Halloween! (In November!)

Now that it's been more than a year since my last post, I will go ahead and update this.

The most exciting of sewing adventures lately has been Halloween. I decided this year to go as Alice, as in the one from Wonderland. Here are pics!

Ignore the grimace, as happy as I was to finally get pictures of this costume I am still horrible at getting my picture taken.

The back! As you can see, it's a shirt and skirt combo and not a dress. I thought there may be a chance to use these pieces again if they were separates.

And a tea party! Because ALICE IN WONDERLAND!

This was really fun to work on. I like costumes because they don't have to be perfect.

I think the highlight of trick or treat night here was when a little girl, I believe dressed as Belle, came up and got really, really excited that I was Alice. I had Mimi on my lap (she was playing the role of Dinah) and the little girl would pet Mimi, then look at the eyelet hem on my apron, and pet Mimi, and look at my hem and she kept saying "It's Alice!" It was far too cute and one of the best trick or treat experiences:)

I also created a dark green suit for a friend, using a Kwik Sew pattern, so he could be the Riddler. I then fell in love with Kwik Sew patterns and intend to use them again. The third costume was my boyfriend's Dr. Horrible lab coat. It turned out really well, and I had to learn how to embroider by hand to make the patch for  his pocket.

Halloween sewing may just be my favorite kind:) And now it's on to Christmas sewing! WOO!

Wearable Art

A couple weeks ago I participated in the Textile Art Alliance Wearable Art Fashion Show and Boutique. Say that five times fast without passing out! It is a fundraiser to get more textile related pieces into the Cleveland Museum of Art, a worthy cause I believe. I was able to open a small boutique at the show in hopes of selling a few items.

I think my favorite part of the show was preparing for it.

 I turned my garage into a studio, which was really fun. I've been spending a lot of time in there recently. Anywho, the door came from my parent's house. My dad and I were brainstorming and he came up with the idea to turn it into a display fixture. It worked perfectly! After dad made the stand and got the pegs to stay in the front, my boyfriend and I used masking tape and silver spray paint to give it a little more dimension (not shown in this photo). It looked really cool and I got compliments on it at the show!

My boutique:

Mom came with me; she's an excellent talking and I was totally banking on her gift of gab:) The green dress on the left is hanging on the door with some vest and skirts and other dresses... the door just didn't completely make it into the shot. I took some dresses I had from various shows (I wasn't really expecting to sell those), a couple vests (I sold a lacey one!), a couple skirts, those awesome screen printed messenger bags (which will be going up on my etsy) and some elastic belts with decorative 'buckles' that I believe deserve their own post. I only sold the one vest but I did get leads on shows that would be more appropriate for my audience.

The fashion show itself was an emotional roller coaster. Most of the other artists in the show had pieces that were felted, dyed, knit, or other very soft fiber arts kinds of things, and I entered my pop can dress. At the start of the show I was so terrified of what the response would be to something SO DEVASTATINGLY OPPOSITE of what everyone else had entered. BUT! My dress came out on the runway, and it received the most excited reaction of any piece in the show. It felt amazing. If I can figure out how to get that video up here I will post it. After the show/lunch we went back to the boutique and I got so many wonderful compliments on my dress. It made the day totally worth it. Mom and I had fun, I have leads on more appropriate shows, I sold a vest, and a few people actually tried on the pop can dress! It was a good experience and I'm excited to try more shows in the future.

Am I here?

Yes! I am! Long time no post!

I think part of the lack of posts has to do with me never catching up on my MMJ photos. I kept repeating pieces in only slight variations and just had difficulties getting in front of the camera. But I was pretty successful for my first go around.


As of right now I have a lot of stuff going on. I am taking part of the Textile Art Alliance Wearable Art Fashion Show with the Cleveland Museum of Art in October. I get to set up a boutique at the show to sell some of my pieces! So I'm sewing a lot for that, be prepared for *hopefully* a lot of pictures! Also, I'm working on a last minute Renaissance Fair costume for my boyfriend. It's pretty interesting because I've never actually done any menswear. Or anything for a Ren Fair at that. And I get to sew some school dresses for my little cousin:)

So that's my life update in sewing terms. Hopefully you'll be hearing more from me soon!

Me Made June Days 10, 11, 12 and 13!

You weren't expecting an update so soon were ya! I have all these photos that are just begging to be shown! Mostly because I like the outfits I wore the 14th and 15th a lot... so I have to get through all the fluff to get there! So here's the fluff!

Day 10
My first re-wear! But I wore it much cuter this day. My dad bought those beads for me on my parent's last vacation and I find myself wearing them with almost everything. And the dress is still comfortable and cute, I'm not sure if it actually goes with the blue sweater but it works.

Me Made Dress

Day 11 (a)

I worked this Saturday! So I had to feel put together. I wore my brown jersey dress, which came into being just before the month started. I'm glad it did because it's comfortable and feels nice to just slip on something easy and still look put together. I used the belt from a vintage dress.

Me Made Dress

Day 11 (b)
Now for a different look! I went out with some friends and wanted to wear this skirt I made last month. It's out of some upholstery suede and cotton, so washing it has proved challenging... Febreeze and spot cleaning anyone? Apart from the waist being about a smidge too small I like it! And it has pockets, so I don't need to carry a purse! I should probably get a better picture of the skirt because I really like the pleats and pockets and waistband in the front.

