Jess Smith, Author at Jessica Smith Creates • Page 23 of 27

August 17, 2013

Re-acquaintances

It’s been a long time now since I’ve been home, with my stash.

It’s also been a while since I’ve posted. Flying around to far places tends to mean lots of mess back at home! I’ve been cleaning. And marveling at my large and uncontrolled stash.

My stash for anything and everything, really.

Yarn

Fabric

Beads

For that matter, old makeup and clothing.

I’m going to be a senior in college this upcoming fall. The impending moving out phase will be happening soon. I don’t really want to drop any of these stashes, except perhaps the old makeup stash. I really should just clean that out.

It’s time to really clean up my stuff, and see exactly what I have.

I figure that I have enough stuff that I’d like to share that I’ll have a bunch of posts for this set.

For my yarn stash, I’ll be sharing the yarn that I have plans for, and the projects that have a bit of work done will also be shared.

My largest ufo project stash is included with my fabrics, so those will all be documented in their own posts eventually, but I’ll give you some peeks before then! My other fabrics will be divided like yarn, and I’ll let you know if I have plans for any of it!

Beads, beads, beads.

Do you like it? My projects for these are a little less planned, so it doesn’t get another post. I already took the opportunity to show you my creative process, or my attempt to at least, so you can probably tell that.

As for the rest of my planning…

I’ll be working with some of my clothing to make it more appealing for me to wear, because some of it just doesn’t fit right. If I do anything particularly interesting, I’ll let you know. Even if not, I’ll probably make up a fun before and after post. A lot of it is just going to have to go.

You don’t have to see that though. Just the fun stuff, I promise!

Well that’s all for now! Got some more work to do!

I will leave you with a picture of my notions!

August 4, 2013

T Minus One Year

In one year I’ll have a bachelor’s degree, and hopefully some sort of employment.

I’ll have had this blog for a year and four months or so.

I’ll also be going to Comic Con.

Which was the main inspiration for starting this blog in the first place.

I wanted to let you know what is to come in the next year, in a more updated and compact list than I have before.

Costuming:

TARDIS costume – Doctor Who

corded petticoat

bum roll

console skirt

bustled overskirt

underbust corset

high necked sleeveless shirt

sleeveless shrug with dangling pearl “sleeves”

time rotor necklace

hair embellishment of some sort

television monitor purse (which will attach to the corset

spats for my t-straps

Belle – Once Upon A Time

Lace and knit skater dress

embellishment necklace

Queen Susan – Narnia: Prince Caspian

white underdress

blue overdress

potentially a quiver – like object

Claudia – Warehouse 13

finishing off the vest – lining and a new zipper

necklace of some sort

Steampunk base costume – potentially for Halloween. Or life in general.

link

corset waist skirt

link

Short sleeved high necked button down shirt – emerald green? I like this simple version of the drawing

link

short corded petticoat

Sewing:

UFO #2 – Velvet and Lace Vintage Dress

Kaylee inspired dress – Firefly

Ballroom dancing gown

Refashioned Ready To Wears (so I’m willing to be ready to wear them.)

Knitting/Crochet:

Lacy slouchy hats

Thick shawl

Some necklace making, some quote illustrations, some cards, some leatherwork.

July 29, 2013August 19, 2018

Trial and error – Or the magical world of culottes

This project has been brought to you by the power of positive reinforcement.

Every time I took a picture of a step in the process I got a bit of a cookie.

Only three cookies were harmed during this experiment.

I made culottes!

Aren’t they purdy?

And I can spin! And the windy days won’t completely ruin my day! And I can be comfy!

It wasn’t without some trial, though.

A few weeks ago I found this tutorial, which explains how to pattern these culottes.

I’d never heard of culottes, skorts being the only alternative skirt option I knew.

I kinda miss skorts, and there may be a pair in the works… Some thoughts need to be worked out.

So, I did some research. At least, I searched Pinterest, and I attempted some google searches, but most of those patterns looked, well, ugly.

I did find this lovely pattern, which I loved the idea of, except it was sold out… And a little out of my price range at the moment.

And I found Lladybird’s culottes, which inspired me to buy some fabric, and I decided to use that first link above to go ahead and pattern the culottes.

