then there was the matter of interfacing this thing or not.  After much reading I decided on a sew in woven interfacing.  I'll have to admit that I am a bit of a slacker when it comes to ironing and I probably should iron a lot more than I do when making a project.  Something about ironing glue into the collar doesn't appeal to me.  Next will be the opening for the shirt.  Some sort of placket.  Still not sure how I'll tackle that but stay tuned :  ) to see what happens with that.

Here is one of my favorite crafty tools that is so handy when working with patterns.  At least when it comes to collars and smaller pattern pieces.  It's an improvised light box.  A window works well too on a sunny day if you tape your pattern to the window you can see the pattern lines thru the paper and trace it off that way as well.  This is one of those scrapbooking paper keepers from the craft store. If you get one make sure it has a smooth flat surface.   It's approximately 14" by 14".  Holiday lights bought on sale put inside provide the artificial sunshine for helping you to see the pattern lines thru the paper.  This is what I used for the final collars when tracing them off from the drafts. I keep a roll of washi tape in the box so its there when I need to secure the paper to the surface before tracing.

  If that's not enough to keep one busy while stuck in the cabin.  Here's more  :  ).  Above is a sketching class I took by Lisa Congdon over on creativebug .  I love this class!  Above you see where she suggests using scraps of paper to encourage you to create your sketches from.  The paper pieces (recycled envelopes from the holidays) are cut and glued in various places and used as part of the design.  This class has really helped me to push past being intimidated by the blank page and Lisa Congdon gives several ideas for helping to get your sketch on.  I'll post more about the sketching class later.
Also, I've been channeling these ladies from my sewing machine, LOL.  I'd sit down to just doodle on the sewing machine and for some reason I get these ladies.  It's fun to find different ways to doodle.  Do you doodle?