Blog • Page 6 of 31 • Jessica Smith Creates

September 25, 2018September 27, 2018

Do you like coloring?

And by recently, I mean I’ve been doodling for my entire life, but mostly in black ink on white paper. To the point that I tried to bring myself to buy a white gel pen, or paint pen, or something to draw in this black paper notebook I’ve been carrying around for 4.5 years. And it didn’t work.

(I’m only a low grade hoarder, I promise.)

But I’ve been drawing mandalas specifically for laser cutting, because there’s something so cool about lasers, and sometimes I found myself coloring them in, both digitally and . So when I was having a mid-20s crisis (I know, it’s ridiculous, and I won’t dwell on it) I started an Etsy shop for coloring pages of my mandala art.

All of the products as of right now are digital downloads as PDF files, so they will either be emailed to you or they’ll live in your Etsy account. You do need a PDF reader for them, but I think most readers of blogs probably already have that…For almost all the products, there are both letter and A4 sized pdf pages, though you can always use your pdf reader’s print page to resize things.

So there’s coloring pages, since that was the original idea, and with both letter size and A4 size there are downloads for black lines and for grey lines, because some people like the lines to fade into the background.

Also I’ve been digitally coloring some of the mandalas, so I’ve released some print-at-home art prints that have already been colored in. Wow, print-at-home art prints is a mouthful, even typing it.

I’ve expanded a bit into calendar and planner pages more reminiscent of bullet journals, like spending logs, since that’s something I’ve dabbled in. I’m not good at keeping any kind of log long term, but everything I put up for sale is something I do or did use.

For instance, my newest offering is a sewing journal, which is a printable version of pages that I was already using in my bullet journal. I’m going to do a separate post on that later this week, because I know that a lot of you guys, my followers, are sewists so it might be something you’re interested in.

Really really long time subscribers might remember me talking about my old Etsy shop, which was a handmade beadwoven jewelry shop, and at least for the moment I have no plans to reopen it. I still have all my stock, but I have yet to feel the pull of jewelry making that would prompt me to reopen it. Maybe in a few months I’ll try to sell off my stock in this new shop, but for the moment I’m keeping it simple.

I’d be honored if you gave the new shop a look! I opened it about a month and a week ago, so though it’s not super new it’s still a little shiny for me. I’m going to go give it another shine…

September 19, 2018September 12, 2018

Flint shorts

So these grey ones are over a year old… Oops? (Don’t tell me otherwise…)

There are many things in life that I forget about until it’s pretty much too late to fix it. Like buying toilet paper, laundry detergent, and apparently shorts?

I was surviving with only 2.5 pairs of shorts for last summer. (One pair is waaaaaay too small. Hence the 0.5). I live in a location much closer to the equator than I like, and you would think that shorts would be favorite, but I don’t gravitate to them. I did to gravitate my beloved cargo shorts, but I had to retire them last year…

It doesn’t help that I did my research in an off campus office building with what seems to be a Friday business casual dresscode, so shorts aren’t allowed unless you’re a boss. So I spend my weekday summer days in dresses and skirts to deal with that.

But on weekends I needed shorts. And now I’m in a job that I could wear shorts if I’d like (though I’ll still prefer jeans).

Let us get down to business then.

I was on vacation when I got the email that Megan Nielsen was releasing the Flint trousers/shorts pattern. When I looked at the samples and the line drawings, I was sold! In fact I had spent the previous couple days explaining to a friend that I really should cut my craft spending, and then had to deal with a judgement stare as I sat there ordering the pattern.

Because I’m in need of shorts right now, I decided to try them first, and it was probably for the best, as I needed to alter the pattern a bit. My muslin was out of some stiff green denim, actually the same from this pair of almost jeans from awhile back. It really emphasizes how wide these are in relation to the thigh. So you don’t get a picture of those.

In terms of alterations, I had to lower the rise (I think… It brings the crotch up higher when I do that, right?) so that the crotch wasn’t 3 inches down my thighs, right in the thigh rub area. I also had to take in the waistband a good deal with some darts on the more recent make, so I should alter the waistband to be much more curved. Both of these are issues I had to address with the Tania culottes too, so I think the fit model for Megan Nielsen patterns is just so different than me, that these will be typical for me with her patterns. I’m thinking that perhaps going down a size might help, but I don’t think it would fix enough problems to be worth it to make my standard alterations again.

The fabric for this first pair is some old cotton chambray that I found in my stash. I had maybe a yard of it, and that was the perfect amount for this project. There were some sections of the fabric that were stained due to someone leaving some ancient tape on the fabric, which I tried to keep to the crotch area, where no one should see it anyway.

