New Computer, New (consistent!!) Posting

Well, hopefully consistent. But definitely more than has been going on-my old Lenovo x120e got a whole glass full of water spilled into it, and refused to even power on. I tried to hold out until my birthday/tax rebate time, but not having a computer at all was pretty awful, and I gave in and treated myself to the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro, which is a big upgrade from my old one. The screen on my x120e was admittedly pretty awful, which made editing photos for this blog a pain. On this one, however, the screen is gorgeous, and having a touch screen has been surprisingly handy.

But enough computer chat. What have I been up to since the death of my old laptop? Quite a bit, although I was not taking photos very consistently, since I had nothing to upload them to. So the picture coverage is a bit spotty.

Like I apparently have no picture of the making of this shirt? And I made this quite a while back, since there's no weight bench in the background of these pictures. In any case-just using my basic longsleeve shirt pattern, with contrast cuffs, collar and placket. Next time around I may slim down the arms on this pattern a tiny bit, but then again, my arms keep growing, so maybe not.

 I found some plastic canvas at the thrift store right before Christmas, so I decided to make some little needlepoint ornaments. I have plenty of crewel yarn hanging around for it. I charted out some portraits of my two cats. I think they came out pretty well, I just wish there was more contrast in the eye area on Barry (the orange and white cat)

And here's the finished ornaments. I must have used different dark green on Wharton's and not noticed. But they came out pretty cute! And went right on my tree.

I've been really interest in combining sports and athletic wear with traditional 'craft' processes lately. I've also been learning crochet a little more fully, so I got it into my head to make crochet shorts. I started sketching, and decided to stick to a simple granny square pattern at first so I could figure out how to shape it into shorts. I still want to do something with more shaped squares eventually.

So I needed a variety of yarns, as cheap as possible, since this is just a test. The cheapest way seemed to be to just buy an old afghan for a few dollars and pull it apart. I don't really need to buy full skeins of worsted acrylic, it's not very nice for much else. Unfortunately, the only before picture of the afghan I took was this crummy instagram. So apologies for that. Take my word for it, it was very ugly. 

 

 And a few days later, it became these! The making was pretty simple. Four granny squares to start, then join the front and back halfway down, then made a crotch gusset (may not be necessary if you don't have thick legs/butt like me) then join on the sides.

 Then round and around each leg, and around the waist.

 The is the back view, in the middle back I used treble instead of double crochet, to sort of create a 'yoke' also to accommodate my butt. Honestly, though, it's still a little short in the back, next time I might also add a short row of double crochet just there as well.

And the front. It's lined with a pair of old bike shorts. I carefully tacked it in by hand with lots of separate small tacks so the stretchiness is preserved. There is probably an easier/better way to do this though I imagine a machine zig zag or serger stitch would not look very good.

 I also wondered, "Is it possible to cross stitch on spandex, or would it constrict the four-way stretch too much?" Then I figured, if the cross stitching was done with the fabric stretched the same amount as it would be on the body, it should work. I picked out a simple pattern from an old book I have.

 I had found at the thrift store a while back a cross stitch kit with 'waste canvas.' The idea is you stitch through the canvas and fabric, then 'pull' or unravel the canvas out from underneath. No picture, but I stretched the shorts over some cardboard, and basted the waste canvas onto it. Then stitched through both and pulled the canvas away. 

 When the shorts are unstretched, the stitching does look a little puckered and odd.

 But, once they are on, it looks much more normal. We'll have to wait and see what happens when I wash them though.

I tried to find a bigger piece of waste canvas, and was having a hard time finding any. It turns out that the world has moved on to water soluble canvas! And thank goodness because pulling the waste canvas was a giant pain. No plans for this yet, but I sure I'll think of something.

Last thing for now, I've been making up a neat shirt with some medallion/border print material I found. I was planning on making it long sleeve, but I lost the fussy-cut cuffs, and don't have enough to cut more, so I think it's doomed to short sleeves.

Finishing Touches!

Where have I been?! My computer's been very on-the-fritz, I think the battery is starting to go--so I've been using my shiny new smartphone more, and I think it distracted me a bit from posting on here. The computer's still broken, but the novelty has begun to wear off on the phone, so hopefully I keep up here more.

