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

March 10, 2013August 25, 2022

“If it’s not Baroque, don’t fix it!”

Don’t you just love Cogsworth?

I just couldn’t wait much longer to start explaining to you all about the loveliness that is my costume planning, so I’d like to start with my plans for a dress inspired by Once Upon A Time’s Belle.

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Because OUAT is a show on ABC, owned by Disney, the yellow costume is clearly inspired by the Beauty and the Beast yellow dress.

It is a princess seamed off the shoulders dress with a full and actually very large dress. What attracted me to this dress specifically was the very smooth top and the absolutely gorgeous embroidered design on the front. Its magnificent, and lovely, and, well massive. But I love the interpretation of the dress.

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This dress, which is worn by Belle in our world around the town of Storybrooke, is also a favorite costume of mine from the show. I love the simple flow of the fabric, and the combination of the lace and the shell of the dress.

Being a redhead, I can’t easily go very yellow with a dress without looking insane and making my skin look weird. But I also want a dress that I can wear in a non-costume friendly situation.

I’ve decided to therefore combine the two dresses, in a way. In my pitiful attempt to sketch out the dress, I came up with the above. The lace will be around the shoulders and will make up most of the sleeves, with the rest made up of a knit or woven. The lace will only be above the dress, not covering it like the blue dress.

For the con, I’m planning on creating a beadwoven necklace to recreate the neckline embellishment.

The higher drawing is my interpretation of the actual neckline, and the lower is my design for the necklace. The necklace will be worn over top of the lace of the dress, and will likely be a nearly full bib necklace.

The color I’m planning for the main dress will hopefully be a nice goldenrod or golden, and I’m hoping to have matching lace, but if I can’t get lace to match, the lace will be a warm reddish brown color.

link (ETA – this link is now broken)

I’m also going to be making a cape for the con, and will likely be a short cape, not much longer than an elbow length, because I’ll be in warm and sunny California, and it will mostly be made out of curtains. Because that fabric is not easy to imitate.

What do you think?

March 7, 2013August 25, 2022

Documented: UFO #1 – The Crocheted Faux Wrap Sweater

I present to you a ufo that I have brought with me to finish on my studies abroad.

To be honest I haven’t gotten very far on it. I accept this.

I also accept that I probably won’t finish it before returning home. That doesn’t mean I can’t hope.

This is what it will end up being, in the far future.

The pattern is Raeanne Shawl Sweater from the wonderful book Blueprint Crochet by Robyn Chachula, and is created by making small modular squares, and crocheting them into the main structure as it is worked.

I got this lovely yarn for free, and the marking on the inside says: astro dyed spotted flake.

To me, its a great yarn because it almost gives the illusion of an animal print when used together, and the yarn itself has a very interesting texture.

Isn’t free yarn great?

So what I’ve been working on so far, and what the picture above is of, is the base, and I’m only about 1/4 done with that section. Then I need to make the cowl structure, and the end of the project lies in the creation of the waistband, which holds the cowl together, and created the faux wrap shape. Then weaving in ends.

My plans for the next few months, knowing that I can almost not finish (though that would be ideal), is to finish the square work on the base and the cowl. Because I also have no method of blocking the piece, it would make sense to only get that far anyway, so the piece can be blocked before finishing.

Maybe now I’ll actually get some good work done on it!

March 4, 2013August 25, 2022

I’m totally not being… hypocritical.

Not at all.

But I had to tell you about my fantastically big project, that can’t even really happen until I return home from my time abroad. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t (completely) planned out this massive project. Well, I guess its kinda four projects in one.

I’m going to Comic Con, or at least planning to. But not this year. No, that would require much more extensive planning, as it would only allow me to have one month of actual sewing machine and fabric time before the Con. I’m going to Comic Con 2014, as it will be both a celebration of graduating and becoming what society believes is an adult (of which I am never quite sure of), and it will be a reunion with some of the friends I’ve met while abroad.

But really, let’s face it, that’s not the exciting part. Going to Comic Con means that I have a reason to make extravagant and unnecessary costumes. So I’m making extravagant and unnecessary costumes. Because I can!

