Hot Tubbin into the New Year

I just finished this bathing suit just in time for summer! Well I have been meaning to make one and I just now got around to it. It figures it's winter. I was practically raised at the beach growing up. I have many fond memories of Torrey Pines, San Elijo and Miramar. Needless to say I have gone through quite a few bathing suits. Nowadays I am lucky if there are two sunny days a year where it is hot enough to wear a swimsuit. That's okay because living in Northern California for 9 years I am nice and white.

Even though I don't get to wear them at the beach I do get to use them in hot tubs. For some reason every time my friends and I go somewhere there has to be a hot tub. We call it Hot Tubbin USA. Don't ask me why the fascination. I think it has to do with city life??

I used a Quick Sew pattern from 1979 and it was quick. I made this in about 5 hours give or take. I used a 4 way stretch fabric that I love. I used elastic and added two buttons for fun. The fabric was $6.95 a yard and the elastic was $2.20 so all and all this suit cost me at the most $13. Take that Roxy! I think it is really sturdy and I can't wait to be Hot Tubin USA this Thursday night! I wish everyone a Happy New Year!

P.S. Stay tuned in 2010 for a Little Yellow Dot Bikini...

A DIY Christmas

I finished my Mom's apron Tuesday night and had my brother take it down to San Diego. She loved it! She really loved the balls. :) It was really fun to make because I could design it how I wanted. Here's a picture of her wearing it that she sent to me.


Although I wasn't with my family this year I had a wonderful Christmas with friends. The gathering was at my place and everyone chipped in to make it special.

One friend made these centerpieces. Another made these greens that he freed from a closed tree farm and he made an edible fruit tree. Everyone brought food and drink and I performed an interpretive dance of the 12 days of Christmas. It may be a new tradition. Also, I have to say that my sweater was a hit!
I hope every one had a pleasant Christmas and if not no big deal there's always next year!

A very funky Christmas!

I have been searching for a really funky Christmas sweater at thrift stores around town, but I haven't been able to find one. I think all the hipsters bought them before me. Instead of giving up I decided to make my own. I bought a $2 red sweater and bedazzled it myself. It's funny I had a vision that it would be really ugly, but I think it turned out pretty nice :) The front has a sport like preppy feel and the back has a magical snowman scene (I should be a school teacher). I can't wait to wear it!

Wake me up when it's Spring

It has been really cold and rainy here and is now officially winter time in San Francisco. As with the change of seasons my body goes through it's natural cycle of change (hibernation mode). I crave more calories and more sleep. I am still finding motivation some where to stay active and work out so that I can improve my energy level and mood, but I don't want to fight the cycle. I am eating more heavy foods and trying to get more sleep. I know that this doesn't have to do with sewing yet, but it will. Just stick with me...

I received a request from my Mom to make her Christmas present. She wants me to make her an apron. I don't think she cooks any more unless she's entertaining, but I will full fill the request. To combat the winter blues I have chosen the fabric below to make the apron and want to make it as fun as possible. My mom loves the beach, traveling, umbrella's, cocktails and palm trees, basically all things San Diego. I like the colors of the fabric and I want the apron to have a retro feel. I am not going to use a pattern and just go with the flow. I found this picture and I might take some ideas from it. Hopefully when it's done I can post a picture of my Mom wearing it and cooking me a fabulous vegetarian meal. :) If anyone has an idea of something they want me to make them please let me know. As long as I am capable of it and you provide me a meal. Just kidding. The hardest part is coming up what you people would like.

Like Mother Like Daughter

When I was in San Diego this last summer for my 10 year high school reunion, my parents dusted off their high school yearbooks for show and tell. We reminisced about their high school days in the 60's. It was fun looking at the fashions. While looking at my Mom's yearbook I found this newspaper clipping. The clipping is from March 1970. I used my newly acquired accounting skills and figured that my mom is 24 in this picture. I love the style of the dress she is wearing. I guess she was in some fashion show for Montgomery Ward. What a trip!

I am becoming more and more like my Mom every day, all good (wink, wink). I've decided to make my own version of the dress which will be neither white or polyester. I found this pattern that is very similar to her dress. I have cut the pattern and fabric and have started to sew a little.
Caption reads: Susan Bentz is wearing a white 100% polyester knit by Enka. It has short sleeves and set in pockets. The red, white and blue silk scarf slides through self-fabric loops on the shoulder and is worn with Navy blue accessorises from Montgomery Ward.