As the seasons are changing over I've been going through my shelves and realizing there were a lot of projects that were almost-but-not-quite finished, so I went through and  hemmed all the bottoms, bought snaps and jean post-buttons and attached them.

Added buttons to a bunch of things! I had just been wearing the shorts with a belt. So far I've also done the button hole on the floral shorts. 

Finally got pearl snap on my floral western shirt. I was stuck between seafoam green and purple, I think I made the right pick. 

And I did actually wear this today--finally!

Also used up some fabric that had been lying around--you saw a bit of this vest in the first picture:

Playing around with patterns to make a shawl collar. I think the collar actually came out well, but I'm not as pleased about the fit around the armholes/shoulder. Still wearable and comfy though. 

Also did my first welt pockets, not as scary as I thought. Much more confident to try them in the future. Used a really lovely, but smallish piece of wool crepe I had lying around to line it. This guy still needs buttonholes though. 

Also made another pair of pants to follow up my camo ones. No picture of them on yet, I need to iron them. I *did* however put a button and buttonhole on these! I didn't have quiteeee enough of the plaid to make a full pair of pants, so I supplemented with some denim. 

I like the effect visually, but as you can probably see here, there was some rippling going on, I think because of the difference in weight between the two fabrics. 

Did a few more Dear Jane Blocks. I accidentally skipped a page, so my Row G hasn't gone in order. That top one was a pain with all those curves. 

Begun sketching out some ideas for a varsity-style jacket to use up some wools. I wanted to do a reverse applique motif on the chest and back, not sure exactly what the imagery will be yet. 

Testing out the reverse applique, I think I like the backstitched style better than the basted-than-buttonhole stitched. It also saves me a step. These are the fabrics for the finished jacket, a thick, felted/boiled wool in dark teal, and a very fuzzy, brushed wool that might be mohair? I need to find a lining fabric for this, as well as figure out what I want to use for the cuffs, waistband and collar. 

Keeping it Together

Or at least trying to.

It's been a very difficult week. Seamus has been in the hospital since Monday with some major pancreas problems. It's tearing me up to see him so weak and so out of it.  I've been visiting him as much as I can, but it's a half an hour walk each way, and we're now in 90+ degree heat. Plus the electricity partially went out (taking the A/C with it) at work earlier in the week, so I'm running on fumes, both physically and emotionally.     Understandably, I'm not exactly in the mood to be working on things, but I did get some things done before all this went down, and I've been drawing a little bit too.

Dear Jane G-5 and G-6. Two particularly fussy little blocks. I tried to do the right one as full patchwork first and it was a mess, it worked better as a partial applique. The tiny, tiny star in the middle of the star block was also tough, especially since I'm not paper piecing. 

I did also do some more work on the braid coat, but one un-attached strip of braids looks pretty much like another, so no picture there. However, I am getting back to sketching the finished product a little bit. I'm now thinking it's going to have a kimono-like collar of braid that is wool on both sides, but I'm going to have to make a sample and see if it gets too thick. 

I also did a little bit of knitting this week. When I bought all those double-pointed needles for my Lenore Tawney project, I also bought a chunk of Knit Pick's Palette yarn to get to free shipping, and I've been sitting on it ever since. I decided to finally bust it out a swatch some fair isle. I think I'm going to make a hat, I'm coming up with a shape right now. 

Which got me thinking about hats, and so doodled out this very embarrassing and not at all stylish hat for Sal. To keep his horns warm? Somehow I don't think they get cold. But it's a nice sentiment. 

And a last little drawing, this one's pretty old. Just trying out a more cartoony, thicker lined style. Still not drawing as much as I ought to though. 

Masks and Misc.

Like usual, whenever I finish a big project, I'm a little lost afterwards. It feels freeing at first to not have something you are obligated to work on, but then you're not really sure what it is you want to work on. And none of my currently in-progress projects looked appealing (unfortunately!)

So as a quick little one-off project, I made Barry a kitty bed. He's happily claimed it as his own, and sleeps on it every night. He also has a long thing pillow that I made for him in the window when he naps out there. 

