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Broomstick Lace Beret.

2008-04-10T14:52:00.000-07:00

Finally finished this hat this morning after two months of working on it on & off.

Made from exactly one skein of Lion Brand Microspun in French Vanilla. Stitches used are broomstick lace (modified) & good ol' single & double crochet. Completely winged, therefore no available pattern, sorry!

3/4 of a year later...

2008-04-10T00:20:00.000-07:00

...I have done nothing to go towards my goal of selling on eBay, nor have I made anything new. I'm at an almost complete creative standstill. I'm almost finished crocheting a beret, though, which I think is coming out pretty great.

I've decided to turn this into a let-me-talk-about-my-life blog as well as a craft blog for those times where I feel like writing something. Though it will still mainly be a craft blog.

But anyway, WHO ELSE IS AS EXCITED FOR THIS AS I AM??

Major Update.

2007-07-20T01:44:00.000-07:00

I've been neglecting this blog for quite some time now. You'll notice there are four new posts, projects from the past four months. I'll try to keep up from now on.

I also have to apologize for the poor picture quality. The family camera is an inch away from death.

& one more thing I should mention: In celebration of turning 18, I opened up an eBay account. Just because I can now. I'm planning on selling some handmade items (along with old clothes, bags, accessories, & whatever else I can find) on there sometime in the near future. When I get that started, I'll let you know.

Enjoy!

Crochet Headbands.

2007-07-20T01:28:00.000-07:00

These were inspired by a headband by natiux. I made these in the time it takes to watch Back to the Future & Top Chef.

Both headbands were made with Patons Classic Wool Merino in Dark Grey & used single, double, and front-cross stitches. The first I embellished with beads from a broken necklace. The second I paired the grey yarn with Lion Brand Trellis in Copper Penny. They tie in the back for a more snug fit.

NAHS Prom Dress

2007-07-20T01:21:00.000-07:00

I made this to wear to my old school's prom, again, the night before I had to wear it.

I made it straight out of my head, I had no time to draft a pattern. But it was fairly simple. The fabric is a lurex blend I ordered from fabric.com about a year ago. My only regret with this one is I wish I had made it for my own prom.

Almost-Pencil Skirt

2007-07-20T01:17:00.000-07:00

I made this skirt the night before my Senior Project presentation, which was on fashion design. It was my first time pleating clothing, as opposed to gathering. It sucked.

It didn't come out perfectly, but it was alright for my first pencil skirt. & a bitch to walk in.

Vera Wang Inspired Dress.

2007-07-20T01:07:00.000-07:00

I made this dress for the Project Runway segment in the Senior Fashion Show. I was competing against two other designers, & unfortunately, I didn't win. It's alright, I only missed out on a free ($70) prom ticket.

Inspired by Vera Wang. I don't know the name of the fabric I used for the bust, but it has a beautiful floral design embroidered in. I had to interface it to help hold it's shape. The waistband is made up of green velour with some trim on top. The skirt is a golden satin material covered by sheer black chiffon.

All in all, the materials cost about $30 in downtown LA's Fashion District. & the time it took, well, I'll just say it took a lot of time.

Ear Flap Headband

2007-03-14T01:16:00.000-07:00

Just like the one for my dad, but for me. Sans pom-poms. I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease in Forest Green Heather.

It's so fun!

Topless Earflap Hat.

2007-02-21T23:37:00.000-08:00

My dad came up with the idea of this hat & asked me if I could make it for him.

I had so much fun making the pom-poms.

Maternity Racerback.

2007-02-15T22:25:00.000-08:00

It was an hour before Eddie's basketball game, & I was itching to reunite myself with my sewing machine. I took a maternity shirt I had bought at Target two days ago & used that to make myself another one.

(Click images for larger view)
It's made out of gray jersey, the same I used for my pocketed dress. I almost gave it away to Jade, but I couldn't bear to part with it. I think I'm going to be playing around with this design more often.

She loves me. He loves me.

2007-02-15T14:41:00.000-08:00

I stenciled these shirts for Valentine's Day. I plan to recon mine to fit me better, since these are boys' shirts (that I got at Old Navy [2 for $10!])

Crocheted Mittens

2007-01-31T23:50:00.001-08:00

Finally! I started these a long time ago, then forgot about them, then picked them up again & finished them in the last two days. I pretty much winged it, using the Family of Mittens pattern & this pattern as guidelines.

I used the same yarn as for my tam (Lion Brand Wool-Ease in Mushroom), & they're all done in single crochet. I'm very pleased with how these came out, except there's a strange line running across the left one. Oh well, they fit perfectly, & now I don't have to worry about my fingers falling off during this cold weather.

