Saturday, April 12, 2008

VINTAGE WOMENS PUMPS


Womens pumps refashioned from womens pumps and hand painted, dipped, and splatter painted in an artistic fashion. View more

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Music decor


My fiance is a muscian, so i made him some music decor for his apartment. I bought some music note fur from joann fabrics and cut a circle two inches bigger all around than a regular toilet seat cover. Then i sewed some elastic about two inches smaller than the circumference of the circle on the edge. when i was finished the elastic pulled the fabric under and it laid perfectly on the toilet seat cover. i also made a no-sew blanket from black and music note fleece. i purchased the fleece from joanns and cut them 2 yards by 60". Then i cut three inch slits around the entire border on both layers of fabric. at the corners i cut out a three by three square. When i was done cutting i then tied the under layer to the top layer on each strand. After all the tieing i ended up with this blanket. It is sooo comfortable and very very warm. a little too warm for Florida. I also two pillow cases to go along with the blanket. i cut a long piece of fabric 50" x 19" and folded it in half and sewed the two sides together. then i sewed the blank band onto the edge for some contrasting effects. my last music decor are these little felt flushed music notes.
i printed out music notes off the computer to get the appropriate size and used the pattern to cut out the notes from felt. i zig-zaged the borders and stuffed them with some poly plush. on the tips i attached silver ribbon so you could hang them up.

Just a little note

I made this "card" to go along with the anniversary wall hanging. The note is written on opaque music note scrapbook paper. I wrote a little note on the music sheet and glued a little edge a vintage spool of thread. Along with it i painted a wooden heart and painted our anniversary date on it.

ANNIVERSARY

I used several techniques to create this wall hanging for my fiance. The background is plain muslin then i painted red hearts all over. Inbetween the hearts i wrote Forever & Ever in script across the muslin. for the overlay in the middle i used gauze and scrunched it in the center. i used iron on transfer paper and printed out pictures of me and my fiance in black and white on beige fabric and stitched around the edges and stuffed them with poly fill to make them plush. i took one of the flowers he gave me and dried it out and stuck it in the gauze. for the border i used some scrap cotton lace and attached it all around. it turned out pretty nice.



Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Corduroy Jacket

I made this five button down casual corduroy jacket for my boyfriend. I put two pockets with blue contrasting cotton lining. On the inside is all hong kong finishing with blue cotton bias. I even put my label on the facing in the back. My boyfriend wore it enough to get me an order.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Valentine Dream catcher

What better wind catcher to have than your heart? as long as the dreams are nice. I made this for my fiance to hang over his bed... i think he will. i transformed a wire hanger into a heart shape. Then i wrapped a yarn around the heart contiounsly. Afterwords i interlocked threads through the center and tied off little knots for security. i attached little gold pony beads on the end instead of feathers. i love pony beads they are so fun and come in all colors. (i love buttons more).

More Mobiles


I made a mobile for my Free People valentine swap. After making that one i ahd to make another one. This one i made for my fiance, hince the blue. I again constructed it out of soda cans and wire. but this time i added more hearts and a little bit more design. i beleive i will have to make mobile creating part of my crafting. they are sooo cute, fun, and easy to make. you can use different mediums. like yarn string paper buttons.... oooo my next mobile i think. i hope you enjoy them as much as i do.


Thursday, February 14, 2008

Screen printing the E-Z way

Preface- So I found a great website to order labels but i cant decide on a design so i decided to print my own labels until i decide. One of my teachers told me about this process and there are several ways to print via the computer but her way is the most inexspensive.
I printed my own labels on an inkjet printer using freezer paper and either a woven or knit fabric. I created a nice design in photoshop ( or you can use word or paint) and layed the labels out so they had a nice seam allowance on all for sides. Then i purchased freezer paper from the supermarket (publix) and ironed the shiny side onto the back of my fabric. The freezer paper allowed the fabric to become sturdy just like real paper. then i simply placed the fabric through the printer and in five seconds i had a screenprinted label. **frezzer paper is what ou package meat in for the freezer. but it does have instructions for how to use with appliquing.
At craft stores there are several different kinds of fabric paper you can buy. the ones that have paper on the back and you print then peel the paper off or the sheets that you print on then iron the design onto a peice of fabric. Well you get like 4-8 sheets for 10+$$$. Freezer paper works just as great and you get like 10ft in a role for 3$. Plus you can iron on whatever type of fabric you like! My first project i used the same color of fabric i created a collection out of for a runway show and printed labels so they could match my collection. then i created a nice little active sportswear outfit and wanted labels for the outside of the garment. so i ironed on knit fabric and printed onto that.
My last project I designed fabric on the computer for a swimwear collection for one of my classes. we were asked to print samples. so i pulled out my freezer paper and some swimwear fabric and printed right onto the fabric. It is sooo great, fast, and inexspensive.





