Jess Smith, Author at Jessica Smith Creates • Page 18 of 27

May 11, 2014

MMM’14 – Days 1-11

Phew. It’s been a difficult two weeks since I last posted.

Do you remember that I’m graduating from college this spring? I apparently didn’t until the last week or so before classes ended, so I have been working super hard on just surviving.

Today though I’m triumphant in my laziness! I got my grades, and therefore I passed and will definitely graduate in a week. Not that I thought I wouldn’t, but… you never know!

Finally I am able to share with you what I have been wearing this Me-Made-May!

But I should tell you that almost all of these were photographed about a half hour ago… But I promise I wore them!

I promise!

Day 1

I had a symposium, so I took the opportunity to wear my Belle dress with an H&M blazer. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture, and the dress is not easy to get on and off, so I didn’t try it on again.

Day 2

Today I was sick, but after spending all day in bed, I got up and put on my me-made sweater, which I never blogged about really, and a scarf to go and see a free movie.

Day 3

I wore my Spring Green Almost Jeans today, with a lovely thrifted silk and cotton top.

Day 4

There was a field trip today, so I knew I had to stay warm, so I wore a t-shirt, the same me-made sweater from Day 2, and jeans.

Day 5

My day took me on my first trip to a casino for the first time. I ended up wearing my Belle Mark 2, which I had fixed. When I made it I had cut it a bit too short. I always felt more comfortable with it over jeans anyway, so I just cut off a few inches from the bottom to make it a tunic-shirt instead.

Day 6

My coworker and I returned to campus with little debt, having slept comfortably in the hotel beds instead of the uncomfortable dorm ones… I wore this turquoise drapey shirt which I had made about 3 years ago, just randomly putting some pieces of fabric together.

Day 7

I wore my Meshy mesh t-shirt, which seems shorter than I remember. Perhaps it shrunk a bit in the wash.

Day 8

My roommates and I went out to dinner, and I wore my Kaylee dress! Please ignore the fact that my sleeve decided to stick to my shoulder, and the fact that I took pictures and didn’t even realize it!

Day 9

I had my last final as an undergrad today, so I wanted something simple and comfy. I went for my green sleeveless Archer!

Day 10

One of my professors had my class over for dinner, so I wore my green almost jeans again, this time with a thrifted polka dot top.

Day 11, aka today.

Confession time. I put on non-pajama clothes for the first time for the kinda late photoshoot, taking advantage of the last glimmer of light. But my roommate is having friends over for dinner, so it was definitely time to dress anyway, and this is what I’m wearing. My me-made is the Mint and Navy sweater.

So that’s my round up! I’m planning on updating more regularly from now on, but we’ll see how that works out!

April 25, 2014

Me Made May 2014

I’m writing this as I’m waiting for something related to my senior thesis to render.

It’s already been ten minutes, and I can only think it’ll take quite a bit more.

But on to the main purpose of this post!

(It’s finally spring time, so time for culottes!)

I believe I’m participating in Me Made May this year, or at least I’m going to try!

Looking at the makes I’ve created, it’ll be a challenge definitely, but I have some more that I’ll be working on soon, not specifically for the challenge, but in reality for my wardrobe. If you missed it, I had a little heart to heart with the internet on Monday about what I actually wear.

So here is my pledge:

I, Annabelle of Annabelle’s Project Overload, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’14. I endeavour to wear at least one me-made garment each day (for at least 2 hours) for the duration of May 2014.

There it is, my pledge of fealty to the Me Made Kingdom!

I put in that stipulation of for at least 2 hours, because honestly there will be some days that I’ll stick in pajamas all day, so I’ll use a cardigan to complete the challenge. May is finals period, and I’ll be packing for moving in June. This generally equals days of laziness, and I’m very good at laziness! Also, in my Me Mades, I’m counting things that were both made from fabric, and those made from some other type of garment that is drastically changed… For example, a long dress to a tunic or top. Also, I’m adding a clause that if I can’t wear me made garments, I need to wear at least two pieces of me made jewelry.

In case you’re interested in what I’ve got in my Me Made Wardrobe, read on for lists and lists! In reality, the following is mostly for me… And I’ve divided it into what I’ve got with me at college, which is double checked for accuracy, having it nearby. I can’t actually remember what I’ve got at home.

