Sunday, September 22, 2013

dorm room diy: the syllabus

Call me crazy, but a month into the semester after enrolling in 18 hours and setting up the groundwork for a busy extracurricular schedule, I decided to pick up another class, just for the heck of it. I call it Dorm Room DIY. It's entirely self-taught, with my dorm as my classroom, and the Internet is my textbook (I'm looking at you, Pinterest). In other words, I will not be getting credit for this class, and the university doesn't acknowledge its existence. 'Cos it may or may not be entirely a challenge I'm setting out for myself.

Frankly, I'm tired of spending endless amounts of time on the Internet, much of which I spend on either Pinterest, looking at crafts and recipes, or sewing/knitting/cooking/crafting blogs. I daydream about the day when I have disposable income to spend on fabric and whole wheat flour and wood. But that's not nearly as much as actually doing.

last year's dorm room experiment: the famed nutella brownies

Objectives: learning how to use what's available to me in my suite ('cos I'm a big girl now and I get a suite) as my creative playground. I mean, more than just moving all the furniture in the common room to one side so I can use it as a dance studio (the perks of being a dance major!). Also, recording what works and what doesn't and in what ways things can be improved, if only for me.

Assignments: I'll try to complete a project (craft, sewing/knitting, or food) every two weeks, with the possibility of extra credit assignments in the middle. Barring unforeseen circumstances (and finals), I want this schedule to keep my creative juices flowing in way that the world of academia, even my artsier academia, doesn't ask me too.

Class Materials: Pinterest is going to be my text, 'cos you know, textbooks are just too boring. My crafts and inspirations will likely come from my pinboards, but sometimes I might just get a whim and do something that I haven't pinned. (gasp! creativity! 'cos that's what this is all about. :)

In the more sew-y/craft-y area, I'll be sticking to handsewing, because this college student does not have access to a sewing machine. Much as I may wish I did.

one of my first projects will be making one of these puppies (source)

In the kitchen corner of the common room, I'll be focusing on three appliances: refrigerator, microwave, and kettle/hot pot because those are actually present in my common room. I might get adventurous and borrow a toaster oven that I may have seen somewhere (shh, don't tell the RA!). But mainly, I want to stick to things you can legally make in college.

I'd love to have you join in with me--we can definitely make this a group project! Also, if you have any ideas for assignments I should try I'd love to hear them.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

sewing fo: back in black skirt

I'm not normally some kind of crazy AC/DC fan. But that is exactly what happened here. I am, in fact, back in the world of black and not blue. Phew. Bet everybody was a wee bit bored of the perfect azure-ness.



Pattern: a vintage 1970s Simplicity pattern (I forgot the number...bad chispita)

Fabric: 1-3/4 yds of black cotton (100% for the first time!)

This was my end of summer project. The basic black fabric has an interesting (in my mind) back story. Originally, I thought I'd glimpsed out of the corner of my eye the most perfect white-on-black butterfly fabric at Hobby Lobby. I got ridiculously excited in a five-year-old kind of way. When I went back to buy my dream butterfly fabric, I found out it was just that: a dream. The actual fabric with its dramatic white flower outlines over grey leaves on the black background was pretty, but not butterflies. I pouted for maybe an hour, walking around the fabric department trying to find something among all the quilting cottons that would be appropriate for a basic, a-line skirt for a dark-color-loving teenage girl (me). And then I settled for most basic, almost boring, black cotton in the corner. I was going to add some lines of bias tape to the bottom to shnazzy it up, but I decided versatility was more important than color.

Anyway. The actual skirt.
weird headless picture...oo...

It's very simple, just a four-gore A-line skirt. It's so simple that I actually made the entire thing without the instructions, on account of the fact that the instruction sheet took a walk around the house. The only thing is that I messed up somehow and the skirt part wound up larger than the waistband so there's two little pleats at the top that are my I'm-fixing-my-oops issue. I got rid of the patch pockets of the original skirt pattern and then considered adding in-seam pockets. I decided against because I was lazy and didn't want to go through the trouble of trying to figure them out. 

I also put the waistband overlap on the opposite side as compared to the lapped zip (which, I have to say, is one of my best lapped zips ever--I'm so proud). Well. Oops. 

here you can see the little lumpiness caused by my oops

and the mismatched overlaps for a lapped zipper and lapped waistband

I finished most of the skirt on the inside with french seams, but because I had a lapped zipper in the center back, I decided to fold my seam allowances under and just stitch the edges. Because I was running out of black I decided to use some navy blue thread. It stands out really well, and I like having the (very) little tiny secret of having that inside splash of color. So, I guess the blue did sneak in. 


Overall, it's a great skirt. The oopses don't really bother me, as they're not really evident unless you're staring really closely. I love that it's actual, real cotton. It holds folds really well (almost too well), but that made for a pretty darn nice hem (in my humble opinion, at least). Even in the very small space of two weeks of class, I've been reaching for this skirt often. It's just such a good basic! Now I just need to make more shirts that would really show off its...basicness. :)

this skirt makes me feel all student-y. :)

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

sewing fo: why don't we just (sew a) dance dress

There is nothing quite like looking at your completely boring social calendar (hmmm...let's see, Thursday night: dance; Friday night: dance; Saturday: dance; yeah, I have no life) and then sewing a formal. A shiny, satin party dress that forces you to look for an occasion to wear it.