Me Made Skirt

Day 12

Sunday! I taught my Sunday School Class, and a long dress is usually a good thing to do that in. Unless it's a windy day and you're trying to push kids on a tire swing. I had to hold the skirt with one hand and push the kids with the other haha. This dress dates back to my second to last quarter of school. I finished my draping II copy with two and a half weeks left of the quarter so I decided to start another one. This one using a much less expensive polyester chiffon. I finally officially finished this last June, to wear to my grad party. I have been wearing it a lot lately, it's a really good dress for work. And I don't know why I look so grumpy.

Me Made Dress

Day 13
One of my absolutely favorite pieces. I started this last August with the intention of being able to wear in it Paris in September.  I just got totally swamped with packing and other stuff that I know I completely forget that I wasn't able to finish it. Believe me when I say this though, I DREAMED about this dress in Paris. I was sad that this was sitting at home as a UFO instead of being worn on my many trips around the city seeing stuff and eating more stuff. I finished it as soon as I could once I made it back home. This dress was also on of my first attempts at screen printing and using the screen print in the design and idea of the garment.

Me Made (and printed!) Dress

And that's that:)

A Me-Made Update!

I am officially not very good at getting pictures of myself. I don't blame me, I blame the sun. It always seems to have set by the time I remember to get a picture and as bad as I am as getting the picture done OUTSIDE, it only gets worse INSIDE. That being said, I just managed to get pictures of the past eleven days worth of outfits. And now you may see four.

Day Six
I honestly have no idea what went on this day, but I do know I wore my bermudas! Something I made with a crotch seam! WOOHOO! I found the fabric in New York in March, and I decided that something needed to be done with it Alas, bermudas. They're a little worn... apparently the washing machine is not the best place for silk, haha. 

Me Made Bermudas

 Day Seven

Another day of babysitting, another comfortable outfit. You're going to see this skirt a few times (3 that I know of at the time being.) It's comfortable and I like it.

Me Made Skirt

 Day Eight- Outfit 1
I found this skirt while cleaning out my fabric bins! So double win, I purged some old fabric and found a skirt. I made this skirt a few years back with the intention of selling it on Etsy. We see how well that turned out.

Me Made Wrap Skirt

 Day Eight- Outfit 2

My dad, nephew and I went to a Mud Hens baseball game in the evening.  I wanted something super comfortable to wear so I whipped up this dress while I was babysitting. (My niece and nephew seemed pretty in to watching me create it so I was NOT neglecting my duties!) The game was fun and I was comfortable:)

Me Made Dress

 Day Nine

A new thing for me this year- wearing shorts. I have this pair of Old Navy shorts that I always put on, think they're way too short and tight, but end up wearing them all day because HEY! It was hot and they stay pretty cool. I made this blouse during my first quarter of college. We had to make a blouse from a pattern so the school could see that we knew how to sew. I used some random fabric from my house and it has bright orange buttons! I'm surprised how much wear I've actually gotten out of it.

And that's my update. Much more to come:)

Me-Made-June Days 2, 3, 4 and 5

Wow! I didn't realize how difficult it would be to get a picture of myself each day of the month. I ended up recreating my last four days worth of outfits today so I could take pictures, but I promise what you see in the picture is what I wore that day!

Day 2
This was my second day of babysitting and after the first one I knew I needed to stay comfortable. I decided to throw on this top with some jeans. I whipped up this top at the end of May because I knew I needed some easier to wear items for my babysitting days. I used a t-shirt of mine to create the pattern.

Day 2- Me-Made Jersey Top

Day 3
This was another day comfort was pretty key. I went ice skating! So I popped on this shirt I redesigned a little while back. It's a 1x shirt from JCP that I cut in half, added a 3" elastic waist, and screen printed one of my cute little sailboats near the hem.

In the late afternoon I got ready for the events for the night and changed into my gray zebra printed dress. Friday was somewhere lovely and nice around 75 degrees so I wore a sweater and my beads! I went to a gallery opening, Boogie on Main, and out to Logan's that night and my outfit worked well for everything!

Day 3(a)- Me-Redesigned Top

Day 3(b)- Me-Made Dress

Day 3(b)- Me-Made Dress (ps. pockets)

 Day 4

I had to work in the morning on Saturday. This is not a true representation of how I wore this dress to work that morning. It was a strapless dress at that point and I had to wear a shirt underneath to account for dress codes. Also, the top did NOT want to stay up so I used the scarf in my hair as a makeshift halter strap.
After work I came home and sewed the buttoned straps on and got rid of the t-shirt. I think this dress is so much more wearable now! The only problem is that I used a pattern (I'm going to guess a Simplicity) on this back in college and it doesn't fit my tush, my tush sits a lot lower than the pattern calls for. I wore this for a grad party, a benefit, and dinner and a movie date:)

Day 4- Me-Made Dress (ps. POCKETS!)

 Day 5
Today! (technically yesterday, it IS 1:08am) I made this dress during my senior year of high school. I bought the fabric during a class field trip to Virginia Marti College of Art and Design. I decided it seemed fitting to make a dress from the fabric for my interview at the college a year later! I used a pattern on this one as well, I believe it was a McCall's. I love how I styled it today, sometimes I kind of look like some kind of nurse or grandma. But I felt nice in it today:)

Day 5- Me-Made Dress

Day 5- Me-Made Dress

ME MADE JUNE DAY ONE!!!

WooHoo! It's finally here! Me Made June! Let's just get to this... Here's my outfit!

Skirt- Mine!

I made this skirt a long time ago. Like back in high school a long time ago. But I still like it because it's really comfortable and easy to wear and I've been babysitting full days so comfort is key!

Also, we got out the slip and slide so I wore my swimsuit I made last summer! I don't have pictures of that one though:/

Well, that was a successful first me made day!