Jewlery Organizer Thing Tutorial

I have been doing a lot of such so now I am back to sewing. Last week I made this jewelry organizer. I needed an organizer for all my jewelry and accessories. At my old place I kept all my crap in the bathroom, but now I am keeping it in my room. I looked around for a jewelry organizer, but everything was too expensive. I looked at etsy.com and took my friends Alex's idea and came up with this. It is such a simple project and cost me around $9. I used extra fabric from the pencil skirt I made.

Time: A few hours

Items needed:

A wooden dowel

Ribbon

Nail

2 screws

Cup Hooks (3-6+)

Stain ( optional)

Fabric (1/4 of a yard) that you can poke holes in

A drill and saw(or a man with tools)

Step 1: Find space on a wall. Measure the wall to see how long and wide you want the organizer. This will determine the size of the fabric.

Step 2: I bought a 36 inch wooden dowel and sawed it in half evenly to make 2 18inch dowels.

Decide how many hooks you want at the bottom and drill that many holes in just 1 of the do wells. Drill a hole in each side of the other dowel.

Step 3: I decided to stain the dowels in a dark reddish color. Let dry.

Step 4: Take the hooks and screw them into the holes. Set aside.

Step 5: Take the fabric and hem all sides. Fold over the top of the fabric so that there would be enough room to put a dowel in. Pin and sew.

Step 6: You will now need to straps for the bottom. You could use ribbon or a tough synthetic straps. I used extra fabric from the fabric. Decide the desired width and length. Sew and then sew onto the bottom of the large piece of fabric and at the desired position. (Make sure they are long enough so dowel fits through with hooks)

Step 7: Take the dowel with the 2 holes at the end. Take your ribbon and screws and screw 1 side of the ribbon to one end and the other to the other end. Tie at top so that you have something to put over the nail.

Step 8: Put dowels through. Hammer in nail. Hang from nail!!!!!!! Yeah :)

Step 9: Poke holes for the earrings and start hanging all your lovely things.

I am thankful for...

I am thankful for my family that always puts up with my antics and mood swings and still supports me no matter what.

I am thankful for my friends who let me be myself, who laugh at my jokes even when there not funny, who listen when I have serious things to say and who are always willing to grab a drink.

I am thankful for my ex-boyfriend who is still my good friend.

I am thankful for foreign currency and women who take maternity leave.

In high school I made my family these Native American and Pilgrim paper hats to wear at dinner (not very PC) and I also made them write down what they were thankful for (12 years later I am still just as lame). My brother is 4 years older then me and he was in college at the time of this. He wrote I am thankful for:

• my video camera and my eminent fame in the entertainment industry
• credit cards
• paper hats
• family and friends
• life
• the luck I've had because it is about to run out
• college (drinks, girls and unadulterated fun)

On that note I hope whatever you are thankful for you have a great Thanksgiving!

Lazy River

(This one's my favorite)

I came across a postcard today that I bought in Guerneville when I was up there for the wedding in October. Every time I look at it, it makes me smile. Primal Vision Studio is a design center in Guerneville that creates "high performance creature costumes and effects, with an emphasis on naturalistic animals." The costumes are amazing. They are custom made and they take around 3 months to make. They teamed up with a local photographer Gregory Hayes to create these funny photographs. They are so silly. I think it is great that they are able combine their art of costume making and photography. Friends are always coming up with ideas of ways that I could make money on the side by selling things I could make. One friend thinks that I should somehow make custom costumes for people in the city. I think it is very do able because people here wear costumes year round, but I would need to come up with a way to market that service.