"It's my birthday today!"

2007-01-19T21:13:00.000-08:00

Brandon's birthday was on the 17th, so I stenciled a shirt for him.

The stencil is placed on the bottom front of the shirt. I was going to put "It's my birthday today!" on the chest, but then I thought he wouldn't wear it any other time. Turns out he would, I should've known. Anyway, it came out PERFECTLY. I was surprised that there weren't any mistakes considering the number of little details.

Mushroom Tam.

2007-01-05T04:37:00.000-08:00

My first completed crochet project (besides baby booties) based on the Rasta Tam tutorial by patchworkarmy. I called it the Mushroom Tam because I was tickled by the name of the color yarn I used, Mushroom.

You will see more of these.

Lewis Dot Structure #2

2006-12-14T20:21:00.000-08:00

Another part of my gift to Adam.

Same as before: stencil by hand, freezer paper, fabric paint, foam brush.

Guitar Picks for Adam

2006-12-14T20:03:00.000-08:00

Here's one part of my early Christmas present for Adam: personalized guitar picks, inspired by those of queenofdiy.

I used Photoshop to resize & reshape the pictures, Tacky Glue to stick them to the picks, & Mod Podge to finish them off. I sanded them after they dried to make them feel smooth. It was pretty fun.

Response to the Pinafore Comment.

2006-12-14T19:29:00.000-08:00

Dear Christina,

It seems you may have interpreted my ranting as me thinking I was the absolute first to come up with that idea. I know I wasn't; people come up with the same ideas at different times & in different places. Since when is anything original anymore? But I do stand by my statement that I came up with the idea on my own, & I have no doubts that I'm not the only person & definitely not the first who has thought of that. The only thing I was bothered by was the fact that it had started sprouting up on the Craftster forum after I had posted & no one stated where they had gotten the idea from. I had spent a lot of time on the forum & not once had I seen an underbust pinafore like that prior to the post. I just found it extremely unlikely that so many others would have come up with it or seen it elsewhere so soon thereafter.

Thanks for taking your time to try & "burst my bubble."

-Jessica

Long Plaid Coat.

2006-11-28T01:55:00.000-08:00

So, since the coat I wanted from Urban Outfitters is sold out (it was expensive anyway) & I ~~needed~~ wanted another winter coat, I decided to do something about it. & I saved about $80 in the process.

November 2006.

This was reconstructed from a large men's jacket I got from K-Mart last weekend. It's lined with some fluffy kind of fabric, I don't know what it's called. The arms are lined with a quilted polyester fabric. It's basically all just taken in to fit. There are two functional pockets on the front & one inside. I'm really glad with how it came out, even though it's messy on the inside. Who's going to ask to look inside anyway?

Lewis Dot Structure Stencil.

2006-11-06T23:06:00.000-08:00

In celebration of my love for my boyfriend, & chemistry (joking). I'd been meaning to execute this idea for a while now. Finally, it's done, & it only took about half an hour at the most to complete.

November 2006.

I drew out the stencil by hand, since it was so simple. Freezer paper, fabric paint (this was a mixture of black & white to get a dark grey color, kind of hard to see in the picture), & a foam brush, just like the first time. That was about a year ago. Seeing as to how easy this was, I'm hoping I'll put this big roll of freezer paper to good use now.

Sushi Cell.

2006-10-12T23:36:00.000-07:00

I had so much fun with this. This is for a physiology group project where we were to construct a model of a cell using whatever we wanted, excluding Jell-O. My boyfriend came up with the awesome idea of modeling it after sushi & he came over today & we finished it in about an hour or so.

seaweed - cell membrane
rice - cytoplasm
boiled egg white - nuclear membrane
pasteurized cheese - chromatin
marble - nucleolus
turkey slices - endoplasmic reticulum
spam - Golgi bodies
kidney beans - mitochondria
peas - lysosomes
baby carrot - vacuole
grated cheese - microtubules
sesame seeds - ribosomes

It's as big as the inside of a paper plate. We're so pleased with it, & we know it'll definitely stand out. Everyone else was using styrofoam balls & clay to make theirs in class while our group chilled in the back & slept. B]

The only thing that sucks is that it won't last, & it took up a lot of rice. :[

Thanks for looking!

Dark Gray Pocketed Dress.

2006-09-24T01:30:00.000-07:00

My favorite project. It was inspired by a Vera Wang dress I saw & felt the need to recreate.

September 2006.

