2013 Archives • Page 4 of 7 • Jessica Smith Creates

July 24, 2013August 19, 2018

No one decides my fate

But me.

So I had my skirt.

I then thought about a bodice.

First, though, I decided I would make one of those bodice slopers that I’ve heard so much about.

Burdastyle.com has a nice tutorial on how to make one to your measurements here. I used that one successfully, with the results shown above, in my lovely yellow polyester doubleknit. I didn’t add any seam allowance to my pattern pieces, because I forgot, but also so I could see how close fitting the bodice really was. As far as I can tell it fits quite nicely around my chest, which is the major purpose of the current experiment. I didn’t sew up the underarm seam or the corresponding shoulder seam. If I had I never would have gotten the blasted thing on to check out the fit.

The bodice needed to be changed over to a sweetheart neckline anyway, which disregards the need for the shoulder seam, and the underarm seam seems to fit close enough anyway, and I can always take it in later if its too much, or add in something if it doesn’t.

So I made up my new pattern, and cut out the pieces, adding a little length to it, and put it together.

I hand picked a zipper in, which went pretty well, I think, for my second hand picked zipper.

Then the handsewing the skirt into the bodice. Oh how I miss my sewing machine. If only the serger had a larger neck…

And my completed dress!

Because this was meant to be a wearable muslin, I knew it wouldn’t be perfect, but I had fun learning about it.

I’m planning on adding a strip of tan fabric to the bottom of the skirt, to lengthen it, but because its 120 inches around the bottom, I’m going to need to do some planning. Which also means some procrastinating. In my real version of the dress the skirt won’t be a full circle skirt, and will be longer anyway, so there will definitely be changes there.

There is also a big fold in the back of the bodice when I stand up straight, which I’ll be needing to understand and fix for the future. It’s not just because the back isn’t straight in the pictures, I promise. I’m also planning to move the waistband of the skirt up an inch in future versions. It needed to be lower for modesty for this one, but with a longer skirt, I’d like a higher waist point.

link

And I even know how I can wear this dress! From season 2 episode 11 of Once Upon a Time. Technically she’s wearing a long sleeved sheer shirt under the jacket, but I’ve got to have some creative liberties with my subtle cosplaying!

July 20, 2013August 19, 2018

A chipped cup.

There’s no way to have a serger and not test it out with some nice fabric! On a lot of nice fabric!

Since the fabric I happened to have on hand already was woven and not at all stretchy, I wanted to buy some knits, so I could test it on some fabric that needs some of the stretch that a serger gives.

I was going for cheap knits, at first, so I bought remnants of some polyester double knit. The tan, blue, and yellow ones are all pretty scratchy, but I bought them mostly for practice, and to use as muslins for heavier knit projects. The gold dotted one is the one I really wanted. It’s a gorgeous fall gold, and if I wanted to be poetical I would say it reminds me of New England in autumn.

The minute the auction closed on my serger I thought that maybe this machine could give me a chance to try out some ideas for my Belle outfit. I’ve not had much luck with my regular sewing machine with stretchy fabrics, and though I’m working to change that the serger will overall come in handy.

For my real dress, I want a sweetheart necked bodice with a lace overlay, some sleeves, and a skater (circle) skirt.

The lace top to the real bodice is something I am planning to figure out another time, potentially with a coupon and really cheap stretch lace. I’ll be willing to shell out a little more money for better lace once I know how it will fit together.

But for now, I’d like to work on the skirt, see how and where I’d like it to fit, and then the bodice in turn, so that I know how I’d like to make the real dress.

Whenever I actually get around to that.

I started out with this fabric, which I knew I wanted as a skirt anyway, and I definitely wanted to try out a full circle skirt.

So I had folded a piece into a small square, with two folds, and cut out the waist. I then trimmed the hemline, knowing that I probably wouldn’t actually hem it. It is a lovely knit, but I knew that the skirt would already be a bit short on me. When possible, I prefer to give myself a higher waisted skirt. My smallest point around my midsection is pretty high up (as is my natural waist though that’s not quite as high), and I like to emphasize that when I can, which then requires longer skirts.

Then a waistband went on, though I didn’t quite plan it well enough and it came up short in the back. It was really at this point where I decided to think about putting on a bodice. I’m more willing to add extra work to my plate than come up with a simple quick fix for a skirt waistband.

