The Holiday Wishlist Project!

To those who celebrate it, happy Thanksgiving. If you'd like to know, in addition to my education, health, family, and my beloved friends, I'm thankful for:

• swear words
• strong drinks
• tea
• floaty, poofy and flattering dresses

So now that Thanksgiving is over and we've all discussed what we're thankful for, lets start thinking about the stuff we want... and... want to... give back...

Presenting the 2013 Holiday Wishlist Project!!!

So here's the lowdown: 

A few years ago- probably around 2009 as I was poking around DeviantArt, an artist I followed came up with this project. Here's how it goes:

The Basics:

You write a wish list, other people write wish lists. You peruse their wish lists and see if you can grant any of theirs, and others do the same. It's about making someone's holiday a little brighter, not OMFG GIVE ME PRESENTS. It's a nice feeling to give to others and grant their wishes, y'know?

Step 1:

Write a Christmas/Holiday wish list of 10 things. It can be any 10 wishes you'd like to have granted, no matter what they are, possible or impossible. They can be simple and fun (I'd love a drawing of my favorite fandom pairing) to medium (I would like a copy of Inglorious Basterds) to big and over the top (I want a new house/computer/mini motorbike) to kind of technically un-grantable. (I want to ace all my classes this semester) Just things that you truly wish for this holiday season.

Post that list on the Holiday Wish List Event Page.

Step 2

Poke around on the event page to see what other people have wished for, and here's where the magic happens: if you see a wish that you can grant, do so and make someone's wish come true! Perhaps you have an old leather jacket that you don't want anymore or a gift certificate you don't use- or who knows? Maybe your cat just had kittens and someone needs a furry new companion! Are you an expert at Physics and someone wished for a good grade in PHYS 101? Why don't you offer your hand at tutoring?

Remember, the key to this project is not to put people out, it's just a chance to help people who you might not have known you could have helped in the first place. Gifts can even be made anonymously if you'd like.

---

And that's about it. There are no real rules, no guarantees, and no strings attached. Just wish and send it out and maybe it'll come true. Give and you might receive and you'll get the joy of knowing you made someone's holiday special!

And if you'd like to know: 

My holiday wish list:

1. To pass all my classes this semester.
2. time and inspiration for more sewing projects
3. to learn to drape
4. a skateboard and lessons on how to use it... (I don't know why, I've just always wanted to learn)
5. a motorcycle and lessons on how to use it. (Don't judge. I really want to know.)
6. a record player.
7. stage fighting lessons or real sword training. (I'm a fast learner and a lot of people have shown me basics, I'd really like to learn more.)
8. tons of holiday parties and just generally more time with friends and opportunities to dress up
9. A banjo... and maybe lessons.
10. A mistletoe kiss. (traditional at this point)

the project event page is linked here so if you for some reason are reading this and aren't my friend on facebook: here you go!

Shameless Self Promotion

This is my blog, I'll do what I want with it:

Just a little spreading of the word in case someone stumbles across this little blog and finds me so profoundly interesting they want a chance to see me in action, Serenata (the singing group I'm in) is having a winter CD release party!

So there you have it a free concert, pretty ladies, amazing costumes, beautiful music, maybe a little reception afterwards?

I hope to see you there <3

I Promise Starbucks Isn't Paying Me: A Red Cup DIY

(although it'd be nice if they did.) and for doing this, not like... being a barrista as a summer job. I did that already.

Well, look at me delivering!

I promised a few DIY gift ideas so here you go:

Before we begin, an intro:

(take a drink, I'm gonna ramble.) I mentioned I LOVE this time of year, when the fog rolls into SF and it's cold and I can wear all these layers and knits that make me look like part hipster, part JC Penny's catalogue. I also like the Red Cup season.... I kind of don't remember what it's all about but it signifies that it will soon be winter and that's happy news for me.

Mmmmm Peppermint Mocha

Starbucks recently came out with a reusable cups that actually look like their paper cups. I'm a HUGE fan of "things that look like other things" especially if they are reusable things that look like fake things and one-time use that look real. (I don't know why.) There's a whole market for stuff like this and for some reason I love the shit out of it. Starbucks had come out with a few reusable cups before that looked somewhat like their paper cups but these were mostly ceramic with silicone covers. Problem is, I don't trust myself traveling with ceramic anything. (I broke a mason jar today while walking through Cost Plus because I didn't want to spend 10 cents at Beverly's.)

