Spats is where it's at.

Megacon is coming up this weekend and my roommate and I are going to dress up as steam punk green lanterns. I basically don't have any piece of the costume, so I am making all of it either from scratch or doing some major reconstruction on things I already have. For the first project, I made spats to go over some victorian style ankle-high boot heals. 

Since my costume will be mainly green and black, I wanted the spats to be a different color that would stand out, so I got half a yard of dark gray cotton material and 16 black flat top buttons (8 for each spat). 

I won't go into detail on how I made them, but I roughly followed this video tutorial.  I only discovered this website recently, and I kind of love it.

 

 front view

 side view

 

button and button hole (unclosed)

 

 button in button hole

 elastic band on bottom, used to secure to shoe

 laid out flat, unbuttoned

My parents got me a Janome DC2010 a while ago, and while I have been using it, I have yet to go to any of the sewing classes offered for the machine, or even really looked up how to use it. However, since I needed to make button holes for the spats, I decided to look up A) what a button hole foot looks like (yeah, I've never used one before - shame on me) and B) how to use it.

Can I just say... IT BLEW MY EFFING MIND! The Janome DC2010 has a special button foot that has a slot where you place the button, and a little sensor automatically tells the machine what size to make the button hole. And then you just select one of three different button hole options, place the foot on the material accordingly, and push down on the pedal. Don't worry about guiding the material because it freaking does it for you, and it stops sewing once the button hole is complete! And it makes a perfect button hole EVERY TIME. I'm not kidding you. I was blown away. I am in love with this machine. I can't wait to see what other magical things it has to offer.

Project: Spats
Time: I didn't do it straight from start to finish, but probably a couple of hours.
Things I did right: Watched the tutorial all the way through multiple times; measured everything a billion times and made marks when necessary; ironed the fabric about a billion times and tried it on with pretty much each button to make sure it fit.
Things I didn't do that I probably should have: Made a pattern instead of just cutting away; pinned the material pieces when applicable; used some sort of backing to make the cotton stand up nicer.
Cost: 0.5 yards of gray cotton @ 5.99/yd = $3
         4 packs of 4 buttons @ 1.75 each = $7
         gray and black thread (already owned it) = $0
         about 1.25 inches of elastic (already owned it) = $0
         Total = $10 + tax
Tools used: Sewing machine - regular foot and button hole foot; seam ripper; hand needle and thread; marker with disappearing ink; iron and ironing board; measuring tape; scissors.
Difficulty: easy

Ye ole fashion blog.

The Renfest is in town again, and in honor, I will share a medieval post!

A few years ago, my friend purchased a red peasant top and a blue corset from the festival. She had a friend who was a teacher that asked her to help chaperon a a highschool field trip to the festival, and she decided to dress up for the kids. She didn't have a skirt to go with her corset top, so she asked me to make her one.

We went to the store and picked out a few fabrics that matched the corset top - a dark blue, a dark red, and an off-white to resemble a petty coat. I didn't have a pattern (as usual), so I took her measurements and just started cutting away. We wanted the skirt to look as authentic as possible while staying on our zero-to-none budget.

I essentially made three skirts out of the three different colors, each one slightly different in fullness. I layered the skirts from bottom to top: white (for a petty coat), dark red, and then dark blue.

In order to create some fullness in the skirt, as well as show off all of the layers, I scrunched up the top two layers and sewed them in place. The result was some-what of a curtain effect.

I finished off the waist band with elastic, and the skirt was done! It took several yards of fabric, and just a few hours, and her outfit was complete.

I am the bracelets you sport, everything you have ever missed, and more

For my birthday this year my mom got me subscriptions to two magazines: a diy clothes magazine and a diy jewelry magazine. This bracelet was inspired by one of the articles in the jewelry magazine.

I started by sewing together a few scraps of pink and black fabric as a base.
The blue flower was taken from scraps of a dress I remodeled (see this blog post), the red flower was made from lace, the beading was taken from pre-made chain of beads, and the X is an iron-on letter.
The bracelet ties closed with soft white lace. It looks pretty awesome, but can be tricky to tie by myself.

The bracelet is really soft and super comfortable.
I feel that it is a very cindiasaurus-esque piece of jewelry.
I basically heart it a lot.

Paaartay skirt!

