Friday, July 23, 2010

Black Highwaisted Corset Skirt

As promised, my most recently completed sewing project is a highwaisted corset skirt. I needed a plain black skirt in my wardrobe (all my other black skirts have either screenprints or embroidery on them), and felt like it wasn't really necessary to shell out >$100 for a brand version of such a plain skirt. Even Taobao seemed too expensive, what with the $30 shipping fee from China >_>;; So anyways, I decided this would be a good place to employ my own sewing skills.

The design of the skirt is pretty simple, just a rectangle skirt with bottom ruffle and high waist featuring ribbon corseting in the back. The waist is reinforced with interfacing, no boning (so this doesn't actually do any corseting, nor would I want it to ^_^;;).

Anyways, onto the pictures...

The Skirt!!!




Modeled by MOI



It's paired with a white blouse that I already had.

And with my maid apron over it, this outfit served as my secondary uniform!


Lesson learned from this project: Don't forget the zipper!!!! This was the first time I made anything that required an opening in order to get on. The one-pieces I made before just took advantage of shirring, and while they were difficult to put on, it was possible. This really required an opening, but I forgot to plan it in. I tried putting it on with just the shirring... close but no cigar... T_T So I just cut a slit down the side and inserted an invisible zipper there. It had to be sewn in by hand (I don't have a zipper foot for my machine), plus since it wasn't planned, the slit had a raw edge that couldn't be hemmed. I applied Fray Check to it, and it seems to be holding up just fine (I wore it all Sunday at Mechacon and danced and everything in it), but in the future... I WILL REMEMBER TO PLAN IN THE ZIPPER!!!!!

Overall, quite pleased, despite the zippertastrophe. It looks nice, and will be quite serviceable as the plain black skirt in my wardrobe!!

Monday, July 5, 2010

Polymer Clay - Bows and Bears!!

I had some extra time no my hands recently, so I made another batch of polymer clay trinkets. Specifically, little clay ribbon bows and some teddy bears!

Ribbon Bows

I made them with the original intention of glueing them onto ring bases, like these. However, I've got a couple of loose ones laying around that I'm considering doing something else with (turning into just a clip-on charm, or maybe earrings/necklace). Anyways, here are the finished rings - two colors: lavender and turquoise!





I'll be trying different styles of bows next (maybe ones without the trailing tails).

Teddy Bears

Aaaand teddy bear charms!! I actually came up with this by accident while trying to make something else... it ended up very blobby, and for some reason it made me think of teddy bears, so with some modification of the failed object, I came up with a bear design!!

These were not made from coloured clay, but instead hand-painted afterwards. I have dark pink and purple bears at the moment, all in the form of clip-on charms for versatility (or something). I might make some more and actually put them on necklaces as pendants, or on cell phone charm straps.






I had originally some white ones too, but the glaze I've been experimenting with is an oil-based clear polyurethane. I'm guessing it's something about the oil, but on the white bears, it dried sort of yellowish, which became really obvious in the more concentrated regions in crevices and such, so I decided to just leave those be (they can join my collection of failed clay objects).

I'll be putting these (and subsequent duplications/incarnations of them) in my Etsy shop soon ^.^ And next, I'll have yet another sewing post, since I just finished a skirt last night!