mememememememe!

I have been extremely productive these past few days, making jewellery for sale galore (which I will show you gradually soon). BUT! I have also decided to devote yesterday to finishing up a few things for myself and myself alone. Two of them have been waiting on the shelf for ages now and finally I got around to finishing them up:

1) Remember the jacket from boyfriend's trousers? Well, I finally finished it by adding buttons and stiffening the collar with interfacing and lining.

It was on hold because I couldn't find appropriate buttons or lining material. First I wanted red or silver buttons, but I didn't like any I saw in the shops, so I ended up buying buttons that should be covered by fabric - but still didn't have the right fabric. Then I went digging through my scraps bag (which is in a a big laundry basket which I don't often open, since it has tons of stuff on top of it) and found another pair of old trousers that my boyfriend gave me - linen and of the same colour as the corduroy! I don't know if you can see it in the picture, but I really love the difference in materials. So, the buttons got covered and stitched with red thread just for effect, and the lining (same linen) and interfacing were put on the collar (which now stands up perfectly). For the actual closing I didn't dare make button holes on the corduroy, so I ended up  putting snap buttons and have the big fabric ones just for decoration. And tadah!

2) Since I went on a sewing spree, I made myself a top (out of cotton jersey bedsheets) which turned out great (as in - I like it) and was fast to make

I normally don't wear orange since it makes my face look like a carrot and makes it featureless, but I just couldn't resist the colour combination.

3) And finally I finished a necklace - choker, which was waiting for ages (had the tubes crocheted ages ago)

 

The construction of it didn't come out perfect, but it's for myself so I don't mind much and I really like the colour combo.

So, that was my "mememememe" spree and I'll see you soon with stuff I am not keeping for myself ;)

Happy spring, I say!

Jacket out of trousers - tutorial

Here's a tutorial for the jacket from the previous post. Mind you, I am far from a professional seamstress and I mostly improvise, since I sew only for myself, so if you know better, please do modify as you go along. Also, sorry for the drawn tute, I didn't take any pics as I was making the actual jacket, since I had no idea if it would turn out right, just blissful hope - I am one of those people who know of the expression "measure twice, cut once", but my selective memory makes me forget about it as soon as I have a project in mind - and to tell you the truth, whenever I have tried to be precise it was a disaster (if you read the "Blah" post, you'll know what I mean).

So, without further ado:

What you'll need:

• a pair of trousers (sizewise: mine were from my boyfriend, I would be able to fit into them and it made a right size jacket for me, even though I have big boobs; best bet is to measure the width of the trouser leg x2 and see if it fits the broadest part of your back, since the front closing is supposed to be askew anyway)
• scissors
• needle and thread (or a sewing machine, you lucky bastard)
• measuring tape and straight pins

(the seam that you don't cut will be the one that stays in the middle of the back)

You can play with lengths a little here (as much as the length of the trouser leg allows you, that is)

(in case you want to fit the sleeves the "cheatin' way", as shown here, just sew  shoulder seams together, and skip the side seams for now)

(middle seam of the back is the one that you left on the trouser leg - am I talking too much?)

I find this the best way to determine the width of the collar. Otherwise, you can just measure it beforehand.

Again, the existing sleeve seam is the one you left on the trouser leg. And again, I find it easier to fit the sleeve while the piece is rectangular and then cut off excess, than to try to measure and cut it out first. Also, in case you are fitting the sleeve the cheatin' way, mentioned above, you would do this flat, and then sew the side seams of the body together after this step.

As far as the closing is concerned, you can choose buttons and then make button holes, or button loops, or use velcro, or whatever you want really. Mine is probably gonna end up with velcro.

Btw, you can add a lining to it as well, I am too lazy for that - besides, this is a recycling project! (or so I justify my laziness) 

Now, in case it was unclear where each of the trouser leg pieces goes, I tried to make a little colour chart.

In case anything else was unclear, or you just want to express your approval or disgust, please do leave comment and ask away (or praise away! or spit away!)

And this is my jacket:

Nice to meet you!

A quicky

Just a quicky post and about a quicky little sewing project (seriously, what did you think!).

