Blog • Page 23 of 31 • Jessica Smith Creates

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?

March 6, 2014September 6, 2018

Design Donnerstag – Costume Planning

So it’s been a while since I’ve managed to get to this…
I feel bad for starting a weekly post then forgetting and not having time to keep it going.

But life got in the way. You know how it is.

So here is the latest set of designs!

I can’t lie to you… I drew these all in the last hour. But I did need these for planning my weekend.
And if you want to see how my Chip hair slide worked out, you can see it here!

March 4, 2014August 19, 2018

Teacup!

My friend gave me a lovely compliment today after seeing my new hair accessory.

She told me that if I was to be any Disney character, she would place me as Chip!

Chip is one of my favorite characters from Beauty and the Beast, maybe because of his insatiable curiosity.

He genuinely wants to know everything about what is going on at any point of the movie, so much that he sneaks into Belle’s bag to see the world outside the castle and saves Belle and Maurice.

Curious and smart!

So I made my hair slide out of leather, as I mentioned on Sunday.

It took me about two and a half hours in total, plus waiting time.

I cut and tooled the leather, added a coat of white acrylic paint for a base, then colored the rest of him.

Added a coat of varnish and he was good to go!

I currently have a double pointed knitting needles as the stick, but I’ll be cutting a dowel soon.

And here is a picture explaining how awkward taking pictures of the back of your own head can be… Do you see how contortionisty my arm is? Straight back and twisted… Painful.

March 2, 2014

Tempus Fugit

It’s been one of those weeks.

Those weeks that actually turn into nearly a month.

I haven’t finished a project since the corset I posted a few weeks ago, but actually finished on February 1st.

Luckily I did finish it then, because that completed my obligatory February project. But it feels weird to say that I haven’t finished anything since.

Anything for me, that is.

The week leading up to Valentine’s Day was tech week for me, so that week and the week before I was busy sewing up three dresses, but I didn’t actually complete any of them from cutting the fabric to sewing the hem.

The following week I needed to play catch up for assignments I put off during the show, which led to being behind on that week’s work. And this past week I finally got caught up. Whew, what a relief. That is, I was relieved until I realized all the work I’ve got for this week. It’s a busy time being a graduating senior.

I did work on some projects during that time, though.

Remember this fabric?

I had been planning on using it to make a ballroom dress, but I decided to repurpose that plan to make a different kind of dress. I’ll post on it soon, but I worked on it during February, I just had to delay it for awhile during my catch up period. I’ve got the zipper mostly in at this point, and I’ll be working on the upper “binding” shortly. Then its just hemming and straps.

I’ve also started work on that sweater I had said I started last fall. In crafting I am not always a woman of my words.

I just cut the leather for that hair slide that I was going to make for my Belle costume.

And I just pulled out the cape I had been working on, also for Belle. I promise that under the crumpledness, it’s a cape.

These will all be posted on soon, as I’ll be working on them all during the month of March. Maybe not finishing, but working.

So when I just got the notification of it being a year since I started this blog, I was pleasantly surprised.

Last year I was abroad, I had just met two of my best friends and we had just decided to go to SDCC after two of us would graduate from college.

I was a different person, not needing (really) to look past the end of the semester.

Now, I feel I’m more centered, giving equally to my creative and studious lives.

I’ve been cooking my own food, becoming more self sufficient.

I got myself a serger, and yeah, it may not be working pleasantly, but its just a hop skip and a jump away.

I’ve learned how to truly make clothes for myself, learned how to fit my body, learned to accept my body.

I know what I like to wear, what I feel comfortable in, what I’d love to make more of.

I’ve accepted my geekdom, and the fact that I’m a superfan for many a show.

And I’ve kept up with projects, which was my main reason for this blog in the first place.

So happy anniversary! Here’s to many more!

February 17, 2014August 19, 2018

Overbust for Wearing Under

After this moment, this corset is not seeing sunlight…

It’s not that theres’s anything particularly… wrong with it.

It does give me a bit of a flat chest, which is an interesting sensation.

It also does no “lift and separate” favors, which I’ve heard about for overbust corsets.

Perhaps that’s because its a modified version of Butterick’s 5797 corset top pattern. I wouldn’t put it past the patternmaking company to completely disregard such a notion.