I’ll talk about the bodice in my next post on this project!

July 17, 2013August 25, 2022

The reason I can’t finish projects

Is because I’ve got too many going at once.

Much too many.

Because I love to start projects.

The satisfaction I get at the end, when I finish them, can barely compare. Except in some cases. Rarely.

I can’t think of an example right now…

So, here are some examples of projects I’d like to start.

kog link

One that I’m going to start soon is a dress inspired by Kaylee’s origin story dress, in the episode “Out of Gas” and “The Message” of the show Firefly.

I’ve got the fabric I’ll use for it, but I haven’t done the proper research yet, but I’m going to start soon. Hopefully.

link

I’m also a big fan right now of Amy Pond’s red hoodie that she wears in a few of the early episodes of Doctor Who 2005’s fifth series.

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And I love Kaylee’s turquoise brocade mandarin jacket in the first episode of Firefly.

But I also am interesting in working on: Jayne’s blue sun shirt (Firefly), Amy’s black and yellow sleeveless shirt (Doctor Who), HG Well’s vest in the rocket episode (Warehouse 13). Enough of the frosting. I’m also interested in making some culottes, and some nice trousers. I’m also planning a high waisted skirt for a stealth steampunk look. And I am musing over the idea of creating a ballroom dance dress. I really enjoy dancing, and the waltz is my absolute favorite. But I don’t have anything to dance in for competitions!

I’ve got more ideas, but I’m going to continue on in another direction.

This past June I happened to find this awesome pennanular brooch at a medieval craft fair, and I have almost nothing to use it with. It’s quite heavy, made of iron I think, so I need something substantial to wear it with. I only have one item that fits this bill, but I’d like to be able to use it with a shawl for when I don’t quite need a sweater.

IMG_2596_medium2 link

I’d also like to work on some lacy hats. I’ve never liked wearing hats, but with the amount of bad hair days I seem to attract, I’m willing to give them a try. And lacy and slouchy hats can look quite cute. The one above is the first in my queue.

There are some other types of projects I’d like to work on as well.

link

I’m bringing my sewing things with me to college this upcoming year, but I’ll need an ironing board to go with my iron. I have been seeing a pin go around on Pinterest the past few weeks about an ironing board tv tray table. That sounds like fun!

link

I’m also planning on making myself a dressform. Likely out of duct tape, but I also have hopes for a form like this one. Being as I’m unwilling to pay damages for drilling a hole in the ceiling I’m also planning to make a stand for these to lie on and unless I find an awesome coat rack, I’ll probably make it out of pvc, like in this link! Or perhaps I’ll buy an umbrella stand, like this post suggests, to support a slightly smaller stand!

Whew. This is an awful long post, but I’ve saved my biggest project ideas for last.

I already have a ~~thriving~~ jewelry business called BeadsAndQuotes up on Etsy, though its on vacation until mid-August or so. I’m hoping to begin making my own clasps and earring wires, and expand some of my stock. Don’t even get me started on my project ideas for that.

As part of my jewelry business, I’ve also made illustrated quotes, like the one above, which I love to do but doesn’t quite fit in with a jewelry business. So I’ve been considering opening up a different shop to sell geeky cards and my illustrated quotes.

I’ve also really enjoyed my work with leather. It’s such an interesting and totally different kind of medium, and I would love to continue working with it, but I wouldn’t feel right selling it in either my current shop, or my proposed card shop.

And this isn’t even taking into account my job… or my schooling… or having a life.

Do you have any advice or suggestions?

July 16, 2013April 11, 2019

More than just an oversized IPhone

This is my final wrap up post for my Altoids tin Farnsworth.

farnsworth - front

I’ve decided that for projects that span more than two posts, I want to give more of a real goodbye.

Both the projects and I deserve it, in my humble opinion.

Here are the links to each post, in order from inception to completion.

Oh Farnsworth, my Farnsworth

farnsworth - dsc09302

Busy Bee

farnsworth - dsc09336

Elbow Grease

farnsworth - finished-squiggle

Loving the Fugue

I’m not laughing at you, I’m laughing with the horse

farnsworth - top

Proceed with the splaining.

