WIP - vogue 1236 (dkny)

still needs:

-hemming
-slip stitch the openings on shoulder straps
-belt
-laundering (to get rid of the marks)

full frontal:

you can still see the basted pleats in this photo.

close-up of the pleats, sans basting, avec lots of markings:

and a seam shot:

yay lace!

there were definitely some steps i skipped because i JUST WANT TO FINISH THIS DAMN DRESS (e.g. understitching the facings, connecting straps the correct way so the seams are enclosed). next time i'm probably not going to include the pockets, because let's face it, i cannnot go anywhere without a purse. also, i'm probably going to underline it with muslin because i don't like fusible interfacings.

my pictures are magical

no joke. five minutes after i drew the picture below because the entire office thought that we weren't being let go early pre-holiday weekend, and after i pasted my cube with copies of this picture, hr person went around the office telling everyone they can go home (because the head of our office didn't want to leave an email trail). thus - my drawing is magical.

allies blog is better than you

hyperbole & a half's new post is so much more awesome than my blog will ever be. this is a 100% realistic depiction of my feelings.

serious post

time for serious post y'all.

first wanted to show you my *real* sewing machine. i know! the other one was a hand drawn peeeeekcher. go figure. 

i quickly (read: 2 hours) whipped up a pair of toddlers mittens. i planned on hand-making all my holiday donations. i know! so charitable. me. 

totally adorable right? gray fleece & pink/brown houndstooth applique. go me. making the toddler's world chic'er 2 mittens at a time.

then today i answered a craigslist ad from a guy who's been trying to get rid of his late mother's fabrics. 1$ a piece, regardless of size. what a deal! here's the haul. i spent 11 bucks on fabrics (that's 11 pieces) and a some notions (bias tape/seam tape/etc).

goods, individually listed:

shirting cotton

polyester blend glenplaid

sage ish cotton plaid

this one is pretty. i want to say it's at least a wool blend.

no idea what this is... feels like wool blend as well. solid red.

black & navy felt. heavy.

navy polyester blend

one of my favourite finds! gorgeous purple wool with backing. 2 pieces and i convinced the guy to sell me as one piece.

really cute polyester print. great for dresses/skirts/or this shirt from sewaholic.net. so cute.

this is definitely my top find. silkish (i'm gonna guess it's poly tho). has a kind of sheen to it on one side, so maybe polyester with a satin weave? i don't know! i'm a total novice when it comes to fabrics.

so that's my big friday night - sifting through cardboard boxes for fabrics on someone's enclosed porch. oh then kurtzen & i went to the antique extravaganza @ MAC... of course money was spent there as well... photos to come...as we're going the entire weekend to take full advantage of the "admission is good all weekend" ticket.

sewing machine yah!

i finally got my sewing machine!! it's a brother cs6000i - one that's gotten rave reviews for beginner sewers like me :) here's a 100% realistic depiction:

broke my first needle on the sewing machine last night. {alright!} i can't wait to go home start/finish projects!!

case of the mondays

yawning or crying for help? you decide. 

psych!

i'm not done drawing. NOT EVEN CLOSE.

the pink stuff on its back is pink moss. because it's in water all the time, providing the perfect moist condition for moss to grow. only pink moss grows because it takes nutrition from the hippo's pink hide. GET IT?

back to sewing stuff

ok! i don't know how my sewing blog turned into a scribbling blog, but NO MAS.

last night i was laying in bed, and i had the sudden urge to buy fabrics with duckies on them. the same urge also made me want to immediately get out of bed and draw duckies in paint. i didn't. because the bed was really comfy. so i did it this morning. goddamn it this is the last scribbling i swear - but at least it's sewing related.

so obviously i don't know how to draw duckies. well i don't know how to draw duckies that looks different from chickies and birdies. i will research and investigate.

um. aside from that, i think i'm joining the sew along from ms. gertie. she's starting a beginner's one early December. that gives me plenty of time to get my sewing machine, pattern, and fabrics. i'm pumped.

EDIT: i've been practicing my duckies & chickies.

 duckies

chickies

for my ff11 buddy

this was requested by my ff11 buddy, hotsuma. he lurrrrrrrrves his smn.

final fantasy 14

i am the premier #2 alchemist in my linkshell. if you don't know what i'm talking about, the picture is not for you.

do not want

when i posted this, i was fumbling with my outlook because i have received notification for 2 to 3 weeks now telling me that my inbox was going to explode from sheer size. every day i have to move stuff into my personal folder for a good 30 minutes, but then more stuff comes in and piles up.

after griping about this to my coworker, she suggested that i check webmail to see if stuff has been clogging up the outbox and trash folder. i logged on and lo and behold, there were 192 unread items with pdf attachments that i had moved to my personal folder on my desktop, but decided to reside on the server regardless. my mailbox size shrank immediately from 200mb to 6mb. to thank her, i drew my coworker a picture. she set it as her wallpaper. 

i work in the title insurance field, and when people (owners / developers / sellers) don't pay general contractor / subcontractors, lawsuit ensues. many of these cases end up in judgments because the accused never bothered to submit answers in the allotted time. the rest of the cases are in various stages of litigation, including being stagnant because one party (with the $$) is in bankruptcy. anyways, in times like this, the insurer would often send the responsible party (who signed the affidavit & indemnity agreement) a demand letter for money. my template includes language like "if you don't contact the undersigned in 10/15 days, the company will take actions that are not limited to suing your ass." whew, that was so boring to read. so a demand letter, in the eyes of the recipient looks like this:

but, when i write them, i really feel like this:

after i sent my drawings to various people, and after receiving emails chastising me for not working, i also got numerous (NUMEROUS!) requests. so here's one i did for a coworker who would readily trade in her two girls for a bernese mountain dog: 

and her daughter who thinks everything is pizza:

after that, it was 4:45, time to slack off. 

allie style

inspired by allie's blog, i attempted to draw pictures in paint. shit is hard. especially when you're trying to do this at work.

to no one in particular (follower: 0), please go to her blog if you haven't done so. it's pretty fancy.