I had to take this in at many of the seams. The rounded side panels were fine, but the side seams needed to be less drastically curved and taken in. The bust ended up being much too big, so I had to reduce those seams, as well as reduce the dramatic cup that had been formed. I also took in the seams around the back panel.

Choosing this pattern was more of an endeavor to understand construction of such a garment rather than wanting to make up the pattern. But I did need an overbust corset, for my Susan costume, so I thought I’d take the plunge.

What I’ve decided for Susan, now that it’s been brought up, is that my undergarments will be separates, a petticoat with a pleated front panel, and a removable collar piece which will attach to the corset that I’ve made. By making the corset boned, and not the overdress, it allows me to use the corset in future endeavors.

For the fabric I chose to use two layers of duck cloth, which I had purchased at Walmart last year, and a nice separating zipper. I also had some grosgrain ribbon, which I used for binding the upper and lower edges, and I used heavy duty cable ties for the boning.

So it is zipped in the back. More for ease than anything else. I don’t enjoy wearing things that I can’t remove myself, and because the overdress will have hooks and eyes at the front, I didn’t want to put lacing, busk, or a zipper there, so I would need a back closure. At that point, a zipper would be perfect!

I do get a bit of reduction at the waist nevertheless, which is both a nice feeling and a bad one at first.

The real reason why I’m a bit embarrassed about this is that I basically used up all of my bobbins on this corset when I was tacking down seam allowances and boning channels. So when you get close it’s quite colorful and messy. But I love it anyway.

Second corset completed!

One day I’ll tell you about the first.

February Project #1

Stashbusting Stats: 7 fabrics used

February 8, 2014August 19, 2018

Oi! Spaceman!

It’s been a while since I wrote up a real post on subtle cosplay, actually nearly a year.

So it’s time for me to introduce my favorite character from Doctor Who:

Donna Noble! (played by Catherine Tate)

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She’s the oldest of the new companions, if we’re not counting Jack Harkness of course, and we meet her on the happiest day of her life.

Her wedding day. Of course, since it’s Doctor Who, it quickly becomes the weirdest day.

Her fiancee turns out to be using her to serve his Mistress, an arachnid from the dawn of the Earth whose brood forms the core of the planet. He had been serving her energy particles in her coffee, in order to rescue her Mistress’ children.

Donna is the one that ultimately stops the Doctor from destroying the entire brood.

We don’t see her again for a season, as the lovely Martha Jones is the new companion, but then she returns the following season.

And is generally brilliant, but never really sees herself that way, until the end.

***SPOILER ALERT***

Where she finds that she and the Doctor had been brought together by fate to save the universe and in the process becomes part Time Lord part human (the Doctor-Donna) and ultimately her brain begins to break down under the imaginary weight of this and then the Doctor has to remove all of her memories of him and saving the world and she goes back to being a temp.

***END SPOILERS***

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Because she’s a little older, she has a slightly more conservative style, by which I mean her clothes are less T-shirts and sweatpants and more office casual day appropriate.

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Like other companions, she does have a leather jacket, though instead of a bomber jacket style, it’s almost a coat.

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She’s got bangs and a slightly longer than shoulder length haircut, which works very well with the ginger hair. Sometimes her hair will be up in a ponytail, and sometimes it’ll be down, depending on the adventure.

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She’s often in a nice shirt and jeans. And by nice shirt I more mean fancier than a simple t-shirt but not quite to blouse status.

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She’ll sometimes wear nice blazers, or sweaters.

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But my favorite thing about Donna is that she’s always up for an adventure. Whether its dressing up to meet Agatha Christie or just saving the world, Donna is up for anything!

Oh, and did I mention she’s really the first of the new companions that wasn’t in love with the Doctor? I mean, he’s dreamy, but it can be nice to get away from the “Will they?” question to focus on the fun adventures.

February 6, 2014August 19, 2018

Meshy Mesh

There is about two feet of snow outside my window right now, and I’m about to tell you about a short sleeve mesh t-shirt I made.

In January. When there was snow on the ground as well.

This would also be a good time to mention that I’m behind on blogging. But instead of promising you to stay on top of it, I’d rather use it as a method to post more regularly, even if that means posting something much later than making and wearing it. A good key to knowing when I made it will be my “Stats” at the bottom that I’ll be including with all fabric related projects. I’ll probably include a stat or two for things non-fabric related, but the fabric one is the most important at the moment, with needing to stashbust before moving on to a new part of my life.

