Spoonflower Swatches!

   I ordered a set of swatches from Spoonflower not that long ago and I am just thrilled with these ones! :D The kitties are Lucifurr and Patch. I don't think I need to point out who is who, do I? ;P

   The roses was just me being bored with my wacom tablet, I also made one like that in coral but haven't ordered a swatch for it yet.

   I am super happy with how these turned out! Can't wait to get some fabric of these! I think the fabric of Patch with the balls of yarn would make a cute little dress, what about you? ;P

   I made the rose patterns with a skirt in mind, but I may wait until warmer weather to make little rosey skirts, haha.

My -BIG- Project of the Month and Other Recent Happenings

   At the start of every month, I write out a little list of small to medium sized goals to complete within the month. Sometimes I don't make all of them, but having that sort of reminder of what I want/need to do and the time in which I need to get it done has helped me a lot of with my depression and lack of motivation, both of which are not constant problems anymore. More of fleeting moments, but I'm not ready to retire my monthly goals list.

   This month, one of them was to take a self portrait every single day of November. Photography has been a fairly large part of my life for a while now, but my passion for it dwindled for a bit there. Self portraits were always what I was the worst at as far as photography goes, and it would be nice to improve to have nice photos of myself as well as building the skill to take good self portraits for this blog and it's posts.

   So, so far I'm on day six and have taken seven photo-of-the-day-s, haha. Here they are:

November 1st, 2013

November 3rd, 2013

November 3rd, 2013

November 4th, 2013

November 5th, 2013

November 6th, 2013

   And here's the photo from Day 2, which wasn't included above because it contains artistic nudity. So instead of making it automatically visible, I thought I'd give ya'll the choice to view it if you want to.

   I'm really happy with how my self portrait project is turning out so far, and may just post the results on a weekly basis, if anyone is interested. But for now, my set for my self portrait project is here, and this is my whole photostream. :) BTW, little mini blogs are posted in the caption of each self portrait of my project and the other self portraits that I didn't choose as 'photo of the day'.

   Besides taking probably too many photos of myself, I've been crocheting a slouchy colour block beanie, which is my third crochet project (and third hat, since all my crochet projects have been hats :D). I plan on making a matching scarf and mittens for this, wish me luck as I haven't even tried to make either yet!

   I've also been practicing my banjo every day. I got a banjo for my 22nd birthday in September, and I haven't really started practicing it until recently. I am a complete, complete beginner! After sharing the photo I took today of me and my banjo, someone shared with me that my finger picks were on backwards, so when I say complete beginner, I mean it! I've wanted to learn to play one for a long time though and I'm so happy to have one to try and learn on.

   And speaking of banjo, today on Spoonflower I made my first sell on a pattern I designed! It was My First Banjo! Woo hoo! The order was for a fat quarter of the fabric and I made almost two bucks on it. ;P I'm really excited to have sold some fabric though and it will be nice to use that towards buying myself some more fabric of my own!

   Well, I guess that's all I have to say before I go back to crocheting. I hadn't blogged in a week or so, so I wanted to share what I had been up to. Have a wonderful, crafty day!

Einstein Dress!

   I'm super excited to share what I sewed up last night! It ended up way better than expected, though I had to alter the pattern a little to get it the way I wanted it.

   This dress's pattern is McCall's 6754, the black fabric I used on the sleeves and bodice is some lightweight jersey knit fabric I found on eBay for $4.50, and the bottom half is of some fabric I designed myself!
  

   When I first joined Spoonflower, the first design I uploaded was this vectorized image of Einstein. And seeing and working with the fabric in person, I can say it totally turned out better than expected! The background on the fabric (which is the organic cotton knit) was supposed to be black, but it turned out dark grey. That's my only complaint about it, and shortly after my fabric was shipped, Spoonflower actually started making the organic knit with "blacker blacks and brighter brights". My luck, right?

   I unfortunately didn't take any process shots of making the dress. I finished it in an hour or two, and I kind of really got focused on sewing. Sorry!

   So the only alterations I made were to shorten the skirt of the dress, because I can be my own worst critic and decided only to order a yard of the Einstein fabric just in case I somehow totally messed it up! So I shortened just as much as I had to to get all the pattern pieces I needed cut from it.

   I also made a little 'belt' out of the black jersey knit because how the skirt and bodice joined bugged me a bit since the colours did not match. It's a little hard to see in the photos, but it's just a strip of fabric that I sewed on to lay over the seam.

   The last thing I did was decided not to add the elastic strip to the dress. I felt the dress looked good enough without this and it would probably be more comfortable without a piece of elastic over the widest part of my stomach, haha.

   So that's it! That's my dress! And I love it! Here's a few more pictures to share. ;P

   So, what do you think? Pretty spiffy, right?

   What type of fabric do you think I should design next? ;D

   P.S. I posted a ton of photos of Einstein and my other little kittles, in case you are a cat fanatic like me and would like to see. :)

My First Jacket!

     I finally, finally finished my very first jacket! I posted previously (kinda) about it before it was finished. :) It's certainly far from perfect but it's the largest project I've tackled so far and I'm happy with how it turned out. There may be things I go back and make better later, however.

     The pattern was McCall's 6531, and for it I picked out some very soft brown fabric for the lining (this wasn't part of the pattern, I just worked it in myself) and an army green kind of canvasy fabric. I am not yet very good at identifying different fabric types, so if you can tell me what these are specifically, I'd appreciate it!

    So, the first thing I did was make a muslin of my jacket. I didn't want to waste any of my fabric and I wanted a perfect fit! Making the muslin also let me know which of the pattern pieces I needed to cut extra of in order to make my lining.