I am feeling a bit under the weather, but this was on my sewing shelf for ages now and I finally got it done (it is just waiting for appropriate buttons which I don't have at the moment). So, here it goes:

A SHORT JACKET MADE FROM BOYFRIEND'S TROUSERS

I'll try to put together a tutorial one of these days. Now I'm off to drink vitamin C.

Be good and enjoy!

Blah

This post should be categorized under "sewing failures", and the story goes like this:

The other day I was watching The Fashion Show, and at the final show the designer Anna McCraney showed this dress that I totally fell in love with. It's a knit (which is perfect), but since there is no way that I can produce a knit, I thought I could make something similar out of cotton jersey. The design is simple enough (thought little Teodora), so I went on to cut fabric strips that I would then sew together and produce a similar dress for myself. So, since I do not possess a sewing machine, I proceeded to sew over 20m of fabric by hand (later calculated in steaming rage). I even pinned everything down beforehand, which is something I normally can never be bothered to do (and since I only sew for myself, I don't care about little imperfections). It took almost three days of booooooooring stitching to finish it off. And when I did, and tried it on - it was completely and totally askew, with fabric strips in excess or shortage by as much as 20cm. How the hell did that happen?! I seriously have no idea. So I had to cut the length to the shortest strip (including the parts that were already sewn! by hand! for 3 days!) and make the bottom hem as small as possible to get the most possible length (thank you adhesive seam tape!) and was left with an askew dress, which is btw. also too wide, along with the stripes which were supposed to be narrower as well - and I even modelled it on a a bloody mannequin. It's a sewing mystery. So, there you go, I'll show you the pic of my embarrassment (taken by my phone camera, but a crappy dress does not deserve a better picture).

After so much effort, I'm gonna wear it, even if it kills me! 

P.S. I (well, my boyfriend) made the DIY mannequin following the instructions from the Threadbanger episode. Actually, mine is a combination of two episodes (this is the 2nd one), since I used the duct tape and a garbage bag. It works great, even though mine is slightly bigger than I actually am (possibly due to overstuffing, or lack of enough tape layers), but it doesn't matter, since it retains the shape.

T-shirt diariorama project: decon - recon

So, I had this brilliant idea to make a little project called T-shirt diariorama project. I was thinking how hungry for learning new stuff I am, and how many new techniques I  have learned lately and thought I might put it all in one place. The place being a plain white T-shirt. This means that I will mirror any techniques that I use at a particular time on this piece of fabric. It's supposed to go on till 2011 and will all be posted at the website. And I plan to wear it. So, something between a creative journal and a presentation of different techniques and materials, with tutorials wherever possible. This part is really an omage to all those people who selflessly share their knowledge. I find that really great and am seriously thankfull for everything I have learned from them. The tutorials will either be done by myself, or I will provide a link to the one I learned the technique from or the one that explains it much better than I ever could. . That's where the brilliant part comes in (or rather, now you realize that I was being sarcastic) - namely I spent loads of time yesterday and today putting together a little film (found here, or in the previous post) and my very first tutorial! It-is-not-as-easy-as-I-thought-it-would-be (which makes me even more grateful to the people who do it all the time). Also, I have sooooooo many bookmarked pages in the craft tutorial section, that it takes me ages (if at all) to find the tute I am looking for. But I shall persist! I plan to upload the tutorials on the website, but since this is my very first tute, I'll present it here (and in case you like, you can download it as .jpg here). 

This is step 1 of the project and it does not mirror anything I did recently, but is just a start and the first tutorial. All the following steps will mirror my creative processes. (stop talking now, Teodora)

Here we go then....

T-shirt deconstruction - reconstruction tutorial

or how to turn a plain tee into this:

(Actually, I wanted something different - a reconstruction I came up with myself as well, similar to this and this, but when I opened my "plain white T-shirt", it turned out to be too small for that, i.e. I would have to add material due to the disproportion between the sleeve size and my boobage (big), which I didn't want, so this is what came out instead - not as radical change, but alright).