The Farnsworth has fascinated me since I started to watch the show. I’m not actually a smartphone user, so at the time, it was really neat to have a communication device that was more face to face.

Yes, I know that there are apps like Facetime and Skype that will let you talk face to face, but I’m not quite up to date with technology.

Some of my thoughts on the construction:

Next time I want to make an altoids sized prop, I should weigh my choices better. If I’m going to cover the lid with something, like felt or paper, then an Altoids tin is fine, as the embossed lid will be covered. But if I’m just going to paint it, then I should find a tin without embossing.

It’s very neat that underneath the covering of the tin is a somewhat glossy coat. It didn’t even feel all that scratchy even with the sandpaper.

Rustoleum smells. But it does cover well, and I really enjoy the shiny coat from the glossy black paint. I do need to buy a few extra paint brushes next time. Or decide to do painting like this when I have a sink that is not white to wash the brush in. White porcelain and black paint don’t exactly work together. In my previous experience, at least. I decided not to wash out my one paintbrush, so each time I did a new coat the brush bristles were less and less bendable.

Wire requires proper tools to bend and work with it. I have bought some since, but I now definitely know that eyeglasses cases and nail clippers are not suitable.

Check the shipping address to make sure you aren’t sending your purchase to one of the other many addresses you may have on file. It happened to me… three times now. In the past month?

Realize in advance that cardboard is a wonderful substance, and though its not underappreciated, it should be acknowledged more often.

Glass can be quite heavy.

But all in all, the Farnsworth looks really good in my hand, and even in its diminutive state compared to show-accurate ones, I think its a pretty good build!

Onwards!

July 12, 2013October 14, 2018

Proceed with the ‘splaining

Did Claudia’s Farnsworth not disintegrate in the penultimate episode of this season? And then reappear in the season finale?

farnsworth - front

Well, whatever happened, I’m finished my version.

farnsworth - lens

I received my lens yesterday, which nearly completed my prep.

I still had not managed to solve the problem of the combination lock, as I needed to see how big the lens would be within the tin before I could move on to cutting up the microphone tip and making a combination lock.

There were a few circles of the microphone mesh, and a few ideas about the lock that circled through my head.

With a little work from my gold paint pen, I ended up using a rubber piece that I had cut off the microphone while I was taking it apart.

farnsworth - notebook cover2

The plan came together quite quickly last night.

farnsworth - notebook cover

First the cutting out of the black plastic piece. I had the cover from an old black Fivestar notebook handy, which I use to keep wall decals safe as I travel to and from dorms and college and such.

fansworth - mic cut

I had some extra space in the bottom of the tin that I could raise the plate structure up, so it looked more 3-d and still manage to close. I did this with a few layers of cardboard. I had to cut out a space for the wire mesh, though, so it would sit flush with the cardboard surface.

Then I cut out the circle to reveal the wire mesh, and glued on the “tuner.”

farnsworth - lens glue

The lens needed to be glued to some paper, to give it that blank screen look.

The assembly continued, and all pieces were glued together with super glue, which currently is my only adhesive option.

farnsworth - top

And I got my finished product! Do you like it?

farnsworthleft1

Edited: As of right now this is the end of this project. Follow it from its inception, to further planning, to sanding and painting, to the wirework, to the gold detailing, to (this) the gluing of all the components together.

July 8, 2013August 25, 2022

Off the wrist of a handsome Time Agent

So… I made a kind of vortex manipulator.

link

At least it feels like I made a vortex manipulator… perhaps a steampunk time manipulator would be a better term.

As in, “you forgot to wear me, so I’m giving you the wrong time” manipulation.

I bought this awesome self winding mechanical watch from Ebay, and had already been considering working with leather, because its just so cool, so I made myself a watch-band/cuff.

That vaguely looks like a vortex manipulator.

**And I would like to say in advance that all the leather I have bought so far have been remnants from companies, so I’m using what would have been thrown in the trash and discarded to source my minor projects, not whole skins. I know about the ethical dilemmas surrounding leather, and I have not yet finalized my opinions.

Many fun attempts with the leather came first, punching and cutting and drawing, and all sorts of amusing and loud means. I needed to get a feel for how the leather would work before starting in on the project.

I found out that the leather I had bought previously was not the right type of leather for tooling – the term for creating designs on leather by cutting and punching.

