made by Julianne

RAINBOW SHORTS

20 November 2014 by Julianne

Somehow in the mad rush that is preparing to leave for Burning Man, I whipped up some new shorts for my husband.

However I forgot that I was supposed to line them, and the loosely woven fabric started pulling while he wore them on the playa. Now they have a comfy, worn-in attitude that only comes from giant patches and after-the-fact lining.

I got this polyester upholstery fabric from Fabric Planet in Venice, and used 1 yard for the shorts. The fabric wasn’t quite wide enough, so I found a gray twill in my stash and used it all up on the side panels, waistband, and pockets. The lining fabric sat in my stash for only a few weeks, and was left over from a client’s project.

Our last name is Siadek and I love the little gold S pattern.

It’s a pattern that I drafted myself and tweaked over the years, and I feel like I’ve finally achieved a good fit for Jason. So now I’m just going to make 5 new pairs.

He calls these his ‘dress shorts’ and wears them to parties and other fun events, usually with sandals and his purple shirt (which I think is his favorite). He really loves this capri length, and I love making him clothing that suits his personality and comfort requirements without looking sloppy or boring.

ROBIN HOOD HAT

13 November 2014 by Julianne

One of my Burning Man camp-mates called me up and said “My production company needs a hat replicated, and we need it in two days!” and I said “OK,” and so I made a Robin Hood hat.

But maybe a little more context first? Stan Lee did a photoshoot in which he dressed up as Errol Flynn’s Robin Hood, as a promotion for World of Heroes that would be on display in ArcLight Theaters (You can see my friend Paul on the floor behind Stan in the video).

They wanted to display some artifacts from the shoot in selected theaters, but the original hat was only a rental and could not go on tour. So it was my job to create a replica that would be on display.

I was on a serious time crunch, and the only felt I could find was nylon. I tried tinting the fabric in brown dye, which totally didn’t work. Color correction was shelved for later. As a starting point, I used this tutorial to make a sample, and tweaked the pattern from there.

In order to recreate the structure of the blocked hat, I made the hat double layered, and fused the two pieces of felt together with iron-on bonding paper. I added fabric glue to the inside of the crown as a sizing, and then gave the entire hat a wash of watered down acrylic paint to make the color more accurate.

Even though my hat was only made for display, it will probably go to Stan Lee when the campaign is over. Neato!

This project was a fun and challenging mix of sewing and craft skills. I wasn’t really sure how I would make it when I started, but I was confident every step of the way. I made the deadline, I got the check, and this project was a total success!

CHEVRON GENIE PANTS

23 October 2014 by Julianne

Jeez, this should have been posted in July! Lucky for current-me, cause I’m swamped with projects for clients that aren’t bloggy. I have a few big projects coming to completion soon, so you’ll see how busy I’ve been!

A few weeks ago I went shopping in the fabric district with some friends, and naturally we ended up at Michael Levine Loft.

Aleah, Sandra, Nhi, and me

Fabric was $2.50/lb, and I walked away with 11.85 lb (Sandra had a little more). Among my haul was a swishy rayon with black and green chevrons. I wasn’t sure about the colors, because it’s dark and I rarely wear green, but the fabric was perfect for some new genie pants.

I followed my own DIY genie pants tutorial, with a couple modifications. I made these pants with pockets and side seams, and there will be a follow-up tutorial for that.

The other departure is that I tapered the legs about 4″ from the inseam and side seams on both front and back. I wanted these pants to be casual lounge wear, and the super puffy legs felt so conspicuous.

I also made the tank top. It was a $1 remnant, and super smooth charcoal gray jersey (with rayon?). The seams were serged with red thread on the right side of the shirt, and then I topstitched them to lay flat. It’s strange to see myself wearing all dark colors!

They’re comfortable and casual and I love them!

Another word from current-me: after a lot of wear, this rayon fabric is starting to pill. Also the elastic waistband is wearing out a bit; I’ll replace this with a higher-quality spadex. I still have a bunch of this fabric, but now I’m reluctant to make anything that requires a lot of effort.