Here are two more I couldn't attach that are cute of a fox and a coyote roasting marshmallows on their camping trip and 2 coyotes sking.

http://www.primalvisions.com/galleries/Coyotes/#
http://www.primalvisions.com/galleries/Group%20Pictures/#

http://www.primalvisions.com/ http://www.gregoryhayes.com/

So many blogs so little time

I have found myself following more and more blogs. I follow my friends, fun, inspirational or entertaining ones, cooking ones, etc. There one just about for everything. I can spend hours reading them when I know I should be working on my own creative process. Tonight though I came across the Make Shift Project blog:

"MakeShift is an art and research project that examines the relationships between 'making', 'clothing' and 'living'. The basic premise for the project is that for a period of one year starting on September 1st, 2009, I will only wear things that I have made myself. Initially this may seem like a reasonable task, but it will include all of my clothes, socks, shoes, underwear, coats, jackets, hats, bathing suits, accessories and anything else I might need to protect my body from the elements while trying to lead a fulfilling life. Beyond being a nail-hammering, speed-sewing, room-pacing, hair-raising, life-enriching personal challenge, I hope to gain some understanding of the limitations of clothing and how they affect the development of ideology. Ultimately, I would like to examine the role of clothing as a form of cultural production."
http://www.makeshiftproject.blogspot.com/

For once I can't really explain in words how I feel about this. I will just say that I find this very interesting...

A new home

My sewing machine got a new home this last week. It told me that it is excited to be in a new space, but is sad to leave it's old home where it made so many great projects. I assured it that it will be much happier in it's new space and that we will spend a lot more time together. I love my new sewing/craft work station. I have some ideas of projects I want to make and I will get down to business soon.

Crafternoon

On Sunday I headed over to Oakland for another installment of crafternoon. Our gracious hosts Alexandra and Andrew made biscuits and veggie gravy, pumpkin muffins, bacon, eggs, and yummy mimosa's which enticed me to drive over the broken bridge. I wasn't really feeling very crafty. I think I prefer to craft/sew alone or with a small group. It is hard for me to focus. I still like to go and be around creative people and socialize. So while they made really great bird ornaments I ended up leaving with a half stuffed bird, a half made necklace and a really sloppy pin cushion, but I had fun. I hope to host a crafternoon soon at my new place.

Willie wonktress

This year I decided to be Willie Wonktress, Willamenia Wonka, Willa Wonkarita, The candy woman, call me what you will I was a female version of Willie Wonka. I think it was the worst sewing job I have ever done., but all and all it turned out okay. Bert does a Haunted House for the kids in our neighborhood and I am the door person/crowd control. I estimated that we had 300 people go through and had a party afterwards. I would have to say most knew who I was.

I used the coffee date dress pattern for the dress part of the costume. I used a khaki fabric and a fruit print fabric like the lickable wallpaper in Willie Wonka. I used Vogue pattern # 8601 for the velvet purple jacket. I designed the hat with the lollipops, but Bert made it. He took a regular top hat, heightened it, cover it with fake sued and put holes in the top for the lollipops. I think it really topped off the outfit :) He also printed wonka stickers and put them on little candy bars so that I could pass out Wonka bars. I lastly used a pool cue stick as a cane. Really I was down to the wire with this one. Work has been really stressful and my hobbies have fallen to the wayside. I ended up hot glue gunning parts, safety pinning and using cardboard to expedite the process and get the desired look for the jacket. All and all it's just a costume and Halloween fun!

My costume was put into a costume slide show at burdastyle.com. You can vote for Willamenia Wonka at: http://www.burdastyle.com/albums/117/images?page=16&size=small

I'm a winner

Colette Patterns is a blog I have been following. She makes and sells really great patterns. A couple weeks ago she asked people to submit sewing stores to her. I entered a bunch of stores I thought would love to carry these patterns and she chose my name randomly and I got this in the mail last week. I got to pick 2 patterns and she included a lot of other sewing goodies. It is nice to win and get fun stuff! :) Check her out at http://www.colettepatterns.com/ She is going to come out with a winter pattern collection soon. I can't wait. :)

Day of Rest

November 1st, my 1st day of rest in awhile. Day of rest meaning doing laundry, paying bills, cleaning, watching spongebob, shaving, blogging (you know just getting stuff done that has been neglected).

Since the last time I blogged on Oct. 11th I have made a dress, I won a contest and I made a costume. First we will start with the dress. This is the dress I made for a wedding in Sonoma I went to last weekend. People seemed to like it and they thought it was very appropriate for the wedding we went to. It was a beautiful wedding that included bar tending clowns, belly dancing and fun times.

I used Vogue pattern 8184. I added a ribbon strap with a red ruffle to give it some spice. I also used ribbon on the waist area. I specifically bought a stretch sateen fabric so that the dress would be comfortable, but putting the ribbon on it made it tight and defeated the purpose of the stretch. Oh well. Lesson learned. I was still able to dance!