Here we go then:

Btw. this "cheat" sleeve fitting I learned from someone on some website and I really spent half an hour now trying to find it, but can't! Seriously - I have too many bookmarks. Thank you to whoever made the tute, it works perfectly!

So, what d'ya think? Was that clear enough? Is it alright for the first tutorial? If not, please do comment or ask away. In the meantime, you can find the project here, or follow it on this blog.

Cheers!

Winter's mix'n'match

Hello there! Still busy here and slightly disoriented. Too many things to do, or too big of a to-do list forming in my head. Either way, I have been jumping from one thing to another and employing most of my crafty abilities. Tadah - I present you with some of the results:

1. This is something I am very pleased with. I loved both materials so much, and already had this jacket in my head, so I decided to make it a reversible one. Also, neither of the materials alone would carry off the shape I had in mind, so reversible jacket was the perfect solution. This for me was a triumph of sorts - first of all, I sew by hand, second, I tend to make mistakes in sewing since I am impatient, but this one went smoothly all the way!. All in all, I am very pleased. The brown side is woolen, and the red is the most gorgeous deep red heavy cotton. Yaay, I have a new jacket!

2. J. and I made Christmas cards for friends and family (and are now procrastinating sending them. Note to self - send the darn cards!)

3. I made papier mache birdies for house decoration. I have another one in mind, and it's supposed to be huge.

4. Other than these, I have almost finished a new batch of jewelry that will soon find its way into my shoppe. And having mentioned the shop - DaWanda is having a Christmas discount on the 17th and 18th December (tomorrow and Friday), so feel free to visit my shop and get yourself or a loved one some Christmas goodies ;)

Oh, and I have a new fan page on Facebook. Drop in and have a look!

See you soon!

Silly me!

I completely forgot to post this! And it is cozy! :))

What is it? A tequila cozy of course!

It was a birthday present. The little pouch contains drinking games and dice and cards. And naturally, there is a pom-pom on the top ;)

Still in that colourful swing

Yup, still there...

As soon as I lay my eyes on that bag from the last post, I knew just what kind of earrings I wanted for it. I was relishing the idea of making them for a couple of days, and finally, here they are. I am very pleased, if I may say so myself :-)

The colours strike again with another knitted bangle - very imperfect, but it's for myself, so I don't care much.

A break from colour, and into practicality - I just needed this, so I made it.

But then, I went completely berserk, and decided to make a vest. And not just any kind of vest...

It took some patience to make all these pom-poms (there are around 30 of them here, plus some that I didn't use), and then put them in place one by one. I love it, and I look completely mad in it...and I love it. The inspiration came from the ruffle sleeve top, from one of the previous posts, but as soon as I put it on I started singing Are we human, or are we dancers... If you've seen The Killers video, you'll know why. Now I want feathers :))

Viva los colores!

On Friday I made this knitted bangle bracelet. I was in a completely wintery mood and thought I'd do something warming and I found this method and the colour combo suiting. (I am not a very good knitter, but this is just for me, so I don't mind the slip-ups)

Then yeasterday we went shopping for some supplies and presents, and as you can see, my colours were still on winter tip of the scale (regardless of the butterfly).

And theeeeeen.......colours just exploded all around me. And kept exploding!

....

I bought this lovely little vintage looking purse, and some yarn, as well as that cover for the armchair, and some sewing material. The colours completely changed my mood.

Everything was suddenly very bunt, including my boyfriend, his painting and the little felt phone case I just made for him (which sits on his shoulder only for the purpose of the photo, btw.)

So, how could I not make some colourful jewelry. I finally used the felt elements I made a while ago and tadah!

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Seriously, I cannot tell you how much colours influence me. They really make me happy. When I see nice colours, my mood immediately lifts. They don't have to be warm - it is just the effect that a good combination has on me. That is one of the reasons why I love my boyfriend's paintings so much. He is very good with colours and I have a painting of his that's my favourite hanging opposite the couch, because every time I look at it, it makes me smile a little.

And anyway, there is a good reason for the "bunt" as a part of my name here and the name of our little manufacture :-)

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I hope the colours above bring you some smiles as well!