Can I just say the pockets are glorious? So the opening for the bottoms is the left pocket, and every review I read as I was waiting for a good time to make the pattern said that the left pocket would not be really useable. When I sewed it up, I did end up sewing more of the pocket closed than was directed on the pattern, so at the end of construction when I went to try them on, I seam ripped the pocket part until I could comfortably wriggle into them, which left me more than directed, but less than I wanted. I can definitely use the pocket, but more for big ticket items like cell phones and sunglasses, than for change and USB sticks and student id cards.

From these pictures I can see that the back crotch area is a little off, but I so rarely wear this with tucked in shirts that it probably isn’t too noticeable in real life…

I’m working on a second pair, but now that summer is (hopefully) over I am going to put that one on the back burner.

All in all this is an excellent pattern that I look forward to making again. The shorts are not what I would normally consider my style, but they’re so comfy in the “extreme heat,” meaning I hate it but its still not often 95*F, since they’re so breezy.

Next pair of shorts, I’d like to try out the flat front, since there’s a tutorial for that and that’s more my style, but we’ll see when I get the hankering for shorts again…

September 12, 2018April 11, 2019

The Moment, Mark 2

I was at DragonCon over Labor Day weekend, and what I realized when I wore my costume Saturday was that I hadn’t actually updated you on my newest (meaning 1 year old) Moment box, and the costume that goes with it! I’m going to give you the super short synopsis version here, and then link here to the page that goes in depth.

Also, I apparently never posted specifically about last year’s costumes… Finishing my Master’s hit me hard. I’ll be changing that soon!

Some awesome creators complimented me on this version and gave me suggestions and new ideas for a future version, so at the end of this post I’m going to write down some of them before I forget… Because I can be terribly forgetful. Shout out to Circus Jack (?), the Joker and Harley that tracked me halfway across the Marriott, and to Daniel at BlueBoxDezigns who also has made a Moment box! All of you made my day when we talked about the details!

Let’s start with the costume…

Shirt: Onyx Top by Paprika Patterns out of white rayon lawn, tea dyed to a tan. Netting was cut into rectangles and sewed to the end of the existing sleeves

Vest: Some variant on the Archer Shirt by Grainline Studios, drastically changed out of shape though. I don’t even remember what I did, it was done so quickly and haphazardly. Rayon spandex twill

Skirt: Syrah Skirt from Baste and Gather out of a lovely, buttery, rayon jersey. So comfy! Too light colored for me to wear in real life! Basically I made it exactly the same, just sewed up only part to my knees so I could knot up one side.

Accessories: The “vortex manipulator” I made in 2013, boots that I painted a different shade of brown, various bracelets I’ve picked up over time.

And the box:

All the sides are laser cut, mainly out of 1/4″ sanded plywood.

The outer frame was constructed by splitting 2×4’s lengthwise and then cutting the pieces to size.

The corners were then modeled in the online 3D modeling page Tinkercad, and then I 3D printed them.

A lot of the gears and such move. It also opens!

Anything more you want to know, check out the breakdown on the costume page, and email me if you want to know more than that!

P.S. I won a costume contest at my university with this costume, so the last shot is from that day!

Suggestions:

Make the acrylic part articulated so that the individual circles can move

Make everything on one side articulated together: Moving one piece moves them all

(Even better if moving one side moved something on another…)

Keeping the opening from falling open by using velcro or making it in a lighter-weight material and keeping the magnets.

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September 6, 2018September 6, 2018

Welcome to my new home!

And welcome to my first post on the new blog!

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As the name suggests, I’m Jessica, though I go by Jess to my friends (and we’re friends here, right?), and I create things.

If you were around with me a few years ago, you might remember “Design Donnerstag” which was partly my attempt to post more and partly the beginning of my tshirt design phase.

Well, I’ve been expanding my design skills and changed (at least a little) my style, and I’ve been making mandalas and doodle designs of late, and decided to try building an Etsy shop with digital downloads based on this idea. It’s a newborn at the moment but I’m hoping to grow it into a thriving adult… I need a better metaphor for this. Right now I’m trying coloring pages, printable art, and planning pages; maybe I’ll branch out from that when I get my feet on the ground further.

I’m also going to try posting here once a week. I’ve said variations of this before, but I’m hoping it’ll stick this time. The old blog had mostly become a sewing log, and I’m hoping to branch out to posting more variety, from the different crafts I do to different kinds of posts. I’ll be experimenting a bit.

