2013 Archives • Page 3 of 7 • Jessica Smith Creates

September 12, 2013August 25, 2022

Well, lookee here!

So this is my 50th post, which I’m quite proud to have made.

Not that this post in particular is a terribly important post.

I’m not good at keeping up with things like blogs, or journal writing, or reading scientific papers. Those things they say will get easier the more you do them. People may not say that about scientific papers though…

But I’ve made 50 posts! In six months!

And there are many more to come.

I thought I’d use this post to tell you about some stuff I normally wouldn’t write about. Like self promotion. I tend to forget to self-promote, so I made this post!

For one, I’ve had 1892 views in total so far. That’s exciting!

The most used search words seem to be revolving around Warehouse 13’s Claudia and Altoids tin projects.

I’ve completed a Farnsworth, a watchband, culottes, a vest, and tons and tons of planning.

There’s a Tumblr associated with the blog now, for when I get bored or sad and need a tumblr pick me up. I mostly reblog things I find absolutely wonderful, though it is mostly fangirly stuff. You can find me here!

I have a Spoonflower account, for all you sewers! I can’t quite afford the fabric at the moment, being a starveling college student, but one of these days you may see one of my fabric designs in one of my projects! If you’re interested in my fabric head on over here.

And I’ve mentioned my beaded jewelry shop BeadsAndQuotes here, but here’s the link again! I also sell handmade illustrated quotes there. My Christopher Robin one is popular.

My final bit of self promotion: I have a shop of t-shirt designs on a site called Redbubble. I’ve got it stocked full of wonderful geeky t-shirt options and pretty greeting cards. They also sell stickers of designs and ipod/ipad cases. You can see my shop here!

And that’s all, folks!

Here’s to another 50 great posts!

September 11, 2013

Cleaning and Planning

Cleaning is a double edged sword for me.

Being a generally lazy person, cleaning is just so much work. I’ve been on a cleaning kick though.

It would stop if I was assigned homework.

However, while I was cleaning out my fabric stash, I found some of my projects that I thought I had left at home. Squishable ones.

Like my Claudia vest.

And my culottes.

And this fabric that will interface my TARDIS shrug.

And this shirt that I’ll be altering for my TARDIS. It’ll be smoothed out, like the bottom. I bought it crinkly, but I like the color more than the crinkly texture.

Did I ever tell you that my culottes were a bit too tight? I’m going to be making a fix for that shortly, and showing the super finished product. I’m starting with this so I can wear them before it gets too cold.

Then I’m going to finish my Claudia vest, which will pretty much finish my Claudia costume. Just need a necklace then…

Soon there will be petticoats and my TARDIS shrug and some necklaces and a Belle muslin and a properly fitted underbust corset and a bum roll and my TARDIS skirt and a sweater and…

September 10, 2013

Doo Dwee Doooooo Dah Do Dwooo

Ah, the Doctor Who theme song. It would be easier to title posts if it had words to it.

Well, after working on it off and on for the past six months or so… (mostly off, I should mention to clear up any confusion. I am capable of attaching more than an average of one bead per day. I’m just too lazy to.) … I have finally finished my time rotor necklace!

As a reminder for those of you who are just tuning in, I’m working on costumes for SDCC 2014, and one of them is a anthropomorphic version of the Eleventh Doctor’s first TARDIS.

Yes.

And for this costume, I still wanted to pay homage to many of the mechanical aspects of this TARDIS that can’t be easily incorporated into a human being costume… Like the awesome TV screen, and the gorgeous time rotor.

This is the time rotor in question.

And here is my finished necklace!

I created this necklace by covering round and oval beads with the clear ones visible. I used brick stitch, which is slowly becoming my favorite stitch to design with. It’s so convenient and visual both in its flat and 3D form.

The beads in question were two fake gold pearls, a hematite oval, and a large goldstone round bead, which was slightly larger than the gold pearls, but not really once it had been covered up.

Because this difference was negligible in the end, as I showed in the last post, I re-brick stitched over the second bauble.

It looks so much better now, and I’m happy with it. Yayayayayayayayay! One project done, five million left to work on!

September 8, 2013

Happily Beading Away!

So… It’s time for an update.