Then I bought more leather, the right kind of leather.

I cut out my cuff base out of dark brown leather, and roughly cut off my pieces for my designs out of the tooling leather.

I dutifully wet the leather, then I drew out my design. I have been doing pretty well just drawing free hand with a pencil, which won’t transfer the graphite on the wet surface.

Then I used my swivel knife to cut out the design

I used my newly acquired old leather tools to make my pretty patterns on them. One side is inspired by the TARDIS explosion painting, which I adore, and the other has some circular Gallifreyan components, inspired by these fan grammars.

Because my wrist is really tiny, I knew I was going to have a lot of bulk around the top of the wrist, where the watch itself would lay. In order to reduce this, even just slightly, I thinned out the leather on both sides of the tabs at the top of the tooling leather. The tooling leather attaches around the watch with an itsy bitsy rivet. Ain’t it cute?

The hole punch came out and I punched a bunch of carefully placed holes for my rivets and snaps, cut down some of the leather at the end of each strip, and put it all together!

It doesn’t lie flat very well, because the tooling leather takes a little more depth to make it around my wrist, so its a bit more three dimensional.

It looks awesome on my wrist though! I’m very happy with it!

Now I just need to train it to give the correct time…

Linked to Steam Ingenious’s July Link-up

July 2, 2013October 14, 2018

I’m not laughing at you, I’m laughing with the horse.

So I’m continuing work on my Farnsworth as I’m waiting for my new serger to decide it wants to sew.

If I have the option of not handsewing, I’ll avoid it.

With very few exceptions.

So I got the wires all glued in, though I’m not sure how permanent the super glue will end up being.

We’ll see!

farnsworth - left

I received my gold paint pen, and almost immediately got to work on some detail work.

farnsworth - full

The handwriting inside is a little too off center for my liking, but it will do for this project. If I ever redo the Farnsworth, I’ll be a little more exact and a bit more careful.

farnsworth - mic

Feel free to ignore my artsy photography choice above. I’m working on it.

Also I took apart a broken microphone, and will be using the microphone wire mesh for the same basic purpose on my version.

I just need to figure out how to cut it.

Perhaps I need some wire cutters.

Edited: As of right now this project is finished. Follow it from its inception, to further planning, to sanding and painting, to the wirework, to (this) the gold detailing, to the gluing of all the components together.

June 30, 2013

Whooshes and Swooshes

It’s been a month or two since I updated you on my TARDIS necklace.

It’s not quite my fault. Moving out of a dorm in another country to head home, then leaving nearly immediately to go to an internship practically just as far away. Things get away from you. I’m just happy I managed to remember to pack beading supplies for this leg of my travels.

But, I remembered to pack white thread this time, so I won’t be using clear beads and black thread. It was definitely on my list of things to not forget, in my whirl of packing and unpacking.

I’ve started again, this time with clear beads and white thread, and I’ve covered one faux pearl already. The faux pearls are how I am keeping the shape of the time rotor. I happen to have both silver and gold pearls on hand, but because the costume is mostly gold/warm toned, I’m sticking with the gold ones.

But the title of the post is whooshes and swooshes. We’ve gotten the whoosh, the sound that the TARDIS’s time rotor makes.

Now for the swoosh.

I’m working on part of my Belle necklace, a kind of beading muslin, much like the first time rotor necklace I made.

I already had some 15/0 seed beads on hand, which was my part of the original plan (in my head at least).

I began to work on the pattern I had created, but I realize now in hind sight that perhaps I should have started the planning on paper designed for peyote stitch designs. Because my hand drawings are not even or turning out very swoosh shaped…

I almost feel like I’m making a Pacman block.

I’m planning on printing out a sheet or two of peyote stitch paper, using this handy print out.

I’ll be working on these for the next few days, at least until I receive the thread for my serger! Then I’ll get to work on some of my other costuming and other sewing plans!

June 23, 2013August 19, 2018

Creative Process

Today I’m here to tell you all about my beadweaving process.

Welcome to my business notebook. My business notebook makes up for its lack of, well, business figures with lovely sketches of necklaces. Necklaces that I plan to make in the future.

Like this one! It’s a rough sketch of the necklace I’ll be working with for this post.