So, when they came out in plastic for $1? I ate that shit up and bought about 3 of them. I've always liked seeing the creative ways people draw on Starbucks coffee cups and since that's not within the realm of my design abilities I figured it'd be a good chance to try my and at it.

This weird overlapping busy look

Love it, can't recreate it for some reason.

Yeeeaaah, and then I drew DC characters:

               

SO TODAY, in an attempt to have a red-cup all year 'round I am going to try and show you a DIY to make yourself a re-usable Starbucks Red Cup. So here goes nothing!

Re-usable Red Cup

Now, you'll find this diy sort of works with any basic "add paper to a thing you want to last a while" so learn and adapt as you will.

You will need:

• 1 reusable plastic Starbucks cup (this one is a grande 16 oz. I don't know if they make them bigger.)
• An ex-acto kinfe or any other cutting implement you can find. (I've been known to use a utility knife to cut apart pages for design projects. It really freaked out my professor.)
• a sponge brush
• Outdoor Mod Podge.
• 1 Venti size paper Red Cup

The process:

Step 1: 

a face only a mother could love.

Finish the grande latte you got in a venti cup because you figured if you were going to go to starbucks anyway you might as well get breakfast too. (It's still breakfast if it's 11. Right?) Don't worry about your caffeine intake, the vibrating will help you out with a later step. Then wash the cup out, or else everything gets sticky.

Step 2:

Remove the lip and the bottom of the paper cup. 

this is actually a grande/medium cup because I did this before I realized I needed a bigger one.
You can take a drink because I fucked up. Also ignore the painfully messy desk.

 cut down the side as well to flatten out the paper.

Step 3:

Roll the corner of the paper between your fingers until you can see the layers of cardboard coming apart. Ideally you want to separate the inked red layer from the other three layers.

 Once you've sort of separated the layers, you can peel them apart. Be careful because you do run the risk of ripping the red layer and we're trying to save that shit. The idea is to get the red layer as thin as possible so we can easily manipulate it onto the cup.

Yes, I'm wearing green jeans. What of it?

Step 4:

Wrap your paper around the cup to make sure you did this right and it's all the correct size. The top edge of the paper should be flush with the lower ridge around the top of top of the cup- NOT the lip that the cap locks onto. (It'll stick better if it doesn't have to go over a lot of... level changes.)

Once re-assured you didn't fuck up, take mod podge and apply it liberally to the back of your paper and slap that shit onto the cup. Fold the ends down and trim them with your cutting implement.

and it's MOD podge, none of this "modge podge" shit.

 

Step 5:

I feel like you guys knew where this was going. Start coating the outside of your cup in mod podge. Get a good layer on there and let it dry. You're going to do this about 5 times.

Wait until the mod podge gets clear before you add the next layer.

Take this time to do your homework. Which also requires you to be on blogger. Look at me being responsible! (That is an analysis of page layout in comic books. It's for one of my DAI intro classes.)

It doesn't really matter what kind of stroke you use to apply the stuff until the end. When you think your'e getting into your last few layers, start using a stabbing- I mean dabbing motion with your brush so you get a more textured look. This is where the whole, vibrating-from-having-too-much-coffee thing helps. You don't HAVE to do this if you like the... woody? Liney texture that the sponge brush gives to mod podged stuff. Since I don't I went this way instead because it was closest to the look of the original plastic cup- which also had that sort of texture to it. 

I think they call it stippling...

Anyway lather, rinse, repeat until you think you have enough layers. Then let it dry until you're comfortable using it. I don't think this is dishwasher safe but I don't have a dishwasher so that's not a problem for me. Now everything in my bedroom smells like mod podge but I kind of couldn't care less... probably the fumes talking.

In-de-fucking-stinguishable. At least, not from far away.

You can do this with magazine cutouts that you want to apply to a cup or scrap booking paper- you can peel it apart like I did this cup if it's too thick... or just get the thin stuff. That process is a little trickier because you might need a template for the outside of the cup... Maybe I'll tutorial that later.

