Sunday, May 24, 2009

Elastic Waist Skirt, "Sew What! Skirts"


Elastic Waist Skirt, "Sew What! Skirts"
Originally uploaded by Skulleigh

Check out how I spent my Saturday night! I sewed my first "mundane" clothing for myself. I have make clothing to wear to our local Renaissance Faire before, but this is the first sewing I've done for everyday wear for myself. I'm very happy with how it came out. Now I'm going to cut some more fabric out and keep going! :)

Monday, May 18, 2009

Wonderful Weekend


All the swap outfits
Originally uploaded by paperspirit

All in all, I had a very nice weekend.

First, on Friday, as mentioned in my prior posts, I fiddled around with making some flower embellishments.

Then on Saturday, I went to Etsy Dallas' Spring Bash craft fair. It was fantastic. I managed to get one of the 50 swag bags, and it was EXCELLENT! Well worth the drive from Grand Prairie to Dallas alone - there were real usable items in there - 2 pendants, a ring, earrings, magnets, chocolate (woo!), a votive candle, soap, and MORE! I definitely want to make sure I go next year as well. This was the "First Annual" so hopefully it will keep going.

Afterward, I went by Joann and got enough fabric for 3 skirts (plus a little, just to be safe) along with zippers, matching thread, and interfacing for bags.

Once I got home, I prewashed my skirt fabric, and started working on the dress for my Blythe meet Sunday. We do swaps fairly frequently, usually with some sort of theme/challenge. This time, we were given a specific (different) fabric each, and assigned a person to make something for. I made the blue toile dress in the picture above.

On Sunday, I had a Blythe meet. We had brunch at Cafe Brazil, which wasn't bad. I received the outfit that my Heather Sky is wearing there (with the hat, skateboard, and pink boots) from Tess. I love what I got, and Mandy says she loves the toile, so yay!

Now the goals for tonight are to work a bit on the May BRC, and at least cut out the fabric for one skirt. As well as 15 minutes of housework (boo, hiss!).

Friday, May 15, 2009

Falling down on my plans


Kanzashi
Originally uploaded by paperspirit

I didn't get any clothing sewing done today, but as you can see, I was doodling around in the craft room. I don't have enough large enough lengths to make a skirt, no interfacing heavy enough for a bag... and I didn't feel like going to the store!

So I was looking through craft blogs and listening to podcasts. Sister Diane of CraftyPod is publishing a book about Kanzashi, and I decided to look for some how tos to see if it is something I'd be interested in. I found this Spanish-language site, SuperZiper, used Google Language Tools to translate, and ended up with a new hair barrette.

And by the way, when you read on E6000's instructions that it needs ventilation... believe them. I think I'm high now! :D

Ric-Rac Rose

Ric-rack Rose
Ric-Rac Rose
Originally uploaded by paperspirit

Sister Diane of Craftypod posted about these ric-rac roses and figured out how they were put together. I thought they'd be cute as embellishments on Blythe hats and/or bags, and such. So I tried my hand at one. It didn't turn out domed like the ones she found, but it is cute. I want some wider cotton ric-rac to try it out again.

And isn't "ric-rac-rose" the best phrase to say over and over again? If just feels good in the mouth :D

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

The Siren Song of the Sewing Machine

My summer goals are coming along - in the case of the weight loss, well, and surprisingly fast! The sewing will hopefully swing into gear with the arrival of the two books I ordered.

I've only been on the "diet" for a little over a week now. My husband is exercising and losing weight with me, which is nice - he prods me to work out, and I prod him if either of us are dragging our feet, which has only happened once for each of us. I'm actually already seeing a difference - my jeans are no longer tight, my tummy is actually shrinking, my legs are getting less flabby and more muscle-y, and getting my wedding ring off no longer requires soap & water or the jaws of life! I swam for last night's workout (I've mainly been doing the treadmill) and I didn't feel bad about how I looked in my swimsuit! I could definitely look more svelte, but I wasn't feeling embarrassed to be seen!

The progress with the weight loss makes me even more excited to get my sewing books. As I mentioned last week, I ordered "Weekend Sewing" by Heather Ross, and "Sew What! Skirts" by Francesca DenHartog. They arrived yesterday. "Sew What! Skirts" seems like an excellent book from the read-through last night, and I am planning on making one of them this Friday. I'm still looking through "Weekend Sewing" so I'm not sure yet how useful it will be... but it's a beautiful looking book.

I can't wait for Friday - the machine and the fabric are calling me!

On the using my own shopping bag front, there's been a couple of times where I didn't have my bag with me, but I did use it today in fact.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Summer plans & goals


Rose
Originally uploaded by paperspirit

Hubby and I have vacation plans for July! I'm very excited - we will be going to a convention in Las Vegas that looks like a blast. It's called The Amazing Meeting, and will be filled with science-y types and skeptics. I can hardly wait!

But before July arrives, I have some goals I'd really like to accomplish:
- Lose some weight in a healthy way
- Make some new clothes (skirts and tops)

For the first goal, there are some mini-goals that I think will help me accomplish that:
- Cut out soft drinks
- Watch my portion size with meals
- Pack my own lunch for work
- Exercise at least 30 min/day

I do have a gym membership, and I need to actually use it. They have a pool, and I enjoy swimming. It's also easy on the joints, which I think is a good thing. I think that will be my primary non-walking/gym exercise, provided my suit still fits me!

I'm planning on using part of my lunch hour to walk at the parks around here, in order to get in some extra exercise as well as Vitamin Sunshine.

Losing weight at the same time as making my own clothing might make that challenging, but hey, I guess can always alter them if they get too loose! I'd really like to have a wardrobe that's more individual. I'm so tired of jeans and t-shirts!

For this goal, I've ordered a couple of books that I hope will provide some good ideas - "Weekend Sewing" by Heather Ross, and "Sew What! Skirts" by Francesca DenHartog. I also have some links I've saved to some online tutorials. I want to make at least 3 skirts and 3 tops for the summer.

Another worthy goal for this summer - get back into the habit of using my own bag for purchases. I've been lax in this lately. I'm good at refusing a bag if I don't need one, but when I do need one, I often have forgotten my own. But now I have a nylon shopping bag that folds up into a little teeny bag to keep in my purse, so now I always have a bag with me if I have my purse.

Do you have any of your own summer goals?