Made of interlock knit jersey. I changed the straps in the middle of creating it because the idea just came to mind, & I thought it'd look better than how I originally planned it to be. The pockets are functionable & the dress falls above the knee. I would wear this everyday, but that'd be pretty nasty.

Brown Vinyl Schoolbag.

2006-09-24T01:25:00.000-07:00

This was my first time sewing with vinyl. I had researched it to make sure I didn't waste any & thought I'd be needing a special foot for it. I didn't buy one in time (I was trying to finish it in time for school) but found out I didn't need one at all.

August 2006.

There are two front slash pockets & a zippered pocket inside. The strap is attached to two D-rings. It has a magnetic closure (also a first of mine). The piece of fabric on the front is supposed to be a random flower but I've had comments where people thought it was a piece of tissue stuck to my bag.

Leopard Racerback.

2006-09-24T00:19:00.000-07:00

My Tita Carla brought over a bag full of old clothes she thought I'd be able to use. It included a velour leopard print tube dress. Perfect.

July 2006.

I used a tank I had as a guideline & it didn't take long to make. About or less than an hour, I'd say.

Little Black Pinafore.

2006-09-24T00:05:00.000-07:00

This was originally intended to be an empire-waisted little black dress. I just hadn't decided on the bodice. Before I decided to call it a day & go to bed, I looked at what I had & thought to just add straps.

July 2006.

Anyway, I'm really proud of this. It's super versatile & I love it.

Drop-to-Empire Waist Recon.

2006-09-23T23:55:00.000-07:00

This was originally a dropped-waist dress I got at American Eagle without trying it on, thinking it'd look okay on me. It didn't. Why didn't I return it? I bought it in Texas & I thought I'd be able to make something beter out of it.

July 2006.

I added on the bottom part long before I altered the waist. The side seams are messed up, they're all wiggly. I've yet to fix them & actually wear this dress out. Eh, I'll get around to it someday.

Plaid Shirtdress.

2006-09-23T23:48:00.000-07:00

This was made from a men's button-down collared shirt I picked up at Target. I don't remember if it was an XL or an XXL or even an XXXXXL, but it was pretty big.

June 2006.

There are side panels I had to add on because I didn't take my hips into account when I cut it up. This picture doesn't show, but I put puffed sleeves. I literally stayed up all night making this, I think until 7 in the morning. It was summer though, so it was fine.

Iron(III)Oxide Dress.

2006-09-23T23:38:00.000-07:00

This was inspired by the lantern dress created by justinexcore, one of my favorites on the Craftster forum. Probably one of the most professional pieces I've done.

June 2006.

I made a dress similar to it for practice, no pattern, just winged. It's made out of tissue knit jersey I ordered off of fabric.com, because jersey is just so hard to find in stores. The sleeves are gathered & the neck is scooped, but I'm thinking of changing it to a v-neck pretty soon.

Newsboy Hat.

2006-09-23T23:31:00.000-07:00

Recognize this fabric? I decided to try out a hat. It seemed simple enough, but damn measurements are tricky. I used the pattern from the Wild Things program.

May 2006.

The inside has black satin-y lining. It's a bit tight for my head, which means it'd most likely be too tight for anybody older than 5-years-old.

Foldover Messenger Bag.

2006-09-23T23:17:00.000-07:00

Apparently, I took a big break from sewing until April of this year. For what reason, I do not know. But then I saw a canvas foldover bag on UrbanOutfitters.com that I thought was pretty cool, so I snagged the idea & made my own version of it.

April 2006.

Unfolded, there are two small pockets for pens, pencils, & my cell phone, then a big curved pocket for whatever else I needed to carry. It's like a big pillowcase with a strap & pockets. The big bow was put to weigh down the foldover part, or else it'd pop out & look funky. Outer fabric is tweed & some embroidered fabric I had laying around, inside is a yellow & pink floral pattern.

iPod Cozy.

2006-09-23T16:14:00.000-07:00

So I had a Creative Zen Micro, but then I lost it in a movie theater. I realized this on the way home so we went back to the theater & asked to go back inside so I could look for it but they said they'd go look for it themselves. They came back & said they couldn't find it. I was thinking, "Bullshit. One of their workers probably took it when they were cleaning up." I was pretty mad, but what could I do?

A loong time later, months probably, my parents got me an iPod Photo for being such a good daughter. Funny thing, the day it came in the mail was the day they introduced the iPod Video. Oh well, I'm good with mine. After about a week it got all scratched up so I decided I needed a cozy for it.

November 2005.