There are also some updates to make on old pages, as well as making some costume breakdowns and maybe tutorials (?!?) or walkthroughs on some things I’ve made to help my fellow makers.

Hope to see you all on the ride!

August 17, 2018August 19, 2018

Big Changes Coming Soon…

Hey all!

I’m currently working on a few big projects, namely creating a new website and hopefully an Etsy business, as well as a couple new costumes in time for Dragon Con.

As soon as this is published, I’ll be back to trying to figure out how to migrate this blog over to the new website, but with a key difference.

Annabelle’s Project Overload has been my baby for the past few years, but I have a confession that early followers may remember. My name isn’t truly Annabelle Smith, but rather Jessica Smith.

I’ve always felt that my given name melts into the background, as its reasonably common, and for a while I wanted to have a more uncommon (but not suspiciously so) name, so my alter ego of Annabelle materialized.

But I’ve reached a point in my real life career at which a website is advantageous, and having my real name on it is important. I don’t want to split my life in half, however, so I’m working on incorporating the posts I’ve lovingly crafted here into my new venture.

Honestly, I don’t know what this means for you, dear reader (too much?), but if you’re interested in following me to my new site, stay tuned and I’ll keep you posted. Those of you who follow me on Tumblr, I’m equally confused what’s going to happen there too, but I’m adding it to the list!

Have a lovely weekend, and I’ll see you (hopefully) on the other side!

July 16, 2018August 22, 2022

Birthday Dress 2018

Remember when I made a shirtdress a few years ago?

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I still love that dress and I wear it a lot, but there was an incident that made me not want to make another right away. I had made it for Indie Pattern Month 2016, I think, and when I posted on the Monthly Stitch site I got a comment that was… less than flattering. I had gushed about how well it fit “out of the package,” and I can argue both for my point, and theirs. On the plus side it closed without gaping without changing any pattern pieces and felt so comfortable, on the minus I needed an FBA and a substantial swayback adjustment and the fabric shows every wrinkle (including the gathering) that exists but doesn’t need to be emphasized.

The Monthly Stitch moderators are amazing, and Melissa removed the comment before I even saw it and sent both me and the commenter an email, and informed the commenter that straight up insults are not allowed and are unhelpful. Especially to new sewists. Now, it hurt me a little to be called a new sewist, which was a bit prideful, looking back, but it really is true. Now looking at the pictures of the dress (as my body has changed a little so it fits differently now), I can see where the commenter saw problems even if I now know that the suggestions they had were unhelpful and somewhat incorrect. For the record, looking at pictures of someone else on the internet is no comparison to fitting in person.

It’s a couple years later, and the comment and email discussion still hurts, but I decided this year I was going to make a new one for my birthday to remove the bad feelings associated with the first.

So.

Now for the fun part.

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The birthday dress itself!

I bought this sunny linen from Joann Fabrics a couple months ago, and I didn’t have a plan, but then I remembered the Vintage Shirtdress pattern from Sew Over It. It was time.

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First I altered the pattern. I made a swayback adjustment, made a small FBA, took in the armscye by a smidge, and lengthened the bodice by about an inch. I think the fit is much improved! I like the loose waist on me, since it means that gaping is less of an issue, especially when I have a big dinner! Also, belting it has happened when I want to look sleek!

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Cutting and sewing went smoothly for this one. I machine sewed the bias to the armscye, and hand sewed the hem facing to the dress. I also used the t-shirt heat press (and vinyl cutter) at my local makerspace to put grey vinyl flowers on the front bottom of the dress!

Oh and pockets. I reinforced the pockets by drafting them to reach the waistband, and it makes them so much better!

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The buttonholes went well, though I think I positioned them a little too far out from the edge, but it’s too late now! I don’t get gaping, persay, but the fabric does jut out a little strangely particularly around the waistband, and the top button is fond of unbuttoning itself. I’m going to put some hooks and eyes into the top of the dress to help with that…

I love my birthday dress, and now I know that any fitting issues that you or I may see is something I can work out in the future!

For some reason I decided that I just had to show you guys my new bonsai plant too… Enjoy my only slightly not-derpy picture with it!

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May 14, 2018August 22, 2022

Long Tania Culottes

Why hello there!

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You were lured in by my first couple posts in a while (plausible), or perhaps by the lovely pics of the culottes in the pictures (perhaps less plausible), or because you did a double take when you realized that I wasn’t in fact going to be talking about my Ariel costume, but about a piece of clothing… Don’t worry. I’ll talk about the rest of the costume at the end!

My 2016 Ariel costume involved a floor length deep blue skirt that was maybe a quarter circle skirt out of some lovely but incredibly flimsy rayon. So I made an Onyx shirt out of it a couple months afterward.