Made this skirt for clubbing! Partly modeled it after another skirt I own. No pattern used, just kinda put it together as I went. Material given to me by a friend. It's super comfy and nice and cool - great for dancing!

High waisted skirt.


Thick waist band and wide pleating!


First time playing with big pleating - fitted waist opens up to a loose, puffy bottom.


back view.


back pleating/zipper detail.


double layer band on bottom.


big ole bow!

so this is the new year, but i don't feel any different

A while ago when my Nana came to visit, she gave me a bunch of crazy old lady dresses that I could cut up and play around with.
While I was waiting around for the New Years Eve festivities to start, I decided to make a new outfit for the occasion.


Before!
I didn't think to take a picture of me wearing it before I started cutting it up.


After!
I combined it with a little bit of fabric Jimmie gave me for Christmas.


The Back!
The skirt was a lot wider than I am, so its bunched up in the back and it ties to close.

Winter break went by a lot quicker than I had planned and I didn't get to do as much sewing as I had hoped. But it's not over yet, so we'll see what I manage before next week.

them is dancing pants

pants!

I'm going on a cruise this week, but expect lots of updating when I get back, because I'm gonna have way too much free time over the break.

you can call for pizza, you can call your cat, you can even call the whitehouse, have a chat!

I was looking through old pictures on my computer and I came across these pictures of a present I made for my friend a year or two ago.
It's an over-sized pillow phone!

Complete with 9, yes only 9, buttons for long-distance dialing!
Just don't call the operator!

Detachable ear and mouth piece!
New wireless technology!
You don't even need a phone line!

Hello?
Say that again, the line's a bit fuzzy...

curtain call

For my birthday, my friend Christopher gave me a giant roll of this beautiful thick purple fabric. It's almost as tall as I am!
You could make curtains out of this stuff, I love it.


The first thing I made with it was a high-waisted bubble skirt.

front/back

I wore it out dancing last night with the shirt and necklace Jimmie got me.

waistband detail.

I finally got my serger yesterday (It's a Kenmore). However, we didn't bother to any nice quality thread, which is apparently required for a serger to work properly. So!, when I got home and set it all up and tested it out, it would work for about a foot of fabric and then decide that it really didn't like the cheap thread that I put in it. So I'll have to go pick up some nice thread that is designed for sergers and form a new opinion on whether I love it or not. Has anyone else ever used one?

her first job

So my friend from work hired me to make her a dress for her and her boyfriend's one year anniversary. She wanted a tube-top with lace and such, I think I captured what she wanted.
The top is made out of eyelet fabric and the bottom is white cotton with that stuff that they make veils out of on top (hah, anyone know what that's called?).

without the flower

with the flower

the back

Also, a couple of my friends wanted to see the dress I made for senior prom.
Haha, gotta love my date's crazy hair.





And no, Jimmie, black jewelry is not just for old ladies.

the little flower brooch that could...

I was suddenly inspired to try to make my own flower brooch,
so a strip of old polka-dot fabric and a little bit of elastic turned into

with or without leaves (made from the same fabric as the messy patchwork skirt)!

Hope everyone's having a good night!

tied up in knots

A very simple reconstruction.
My brother had a pack of medium undershirts that were too small for him, so he gave them to me.

Cut the sleeves off, cut a wider neck, and then cut up the middle of the back and tied it back together.

shirt (hand-me-down hand-altered), pink tank (target), skinnies (sears), hat (walmart), bracelets (a present from my best friend keith, passed down from his grandma)

Simple, but I dig it. It makes me feel like I'm about to work out in the 80's.

a skirt and an attitude

New skirt!
I got this fabric last summer from Walmart, only $1/yd!
It's white with dark green pin stripes. I originally picked out the fabric to make sailor pants, but there is plenty of it left for pants still, even after making this skirt.
I cut the fabric into a bunch of random shapes and then sewed them back together using a light pink thread that shows. Kind of going for a scruffy, rebellious teenager look.
The waistband is made out of a stretchy white fabric that's been hanging around for longer than I can remember. I like the fact that the clean, smooth waistband contradicts the rough, patched-together skirt.

front/back. It's actually a circle skirt, and has no real front or back.

close up on waistband/patchwork.

The waistband looks uneven in these pictures, but it's actually a fold-over waist band, and I was just too lazy to straighten it out completely.
:)

I also wore this one out dancing.

tank top (target), patch skirt (hand-made), pink tights (target)