Tag Archives: handmade

RAINBOW WALLET

20 February 2011 by Julianne

Last week my wallet was stolen. I won’t go into it here, how a guy actually watched the store and planned, how he went straight to the workroom the one time I was busy with customers in the front, or how he grabbed my wallet and ran out the backdoor. Neither will I get into how much loosing a week’s pay has fucked me up, or how I couldn’t pay the mechanic because my credit cards have all been frozen (those sweet Swedes told me to come pay them next week). This is about my new wallet.

That’s right, I keep a picture of me and Rick Steves in my wallet.

In concept it’s actually quite similar to my old wallet, but now that’s a non sequitor. The seafoam green vinyl has been in my stash for a couple years; I got a big piece for $2 at a Joann’s in Ohio. I love the color but it’s tricky to work with! The sticky plastic doesn’t slide through my machine at all, so I wind up facing it with tissue paper and tearing that off. The extra step gets tedious, but it seems to work. Anyone else have any other methods for working with a non-slip material?

The rainbow is a variety of fold-over elastics from Fabric Planet that I stitched onto some white ripstop nylon. I really love the way it shimmers through the vinyl! The loop is an awesome metallic elastic we have at the store; I will be putting a chain through it to clip onto my bag (which wouldn’t have prevented the theft, but it helps me keep track of my wallet).

Now I’m wishing I had used another color strip so that the wallet would be a bit wider, but as it is it works pretty well for me.

In other news, I’m about to head back to NOLA for March, so postings may be a bit sporadic until April. Laissez les bonnes temps roulez!

PINK TUX BODYSUIT

4 February 2011 by Julianne

Oh my, how I love this new pink bodysuit! It’s the only complete costume I made for Burning Man 2010 (all other costumes had their debuts elsewhere). You bet your ass I listened to a lot of Bowie while making this.

These pictures were all taken at a Burner Halloween party in downtown LA, with Jason as an exterminator and Cosmo as a space bunny (I made Cosmo’s suit as well). I’m totally impressed that Jason was able to get pictures this good in a dark alley!

Unfortunately all the supplies for this suit were purchased new, but on the bright side it was less than $25! The fabric is from Joann’s, while most of the trimmings are courtesy of Fabric Planet. It was an incredible amount of pinning to get everything laid out correctly! The thick gold braid was sewn on with my machine (and strategically placed to offer bust support), while the gold ribbon was sewn and glued.

There’s an invisible zipper down the front, which is made even more invisible by the gold ribbon with the star buttons on either side. I flip-flopped between a rainbow or a simpler color scheme, which explains the multicolored trim for the shirtfront shirring. The gold sequin bowtie was a very timely arrival at Fabric Planet, and my friend Maria Fomich made the nuclear reflector pin for Burning Man.

I love how the cummerbund turned out! It’s a fuchsia sequin chain applique and matching rhinestones on ruched gold lycra. There was an incredible amount of engineering involved in that. I had to negotiate the shortest possible zipper length, because I didn’t want the belt split completely but I still needed to take the suit off easily. I tried to make the design dynamic but not distracting from the rest of the costume. Another goal was that I hoped the carefully placed decoration would hide some slight belly bulge, and I’m very satisfied with that.

In addition to looking fabulous, this bodysuit is also very comfortable. Originally I cut out the torso a bit too short, and so I had a definite camel toe that was mentally and physically uncomfortable. A diamond-shaped insert at the crotch took care of the tightness, and now I’m right as rain with full range of motion.

The epaulets weren’t part of my design but they were too perfect to pass up. I painted the brass circles with some magenta acrylic paint and added a dab of glitter nail polish and they fit right in.

The gold top hat was made out of cardboard to go with the costume, because I simply couldn’t go out without a top hat! Now all I need is a cane. That lights up and shoots lazers.

Yep, then I’ll be all set!

WAXED JEANS

26 January 2011 by Julianne

Would you call these pants jeans? The fabric is rather denimy, but I haven’t owned a pair of jeans since 2008 and it feels strange to start up again! I decided to make these pants in anticipation of the arrival of new boots. In one week my wardrobe grew about 10%. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to wear my new boots since the day I got them, but on the bright side it’s been 75º and sunny in LA!

This fabric is so cool! Of course it was from Fabric Planet, but we’re sold out now so don’t try to copy me. The back side of the fabric is a weave of black and gray threads that looks awesome and is soft. The front side of the fabric is jet black and has a waxy coating with a sheen. I’m reminded of painted pants I saw in Europe of couple years ago, complete with tags warning against sitting on white sofas. In fact these pants do turn my legs black (I had to buy a loofa!) and have just about ruined my bike seat.

A few days before starting on these pants I saw a guy in Venice (CA) wearing a mean-looking coat with a green clown on the back of it. When I saw him again on the strand later that week it was his jacket I recognized, and that made me realize that with all the effort and skill I put into my clothes I want strangers to remember them! In a roundabout way, that’s why I did all the stitching on the back pockets. I generally prefer to do my decorative stitching by hand and only use the basic stitches on my machine, but this design was a whim and I’m glad I went for it.

It seems rather ridiculous to me that these pockets took over an hour to make, but then again I was allowing myself to be distracted. I thought the asymmetrical shield shape would be interesting and (hopefully) flattering. The curved stitching line was also in the goal of some booty contouring. I’ll be the first to tell you that I’ve got a nice tush, and sometimes I get preoccupied with making it look even better. Success?

Between the color, the fit, and the shine, these pants have a hard edge, but I think the contrast fabric and the decorative stitching all over softens the look and makes them more my own style. I’ve had black pants in my wardrobe a few times but they’ve never managed to stick around for more than a few wearings. I think this time I will actually keep these not-so-basic black pants!

And how about these new boots? They’re local and vegan and comfortable–after I did a bit of tailoring in the leg!