2013 Archives • Page 2 of 7 • Jessica Smith Creates

October 25, 2013August 19, 2018

Ever sail in a Firefly

So I’ve been hard at work on my Halloween costume.

I’ve told you that I was planning on making a version of Kaylee’s dress from Out of Gas, one of my favorite episodes in Firefly. It also shows up in the The Message.

And I have! I promise! However, I haven’t exactly taken pictures in it yet. The post is upcoming, I promise!

I had decided while I was working on the dress that I should be Kaylee for Halloween!

Halloween where I live, though, is quite cold, so I always build in temperature ready ideas into my costume.

So I decided that my next project was going to be Kaylee’s blue oriental jacket.

Because I could.

I ordered my brocade from ebay, and it turned out to be exactly what I was hoping for. (I’ve had mixed results with finding fabric on ebay).

I made a muslin, which I had to hack up and maneuver to get it to fit. I had started with my bodice block, since I knew it was rather fitting, but I took out a bunch of the shaping on the bottom. The jacket in the show is oversized and shapeless, so I didn’t feel bad about taking some liberties.

I cut out the fabric, and had just enough to do so. Unfortunately, I couldn’t pattern match as much as I wanted, but I at least had everything set up in the right direction.

Starting out, I wanted to have a double breasted front for warmth. In the end it didn’t work out. The front closes about evenly matched with each other, and I can’t button the top button, because I have a thing about close fitting necks.

Looking back at past projects, I’ve never quite drafted sleeves correctly. One of these days I’ll figure it out, but that day wasn’t my cutting day. I ended up easing the remaining sleeve head fabric into pleats in the back, which gave a very cute tailored look.

The back is a bit tight, which at least keeps me in better posture, having to stand up straight instead of my usual slumping. I don’t have the best movement range because of this and the kinda tight sleeve caps.

But I love my new jacket! And I’m going to wear it forever and ever.

I will leave you with a picture of my subtle cosplay for the day. Kaylee’s hairbuns and jacket!

October 16, 2013August 19, 2018

I eat cake for the frosting.

I don’t really enjoy cake.

The food kind or the sewing kind.

Don’t get me wrong, the perfect kind of cake can be magical and exactly what I need after a super long week.

But my sewing has been quite frosting oriented.

AKA costumes.

Then I realized I had forgotten my only pair of leggings at home.

I’m not one to wear leggings without a dress or a skirt. For me, I just don’t find them a proper substitute for pants.

But they are so much better for wearing under dresses and stuff than tights, if simply because they don’t pool around my ankles over time.

So I decided to buy Cake’s pdf version of the Espresso leggings.

I got some of the cheapest knit fabric from Walmart, and grabbed my scissors, tape, and elastic to get started.

Then I procrastinated. And continued to procrastinate.

But yesterday I finally made up the pattern. From cutting to sewing it took me no longer than an hour, and the leggings fit me like a glove!

I will cut the strings, though. Oops! But look at the adorable ricrac tag!

I’m very excited, and I’m never planning on buying leggings again!

Cause I know I can just make some wonderful ones!

Thanks Cake!

October 11, 2013August 19, 2018

Spoilers!

I got the River Song journal on the brain.

Altoids have been a favorite for me, even before I had uses for the tins. I think I’ve had this one for years.

And now I have a reason to use it!

Isn’t the swimming pool cute?

I’ve also been working on the leather outer.

Here it is just cut from the hide, before I “squared” it off.

It got less square after tooling.

I skived off some of the back of the leather, and shaved some beveling into the edges.

Then I got to work dyeing it.

I’ll let you know how it went next time!

October 10, 2013August 19, 2018

Pouf

I told you that I was going to make a petticoat, and that will happen eventually.

However I was confused on terminology.
I knew what fabric I was going to use, and I knew generally how to make the garment.

But apparently I had forgotten the name.
I used a bright yellow nylon netting and a light gold lining fabric, which might have been to lightweight for the project, but ended up working well.

It’s not the biggest petticoat in the end, but it will certainly be what I need.

For instance:

Without the crinoline…

And with the crinoline.

This is my heaviest knit dress, the one that gave me the idea for the Belle dress.

It’s a bit heavier of a skirt than what I’m hoping to use for my dress, but it’s good to know that the crinoline still gives some oomph!

October 7, 2013August 19, 2018

Eyedrive

So… I had a moment of weakness.

I went to a friend’s Masquerade themed birthday party, but that wasn’t the weakness.

I knew I didn’t have a mask, and I forgot that my contacts hadn’t quite made it up to college with me… so a mask for this party was out.

But my fingers were still itching to wetform leather.

And… I made an eyedrive from Doctor Who

First I designed and drew the eyedrive on the leather, and cut it out.

I tooled it slightly, in the “eyeball” region to give it a nice texture, then got it wet and began to wetform it to my eye.

Imagine a roommate coming into the apartment and seeing me blow-drying my eye.

Then I realized that I had made the eyedrive fit the wrong eye. Oops!

But I didn’t want to give up. So I started painting.

First came the base layer of black.

Then I mixed in some gold and gave it a few more coats!

And voila!