And now after that long paragraph, I present to you the meshy mesh t-shirt.

It’s tight enough. Not super tight, I’m going to get squares imprinted on my skin when removing. But also not, I can wear this over a bulky long sleeve top loose.

I had gotten the fabric from Fabric.com in September or October. It’s so soft, so I wanted to save it for something special, but at the same time I didn’t have a lot of it. In the end, I was able to make this shirt, and still have enough for a bit of a scarf.

I basically just used a t-shirt I had and placed it on the fold and used it as a pattern. I made it slightly wider on the bottom than the top, because I like having some space around the waistband, and made the sleeves a bit wider than on the pattern top, which honestly only had cap sleeves that weren’t going to make a good pattern. I probably could have made some set in sleeves, but I’m quite fond of it as it is. I simply sewed up the seams on the sides and shoulders, then cut strips of some beige jersey to use as binding. I’ll need wider widths in the future. Then I turned up the bottom hem and sewed. I promise the sleeve binding looks pretty nice when its on, as opposed to hanging limp and lifeless on a hanger on my wall.

The fabric makes this top feel nice. I forsee using this top quite a bit in the summer. Not when I’ll be outside a bunch, though it would make an awesome swimsuit cover, because I can imagine the sunburn, but I think it looks great over a tank top.

Unfortunately, I’m getting over a cold, so on my picture day of the week, I was in no shape to model. Think runny nose and intense sneezing attacks. Generally not a good picture plan.

So enjoy my limp lifeless hanging shirt!

January Project 6

Stashbusting – 6 fabrics used

February 6, 2014September 6, 2018

Design Donnerstag – Chip

Last week I showed you something I made on the computer.

So this week I thought it was only fair to show you something I drew by hand.

But also conveniently it matches up with something I’m going to make, the best reason to sketch it, and not create it on the computer.

Introducing Chip!

Who doesn’t love the anthropomorphic teacup that has a chip in its rim?

Now that sounds a bit creepy.

But anyway, I drew Chip!

I was thinking on how I wanted to wear my hair for my Belle outfit.

And in doing so, I realized that my hair is lacking in, what’s the word. Oomph. I started researching Bump-Its.

Let me tell you, that felt like a low point. I made fun of bumpits with glee for many many years, and now I think I may just have to eat my words. But first I’m going to check at Claires. They always have some overpriced contraptions.

Regardless of how I volumize my hair, I wanted something pretty to wear in the back, but also something in character. The rose is quite common, but I’m not the type of girl for common. A teacup is more up my alley. I’ll be tracing this onto some leather this weekend, and soon will have it at least cut out.

I’m planning on cutting out the places that I shaded in pencil, the rest is pen on sketchpad paper.

February 1, 2014August 19, 2018

Scarfing it!

Confession time.

This may be the second scarf I’ve ever made.

This would be a good time to mention that I’ve been crocheting since… maybe third or fourth grade?

And knitting since the year after that?

And now I’m a senior in college.

And I’ve only ever made two scarves.

Full disclosure: I tried to make a scarf when I was first starting crocheting, but it ended up being something more like an ascot.

Have you noticed that I get bored easily?

And when I first began knitting, I was well on my way to making a scarf, where I then decided to make a poncho instead.

Have you noticed that I like to make random and fancy big ideas?

I did finish that poncho, but by then wearing a poncho was no longer cool, plus I had edged it in a fuzzy white yarn, and then realized that I didn’t like fuzzy. I’m back in a fuzzy appreciating phase, though, if you’d like to know.

A few years ago I made a very nice soft scarf for my mom with a lovely cable braid up the center that you can’t actually see when you look at the scarf, but adds tremendous warmth.

So when I decided that I wanted to make something out of this lovely off white and silvery yarn, of which I only had one skein, I thought making a nice simple scarf would be a fantastic and quick make.

After spending three years making a sweater, I wanted a nice quick project. So a simple stockinette stitch scarf was right up my alley.

I’m going to guess it took me 20 hours to make, rounding up, off and on throughout the month of January. Of course, for the final eight hours I was convinced I was almost done. I always think balls of yarn knit up quicker than they do in reality.

But I got me a lovely scarf to help protect me from this cold spell.

Now if only something could help the kitchen sink pipes from freezing. I get the idea that a scarf won’t cut it.

January Project 5