Tag Archives: handmade

SLEEVELESS

29 July 2013 by Julianne

I cut the sleeves off my Galaxy dress!

I have such a bad habit of cutting my sleeves and shoulders too tight! I like that slim look, but it makes the garment uncomfortable which makes it stay in my closet. Even though I knew that the sleeves weren’t working for me, I was reluctant to remove them. It meant admitting another failure, and there was no going back. But in reality, it was improving the fit of a great dress, like the ol’ caterpillar/butterfly scenario. Lately I’ve been focusing on identifying and removing roadblocks in my life, and small projects like this can really help with momentum for bigger changes.

The sleeves were nice, but maybe all that cotton candy tie dye was a little overwhelming. Since the neckline of the dress is high, it’s really great to have more skin exposed, and now this dress will be even more wearable.

I’ve enrolled in Craftsy’s Sew the Perfect Fit class, and eventually I will actually go through the lessons. This will be the first time in my life to have ever taken a formal-ish sewing lesson! Everything I know I picked up from my mom, and years of trial and error. Hopefully there will be properly fitted sleeves in my future! Of course, this will have to wait until after Burning Man. So many plans for September!

BEEHIVE TURBAN

28 January 2013 by Julianne

As soon as I started knitting, I was most excited about knitting things to wear at Burning Man. I love showcasing my sewing projects on the playa, and it’s great to have a new medium to get creative with. Of course I’m wearing this turban off the playa too!

I’m so pleased and proud of how this hat turned out. It’s actually my fifth hat, and used the smallest needles yet (and therefore had more stitches than any other project).

The Striped Beehive Turban was designed by Christine Grant. I’m still new to reading knitting patterns, but hers was easy to follow. I knit the ribbing with 72 stitches, then increased to 84 for the orange and blue bands, and it fits me perfectly. I chose to gather from the radius and covered my awful seaming, and wrapped those stitches in yarn (from the side, it reminds me of an angler fish).

I picked Sheep-ish yarn for its bright colors and soft feel, plus it was on sale at Joann. The yarn is pretty loosely twisted, so I’d be afraid of pilling if I were to use this yarn for a garment. Also, I kept getting my wonderfully pointy new needles stuck in the yarn. So while I might not buy this yarn again, I think it was a great choice for this project.

My friend Shing made this clay button as a wedding gift (she also made the rocket pendants on our chandelier). It perfectly matches all the colors, although it didn’t occur to me to pair it with my turban until it was complete.

I have enough of these yarns to make a second turban, switching the colors around, and I’m thinking about making it inside out, with 4 purled rows and 10 knit rows (the reverse of the pattern). I’ll also modify the pattern to knit in the round, because I kind of like the jogged stripes, in a brushstrokes way [it reveals the technique and the hand of the artist– so glad I have a degree in art history!].

RAINBOW RIBBON BOOTS

15 October 2012 by Julianne

Well, time to being showing off the wedding clothes! The boots seem an appropriate place to start, seeing as I’ve posted about them a few times already (and half the comments on my Animal Collective tee were asking about the boots!).

Black Rock City in the background! I totally love this picture Jason took.

As soon as we got engaged, I planned on wearing some handmade Thai boots from Siamese Dream Design. And while I love my boots to death, they weren’t completely comfortable. I was fine wearing them all day, but so happy to take them off at night. I wanted something better, and might as well make it myself!

I had made the base of the boot in 2011, the night before we left for Burning Man. And they rocked! I loved the gold, which wasn’t too shiny. I used a zip-top sneaker from Kmart at the base and glued the gold cover on with E6000. It’s held up with no problem, making that stuff the greatest glue ever. As I was making these boots at midnight the night before we left for Burning Man, there are no pictures!

This year I replaced the old, slightly too tight zipper with a fabulous teal and gold zipper. I used red upholstery thread (from my Grandma’s sewing room) and sewed it by hand. And then came the trim… I spent $50 at Lincoln Fabrics on all these beautiful ribbons and trims, and picked up a few other pieces at Fabric Planet. The fabrics and zippers were in my stash, but pretty much none of the trims.

Most of it is sewn by machine, which made the decorating a breeze! Some of it is glued on. This time around, I switched to Beacon fabric glue. I’ve had great results on other projects, but it wasn’t tough enough to hold all the trim in place on the boots. Which isn’t to say that it’s a bad glue (it was much easier to work with and smell than E6000). I’ll be picking off the old glue and re-attaching the trim at the bottom of the boot, and hand-sewing the rest.

I lined the shaft of the boot with some cotton jersey I had left over from leggings, so they are comfortable to wear with short socks.

I wore the boots throughout the week. They were eye-catching and much remarked upon, but most importantly: they were always comfortable! And perfect for the wedding.