I really hope this was understandable as this was my first... full-assed tutorial. Let me know if someone else tries this DIY.

And spare tidbit, I guess. My current favorite drink is a soy (I'm lactose intolerant,) sugar-free (if I can get it) cinnamon dolce latte. Except I keep forgetting I like cinnamon dolce because I don't like cinnamon candy. For the times I'll forget I will usually get a peppermint mocha (also soy) but usually it's just a plain soy latte because most places I go use vanilla soy milk which is pretty sweet already. It's also fucking expensive to not be able to process lactose... Soy milk is like, 50 cents more in some places! That shit adds up!

Oh, the tutorial's over. I don't know why you're still reading this. Enjoy.

A Most Wonderful Time

For those of you who don't like filler posts, maybe just skip to the bottom where I'll have an update on what's to come. Everything from here is wind up. 

Start skipping

So usually, my favorite time of year is from the week before Thanksgiving, through to New Years. This is because of a few things: 

1. I feel like it's the only time it's okay to hear Christmas carols on the radio 
2. the weather in SoCal is cold enough for layering and the weather in NorCal gets gray and/or rainy. 
3. I get to buy/make things for people.
4. I get to spend a lot of time at home
5. Starbucks Red Cup season. I just like the cups.
6. Increased parties/excuses to have parties... the nice kind.

I feel like that's enough reasons, right?

Anyway, for some reason, the feeling's come early this year so I'm starting some holiday planning early as well. You know, before finals really kick in.

From Christmastime last year. My first Christmas tree ( Before you get sad, you should know: I'm jewish)

Unfortunately, due to school and just difficult scheduling, I won't be able to participate in Dickens Fair this year.  For those of you who don't know what Dickens Fair is, it's like Renaissance Faire, but in Victorian London and there are book characters from the works of Charles Dickens running around. It's REALLY fucking awesome.

Click it. Cliiiiiiick iiiiit.

I play the cheapest kind of whore. Not even joking.

credit: Richard Lowe Jr

Stop skipping/The point

So what can you expect to see here, now that we're in my favorite time of year? (seriously, hold me to this because studies have shown just announcing stuff like this gives us the positive feedback we need to keep us from needing to fulfill things we've planned, like new years resolutions.)

• A holiday dress project
• some diy holiday present ideas. For those of us who like to pretend that making things is cheaper than buying them.
• Happy ______ posts for assorted holidays
• An announcement of Serenata's winter CD and release party
• The return of the Holiday Wishlist Project (I'll explain when it happens)
• MAYBE a victorian corset project.
• A post about a fail.

So stay tuned!

Half-Assed DIY

Sometimes, I make shit so I don't have to buy it. And YOU CAN TOO.

I will admit I have a bit of a problem with being crafty. I have a pinterest account where I commit far too much time to pinning DIY stuff. Occasionally I'll go out and get crafty. I will admit it can sometimes get expensive.

I don't know if I mentioned it in the procrastination Sailor Dress post,  but I'm warming to the idea of adding more rockabilly and retro clothes into my wardrobe. One of the basics I've seen at Bettie Page and other stores are scoop-necked cardigans

 

one from Bettie Page

Plasticland

Unfortunately, these tend to run expensive at stores, much like most retro-looking clothes, which I find somewhat stupid when it comes to fucking cardigans but whatever. Thankfully Target came to my rescue. I found a bunch of cardigans on sale and had the high neck. I felt they were too plain on their own so I decided to embellish one:

obligatory before

I chose an applique I had saved from a jean skirt I had in seventh grade because that's what I had lying around. Before I threw out the skirt, I cut the embellishment, figuring I'd need 'em one day. 9 years later, I did.

cutting away the denim

After everything was cut away, I hand-stitched the edges of each piece to the collar of the cardigan. I had to chop up the apliqué

BAM. Embellished caradigan

I feel like another blog would make this a DIY with like, step by step instructions on how to customize your cardigan but here on The Stitchin' Bitch, I'll give you the same instructions I followed:

1. Find cardigan
2. Find things around the house you want to put on cardigan
3. put things on cardigan.

TOOOO be fair, DIYs go as far as to tell you how to put the things on your cardigan so here's my guide to putting things on other things:

Fabric applique and other fabric-ey things

If you bought it at a store, chances are, there are instructions to attach your applique on. Usually it's ironing, if you're lazy like me. If you did what I sometimes do and just cut pieces out from old clothes and other fabric pieces, take a needle, take thread, and sort of stitch the pieces down however you see fit. Either in and out uhm... running stitch(?) or whip-stitch... it might be better to whip or invisible hand stitch. If you google it, you'll find plenty of ways to sew things down. This method also works for buttons and beading.