Now this started out as a bit of fun, blow-off-steam sort of project, but I think it's going to lead to something more serious. I've been watching far too much WWE pro-wrestling lately, and yes, I know that makes me a big nerdy 14 year old. But on the positive side, it's gotten me back into working out seriously and made me fascinated with the terrible/awesome outfits wrestlers wear. I decided to, just for fun, pattern out a luchadore-style mask, and after a few drafts, I think I was pretty successful. 

So of course I made up a sample one with the absolute tackiest fabric I can find, a floral crushed velvet that was once an enormous button up shirt. I like to think Macho Man Randy Savage would approve. 

Nothing quite this wonderful and tacky in the WWE right now, sadly.

More of a side view, it makes my already round face look very chubbed out though. Added some gold trim for the finishing touch. 

And, since I've once again caved and bought a moleskine, I can now do some watercolors in my sketchbook! I'm trying to get myself back into working with color a bit more. 

Seamus bought a new JLI trade paperback, and I couldn't help but do some doodles of the gang (and the Creeper) JLI makes me love Mr. Miracle, and now I'm wondering where else to start with his character. 

And to further show my stupid love of the fake wrestling (hey it's good practice for drawing different body types and strange poses, right?) a little bit of Team Hell No (this is a pretty good introduction), and I think that's Del Rio doing a cross-arm breaker on the other side. Cheapy Crayola markers actually work pretty nicely on this paper. 

As an aside, my next post will be my 200th!! I'm thinking of having a little give-away (don't know if I really have enough traffic for one though?) Keep an eye out!

Working, Not Showing

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been working a lot, both in the studio and at my jobs, but it's been a lot more writing/sketching/planning than sewing/making.  

I did finish my Mick Jagger Halloween costume, unfortunately Hurricane Sandy made our party a little smaller than anticipated, and by Halloween itself I was partied out, so not many saw it. Always next year!

The Braid Coat is starting to come together. I'm trying desperately to finish this before getting fully involved in my Lenore Tawney piece but it looks like I may have to start that soon to get it done in time.  Next post I'll share some of my sketches for that. 

Made multiples of my jumpsuit pattern pieces for my class. I make them with a dashed 'sewing line' and an outer 'cut line' to make it easier for the kids.  I'm also teaching them to take these patterns and add volume in areas with the slash-and-spread technique. 

And with that comes my awkwardly drawn instruction pages. These are just a guideline for them, to show how the original garments would have gone together. Almost no-ones will look anything like this once they're done. 

Just fooling around with watercolors.  Starting to actually, for real outline a chunk of chapter from the comic I may or may not be working on, so trying to get back on the drawing.

Seamus's birthday card this year. He's now got my watching WWE (and, I'm not going to lie, i watch it even when he's not here) so he gets a pro-wrestling themed card with Team Hell No--the best tag-team champs!

Do-Over

So you may notice the rag-rug is now in a different shape. The round shape was warping/turning into a cone, so I sucked it up, cut it all apart and started over. The oval shape seems to be working much better. I'm out of material now, it'll have to get put aside until I can find some more old shirts. 

Finally got around to finishing patching my cape. The lining (some kind of fake silk) had shredded around the armholes, and in a couple other spots, so I covered it with some scraps of silk I had lying around. 

And the red cable knit scarf is finally done! I really should have made it a little longer, but I was really, really sick of doing that cable pattern over and over. And I wanted to start quilting my Irish Chain quilt as my 'hand work' 

Still, it's long enough to wrap around a few times. I'm not totally sure I should block it--I've heard conflicting things about heavily cabled designs. But it does curl a little at the ends....

Very exciting things to be happening soon--Leonore Tawney's estate donated a large amount of materials to Uarts, and a bunch of students and alumns (myself included) have been invited to do work responding to hers. It's a bit of a challenge because my work is very different, but I'm in the pondering/sample making stages. This is a bunch of really lovely fine alpaca that unfortunately, makes my nose run something awful. 

And some spools of linen. The projects aren't due until January, so I have some time to figure it out. Watch for updates!

Also, I'm trying to keep on drawing, so have this little doodle--I scanned it in before I started working on color in case I messed up terribly.