I’m new to knits, being primarily a quilter before last year, but I love to wear them, so it was a logical progression. I’ve made a skirt or two before, but I really like the idea of a bike-approved option.

I got this fabric off of ebay, and there’s a lot of it. This is also the fabric I’m planning to make my Kaylee-inspired dress with.

But before I cut into it I made a muslin like a good little pattern-making newbie.

And I’m glad I did! Except it got fuzzy stuff all over my scissors!

I found that I needed to lower the rise, in order to get into the culottes, and have a comfortable placement of the shorts on my body. I also needed to lengthen the skirt from the bottom, to make the skirt more to my liking.

First I made myself a new pattern, but this time I cut out the real fabric, because I was tired of muslins already, and the knit muslin fabric I have currently is all much heavier than the actual fabric. I wanted to know how the actual fabric draped before changing anything else.

And during this process I found out that my fashion fabric isn’t a knit. Zipper to the rescue! I really should double check these things.

Because I didn’t add seam allowances, because I forgot it wasn’t a knit, it’s a tight squeeze on me up top, but that was helped a bit by my waist finishing process.

Both of the above pictures were taken before hemming, but it seemed like a good length, and with the exception of the tightness around the waist, an all around good fit. I could always remove the seams and add something in later, but I’m on limited supplies and time at the moment, so that will have to wait.

Then came the hemming and I was done!

Next time, though: definitely need to add seam allowances, and perhaps make them a little longer,

July 26, 2013August 19, 2018

New guy gets to fix the fish.

Edit: I wrote this post a few weeks ago, while waiting to take a picture of the vest… Then forgot to take a picture until now. But I liked the post as it was… So here you go!

I got my serger! And it’s even kind of working!

Time to get to work on the vest.

As I had mentioned last time, I have seam ripped my muslin, and prepared the lab coat I planned to use for the fabric.

For my labs last semester I was required to buy a lab coat, but at my normal college, it isn’t standard practice to wear one unless you are doing a messy experiment, in which case you borrow one of the lab coats from the office.

So I am putting this lab coat to good use!

I’ve cut out my pattern pieces from the back and the sleeve pieces, as the front had too many pockets and sleeves.

The serger is up and running. I’m hesitant to run it for too long until I get it completely worked out, which may be a while. I’m still planning on using it, just carefully.

I’ve overlocked around each pattern piece, and used a different serger stitch to sew up the seams. I’m getting really good at threading this machine.

I sewed up the seams, turned over and topstitched the armscye, and then hand picked a zipper. I’m going to need to replace it with a separating zipper at some point…

However, my camera battery died in the middle of the resulting steps.

I’ve got a photo of the finished project though!

Here it is! Until I get it lined and pressed!

July 24, 2013August 19, 2018

No one decides my fate

But me.

So I had my skirt.

I then thought about a bodice.

First, though, I decided I would make one of those bodice slopers that I’ve heard so much about.

Burdastyle.com has a nice tutorial on how to make one to your measurements here. I used that one successfully, with the results shown above, in my lovely yellow polyester doubleknit. I didn’t add any seam allowance to my pattern pieces, because I forgot, but also so I could see how close fitting the bodice really was. As far as I can tell it fits quite nicely around my chest, which is the major purpose of the current experiment. I didn’t sew up the underarm seam or the corresponding shoulder seam. If I had I never would have gotten the blasted thing on to check out the fit.

The bodice needed to be changed over to a sweetheart neckline anyway, which disregards the need for the shoulder seam, and the underarm seam seems to fit close enough anyway, and I can always take it in later if its too much, or add in something if it doesn’t.

So I made up my new pattern, and cut out the pieces, adding a little length to it, and put it together.

I hand picked a zipper in, which went pretty well, I think, for my second hand picked zipper.

Then the handsewing the skirt into the bodice. Oh how I miss my sewing machine. If only the serger had a larger neck…

And my completed dress!

Because this was meant to be a wearable muslin, I knew it wouldn’t be perfect, but I had fun learning about it.

I’m planning on adding a strip of tan fabric to the bottom of the skirt, to lengthen it, but because its 120 inches around the bottom, I’m going to need to do some planning. Which also means some procrastinating. In my real version of the dress the skirt won’t be a full circle skirt, and will be longer anyway, so there will definitely be changes there.