Drumroll please! (dzdzdzdzdzddzdzdzdzdz)

My first, and most elaborate, costume will be a Victorian Steampunk dress that recreates the inside of the Eleventh Doctor’s TARDIS.

(link) (ETA – this link is now broken)

Ain’t it purdy? I love the magnificent color scheme and how it all works together to bring up the fun and free spirit that exists as the Eleventh Doctor.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, watch Doctor Who. You have approximately fifty years worth of episodes to watch, but I’d definitely watch the newer stuff if you are a newbie. Its not only more colorful, but it has better special effects and monsters.

I won’t burden you with a sketch, at least not today, if ever. But its going to be awesome

My second project will be a recreation of the dress Susan wears at the end of the Prince Caspian movie in The Chronicle of Narnia series. Typically its called her Farewell Dress, as she says farewell to the land of Narnia.

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Its a two part outfit, with the white underdress and the blue boned overdress.

I’d also suggest watching Narnia, if you haven’t seen any of the three movies. They have amazing landscapes and effects.

My third costume will be a fall/spring dress inspired by the Belle of ABC’s show Once Upon A Time.

(link)

In the fairy tale land, she is the Belle we know from legend and the Disney movie, but is a little more, well, kick ass. Her Beast is Rumplestilskin, which I find great, and she goes on adventures and saves lives.

(link)

In our world, she is just finding herself, and tends to gravitate towards cute, though rather bookish and vintage – inspired outfits.

So my dress will combine the two, so I have a pretty dress that I can wear without it being a costume.

My final project is to make an outfit inspired by the fantastic Claudia of Warehouse 13

(link)

This will be the only project that will require the least amount of sewing, but in theory could also involve the least cost involved, if I hunt for good deals on accessories.

For each of these, I’ll be posting about in its own post. First, though I promise I’m going to be working on a post about one of the ufos I have with me. Now I just need to charge my camera…

So in conclusion, I’m insane. This will be a set of stashbusting projects, but it still isn’t quite planned to include ufos to finish it.

Also, watch all of the above. They are all great shows, which is why I watch them of course!

March 4, 2013August 22, 2022

Why, hello there!

Hiya!

I’m here to admit that I have a bit of a problem. Well, maybe its grown to be more than a bit.

I craft too much.

I’m just naturally a craft-oriented person, and love trying new things. Which has led me to do many fun and new things.

But I have this tiny itsy bitsy issue. I have a problem actually finishing crafts before starting new ones. Needless to say, I have a lot of ufos lying around.

I have realized that the only way for me to work on this issue is to air these projects to the public, and work to finish them.

Of course, I’ll still be working on new projects, because I really don’t think that is going to stop. I have accepted that.

I’m currently studying abroad, away from my stash of ufos at home. This is probably a good thing. However, I’ve also been planning a big, massive, and incredibly not-ufo-stash busting project. This is most definitely not a good thing, at least for my ufos. I’ll let you in on that project later.

I did… I maybe… I kinda did, though… bringafewofmyufoswithme. You’ll get to meet those soon.

By the way! You may have noticed that my blog has the name Annabelle on it. Annabelle would be my alter ego, if I truly had an alter ego. Annabelle would finish all the projects that she started before beginning another one.

In parting, I thought I’d leave you with some of my recent finished projects. Mostly just to make me feel better about, well, unfinished projects.

I’m a big Doctor Who fan, which you will likely hear more about in the future. To be fair, I’ve only really seen the new Who, but I’m working up to watching the classic stuff. But the new stuff is absolutely fantastic. So I made TARDIS shoes.

I’ve been making quilts for over eight years now, but I have only made a few for myself. The ones above I’ve made specifically for myself. I have made a number of quilts, though, for an amazing organization called Quilts For Kids.

Glossary – AKA In case you didn’t know, or in case I’ve made up a word, which happens quite often.

ufo – unfinished object

TARDIS – time and relative dimension in space – and/or go watch Doctor Who.

Give me a shout out if you come visit this post!