Pattern: Simplicity 2252

Fabric: leftover cobalt blue poly-satin, I'm going to guess about 1-1/2 yds



This was the last of the blue projects of this summer and my first major stash-busting sewing project ever. See, I don't actually have a stash, except for odds and ends left over from projects. Normally, I take the pattern envelope to Hobby Lobby and buy the exact amount of fabric required for the project and then I finish the project before starting a new one. But when I bought the yards and yards of blue poly-satin for the long version of Simplicity 2252 for my senior prom dress, I didn't know that halfway through the year I was going to change my mind and make a Downton Abbey inspired dress that took half the yardage. Then this summer I decided to make up the short version of the pattern. Just 'cos.

side angle
I struggled a little with this pattern. The simplest change I made was binding the bottom edge of the bodice lining in bias tape instead of hemming it. It's tight enough that the hemmed edge stood out ridiculously on the skirt. So I tried the bias tape, which worked better, but is still visible. Darn.

But when it came to the actual fitting...I started out by making a size designed for someone slightly smaller than me. And then I took five inches out of the bodice. A whole five inches. I have no idea why there was so much ease designed into it, because that's just darned crazy. I graded it down to about four inches at my waist and then to the proper seam placement at my hips, because I'm very much a pear shape. But still. That's a heck of a lot of ease. The side seams didn't match up too well either. I wound up taking a tiny little pleat in the side along where all the pattern pleating already was.

And then the back. Oh the back.


It's an awful wrinkly mess. We're not sure why ("we" being my mother, my sister, and me). It might be because my waist is a tad bit higher than the pattern model. It might be because I'm bigger up top than the pattern model was, but I have a fairly small waist and a fairly sway back, so the pattern's distorted on me. It might be operator error because I'm very, very far from being a perfect seamstress. I don't know. If anyone knows why, feel free to tell me what I did wrong! In fact, pleeease tell me!

I'm super proud of the edge of that lining because of my little hand stitches. I love hand sewing parts of my dresses, because it makes me feel extra accomplished when I make them as invisibly as possible. I always do hems and darts by hand, but this time I did the edges of my linings too. And on that bias tape edging, I got little running stitches. I think I may have even gotten them down to 10 per inch. :D

with my finger for comparison
All in all, I'm pretty happy with the dress, except for the back, which I can't see when I wear it but still frustrates the dickens out of me. During move-in day at school, my roommates, suitemates, and friends all oohed and aahed over it, so I guess I did an acceptable job in the world of less-than-perfection normal person standards.

this is swineflu. he's the closest thing I have right now to a prom date

Monday, September 9, 2013

do you believe in love at first sight?

Oh, I'm certain that it happens all the time.



Look at them. Look at their beauty. Look at their perfect collegiate styling. Look at how perfect they are for a sophomore in college who loves vintage styling and only owns three pairs of shoes (beat up flats, beat up Converse, and beat up boots) other than rain boots and doesn't have the money to spend on a pair of over $100 shoes but desperately wants a pair of American Duchess shoes because she literally drools on her keyboard every time they're released.

That may have gotten a little specific towards the end. :)

The wonderful Lauren is giving away a pair here, but if you aren't in a similar situation to the aforementioned college sophomore, please, please support her and her wonderfulness and buy a pair of her absolutely lovely shoes (I always use up all the synonyms for beautiful in posts about her shoes). They're up for pre-order here. Or they will be.

Main point: I'm in love with another pair of shoes. So, so in love.

Friday, September 6, 2013

top 3...

indie patterns I wish I could sew:

Image of 1202 Cambie Dress
picture originally belongs here

the Cascade skirt by Megan Nielsen

the Bombshell Swimsuit by Closet Case Files

the Cambie dress by Sewaholic

(but also the Sureau dress by Deer and Doe--can I make this a top four? or maybe five?)

things I wish were on my needles right now:

shamelessly fliched from here

Velvet Night by Julie Crawford

Stockhom Scarf, also by Julie Crawford

I Heart Cardigans by Tanis Lavallee

(I might be a bit excited for fall and snuggly wool cardigans and scarves and leaves changing and cooler temperatures and...I'm going to stop there before I turn this into why-I-love-fall)

recipes I want to try:

Chocolate Covered Katie's version of the one minute chocolate cake

chocolate peanut butter microwave oatmeal

dorm room enchiladas (my mommy's/abuelita's recipe combined with college student ingenuity!)

things that are confusing me:

comes from here through the glorious google images :)

Yvain ou le chevalier au lion (it's a book we're reading for my French class and I'm totally lost in a mess of "il vint". Passé simple what?)

cronuts (nuff said)

the pricing of Victoria's Secret sweaters (come on, folks, your likely sweatshop-made sweater is not worth $70)

things I want to do today:

sewing

knitting

dancing

Sorry, Yvain, you just didn't make the cut. ;)
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