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Sewing Masterlist :: Other/Crafts

Oh, Great Gatsby.

 

 

 I'm unsure of how I feel about the new Great Gatsby movie.  I dislike when Hollywood destroys my favourite books, and this adaptation just looks ridiculous.  Then again, if I wanted to watch a good version, I could just watch Robert Redford.  Could just a normal new adaptation really compete with that?  Do they have to make it ridiculous and 3-d to make any sort of mark in cinema?  Or is making it flashy the only way you can get kids into something based on decent literature? 

I'm a snob, no need to tell me, I hear it all the time.  I'll probably still see the movie when it comes out, if only because it is The Great Gatsby.

When the weather is fine

 

I'm patiently awaiting the next Spring weather (2 months ago it was 80F!! What happened?  I've transitioned, mentally).  I've been gardening every day it hasn't been raining, and I'm swaping out my jackets for sundresses and my scarves for bathing suits.  Going to Texas and the heat, then coming back here, has completely thrown me off, season-wise

I haven't been posting.  I'm sorry.  I have a couple of projects that I finished but didn't take pictures of: a couple of aprons I'm planning to sell, some shirts, some dresses, some bags.  I'll get around to it.  All the cloudy days have made me lazy.

Just wanted to say hi :)

Texas Trip!

I made a few similar pictures from when my parents were visiting in France, so I thought I would continue the trend, seeing as how nearly all pictures of me are of me taking pictures....

 

Texas Trip :: Austin

Texas Trip :: Denton/ DFW

 

The fog is rising

 

I went for a walk the other day.  It was gorgeous, 75F, completely sunny.  I get to a massive expanse of beach at low tide, the kind where the water is like, 1/2 and inch deep all across it.  I absolutely ADORE beaches with low tides like that.  I wade around, take pictures...then I look up and think....hey, there should be a water tower over there.  And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I'm engulfed in a fleeting but super chilly fog bank.

 

 

'Damn, it is cold!' and I run back to the shore (no easy task!) and the fog was nearly passed.  But my sandals and feet were nasty and nicely soaked from sinking into what I could only explain by comparing it to quick sand but made out of half-dry and disgusting seaweed.  Just try to imagine it for me.  It was a cool experience in any case :)

 

 

~Nikki

I'll throw up the other beach pics later :)

[More Pics]

Sewing Project :: 40's Flower Power Gown

 

Finished a dress last week!  I may not have anything to wear right now, but I'll be set when spring rolls around.

From a 40's pattern, early 40's if I had to guess from the style.  It is a sort of ball/fancy gown, meant to be made in a satin, but the self-destructive forces inside of me just didn't want to do something so easy, with fabric that didn't stretch, that didn't require a lining that wasn't in the pattern, or a totally different construction method than the directions.  And patterns are meant to be easier.  But I was just staring at the fabric and thinking, 'it is just asking to be made into a little sun dress or something.....so I obviously can't do that.'  Voila.  A little insight into my thought process.  Purposefully difficult and contrary.

Short: The dress.  The fabric is a sheer, textured fabric.  Very soft, light green underneath. The middle diamond has lace instead of lining. There is a front slit (which I'm not usually a fan of, but it works with the style) and the dress has a train in the back, which is AWESOME.  I'll probably just end up stepping on it :P

 

I almost forgot, one weird thing....the dresses closes with SNAPS on the side.  SNAPS.  Such a pain in the ass to sew on (I got a lot of episodes of Secret Diary of a Call Girl watched).  I guess it works though, especially with this fabric, as a zipper probably would have been too stiff and looked really weird.  In fact....I may do this on more dresses.

Details: The fabric is seriously gorgeous, as is the lining (which is probably as sheer as the top- I like to think that makes it opaque, lol).  The lining is a wonderful fabric in its own right, the drape and movement is fabulous, I wish I had more of it to make a dress on its own.  All in all very flowy.  In the middle diamond section I left out the lining and put lace under the top fabric.  You can barely tell, but I know it is there :) 

And to make things more difficult, I thought that using a serger for the seams would look funny; the fabric wouldn't fall right and it would be sort of noticeable.  Whatever the reasoning, I didn't use the serger at all on this project.  French seams.  All of them.  Twice as much work, but it looks so much better than a serger would have.  Another little thing that only I would notice :)

 I made the waist quite a bit smaller than the rest of the measurements, (I don't know why I don't do that on all the patterns I use, I have a smallish waist, better to take that into account when cutting than bringing in the side seams at the end) and while it could have been taken in a little more, it really helped.  Also nice was that there was no back of th e dress to worry about being too big.  Of course, no back=hard to wear.  In the pictures I'm wearing some old bridal backless corset thing I had from highschool when I wore a backless dress to a formal.  It isn't terribly comfortable (and at the risk of sounding like a tramp, it hits my belly button ring when I sit down, eep), but it'll give me really good posture, lol (tight!).  And some comfort knowing I won't have to worry about it showing in the back.

 

Yea....so that is it.  Hope you skipped over the boring stuff.  I just go on and on because no one would actually want to listen to me about sewing in real life :P

 So: back view, view of train (I'm holding it out with my foot, it doesn't actually fall like that normally), weird hair, etc

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 ~Nikki

Getting me a remote for my camera was a terrible idea, I take so many pictures.  Not that I like taking pictures of myself, but it just takes SO many to get some to turn out, lol.  I'm so not photogenic.  I'd like to make clothes for someone else so I could use them as a model and take the photos myself.

