Crochet/Tatting Anklet

I did a test piece of needle tatting, you don't get shuttles in India, at least that I'm aware of, so tried it the needle way. And made a crochet flower too.

You can learn to make the crochet flower from here And the smart person that I am, can't find the place where I found the needle tatting instructions, if I do, I'll add it up.

I then put them together, and made an anklet with a button for the clasp.

Crochet Trials

After that skirt I made last, my finger which I used to pull the needle and roll the thread into a knot ended up in a couple of tiny calluses. So, I'm taking a break from stitching till I get a machine, or till it calls me strong enough to get back and decided to try crochet.

I've never been taught it, and it looks so pretty on blouses/shawls etc.. so I figured I'd teach myself with the help of lovely tutorials online.

Below is a few links one to a site and the other to youtube where I learnt the basic stitches.
http://www.knitsimplemag.com/node/23

http://www.youtube.com/show/artofcrochet/videos?view=7


And here is where I've managed to learn how to read a crochet chart, she explains it pretty well.
http://bynumber19.com/2011/10/01/tutorial-how-to-read-a-crochet-chart-diagram/
http://bynumber19.com/2011/10/03/tutorial-how-to-read-a-crochet-chart-worked-in-the-round/
My try isn't so neat, but I'm getting there.

My main trouble is with the tension of a stitch, used to have that problem when we learnt knitting in school, never quite got the hang of it and subsequently gave it up. Hoping I'll stick with this longer though :)

Anyone have any suggestions of nice sites/links where I can learn crochet online?

Hits and misses! - Peplum Skirt

I've finally got something new for you, did it a while back and was hoping to take better pictures. But I guess I'm too lazy. Oh well!

Another hand-stitched garment, that I fully intend on re-enforcing once I get a machine of my own.

Hits and misses? Well take a look at it for yourself. The skirt is a total hit, for me at least, the top though I had huge problems with - satin is SO fidgety!

Yes, this was what I was talking about - bad pictures.... hmmm

Anyways, some better close up pics of the skirt and top below, before I go on to explain how I did it.

So, Peplum is the in thing, and I'm totally loving it! I've seen quite a few of them and I was wondering, since I'm working by hand, and my inside seams are atrocious to look at, how would I go about hiding it? Then, I happened to see this black top with cream satin lining and loved the combo of a matte material against something shiny like satin.

Why did I change it to purple? I had on an impulse already bought the shoes without anything to match it with... what?? Tell me honestly if you haven't done that!! 

So first thing was I took a skirt that I already had and used it as a guidelines of sorts. I wanted extra length, so I added that.

And for the darts on the two panels of the skirt, I added an inch to each side, which I later took in to make the darts.

Now here was the trickiest part, figuring out the peplum part. Now as you can see from the above pic of me, the pattern isn't completely long to short from left to right. It has a wave which increases in length towards the end. The whole peplum is about two and half times a skirt width. I then cut up the satin in the same fashion, placed both right sides facing together and stitched it. Then turned it around to get the look you see above. 

I put the zip on the longer peplum side, and stitched along all the side seams. I made the waist band in the same fashion that I did for the Kanzashi skirt. Finally did the bottom hem.

Now, for the top, I wanted something easy, because I don't know how to fit the bust area. Anyone has a tutorial to teach me how?

So, I landed on this tutorial and followed it almost exactly. http://chewynoodles.blogspot.in/2011/08/draped-jersey-circle-top-tutorial.html

And like I said satin is fidgety, and as much as I tried, I couldn't make it sit properly, I gave up and gave it to a tailor, but I'm still not very happy with it. I'll probably end up making a new top for this skirt. 

On a side note, anyone know how to handle satin better? The tailor did picoting/bidding for the edges.. which looks nice and is a better finish than what I did, which was a rolled hem kind of thing.

But, that ended up pulling the threads of the satin, so its not really wearable anymore... thoughts?

I've also been told that the top looks plain, and I've been planning on making some satin flowers in the kanzashi style, if not for the top then I could always add it to a clip and clip it to my shoes.. something like this.. 

On a parting note, for anyone interested in how I did the flowers on my nails... so pretty right? Check out the various tutorials on youtube, its really simple... like this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay99VIxzwmo

Till next time, take care and be happy :)

Sorry I've been MIA....

Super sorry I haven't been updating my blog, was very busy getting my final submissions done for my 3d animation course... and here's the most important part of my reel, at least to me :)

I've always wanted to do a transformation, man to beast... I chose lion, because its barely done, and I love lions, so majestic. The human is based on my fiance (yup I'm engaged!)... poor guy, forced him to pose for it. So if you do happen to look on over to the Zbrush video on my page, you'd see his pic (doesn't really justify him much though... you can see what I mean by forced :p )

Kanzashi detailed knit skirt out of an XL t-shirt

Here's my newest creation!