   I stitched together my lining and was just super happy with how well it fit and how good of a job I had done so far! :D Yay me!

      I had a helper, of course. ;)

     After I sewed together the same pieces in the sturdier outer fabric, I was a little less excited. Once again, I picked a little poorly with my pattern. The armpits are kind of saggy? But that's okay. Purpose number one was personalized warmth, and it's achieved that and some. However, next time, I think I will look more closely for non-fitted sleeves/armpits.

    So, now I have a new jacket that may have some flaws I wish I had not made and a few errors in judgement as well, but I still love it. :) It's my first jacket and I'm sure it will keep me plenty warm!

    Mind the strong that I missed, haha. It apparently also doubles as a cat bed.

   Hope you guys enjoyed my blog! If you have any tips or pointed on sewing a better jacket, or sewing in general, I'd love to hear it. I am still fairly new to sewing. ;P

Fall/Winter Pattern List!

   I'm addicted to all the blogs plugged into my feedly, and when I read this article by Cirque Du Bebe on Project Sewn I decided I also wanted to share the patterns I was excited to sew this Fall (and Winter, since they are both just too damn cold).

   However, I have a pinterest board FULL of patterns for the coming seasons. So I picked my favourite five. :)

Larissa #6032

   I love this jacket! A cute moto jacket is something I've been wanting for a couple months now, but I'd rather attempt sewing one myself than tailoring a pre bought one to my size. Something about store bought clothes not fitting me makes tailoring things to fit really peeve me.

   I absolutely love leather, but I'm really digging the look shown. Mustard yellow is actually my favourite colour and I think I would probably stick to either a mustardy wool or a medium grey colour wool. :D

Jamie Jeans

   A couple blog posts ago I shared how much I like sewing jeans. They give me a bit of pain but I like the struggle a little, haha. :) Skinny jeans aren't really my thing, one or two good pair of skinny jeans that I can wear tucked into my Doc Martins are good enough for me.

   However, this pair really stood out to me, they are beautifully designed. The unique front pockets and the simple but great back pockets really seal the deal for me, but I like the lovely front seams as well. With me making them, I think I'd go a little extra and also make the hem of the pants with the back side of the denim showing such as the front pockets.

McCall 6531

   I actually already ordered this jacket pattern and it should be here on the 8th. I can't wait, I'm pretty new to sewing and this will be the first jacket I've sewn! I do like a challenge, so I will really enjoy this I'm sure. I have a hard time shopping for flattering clothes for my petite frame, and the worst things have always been jeans and jackets. So I'm really looked forward to this!

   I know the pattern is unlined but I'm gonna challenge myself further and try and get it nice and toasty by lining it with sherpa material. I'm unsure what I'll go with the background, but I'm leaning towards a green to go with the army-ish look, a black, or a navy colour. I really love the version made on mpbymaude! What do you think I should go? I'm totally open to suggestion!

McCall  6517

   I'm still getting used to the weather cycles of the Inland NW since moving up from Texas two years ago, and I don't know how much longer to be expecting rain. I know, I really should know by now, my third real Winter is coming up, but I am horrible at keeping track of these things.

   Regardless, I am so looking forward to this awesome pattern. I love plastic clothing, I know it's kind of weird but I love PVC and latex (which I also make clothing from, a whole different beast from sewing!). I don't even know where to start but I know I will have to make more than one! Maybe a shiny black and a see through like pictured but with a funkier colour accent! I have a see through and yellow bubble umbrella, maybe start with something to match. ;)

Vogue 8902

   The only dress on this list! You wouldn't guess how much I love flared out dresses from this list! Don't worry, my pinterest has plenty more! I actually do not have any long sleeved dresses. Not a single one. The first couple years here I held on to my Texas clothing too long and didn't invest much on cold weather clothing, surviving the Winters in ugly Walmart thermals under pants and way too childish hoodies. I'm really trying to get a better looking Winter wardrobe, but I'm a creature of comfort. Being warm and cozy will have to come first! I think I can meet in the middle this Winter, though, since I picked back up sewing.

   I already have fabric picked out for this dress. I haven't ordered the pattern yet but I have ordered the fabric (because I am slowly ordering all the things I design for my Spoonflower shop.) I will be using this fabric for the bodice and skirt and a plain black knit for the sides and sleeves. I'm really looking forward to this dress!

My fabric for the dress!

   Well, that's my top list for clothing to sew this Fall and Winter! What do you think? Is there anything you are really looking forward to sewing for the upcoming cold? 

Velvet Thermal Leggings and Spoonflower Fabric

   In my last blog, I posted photos of the thermal leggings I made! During my mom's trip they are one of the only things I took some photos of the process of. So I wanted to share!

   I found some great stretchy, velvety fabric at Value Village, a thrift store here in Washington, while walking to Safeway with my mom. I have been wanting to make velvet leggings since seeing a pair here on BlackMilk.

 

   I don't know how warm Black Milk's velvet leggings are, but I want some nice and toasty leggings for the upcoming winter! Since I did not get a pattern and I wanted them warm, I used a pair of thermal leggings!

   I cut open the pair of thermals on the seams and used that as a pattern for my leggings! I kept the leggings pinned to the thermals, since they will be the nice, warm lining,  and started sewing the leggings together. Here's the process and the finished project! Voilà! You can see more photos of these leggings in my last blog. :D

   The day before yesterday, I got my first order of custom fabric from Spoonflower! This is also the first fabric I've designed (even though I have plenty more now!). This fabric design is of my little bratty boy, Einstein!

 

   See the resemblance? Einstein Schrodinger approves!