Ribbon & button closure, hand sewn blanket stitches. The whole thing is basically a closed up sock-like thing with a cut across the middle for two pockets (one for the iPod, one for the earphones) & a hole so I can see the screen. You can use the iPod wheel through the fabric.

Floral Marines Hoody.

2006-09-22T00:30:00.000-07:00

Using this tutorial by astrea, I reconstructed this hoodie out of a t-shirt my mom bought me (she & my dad are ex-marines) & some non-stretch flowery fabric I had.

October 2005.

I love the irony in it, however, the non-stretch parts aren't so comfortable. Also, in its construction, I accidentally sewed a sleeve on inside out so I had to rip that out & do it over. I also cut the pieces for the hood all in the same direction instead of half facing the opposite way, so that was a waste of fabric. It's still alright, though.

Safety.

2006-09-22T00:02:00.000-07:00

This had nothing to do with sewing, but rather stenciling. My happy birthday present for my boyfriend, Adam.

October 2005.

I used fabric paint & freezer paper with help from my friend, Jeff. Just kidding, he's a manly man that doesn't help his girl friends with gifts for their boyfriends. I'm glad to say that Adam has worn this many many times, what a sweetheart <3.

Brown Scrunched Tube Top.

2006-09-21T20:01:00.001-07:00

Made from a big turtleneck my Ate Eva gave me to use as I wanted.

August 2005.

The part around my bust is the neck of the shirt. A perfect example of the convenience of small boobs. The scrunching was a result of me thinking the shirt would stretch over my butt, but instead it wouldn't go past my crack. It was very long & ended up just scrunching up together.

What would we do without mistakes?

Shrugs.

2006-09-21T19:48:00.001-07:00

My first clothing items. Reconstructed from unwearable long-sleeved collared shirts.

July 2005.

This was also the first time I provided a tutorial. To my surprise, it was very popular on the Craftster forum & made it to the Featured Projects section. Great outcome for my first clothing project, if I may say so myself.

Gray Hobo Bag.

2006-09-21T19:40:00.000-07:00

I made my first hobo using this tutorial by tinafish.

July 2005.

Zippered top & black satin-y lining. I accidentally sewed one or two pieces of the outer fabric inside out so the embroidery looked a little funny, but barely noticeable. I took this baby almost everywhere.

Jamaican Me Crazy.

2006-09-21T18:57:00.000-07:00

Made for my cousin, again, from a shirt she picked out.

July 2005.

This one actually had a zippered pocket inside which I think I did a pretty decent job on considering it was my first & I did it without a zipper foot. I cut out the "JAMAICAN me crazy" part of the shirt, interfaced it, & sewed it onto the front of the outer fabric.

Zippered pocket & applique? Oh yeah, I was getting pretty creative at this point.

Underdog.

2006-09-21T00:12:00.000-07:00

This was made for a friend for $10. She provided the t-shirt for the outer fabric & I had some $2/yd fabric that happened to match perfectly.

June 2005.

I screwed up on this one though. I sewed the lining in inside-out, so the wrong side ended up showing. It was alright, she didn't mind since it was on the inside & I was just beginning. Not to mention it was only costing her $10.

I forgot to mention that I used fusible interfacing on this bag & the Sax Appeal one, so they were pretty sturdy bags.

Sax Appeal.

2006-09-20T23:50:00.000-07:00

This is the first sewing project I attempted. I borrowed my Tita Cecile's sewing machine & followed a tutorial provided by thejordy on craftster for the Jordy Bag.

January 2005.

The outer fabric was a t-shirt I bought from Target & the lining was some fabric I picked up at Wal-Mart.

Since I was just getting started, it was just a plain tote, no pockets or zippers or zippered pockets. I was using this tote for school, so I made a sort of mini-version & created a pouch instead of installing a pocket.

I used it for almost a year before trying to pawn it off at the Buffalo Exchange, but it didn't pass their standards. Oh well, it went to charity.

First Post.

2006-09-20T23:32:00.000-07:00

First posts always suck. It's like meeting someone new for the first time & not having the slightest inkling of what to say to them. I'm not the best candidate for meeting new people so that's probably why I'm so bad at first posts.

Since this will primarily be a portfolio of what has happened to come out of my blood, sweat, tears, & sewing machine, you & I are going to take a trip back in time. That's right. Time travel. I have the access.

Since I've been sewing long before this blog has been published, there will be several posts each dedicated to the projects I have completed (or maybe not necessarily completed) in my experience behind & around what I believe to be one of the greatest inventions ever to come into existence.