Tops: 4, Vests: 2, Cardigans: 3 (and 3 to make), Shoes: 1, Dress: 4, Skirts: 2 (and 2 to make), Shorts: 1, Pants: 1.

And that is it! Whew. This’ll be a challenge.

April 21, 2014

Universal Truths About My Style

I’m lazy. My defining feature that affects my personal style is my laziness.

I think its about choices. I love having choices, but I don’t like making decisions.

So if I only have certain types of clothing items, it’s easier to decide.

Really meaning jeans, t shirt, cardigan.

This is the exact reason why I read through Coletterie’s Wardrobe Architect series, and read a lot of the articles from Into Mind here.

Personally, the latter articles were better for me, minimalism calling to me as a soon-to-be college graduate who will be moving from home. The less I own, the less I move!

But Into Mind’s technique is really meant for people not making their own wardrobes.

So I’m adapting her rules and procedure here:

Define my personal style
Try for small amounts of high quality, in workmanship and materials
Own up to what you typically wear, and create a strong backbone of these pieces
Don’t plan/buy anything that you don’t love, especially for fit or material
Spend as much time as necessary to make and find materials for each required item… or finding it if I can’t make it
Own only items that I wear a lot, have worn a lot and will wear a lot, and anything I won’t miss when its gone, and if I make it, that it will last for a number of years.
I’ll donate/sell items that don’t work.
Care well for my clothes, as soon as I’m no longer in a dorm with awful facilities… These washers and dryers are killer monsters that steal id cards, and there is no place to really hang clothes up, or lay them out.

Well, first I’ll explain my rule 4. This in particular is the reason why I’m lifting my fabric buying moratorium (~~Please don’t hit me!~~). With limits. Every piece of fabric I buy will be for a reason, for a particular garment, and will be a fabric that I will wear. Meaning no polyester. I sweat too much for polyester. Trust me. And fit will be variable as I’m learning. But hopefully good, since each piece will be in my wardrobe for a reason.

So I’ve realized over the past few months that I pretty much wear jeans, t-shirt, and a cardigan every day. On occasion, I’ll wear dresses with tights, but unless its the dead of summer I get quite cold in dresses. They always have a cardigan too. I wear cardigans all year round. I will admit to wearing shorts in summer, but when I know I’m traveling from one heavily air conditioned building to another, I’ll often wear jeans anyway. Scarves, very important in winter.

But one point I have to consider is that I’m moving south this summer. So number one summer, and number two, warmer summer than I have experienced barring Texas. And Texas was brutal. It was lovely, don’t get me wrong, but my heat quota was fulfilled 400 times over. So I also need to keep in mind that the climate will change, and perhaps so will my wardrobe.

When I was working out this wardrobe planning thing, I kept all of this in mind, as well as my tiny student budget, and the tinier amount of fun money that I’ll have in the near future. Because of this, I chose to keep most of what I have, knowing that when it dies, I’ll not have to replace it. But I also am only really working with what I have up at college. I’ve got quite a few clothes back home that, well… I leave at home.

At this point, I’m only making a black skirt and three cardigans. And some socks. My socks have been eaten by that washer and dryer I mentioned. I think the dryer has an irrational vendetta against me.

link

I have a black wrap skirt that goes past my knees, but me being short, well, I don’t get that lovely feeling from it. I used to have a black fluffy mini type skirt, but I had to leave it behind on my return trip from study abroad. There were just too many great clothes there! I might also make a just over knee length royal blue skirt. Can you smell an Anna from Frozen cosplay in the air?

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Did I mention cardigans? My favorite for spring and summer is this navy blue drapey one I got from an Express outlet during one of those season-closing sales. These ones above are super similar…

I’m making three drapey cardigans, one of which will be a little heftier and warmer, I hope. Beige, magenta, and plum.

In fact… beige…

…magenta, with added sleeves…

link

…and plum. I wish I had links for all of these. But I’m lacking in links for the first two.

I will do research on this… but I’m currently all researched out for my mini-thesis in order to graduate. Cause I want to do that graduating thing…

So, two skirts and a few cardigans. Totally doable.

Did I tell you I like cardigans?

April 14, 2014August 19, 2018

Spring Green Almost Jeans

So I made jeans… almost.

There was a time when making these that I thought they would end up jeans. That changed.