Studs and bedazzley things

If you're like me and can never find your (mom's) bedazzler when you need it, never fear: that shit ain't magic. Seriously, there are little pointy studs on the other end of the bedazzling studs that you just poke through fabric and fold over. BAM 90's jacket. You can bend the ends with a pair of pliers or use your nails.

Pretty much everything else

So things like fur trim, rhinestones, and puff paint and feathers... even buttons and studs, can sometimes just be attached with GLUE. I like fabric glue because it's usually designed for that stuff. I'll also use hot glue if I need to. Hot glue is seriously my best friend when it comes to crafts, it's pretty versatile an hides better than duct tape. 

and the come in fun prints.

So for those who needed it: there you go, If you're determined, you too can stick stuff to other stuff and make it look like you spent $150 on clothing from Anthropologie. 

Here's a link to my Pinterest with a board, specifically called "If They Ask, You Got it at Anthropologie" it's got a lot of other DIY projects including a LOT of cutout tees.

Here, I attached it to a unicorn for you.

Next time (potentially:) The next big project.

The Gold Belle Gown

Quick Overview

Materials

• Dijon silk dupioni
• Yellow/gold habotal
• yellow canvas
• yellow grosgrain ribbon

Total time: Around 1 month. I took long breaks

Drinks: Crabbies alcoholic gingerale, lots of hot chocolate

Noise: Smallville, House of Hades by Rick Riordan- for the skirt, Beauty and the Beast Musical soundtrack.

Overall, this was an interesting learning experience. I've never made something that I hadn't really designed myself. I'd always wanted to make a cosplay and Belle was as good as anywhere to start. I ended up wearing it to a halloween party with some of my good friends who were also Disney princesses. The process kind of sucked at times and I didn't quite get around to finishing a few seams. All around, the dress looks great from far away and is a bit messier close-up. 

The texture difference between the bodice and the skirt is perfect. I can't understand why anyone wouldn't use a light/sheer material for the shoulders either. The gloves were sort of difficult to eat/drink with but in the end I still managed to get by. I owe so many thank-yous to my fairy god siblings who helped me through the process, in particular, Beth (dressed as Aurora, here) who I consulted probably every 10-20 minutes as I was working.

Putting on the dress for the first time was a bit of an experience in of itself. Whenever I'd dress up before I'd never really had a sense feeling like a princess, whether I was in a faire costume as nobility or even in my other halloween costumes as a kid. I think between having the control to indulge in my cosplay OCD as well as having undertaken the entire process myself, really helped. I really felt like a princess in this gown. I felt pretty and for a moment I felt a bit like I could have stolen the dress from the movie. Which is exactly what I wanted. In the end, this costume's filled me with a strange sense of pride and I'm glad my first cosplay was this.

I said it once, I'll say it again, these guys are the stupid best.

I will admit, I had a moment with one of the FGSes in which I KNEW it was her, I'd seen her process pictures, and she still scared me.

My friends are cooler than yours.

It had to be done. The original in case you've been living under a rock

Thanks to Mark, Beth and Kerianne for the photos!

Next time: something light

Happy Halloween, everyone-

The Stitchin' Bitch <3

New and a Bit Alarming (a.k.a. Belle part III)

hehe, see what I did there?

The Bodice

Because I'm too busy to make myself a real corset and I'm a busty girl, (hehe, busy and busty) I was having a seriously difficult time deciding on whether I'd be wearing a bra or not. I decided that I would cut and fit the bodice with a bra on and invest in invisible straps. The bodice would still be  As I planned the piece, I realized I'd need to ensure that the body would have enough support to hold everything *ahem* in.

two layers of canvas

I had a lot of spare canvas left and while you can't tell, there was some silk left but I'm afraid it won't be enough for the draping around the skirt. We'll find out.