So this necklace will have a focal of a square metal worked flower thing. See, my grandmothers gifted me with some old earrings, mostly clip-on ones, but because I have little ears, most of these were too big for me, and the ones that weren’t clips won’t work for me because I’ve never pierced my ears.

My favorite ones are the sparkly diamond ones, but I’m saving those for some very special necklaces. The ones shaped like drops are probably going to be involved in my TARDIS costume.

Here are the beads I brought with me on my study abroad trip. There are definitely enough to make two necklaces, and I brought along a second pendant for that reason! The rectangular bead next to the square focal will be for the other necklace, and a number of the beads will be more involved with that one.

Here’s the plan. I’ll show you pictures of the in progress. My process is more visual than anything else.

Here it is about halfway through. This is still a testing phase, making sure all my plans actually look good in reality, instead of just in my head.

The problem with having a small workplace is that I can only do one project at a time, in the space. In the middle of the necklace making, I had to use the desk for something else, so here is all of the beads and the in-progress necklace packaged up in a small bag!

And here is the finalized necklace. Its a beautiful piece and drapes quite nicely.

When I return home to my other beads and necklaces, I’ll be putting the necklace up for sale! I’ll post the link when I get it up for sale!

June 22, 2013

What light from yonder umbilicus breaks?

I’ve made a bit of progress on the Farnsworth, and the painting is all done. That’s always a big plus.

But today I want to show you what progress I’ve made on something else.

This summer I don’t have access to my normal sewing supplies, as my summer employment required a flight. My sewing machine would not terribly like my suitcase. And its a bit too heavy. And I’ve got too much fabric to fit into one suitcase, let alone bring clothing to wear along with it.

This also means that I’m not planning on doing any subtle cosplay, as the major components of my wardrobe aren’t with me. And its much too hot here to wear jeans.

But none of this has stopped me from working on my plans.

It just happened to… slow them.

I bought this sewing kit from Amazon, and its a nice little starter kit. If you are new to sewing, and want something to work with for simple handsewing, this may be a good deal for you, but mostly I needed the scissors and the pins. I’ve had experience with enough unsharpened scissors and cutting fabric for me to need to invest in another fabric pair, even if the kit overall was cheap.

But anyway, back to the point of this post. I have begun work on my white vest for my Claudia costume.

I was going to try to find an online pattern, and while waiting for my Amazon package I did some extensive searching, but I came up with very few patterns that were close enough to help. I decided instead to make a pattern based on my measurements.

This is what I came up with.

I knew it would be a bit wonky, because I’ve rarely created a pattern that was wearable the first time, so I decided to make a muslin. I took an old sheet, traced my pattern, and gave some extra fabric space in the areas I suspected needed to be enlarged.

I unfortunately forgot to take a picture of this step. I was too excited and started sewing immediately. Hand-sewing.

On the plus side, my stitches are becoming more even?

Here’s what the muslin looks like when I’m wearing it. For being a first drafted pattern and handsewn by a machine lover, I think its a pretty good effort! I’m not quite sure if I want to do anything about the shoulders. The muslin makes the shoulder seam lift up a bit, and I think that might look okay with the final fabric. I’m going to increase the width of the fabric in the front, because I want to have a fairly wide inside seam there, so there is a nice appearance when the collar is folded over.

The front will match, I promise, it just was being too picky for pictures.

I found this awesome fabric a few years ago for my quilting stash, but I haven’t quite figured out how to use it yet. Granted, I’ve been without my sewing machine for all but two months of the year since then.

The fabric is a neon yellow-ish Gatorade color, with a floral pattern in black. Kind of a combination of this fabric, if this one was the background yellow. And without the stripes.

Claudia would love this fabric.

I’ve decided to line my vest in said fabric.

I’ve loved the idea of lining demure jackets and coats in crazy fabric, and this is my first opportunity to try.

I’ve got a heavy lead on a bid for a serger machine on ebay, and so I’m holding off until I know the outcome of that before I cut the fabric and move on, but if I am to handsew it, I’ll be using this technique to build a sturdy garment.

So that’s what I’ve got and where I’m going. Now that I’ve decided on my lining, the project won’t be fully finished until August, when I get back to my fabric stash.

Next step? Seam rip the muslin.