When I’m unable to let out my creativity for a few weeks, in more than just super tiny projects, I plan super extravagant ones. Like basically making up jeans in a few hours.

Remember I cut these out a few weeks ago? The “pattern” was an old pair of very loved jeans, that despite the heavy fabric never seemed to bind anywhere but the stomach. I had sewed up the side seams of my trial before cutting out pockets and stuff, and when I tried them on, they didn’t really fit.

But on Saturday, I had a couple of hours where I didn’t need to do anything productive towards school, so I sewed up trousers instead.

Trial and error ruled over this project, but I know how to do it again, and what not to do.

I didn’t include the fly zipper, or any fastening at all, quite yet at least. I can just barely get these over the butt-tummy region, and once on they stay up just fine. The waistband is loose then, but it doesn’t bother me. I imagine that might change later.

The pockets were made from scraps of the graduation dress fabric! Yay for stashbusting!

I made it up with a contrast yoke, aka the underside of the fabric, and I’ve cuffed the bottoms. Eventually I’ll sew the cuffs down.

I love the green denim! It’s very thin though… you can see my school id outline really easily through the fabric, but I’m short enough that people probably aren’t looking for that.

Back pockets, though. I need those. A note for the next time, when I actually make them jeans instead of just trousers!

April 7, 2014August 19, 2018

Vintage Lace and Velvet

At long last, ufo 2 has been found and can finally be shown off!

This dress was given to me by my boss when it really began to fall apart.

Someone used it in a short-run production that featured zombies, which made this a perfect dress at the time, but after that it was really unusable as a costume. Once it can’t be washed or dry-cleaned, it loses usability.

I’m not sure whether its a real 20s dress, but I’m pretty sure that’s the era it was supposed to be from.

Alas, I can’t show you it in its complete form, as I tried to work on this dress previous to starting this blog.

But here are the parts of the dress, and what I’ll be using to fix it up.

First up is the main part of the dress, made of a deep, deep blue velvet. It’s a very lightweight velvet, which is soft and nice ad well worn.

Personally, I don’t find this dress flattering.

You see, I have this thing called a stomach, and my stomach likes to be fed, and simultaneously doesn’t like crunches. Trust me, I’m working on talking to it about this.

But I like wide skirts, the twirly effect! This dress is more like a sheath, with a little bit of swing at the bottom.

It also comes too low at the top, when I had tried it on with the original lace top, and it is a very long dress on me.

I’m contemplating options, if you couldn’t tell.

Here is the original top, made of what looks to me like a cotton lace. It had aged to such a lovely yellow-brown color, but I assume the original color was a yellow-beige.

But it nearly fell away as I cut it from its hold on the velvet body. It was ready for relief.

Finally, this is the top I’m planning to use to rework this dress. It’s a very white polyester lace top.

Remember my Belle mock 2? That was the original shirt I was going to use, but I snapped it up for that project when I couldn’t at all find this one. But a recent discovery brought this one back to the light!

I’ll probably not end up working on this for awhile, but I thought it was high time to show it to you guys!

March 31, 2014

Checking in!

Hello everyone!

It’s only been two weeks but it feels like forever, so I decided I would let you know I’m alive…

That’s what I think when I haven’t seen someone post in a while, but perhaps that’s just me.

So I’m alive, and I’m working on some minor stuff…

Including this piece of embroidery!

This is from my last Design Donnerstag, and I’m not quite done, but I think I’m going to finish it tonight!

So look for a post on it, and hopefully some other stuff, shortly!

March 20, 2014September 6, 2018

Design Donnerstag – Embroidery Ideas

Hahaha!!

I’ve mastered you now, weekly post! I have finished you three whole days early!

Ahem. Anyway.

Welcome to my design of the week!

I’ve been thinking about embroidery. I kinda miss embroidery.

My grandmother got me hooked. White on white french knots and satin stitch got me through many an awkward moment at family gatherings, and it’s a great excuse for a pre-teen to use to avoid those boring questions about schools and activities, especially when said pre-teen is not in a school-loving mood.

I made this awesome tree design once, and an abstract swirly ocean design.

But it’s been awhile.

Now that I’ll be in a position to get my own apartment, I’ve been thinking about decorations.

Well, if I’m being honest, Apartment Therapy may have more views this week from me than I’ve checked my email.

And I am an obsessive email checker.