I’ve attached it to my eye with tape loops, since I couldn’t figure out another way that didn’t involve it looking like a pirate’s eyepatch. I certainly wouldn’t recommend this method for anything but short term engagements. I was able to see out of it a bit though. Out the bottom and the sides, which felt weird.

October 5, 2013

Heigh Ho

It’s been over a week since I last posted.

But I promise I’m still here.

I’ve been working at my student job quite a lot this last week.

And I’m taking the GREs next week. Which means studying this week.

I’ve gotten quite a lot done in the past few days, and I’ve been procrastinating on picture taking from some projects in the past weeks.

The sun has been too bright, or it’s been too late at night. I’ve been unwilling to do my hair, and put on makeup, and I hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep. Tests and such.

So all in all, I’m happy to have done what I’ve done in the past few days.

But knowing that I won’t be posting for another long time, since I’ll be studying for my future and all, I’ve got some posts prepared for the upcoming week that I’ll have scheduled.

Each of the pictures I’ve got in this post represents a post that I will have up at some point this week. Not necessarily in the order they appear. I’m not that organized.

Now it’s off to work I go!

September 27, 2013August 19, 2018

Mint and Navy

I definitely told you about the fabric I’ve been buying. Like this:

I’ve been challenging myself to work on projects bit by bit on nights without much homework, which recently has been quite a few. Might as well take advantage while it still happens.

So I took out my Singer Tiny Tailor, a $15 score from Ebay, and grabbed my fabric pile and made up a small cardigan pattern.

It’s cold here already. It fluctuated for a while, but I’m ready for heavy sweaters and such. That’s why I’m knitting up the Cardilero, which I’ll post progress of soon. But in the meantime, I’ll stick to long sleeved close fit sweaters, which can be quite warm.

Here’s what I ended up with after the first set of sewing!

It’s a little rough, and honestly a bit tight. Not impossible, just odd. The mint lace knit fabric is lovely. Not lovely to work with, mind you. It unravels and pulls like crazy. Soon I’m going to have to overlock it and also finish both the bottom back and and top back, as well as the sleeves.

The sleeve and armscye are also a little funky, but I kinda like it. No uncomfortable enormous underarm seam.

It’s warm and comfy. Exactly what I wanted! I’d call this one a success!

September 25, 2013

Mesmerizing and Cardigans

So I’ve got lots of yarn, and I’m going to continue working on projects with it. I’ve still got my crochet sweater to finish, but that really doesn’t stop me from starting new projects. And now I’m gonna tell you about them, because now I can!

I got this lovely cornflower blue yarn for Christmas last year, and I knew that I wanted to make something special out of it. It’s soft and silky, but even though I have quite a few skeins it doesn’t add up to a lot of yarn.

crochetme5a

link

This sweater caught my eye the first time I got out the book Crochet Me, by Kim Werker, from the library. It’s called the Mesmerize Sweater, for good reasons. It’s so visually pretty, and could be versatile in my wardrobe. I’m thinking it would look lovely over a black dress or something.

These lovely yarns are both a deep purple, and are very different from each other in texture. The one on the right is super soft and fuzzy, and even though it looks blue, it’s really a deep deep purple. The one on the left is more reddish purple, and is a bit scratchier, like it has some wool to it.

link

I’m planning to make a Cardilero with these, from the book Warm Knits, Cool Gifts by Sally Merville and Cady Merville. It’s basically a long rectangle with armholes, which I’m going to make with the reddish purple yarn. I’m also thinking of modifying the pattern a bit, so it’ll be a bit warmer. The other yarn will be for sleeves, for as long as one skein per arm will get me. I’m hoping for at least getting sleeves to the elbows.

September 23, 2013August 19, 2018

We are not the B-Team fool, we are the second A-Team.

So. I have finally finished the vest for my Claudia costume. And today I’m subtle cosplaying her.

I know I told you I was done before, but I found that wonderfully neon fabric I told you about, so I did create a lining.

There’s nothing like handsewing a lining into a garment that makes you miss your sewing machine.

After an additional eight or so hours of sewing, my vest is absolutely complete!

And now I’m off to class!

September 15, 2013August 19, 2018

Trial and Error Part 2

I love my culottes.

I love my culottes dearly.

However my culottes didn’t fit… quite right. Even right after I made them. I just wasn’t able to admit it.

You may remember that I thought my fashion fabric was knit.

Haha.

I can hear some of you laughing at me right now.

It was not my brightest moment.

I had added a zipper into the left side seam, so I could actually get in and out of them, which certainly helped. I just couldn’t add anything to my stomach while wearing them.

But I do like to eat at some point in the day.

So my fixes:

First I added a double layer of hem facing into the side seams, since it would be better than cutting out and attempting to sew more of the fashion fabric in. That would require some ironing, which I was not in the mood for, having already ironed the whole pair of culottes. There’s an awful lot of fabric in those things. These inserts make the skirt hang a little differently, but not drastically.

After this I tried them on, and saw that the inseam hung out from below the hem. It’s important to have a full length mirror when you’re sewing. Or at least one that you can move around without having to stand on a chair to see into it.

So… second I got to work unpicking the seams, and hemmed it up a bit higher.

And now I’m much happier!

Next up, my vest lining!