Since the last one, I’ve finished moving into school, gone to a wedding, and went through my first week of classes. Which is why it’s been a while.

But the show must go on!

I’ve been working on my necklace projects at the moment, as I work on getting my serger up and running.

Remember how I was working on my Belle necklace, getting the swoosh bits finished? The ones that look like question marks, without the dot?

Well I’ve got one of the two mostly done! Some strings to handle, of course, but its pretty much finished! Only one more to go, which I’ll likely be working on over the next week.

After finishing these swooshes, I’ll be then designing and creating the smaller versions, which will then allow for the real creation of the necklace!

Then I decided to work on the TARDIS time rotor. I finished making all the baubles, and made the loop to thread it onto a chain.

There’s still something missing from it, and I’m pretty sure that I have figured it out.

The second bauble from the bottom is a bit too small. On the time rotor in the show, one of the spheres is significantly bigger than the rest. I tried to emulate that by encapsulating a slightly bigger round bead, but it doesn’t show nearly enough. I’m going to put another layer of the clear beads on top, which should increase the outward appearance of the bauble, making it more like the actual time rotor.

Should be done shortly, so look out for a final post for the necklace this week!

Also, I finally got a picture of this nice leather purse I purchased before I got home from abroad.

Nice and sweet little cross body bag. If I don’t make another purse option for my Susan costume, this will be the purse for it.

It’s small enough to not detract from the awesomeness of what the costume will be, but large enough that I’ll be able to keep some money and small souvenirs or papers and stuff. It’s even something I’ve been using in real life, because it’s cute, and just enough space to for wallets and such.

I’ll see you soon when I finish the time rotor!

August 29, 2013

Who has too much fabric?

Trick question…

There is no such thing as too much fabric.

This week I moved back into college for my final year as an undergraduate, so the stash I brought up is rather small.

I just got a bit more though! Some is for my costuming, and some is for other purposes.

Last weekend I was out thrifting and found this lovely stretch lace gold shirt. I’m not interested in wearing the shirt, but the lace will be perfect for my Belle outfit!

This was going to be the fabric for my Susan costume, but unfortunately the fabric is a bit too bright. I found it on Fabric.com, here, and the fabric is named Turquoise Slipper Satin. Next time there’s a good sale on the fabric, I’m going to get it in Baby Blue, if I don’t find other appropriate fabric first.

This trim will be a part of one of my costumes, most likely my Susan one, and it’s still awesome even if I can’t include it.

This brown lightweight knit is going to be for another wearable muslin for my Belle dress. The previous muslin was made out of a thick knit, but I want to try it with a slightly thinner one to test out how it would hang. I might also make myself a skirt or something with the extra.

In other fabric news, I’ve gotten quite a bit of yummy fabric for my own personal clothing usage!

I’m planning on making a nice short sleeved shirt out of this soft navy blue fabric.

When I was on this fabric shopping “trip” online, this mint lacy fabric was one of my first finds, which I want to make into a cardigan, or something cardigan like.

I thought this brown knit would also make a nice cardigan/shawl like garment. Most of my wardrobe consists of these, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have more, right?

And finally , I got this really neat bias binding, which I may use to bind seams on dresses and jackets and such.

So that’s my new additions to my stash, and now there must be some project working to use this and everything up!

August 18, 2013

It’s back!

After nearly eight and a half months of hiatus, my Etsy shop is back up and running, featuring my handcrafted jewelry, and my hand-illustrated quotes!

I actually set it up a few days ago, but I was slowly adjusting listings and re-listing items, but I finally have fifty or so of my items back up for sale, which allows me to take a step back and breathe a bit.

My shop and this blog won’t have a ton in common, as I made this blog to highlight all of my craft hobbies, and the shop only makes up a bit, but when I have big news that I can’t believe happen with my shop, I’m probably going to share!

Like the day after I reopened my shop when I got an order! Thanks to Steph in New Zealand!

She bought my hand-illustrated Christopher Robin quote.

My excitement was hardly contained, until I realized that I had already packed all my supplies. That was no problem though… Just a little sifting time.

I got the quote off the next day, allowing me to work on finishing the re-listing of the shop!

It’s ready to show off, so I’m going to link to it again here!

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!