SEWING VINTAGE

I love vintage sewing machines. Singers are so classic and interesting. Opne day i would love to have acollection of vintage sewing machines, but for right now ill just stick to taking pictures. I took theses pictures at the south west florida fairgrounds. they have a town that is modeled after country living. all these little cabin houses with vintage house fixtures and little "nick-nacks" they even have a school house. i wish i took more picks. sorry guys. but i hope you enjoy these.




VALENTINE SWAP

This valentine I decided to particpate in the Free People valentine swap which includes people all over the world. So they sent me an address and a name for my valentine sawp buddy and i got to work. i really love mobiles so i decided to make a valentine mobile. i was sooo exicited but didnt know where to start being a beginner. so i researched alot of Cadler's mobiles and other modern designers and found out they are usually made out of medal and medal wire. So i gathered some recycled coke cans and some medal wire with some heavy duty wire cutters and got to work. I cut all these little and big circles and some heart shapes. Then I punctured the medal with a sharp neddle and wrapped the wire in the hole. I did this in several different patterns and then attached all four medal assortments to a main medal circle. i hope my valentine swap buddy enjoys the mobile. i enjoyed making it so much i might make another one. if you want to see other Free People Valentine swap check this out.




Wednesday, January 9, 2008

One big family

My mom loves those old fashion dolls that you see on sale at craft shows.Usually its made from just some tea dyed muslin and homespun fabric. Well for mothers day i decided to create a family replica out of dolls. Unfortunately i have a big family with three sisters and a niece. I cut out circles and rectangles for their body parts and traced out shapes out of contrasting material. For their hair i used yarn. me and my youngest sister have curly hair so i tried to make the yarn squiggly to show curly hair. I painted their nose on with orange paint and their eyes are buttons.

Recycling is Fun


My school was donated a whole bunch of recycled ties for a special event. So i used all parts of the ties to create a strapless top, shorts and a little bag. The top was created from the tie being opened up and stitched together. I was alittle tricky because ties are created on the bias for stretch so each piece was on different bias angle. but because of the bias i didn't need to put a zipper or button closure. The top simply pulls over with an adjustable back closure. the shorts was created out of the interfacing inside of the ties. i cut the in straight pieces and stitched each one with a sportswear decorative flat lock stitch. The bag was crated out of six ties. I used everypiece of the tie, even the tag-which is used as a closure. i used the interfacing pieces of the tie as interfacing in the bag and handles. I had alot of fun creating each piece and it was inexspensive because it was made from recycled ties.

Fun with buttons



I love buttons and i love shine so i decided to combine the two. I collected all my pick buttons and adorned them with swarvski crystals. I used the 5000 bead glue which works wonders. then i sewed them onto a white vintage wristband. Unfortunately it turned out to be tighter than my hand so i now use it to hold my yarn.

Not just another reusable energy

I had to create a garment using on food items. So i decided what better than CORN! not just a renewable source of energy but serves as a great textile too. After great design issues i finally decided on a style that would best suit the con and a human physique. I began gathering my material from the local Corn festival that was going on at the time. It is a huge festival where the local town "celebrates" Florida's agriculture. Luckily i was able to get two huge bags full of corn husk.
I started working with my pattern and sewing pieces of husk together to create fabric. I molded it in the shape of cups for the top piece. I used the zig zag stitch because otherwise the stitching would rip right through the corn. In fact some pieces i had to stitch several times because of the delicate husk. I then began sewing corn husk in pleats for the bust and for the hem of the dress. For the waist cincher i interweaved corn pieces to create a basket weave. For the bottom portion i overlapped pieces of corn.Then when i tried the pieces started to curl beautifully. Inorder for someone to wear the garment i had sew a lining for the dres. So I added some nice green cotton crepe for a lining and a Velcro closure for a great adjustable fit.






Going to the Chaple!

My sister got married last year and she asked me to make a veil for her. She sent me some pictures of her dress with the beaded corset and i try to replicate the beading design in Adobe illustrator. Afterwords i printed out the replication to use as a pattern for the bead work. I made a huge oval and flipped it in half to create a tierd two layer veil and gathered it in the middle for some nice fullness. Then i sewed a nice 1/4 trimming around the edge, which in the end created a nice curl for the veil edge. Afterwords i sewed the middle piece onto a hair piece and began my bead work. The bead work is made from white sea beads and swavski crystals. I created a swarvski flower in the middle with two vine shaped curves coming out of both sides with tiny leaves made from sea beads. Talk about time consuming. But i finally finished all the hand beading and she wore it proudly down the isle and at the reception!

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Surface Designing

I recently took a textile surface design class where we experimented with different types of techniques. one technique i really enjoyed was dyeing and creating shibori effects. I trasformed purple viscose plain weave fabric into a green/black shiboried dress. below are some pictures from my transformation and the step by step processes.




on the left is the fabric dying black, on the right is the fabric original face. then i wrapped it tightly around a 3" diameter PVC pipe. I wrapped very very tightly and tied the ends of so they could fall of. Afterwords i used color remover and slowly removed the dye in a circular fashion around the tube to eliminate streaks of black.



After a weeks worth of prepping i took the fabric of and it was green streaked over black with all these wrinkles, which is known as a shibori effect.