Sewing Project :: A little twisted

I'm not used to dresses in this style, not that I don't like it, just a bit different.  It isn't fitted, but it isn't loose.  It sort of drapes over and around you.  Slinky in the bias-cut kind of way. Which is different than what I'm used to, but SO comfortable. I need a bit more variety in my wardrobe anyway :P   Oh, and there is an tie on the inside if you want the gathering on the side.  And it may not look like a big skirt, but trust me,  there is a LOT of fabric in there!  Very swingy :)

You know, I almost want to complain about this pattern.  It was a Vogue, but the pattern pieces were the most bizarrely shaped things I've ever seen in my life.  Curves and tucks and darts and seams.  But you know what?  It was actually pretty easy!  I mean, the pattern is there for you.  No guessing, no draping, no creating, no measuring.  Cut and sew.  I can't really complain.  Other than a few minutes staring blankly back and forth at the directions, the pattern, and the piece of fabric occasionally, no big problems!  So no complaining here :)  Just a warning, if you pick up the pattern, super bizarre pieces. 

 

      

Some close ups of the detail.  It is pretty much what makes the dress, even if the fabric is so complicated you can't even tell.  Well, I know it is there and that is what really counts ;)

I had a bit of the usual trouble with pre-made patterns and my once again reinforced theory that I apparently have an unnaturally small back, which I don't believe is even possible, but it wasn't too hard to fix because I sort of expected it.  Took it in a bit at the side seams and at the shoulder seams to bring the dip of the back up to a more comfortable level.  The hem is serged.  I like to serge fancy-looking dresses because it dresses it down a bit.  And also, I tried to hem it and, for those non-sewers (who probably skipped this paragraph), hemming a bias-cut, round hem, stretchy fabric is (for lack of a better descriptor) a total bitch.  I'm happy with the finished product.  Obviously....or I wouldn't have posted it and I would be seam ripping instead of on the computer...

  

 

~Nikki

X Post :: New Beaches

Backyard Exploration :: New Beaches!

Really, a photo post that probably should have gone on this journal, but typepad is just so terrible with pictures I creatively concocted it into a post for my travel journal :P  Check it out!

Backyard Exploration :: New Beaches!

Sewing Project :: Plaid that wasn't a failure!

         

So, you may have thought I had gone to Boston for that recruiting interview thing.  How naïve.  My real reason was....to go to a button store.  I've had this blasted jacket finished for well over a month and hadn't found any decent looking buttons for it.  Joann's is really rubbish.  So I went to Windsor Buttons in Boston to look for some.  I may never even look for buttons anywhere else again, it has EVERYTHING.  And If I drive an hour to buy bread from a bakery I like, an hour for buttons isn't too much for me :P  As it turned out, the buttons cost about the same as the fabric for the entire jacket did. It wouldn't be so bad if I got some sort of returns on the clothing, like selling some or something....

But I don't.  Anyway.  Not much too say since I finished this so long ago.  It is from a burda pattern, out of some fabric I've had for years.  When all the pieces were pinned down it took me 2 days to get the nerve to cut into it.  It is really nice fabric and plaids are just so prone to completely failing.  I traced out the plaid pattern (in coloured pencils!) on each pattern piece, taking into account the seam allowance, then lined them up on my fabric.  It was SUCH a pain.  The pattern pieces are friggin CURVED.  Could I have picked a worse jacket pattern to make with a plaid?  Probably not.  I should be happy my self-destructive streak generally acts out in such mundane ways.

   





Closed view at the beginning of the post, then open view, partially open (how I'll probably wear it), and open to show you the lining.  Pretty tame lining for me, I don't know what was wrong!  I usually do crazy stuff.  Pictures are a bit fuzzy.  Dancing like a lunatic helps to put a fake smile on your face, but it does end up making picture fuzzy in bad lighting :P  But I've noticed I look better a little fuzzy, lol . It was one of those days when the pictures would have looked better had my jacket been on my dress form.

Looking at the pictures, I may shorten the sleeves.  They are comfortable, being long like that, but I'm worried it looks frumpy.  We shall see.

And the button.  Go figure that it would be a fuzzy picture after all the work of finding it, lol.  I could take another picture but....laziness will be the death of me :P

Back to finishing my next project.  I desperately need to start making things for other people, I really feel pathetic doing all this for myself.  As if I was in need of clothes!

~Nikki

 

Sewing Project :: Seeing Spots

 

 I bought this fabric ages ago and finished the skirt sometime last week.  It was going to be a holiday outfit, but I obviously didn't even begin to think about starting it until well after the holidays.  Oh well, lol.  I'll never say I'm not a procrastinator.  But it got finished!  When I started it I really hated the way it turned out, so I tore it apart, recut it, and made it over again.  I'm more pleased with the finished product :P

And you can't see the lining, but I made the lining a bit more of a circle than the skirt (bigger, more fabric on the lining than the skirt), then I made a little bubble hem, to try and give the skirt some fullness without a petticoat.  I covered the seam with a cute little grey ribbon too :)  Just for me, no one else can see it, lol

~Nikki

 Picture taken as I was walking out the door for a concert, the lighting was rubbish.

I feel like I post few and far between for the amount of sewing I actually do.  I don't know what is up with that.  Sometimes I just don't take pictures.  Sometimes I work for a few days on something and don't end up liking the end product so it goes in a box to be reworked at a later date.  Sometimes I finish the entire thing so it sits for weeks waiting for me to sew on the buttons or hem it.  Sometimes I just stare at my fabric for hours trying to become inspired.

  

Snow Day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[More Photos]

 

Got about a foot of snow last weekend!  It only lasted 2 days before it melted, but it is the most we've gotten all winter (combined) :)  I would have posted pictures earlier but THIS SITE IS TERRIBLE.  Anyway.  It was a lot of fun, watching the snow, and then running out to take pictures that night after it stopped.  Something so magical about the snow on the streets when it hasn't been disturbed by people and cars yet.

Well, it is 50F now and I went for a walk yesterday in short sleeves and a light sweater.  This is such a bizarre winter, non?

~Nikki