There is also a big fold in the back of the bodice when I stand up straight, which I’ll be needing to understand and fix for the future. It’s not just because the back isn’t straight in the pictures, I promise. I’m also planning to move the waistband of the skirt up an inch in future versions. It needed to be lower for modesty for this one, but with a longer skirt, I’d like a higher waist point.

link

And I even know how I can wear this dress! From season 2 episode 11 of Once Upon a Time. Technically she’s wearing a long sleeved sheer shirt under the jacket, but I’ve got to have some creative liberties with my subtle cosplaying!

July 20, 2013August 19, 2018

A chipped cup.

There’s no way to have a serger and not test it out with some nice fabric! On a lot of nice fabric!

Since the fabric I happened to have on hand already was woven and not at all stretchy, I wanted to buy some knits, so I could test it on some fabric that needs some of the stretch that a serger gives.

I was going for cheap knits, at first, so I bought remnants of some polyester double knit. The tan, blue, and yellow ones are all pretty scratchy, but I bought them mostly for practice, and to use as muslins for heavier knit projects. The gold dotted one is the one I really wanted. It’s a gorgeous fall gold, and if I wanted to be poetical I would say it reminds me of New England in autumn.

The minute the auction closed on my serger I thought that maybe this machine could give me a chance to try out some ideas for my Belle outfit. I’ve not had much luck with my regular sewing machine with stretchy fabrics, and though I’m working to change that the serger will overall come in handy.

For my real dress, I want a sweetheart necked bodice with a lace overlay, some sleeves, and a skater (circle) skirt.

The lace top to the real bodice is something I am planning to figure out another time, potentially with a coupon and really cheap stretch lace. I’ll be willing to shell out a little more money for better lace once I know how it will fit together.

But for now, I’d like to work on the skirt, see how and where I’d like it to fit, and then the bodice in turn, so that I know how I’d like to make the real dress.

Whenever I actually get around to that.

I started out with this fabric, which I knew I wanted as a skirt anyway, and I definitely wanted to try out a full circle skirt.

So I had folded a piece into a small square, with two folds, and cut out the waist. I then trimmed the hemline, knowing that I probably wouldn’t actually hem it. It is a lovely knit, but I knew that the skirt would already be a bit short on me. When possible, I prefer to give myself a higher waisted skirt. My smallest point around my midsection is pretty high up (as is my natural waist though that’s not quite as high), and I like to emphasize that when I can, which then requires longer skirts.

Then a waistband went on, though I didn’t quite plan it well enough and it came up short in the back. It was really at this point where I decided to think about putting on a bodice. I’m more willing to add extra work to my plate than come up with a simple quick fix for a skirt waistband.

I’ll talk about the bodice in my next post on this project!

July 17, 2013August 25, 2022

The reason I can’t finish projects

Is because I’ve got too many going at once.

Much too many.

Because I love to start projects.

The satisfaction I get at the end, when I finish them, can barely compare. Except in some cases. Rarely.

I can’t think of an example right now…

So, here are some examples of projects I’d like to start.

kog link

One that I’m going to start soon is a dress inspired by Kaylee’s origin story dress, in the episode “Out of Gas” and “The Message” of the show Firefly.

I’ve got the fabric I’ll use for it, but I haven’t done the proper research yet, but I’m going to start soon. Hopefully.

link

I’m also a big fan right now of Amy Pond’s red hoodie that she wears in a few of the early episodes of Doctor Who 2005’s fifth series.

link

And I love Kaylee’s turquoise brocade mandarin jacket in the first episode of Firefly.

But I also am interesting in working on: Jayne’s blue sun shirt (Firefly), Amy’s black and yellow sleeveless shirt (Doctor Who), HG Well’s vest in the rocket episode (Warehouse 13). Enough of the frosting. I’m also interested in making some culottes, and some nice trousers. I’m also planning a high waisted skirt for a stealth steampunk look. And I am musing over the idea of creating a ballroom dance dress. I really enjoy dancing, and the waltz is my absolute favorite. But I don’t have anything to dance in for competitions!