So when I decided to attend DragonCon again in 2017 I wanted to update my Ariel costume, and that meant making a new skirt.

But Ariel is all about getting legs! Why does she get legs, and then suddenly start wearing a tube that she could’ve worn with a tail anyway!

So my theory is that she would be much happier wearing culottes. Still loose and flowy without being a single tube. Two tubes for the win!

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Okay, that’s enough now…

I had recently downloaded the update to Megan Nielsen’s Tania Culotte pattern, and had pieces together the knee length version (I think) of the full circle culotte pattern, as opposed to the tapered version.

So I took some of the rayon lawn that I used with my 2017 Birthday Dress and cut pieces a little larger than the pattern pieces would require, and then I dyed them using either Procion Royal Blue or Moody Blue (Moody Blue was a specialty color that doesn’t look like its still available), which came out the perfect sky blue (perhaps because I didn’t use enough dye, as I’m looking at the instructions). I think I used glauber’s salt in the mixture, which is suggested for evening out the color. And urea, now that I think about it. I was dyeing a couple things that night, so I’m not sure..

The fabric dyeing went well, but then I laid the pieces over the rungs of my drying rack, and that left lines in the fabric… Oh well!

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Then I took the fabric pieces, ironed them heavily and cut out the Tania culottes pattern for real this time. Sewing together was pretty simple, as I’ve made it many a time before (I mean, at least twice). I did have to make really big darts in the waistband, and I put in pockets… They were messy. The waistband was something I over-interfaced, because I knew it had to hold up (literally) when the rest of the garment was so flowy.

This is the time to remind/let you know that this rayon lawn is not meant for real garments. I was just silly to have tried it. I seem to have a habit of trying to force thin rayon into skirt like jobs… Hmm…

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Once finished, I wore them to work… Which worked okay. The problem arose that they are so flowy that they got caught in my bike wheels. As in grind me to a halt stuck between the brakes and the wheel.

Every time I got in a car I was at risk of tearing the fabric. Especially around the back seam area. Not the seam itself, but the area next to the seam. I had already repaired that area once before DragonCon, and by the time I got to the Marriott apparently the hole had reappeared… Oops? Thanks lady on the escalator for letting me know so carefully!

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So this was retired about a month after DragonCon, though it was my ultimate favorite swishy swishy make. Fabric eater, I think this had over 3.5 yards in it. But I will be looking into making this again soon, out of a more durable fabric. Maybe I’ll make the tapered version, but I really like the deceptive nature of the circle skirt variation. I had to prove to a number of people (not at the con but in life) that it was in fact “pants”).

So details on the rest of the Ariel costume… Same corset as 2016, but I made a new shirt. I altered the Onyx top pattern to lengthen and widen the sleeves and I embroidered these adorable waves along the neckline. I also made a Flounder plushie who is my new favorite (don’t tell my fox-squirrel), especially because he looks so terrified. I carried him around in a basket, and when one young boy was nervous to come up and touch him, I told him that Flounder was scared being out of the ocean… I’m not good at coming up with things on the spot, so my new and improved quick thinking came in handy. Hopefully it sticks around…

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This year I plan to also make a Sebastian plushie. I had all the fabrics ready with the Flounder stuff, but I just didn’t have the time to make it!

May 4, 2018October 13, 2018

Nettie Tee Dress

This post is going to be short! In late October I went on a cutting spree where I cut out a tooooon of garments, some of which have still not been sewn up…

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This was one of them. I took my altered Nettie tshirt pattern (standard versions of which don’t even get a mention on the blog because its my go to for daily t-shirts), and just extended the hem as far as I could. I gave it a flat hem, so the sides do hang down a little lower than the front, but I kinda like that.

This fabric is one of my last pieces from a Hancock Fabrics going out of business shopping spree.

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When I was getting it cut, the lady blanched and said, “I don’t know who would ever find this an attractive piece of fabric.”

And I replied, “Well it kinda matches my hair.” I think she realized that she had said that thought out loud and didn’t say anything after that… For four more cuts.

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It’s a polyester textured lace pattern in a rust brown. Which does mean that it has holes in it, so I have to use a slip. This one is made from a cotton broadcloth, and is cut on the bias. It peeks through just a little, and I love it!

Simple sweet dress, easy to sew, easy to wear, I wish it had pockets, but I still haven’t figured out how to make that happen for this design…

May 1, 2018August 22, 2022

Birthday Dress 2017

Okay, this dress is only about a year and a month old… That’s not too bad, right?