Yes not the best picture, as usual my photographing skills still have a lot to be desired.. 

Okay so the basic idea is, I took an XL sized men's t-shirt and first removed all the seams - sleeves and neck (not the sides - I left it in so I could do less sewing! :D )

Then cut just under the arms like here http://sewlikemymom.com/the-shirt-skirt/

to get the bottom of the skirt.

That way the bottom and sides are already sewn in ;)

But, the top of that skirt is not only unsewn and needs a band, but its too wide. Now I could have just done the gathers thing, but gathers make my tummy look big. So I measured how much my waist should be, and then made a diagonal line till the side. and on that diagonal part, I sewed in the pocket with the sleeves.

Next the chest portion of the T-shirt I had, had a print, so I turned it inside out, cut the width to fit my waist. And then used this method to make the waist band. http://knittybitties.blogspot.in/p/knit-skirt-tutorial.html

So now that the skirt is ready, the leftover bits of material, I turned in to the Kanzashi butterflies.

You can go here for the tutorial on how to make the two kinds of petals (wings) http://xofhope.deviantart.com/art/Kanzashi-the-easy-way-163003066

And then this was my inspirations for the butterflies

http://kurokami-kanzashi.deviantart.com/art/Polkadot-Butterflies-87766189

Now given that I'm not that skilled, and didn't have enough material, I simplified it. 

I made only one petal for each wing, though different styles - the pointy one for the top and the curved one on the bottom. 

The centre is a trim of fabric to cover the edges, and because I didn't have any beads and wanted something there, I cut up some lace trim into a design that it already had. and stitched it onto it.

The butterflies are currently only pinned onto the skirt, reason being that I have days when I'm a tom-boy and don't like all the frills and fluff and would like to either remove them, lessen them or changed the arrangement. 

As always comments and hopefully positive criticisms are very welcome. Any confusions, please let me know if I can clarify something for you.

This post was featured here..

Why do I recycle old clothes into new ones?

Simple!

My closet is FULL to the brim with old clothes, many of which I don't wear. On last check, I realised I have 5 old pink T-shirts which I don't use (yes I'm the girl that loves pink.. can't you tell yet?). I mean its literally full, was trying to put in some laundry today, and I had a good workout with the hangers in the closet trying to shove them so that I could place the new ones.

That coupled with...

I need new clothes! Yes, cliche I know, but don't we all?

Equals, re-hash all old clothes into something usable :D

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Corset Denim Dress - DIY

So I finally got about to completing my DIY Denim/Jeans Project... Yay me!

I don't have a sewing machine (yet...*fingers crossed*), but endless pokes and pricks from my needle later my Jeans got converted to this lovely dress. Yup, its not perfect.. but it fits and doesn't look too bad :)

Being handstitched, I suggest going over your seams twice, I used a blanket stitch on the edges and a Running stitch a lil inward with double thread (I don't know how to single stitch). My mom suggests that I take it to a professional tailor and get all the seams redone, just so that my effort doesn't go to waste :)

First you'll have to measure the length from your shoulder to your waist and add about 4 inches to that for seam allowances. (one for the waist, two for A and B that is joined under the bust and the last one on the shoulder). Measure that from the bottom of your jeans upwards and then cut the length. 

A cautionary advice here, I used stretchy jeans and you'll have to make sure that the measurement of the "A" portion around your knees adds up to your waist. If it doesn't, I suggest instead of a Zip like I did, try a typical corset style tie-up with an extra panel inside of a different cloth if you feel like, or if your wearing a t-shirt like me inside which covers your tummy, then you really wouldn't need that extra panel.

The lower portion becomes the top part. you'll have to sew "B" to "A". And a little bit under the arms. 

I took out the inner seam of the jeans and stitched the left and right side at the back. And again stitched the "B" portion to the "A" portion.   

Shape the front straps the way you want, lay the left over the right to make sure they are exactly the same before you cut anything. Once cut the leftover part becomes the triangle on the front and back of the skirt. Until the top was done, I didn't hem the bottom because I was hoping for left over material to make the triangle (it helps make the skirt a little more A-line on the bottom)

In the front I took out the original Zip and where you can see my expertly drawn orange line is the new longer zip. Why such a long zip you ask? Well, I first tried putting the Zip at the back (that's where most zips go I figured I couldn't go wrong..) and the front was stitched up.. and what happened? well... my butt :P  Check the Rage comic at the bottom for a play by play lol.. 

Hope you understood the DIY, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask! :)

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