I’ve got more ideas, but I’m going to continue on in another direction.

This past June I happened to find this awesome pennanular brooch at a medieval craft fair, and I have almost nothing to use it with. It’s quite heavy, made of iron I think, so I need something substantial to wear it with. I only have one item that fits this bill, but I’d like to be able to use it with a shawl for when I don’t quite need a sweater.

IMG_2596_medium2 link

I’d also like to work on some lacy hats. I’ve never liked wearing hats, but with the amount of bad hair days I seem to attract, I’m willing to give them a try. And lacy and slouchy hats can look quite cute. The one above is the first in my queue.

There are some other types of projects I’d like to work on as well.

link

I’m bringing my sewing things with me to college this upcoming year, but I’ll need an ironing board to go with my iron. I have been seeing a pin go around on Pinterest the past few weeks about an ironing board tv tray table. That sounds like fun!

link

I’m also planning on making myself a dressform. Likely out of duct tape, but I also have hopes for a form like this one. Being as I’m unwilling to pay damages for drilling a hole in the ceiling I’m also planning to make a stand for these to lie on and unless I find an awesome coat rack, I’ll probably make it out of pvc, like in this link! Or perhaps I’ll buy an umbrella stand, like this post suggests, to support a slightly smaller stand!

Whew. This is an awful long post, but I’ve saved my biggest project ideas for last.

I already have a ~~thriving~~ jewelry business called BeadsAndQuotes up on Etsy, though its on vacation until mid-August or so. I’m hoping to begin making my own clasps and earring wires, and expand some of my stock. Don’t even get me started on my project ideas for that.

As part of my jewelry business, I’ve also made illustrated quotes, like the one above, which I love to do but doesn’t quite fit in with a jewelry business. So I’ve been considering opening up a different shop to sell geeky cards and my illustrated quotes.

I’ve also really enjoyed my work with leather. It’s such an interesting and totally different kind of medium, and I would love to continue working with it, but I wouldn’t feel right selling it in either my current shop, or my proposed card shop.

And this isn’t even taking into account my job… or my schooling… or having a life.

Do you have any advice or suggestions?

July 16, 2013April 11, 2019

More than just an oversized IPhone

This is my final wrap up post for my Altoids tin Farnsworth.

farnsworth - front

I’ve decided that for projects that span more than two posts, I want to give more of a real goodbye.

Both the projects and I deserve it, in my humble opinion.

Here are the links to each post, in order from inception to completion.

Oh Farnsworth, my Farnsworth

farnsworth - dsc09302

Busy Bee

farnsworth - dsc09336

Elbow Grease

farnsworth - finished-squiggle

Loving the Fugue

I’m not laughing at you, I’m laughing with the horse

farnsworth - top

Proceed with the splaining.

The Farnsworth has fascinated me since I started to watch the show. I’m not actually a smartphone user, so at the time, it was really neat to have a communication device that was more face to face.

Yes, I know that there are apps like Facetime and Skype that will let you talk face to face, but I’m not quite up to date with technology.

Some of my thoughts on the construction:

Next time I want to make an altoids sized prop, I should weigh my choices better. If I’m going to cover the lid with something, like felt or paper, then an Altoids tin is fine, as the embossed lid will be covered. But if I’m just going to paint it, then I should find a tin without embossing.

It’s very neat that underneath the covering of the tin is a somewhat glossy coat. It didn’t even feel all that scratchy even with the sandpaper.

Rustoleum smells. But it does cover well, and I really enjoy the shiny coat from the glossy black paint. I do need to buy a few extra paint brushes next time. Or decide to do painting like this when I have a sink that is not white to wash the brush in. White porcelain and black paint don’t exactly work together. In my previous experience, at least. I decided not to wash out my one paintbrush, so each time I did a new coat the brush bristles were less and less bendable.

Wire requires proper tools to bend and work with it. I have bought some since, but I now definitely know that eyeglasses cases and nail clippers are not suitable.

Check the shipping address to make sure you aren’t sending your purchase to one of the other many addresses you may have on file. It happened to me… three times now. In the past month?

Realize in advance that cardboard is a wonderful substance, and though its not underappreciated, it should be acknowledged more often.