Canvas structure and silk fashion fabric, waiting to be sewn. 

And there you have it, two layers of structure and one layer of fashion

I'm really loving how the gold is photographing. I think it was a good balance between yellow and gold. Also I cut the dupioni so that the shlubs ran vertically. This was simply out of habit as years of personal hang-ups have sort of scared me a way from small horizontal lines.

With everything cut, it's time for construction:

About Boning...

My corset creation history is somewhat shallow: I've made two Elizabethans of my own and a FGS made me a Victorian she has blocked from her memory. In the pheasant dress as well as in my corsets, I've used heavy-duty plastic zip-ties I purchased from Home Depot and then cut and shortened painstakingly with wire cutters as boning. I've worn corsets with spiral steel and white steel boning as well but they've met unfortunate ends... or never started. Recently a FGS suggested trying to use lumber ties (the things they use to hold lumber together at Home Depot.) They're wider than zip ties, they're stiffer and also THEY'RE FREE.

Soooo I made my way to Home Depot where supposedly I could pick these things up from the ground. Just my luck, they'd already swept up. I was informed if I wanted lumber ties, I'd have to fish for them.

The world is your oyster.

Naturally the lumber tie I wanted was buried deep in the crevasses of the trash bin so naturally I dove in to pull it out. I probably shouldn't have been holding my cell phone at the time as it dropped into the bin and I had to really get in there to fish it out.

That was around the time I got stuck.

I was helped out by the nice lady who pointed me out to the can in the first place. I then had to explain to her why I needed lumber ties in the first place. Thankfully I left Home Depot with more than enough lumber ties for a few projects... although, with a little less dignity.

that's one tie.  I got 3 of them

I used yellow grosgrain ribbon as the channels for my corset rather than mathing-out the corset channels myself and I don't think I'm every going back. The ribbons and I'm assuming bias tape were a great way to figure out where the channels were going visually and frankly, I like the look. When I work on my next corset I'm going to see if I can do this again.

Bones, cut to size and rounded at the edges (surprisingly easy)

I applied boning to the back seams of the bodice, along the side seams and short ones along the darts at the front of the bodice. I'm not sure how the dart boning is going to work out, but I"m willing to give it a shot. If it doesn't work out, I can always remove them. I'm considering adding one more bone on the side but I can't imagine it'll help much.

I then laid the two layers of canvas over each other, stitched them- right-sides-in, then sewed the channels directly through both layers... essentially treating the canvas layer as one layer... Then it came time to sew the silk to the bodice and I'd realized I'd made a mistake somewhere...

I couldn't flip the thing inside out again because the channels tacked the canvas layers together so I cried a bit, and then consulted an FGS who advised that I rip the neck and back seams and fold the hems in to stitch them down. (drink for fucking up)

Once all the layers were sewn down, I topstitched the bottom of the bodice, and hand couched the lacing holes in back.

Also featuring the grosgrain ribbon channel. SOOOO USEFUL.

And then the skirt:

As previously stated, I had a math goblin working on my skirt which started as a full-on circle skirt pattern. Later I had the math goblin change the design again to make a gored skirt with pleating. Then the pleated skirt pattern looked... bad. Finally I brought the whole project home to my parents' place where the Mom unit gave the project one glance and said, "ruche it."

Sometimes the simplest solution is the easiest.

for a forty inch long skirt panel, I doubled the length and cut eight panels.

the mockup. it was long, I felt like a fisherman with an overly large catch.

The mockup went well and looked like what I wanted. I was both relieved and annoyed I didn't decide on it sooner. I ran gathering threads along the sides of each panel, and shortened them to 40 inches.

the relief I felt after each panel was finished was somewhat absurd

It's always really cool when your work starts to look like the thing you designed.

The final step was tacking on the trim around the middle of the skirt and the shoulders. It was easy enough hand-work and in the end I actually had more dupioni than I thought. (Celebratory drink for having just enough fabric for the whole thing!)

Next time: the final product.