Starting in 2016 I decided I’d make myself a special dress around my birthday, and it’s never been quite a standard dress. Meaning, I don’t plan on just taking a straightforward pattern and making it…

In 2016, I was still working out some pattern-hacking, and I made a sleeveless Nettie dress, with a handkerchief hem, out of a lovely slinky knit that looks like black lace on a green background.

Last year (2017) I went a different route, and decided to try my hand at dyeing fabrics. I read up on fabric-dyeing and decided to buy a 10 yard cut of this lovely rayon lawn. Now… I didn’t really read the description, so I didn’t quite process that it wasn’t really meant for garments. Word to the wise, its very thin, shows nearly every line underneath, and tears fairly easily. I’m sure for its intended purpose (linings and undergarments and draperies and such) it works well… I haven’t quite gotten to use it for those yet.

No, I wanted to use it to make a dress.

Specifically the dress outlined in a post on DaughterFish’s website called the Future Dress. (Unfortunately it looks like the DaughterFish website is down, so I can’t link it.)

If I remember correctly, this future dress is originally the creation of a designer in the earlier 20th century, and is so simple in its ingenuity. Basically, *you take three shapes (two trapezoids and a triangle), to make a huge triangle and then repeat from * until you’ve got four huuuuuge triangles, which make up the neckline and armscyes. The dress is loose and flowy until you belt it, and then there’s a cute amount of volume emanating from the belted area.

I chose to keep the shape of the four triangles post bias hanging, rather than cutting it off around my knees. Last spring I was trying to think over life choices, and I didn’t want to spend extra brainpower figuring out how best to hem it, so I left it raw and uncut.

My memories are telling me that I waited until after I made the dress to dye the fabric, which is not always recommended. I chose to use Emerald Green Procion dye, without the add ons used to keep the emerald super vibrant. It worked, overall, and I ended up with a very pastel spring-y dress. Not what I wanted, but pleasant enough for a birthday.

The favorite comment I got on my birthday (since I foolishly forgot to tell my employers I wanted to take off), was that I looked like a fairy. Which I will always take as a compliment.

A couple months later I ended up dyeing another project a lovely Royal Blue, and decided to over-dye a bit, and ombre dye a bit as well, to give it the darker look I craved. And that’s how you see it today!

I like this dress, and I’m curious how it’d look with a bit more opacity to the fabric and with perhaps a weightier fabric, since this fabric floats like a very heavy feather. But it takes soooo much fabric, that it’d have to be a sale fabric and kismet… But maybe one day!

April 18, 2018August 22, 2022

Aqua Wedding Guest Outfit

Hey everyone! I’m going to try to post my backlog of projects, so this is the start… this isn’t quite a year old yet, but I do have pictures of it (unlike many of my other projects), so here it is!

Last spring I was invited to my cousin’s wedding. He’s the first of my cousins on my dad’s side to get married, so it was a big deal for the family. So I made a full outfit.

I had intended to make a dress, but I didn’t end up with that. I made a Onyx top and a Fumeterre skirt. My rationale was that I had two days to make this, and I wanted to make the pieces wearable in real life too… If I had made it this year, I’d probably have replaced the Onyx top with the Ogden cami (more on those in a future post), but I had just made a lot of Onyx’s and I knew they’d fit me well.

So, it started with scouring the Fabric.com website for suitable fabrics, and I ended up getting three yards of this lovely seafoam rayon sateen by Telio, which is sadly not stocked anymore.

I cut out the same size of Fumeterre that I had for my two tone version that I posted last year, but when I was sewing it up I realized I didn’t really need to put in a closure, that I could just use elastic in the waistband, so I decided to make it as simply as possible so no pockets and no closure. I did add a half lining, so that there would be some amount of protection. I think I hemmed it by machine, which was messy, but its also on the floor, so no one is gonna see it.

Then I cut out the Onyx top. And this is when I realized that I did not have enough fabric left to come out with a standard version. I made alterations so that it had a yoke on the front and the back, which solved the problem, and made an easy way to use facings , which I then burrito’d into the yoke. I used the same lining fabric from the skirt as the yoke fabric. Sewing it together occurred when I was super hungry and dying, since it was the day before I left for a work trip, but it was all put together!

So then the painting. While I was on the work trip, I painted suns and dots onto the skirt and the top, using Jacquard Lumiere copper paint, which is my favorite paint in the history of ever… Then I let them dry and I ironed it, which is supposed to set the paint and also keep the fabric supple.

The wedding was lovely, and I still love both pieces. I wear the skirt more than the top, but I think its because I love flowy skirts sooooooo much!