Glass can be quite heavy.

But all in all, the Farnsworth looks really good in my hand, and even in its diminutive state compared to show-accurate ones, I think its a pretty good build!

Onwards!

July 12, 2013October 14, 2018

Proceed with the ‘splaining

Did Claudia’s Farnsworth not disintegrate in the penultimate episode of this season? And then reappear in the season finale?

farnsworth - front

Well, whatever happened, I’m finished my version.

farnsworth - lens

I received my lens yesterday, which nearly completed my prep.

I still had not managed to solve the problem of the combination lock, as I needed to see how big the lens would be within the tin before I could move on to cutting up the microphone tip and making a combination lock.

There were a few circles of the microphone mesh, and a few ideas about the lock that circled through my head.

With a little work from my gold paint pen, I ended up using a rubber piece that I had cut off the microphone while I was taking it apart.

farnsworth - notebook cover2

The plan came together quite quickly last night.

farnsworth - notebook cover

First the cutting out of the black plastic piece. I had the cover from an old black Fivestar notebook handy, which I use to keep wall decals safe as I travel to and from dorms and college and such.

fansworth - mic cut

I had some extra space in the bottom of the tin that I could raise the plate structure up, so it looked more 3-d and still manage to close. I did this with a few layers of cardboard. I had to cut out a space for the wire mesh, though, so it would sit flush with the cardboard surface.

Then I cut out the circle to reveal the wire mesh, and glued on the “tuner.”

farnsworth - lens glue

The lens needed to be glued to some paper, to give it that blank screen look.

The assembly continued, and all pieces were glued together with super glue, which currently is my only adhesive option.

farnsworth - top

And I got my finished product! Do you like it?

farnsworthleft1

Edited: As of right now this is the end of this project. Follow it from its inception, to further planning, to sanding and painting, to the wirework, to the gold detailing, to (this) the gluing of all the components together.

July 8, 2013August 25, 2022

Off the wrist of a handsome Time Agent

So… I made a kind of vortex manipulator.

link

At least it feels like I made a vortex manipulator… perhaps a steampunk time manipulator would be a better term.

As in, “you forgot to wear me, so I’m giving you the wrong time” manipulation.

I bought this awesome self winding mechanical watch from Ebay, and had already been considering working with leather, because its just so cool, so I made myself a watch-band/cuff.

That vaguely looks like a vortex manipulator.

**And I would like to say in advance that all the leather I have bought so far have been remnants from companies, so I’m using what would have been thrown in the trash and discarded to source my minor projects, not whole skins. I know about the ethical dilemmas surrounding leather, and I have not yet finalized my opinions.

Many fun attempts with the leather came first, punching and cutting and drawing, and all sorts of amusing and loud means. I needed to get a feel for how the leather would work before starting in on the project.

I found out that the leather I had bought previously was not the right type of leather for tooling – the term for creating designs on leather by cutting and punching.

Then I bought more leather, the right kind of leather.

I cut out my cuff base out of dark brown leather, and roughly cut off my pieces for my designs out of the tooling leather.

I dutifully wet the leather, then I drew out my design. I have been doing pretty well just drawing free hand with a pencil, which won’t transfer the graphite on the wet surface.

Then I used my swivel knife to cut out the design

I used my newly acquired old leather tools to make my pretty patterns on them. One side is inspired by the TARDIS explosion painting, which I adore, and the other has some circular Gallifreyan components, inspired by these fan grammars.

Because my wrist is really tiny, I knew I was going to have a lot of bulk around the top of the wrist, where the watch itself would lay. In order to reduce this, even just slightly, I thinned out the leather on both sides of the tabs at the top of the tooling leather. The tooling leather attaches around the watch with an itsy bitsy rivet. Ain’t it cute?

The hole punch came out and I punched a bunch of carefully placed holes for my rivets and snaps, cut down some of the leather at the end of each strip, and put it all together!

It doesn’t lie flat very well, because the tooling leather takes a little more depth to make it around my wrist, so its a bit more three dimensional.

It looks awesome on my wrist though! I’m very happy with it!

Now I just need to train it to give the correct time…

Linked to Steam Ingenious’s July Link-up