So here are some designs!

Enjoy!

March 18, 2014

When you play the Game of Thrones…

This weekend I embarked on the journey known as the show Game of Thrones.

It is a good journey, filled with lovely costumes and entertaining murder.

And I have news.

I’m a non-monogamous crafter. By far.

Maybe that’s not news. In fact, I think you all probably have caught onto that by now.

But now its most definitely okay!

I will not be attending SDCC this year, like I had planned. My friends and I decided that it was more important to go on an adventure together, rather than some of us attending the event while others couldn’t.

This means that a) I won’t have the deadline of July for my costumes, leaving me more time for non-monogamous fun.

b) I won’t have to shell out airfare for southern California on the super busy busy week.

Whew. Saving money is fun, ain’t it?

I’m still planning on making the costumes, so never fear, my super difficult to conceptualize and describe plans are definitely going to happen. It’s just a matter of when.

But this allows me to have some more fun too!

Although, knowing this, I should mention how many projects I’ve got going.

Ahem.

Archer shirt – my brown and cream one’s red bias binding came apart, so I need to fix it.

Belle’s cape – attaching ties and lace

Belle’s necklace – in a super hibernating state

Cardilero – Hehe. Let’s just not talk about it. Haven’t touched it in awhile.

Green denim jeans – I recently lost my favorite pair of jeans to inner thigh holes, so I’m gonna try my hand at making a pair.

Mesmerize sweater – I started it this weekend. Game of Thrones is quite lulling.

Strax – haven’t touched it.

UFO #2 – finally found it and got some pictures. Expect a post soon.

Sleeping? That I’m good on. Got lots of it. Perhaps that’s why I’m not being productive. Or doing homework. Sometimes my short term sanity takes priority over my long term homework efforts.

March 13, 2014September 6, 2018

Design Donnerstag ~ Strax In Progress

So here we are on another Thursday!

Cause it’s still Thursday here, for another whole hour!

I started this Strax design a view weeks ago when I needed some Doctor sass in my life. I love that Christmas episode, The Snowmen.

And so I began to figure out what I would want in a Strax shirt.

I think this will end up as two shirts in the end, a shirt with Strax’s face, and another with his silhouette and the quote.

His face is missing an eye and his ears, and the quote is missing some oomph.

But it’s coming along!

And now I have a presentation to finish!

March 10, 2014August 19, 2018

Pink Graduation Dress

Since I’m a big fan of planning ahead, especially when it allows me to procrastinate on projects in life due sooner, I have begun work on my dress for graduation.

See, I’m thinking about doing Me Made May, but I’m also graduating from college in May. So what am I to do but make a dress to wear?

I’ve attended graduation at my college once before, and it was quite warm. Like almost uncomfortable warm.

So it was time to make a nice warm weather dress.

This fabric is special, though.

My mother, when she was a teenager, made her own clothes, but stopped later, as she had continual fights with her sewing machine. But she kept all of her fabric.

Including this lovely polyester georgette pink beauty! So when I raided her stash last year, we both agreed that it would make a lovely sundress.

So in following that, I decided it would make the perfect dress for graduation! A bit of old before I venture on to something new!

I redrafted my strapless bodice, which somehow was still too big when I tried it on! I took in the bodice as I went, leaving plenty in the back for attaching the zipper.

When I had been planning to make a ballroom dress, I had already cut the fabric into two parts, a bodice part, and a skirt part. I made the waistband and attached it to the bodice, then pleated the skirt to the under waistband, then I took the needle to the over waistband.

I put in the zipper by hand, which was an adventure… I didn’t want to cut into the dress fabric, in case I went too far, so I ended up folding over the triangle of fabric.

Then a month went by.

I tacked this extra fabric down, tacked the neckline down instead of figuring out a facing (since I’ve never made a facing), and then doing my version of a rolled hem. I’m not sure if it is the right way to do a rolled hem, but it worked for me.

It turned out better than I had hoped! Having that much fabric in the skirt gives it automatic volume! No petticoat or alternate puffyness needed.

I love the silhouette of this dress, nipped in at the waist and puffy, but still knee length, which is snazzy.

I already picked my shoes out, so I finally have an excuse to wear them! I got them abroad and they’ll be perfect for this!

I am all ready for May, then! Maybe can we just skip forward a month? Just until midterms craziness ends?