To those of you who sew...
May. 29th, 2007 06:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
averygoodun42Um, how do you adjust pants? I need to take in the waist a bit (the hips fit perfectly, thank goodness), and I'm not quite sure how, though my thinking is to take in the side seams a fraction, and, if that isn't enough, enlarge the back darts as well. I don't really want to increase the darts, though, because I think that'll skew the shape and make it pucker more noticeably.
Yes, I will be playing around with it myself (after all, what I'm working on right now is just the muslin draft), but any advice you can offer would be appreciated.
Already I know that I have to shorten it quite a bit. Bah. But... better to be wasting thread re-sewing this together (and I think I've re-sewn it 3 times already!) than to waste the fabric.
And oooh, do I have some nice fabric for these pants.
So, anyway, that's what's been occupying most of my mind lately. The exchange has been another part, and my lousy, lousy drawing has been yet another. Really, I should post this particular drawing as an example of why not to draw without the muse. I haven't drawn something so out of proportion and... stiff for a decade! Well, drawn and considered it good. I'm trying to make something out of it, but I don't know if I'll be able to. It's an illustration from the last posted chapter of SMHC... and if I can't even illustrate my own piece, my chances of illustrating professionally are pretty slim.
I will say that I got Snape and Hermione's faces and expressions (and Snape's hair!) to just about how I picture them in my mind. Just not their pose. :P
Oh, and speaking of getting hair right, Geoff just came home, and he finally, finally, finally got a hair cut! He's not shaggy anymore, but shaggable! Yay. (I'm not critical of other's appearances... except for hair. I'm not picky about the style as long as it suits the person (ironic, really, as I'm lousy at doing my own hair). Geoff's face really, really needs a short 'do, and it's been about 2 inches too long for about 4 months now. Although, looking at him the other night... If he wanted to go for the beach-geek look, he would look pretty damn hot with his hair about 2 inches longer than it was. If we ever move to the tropics, I'll suggest he adopt that look. :D )
Anyway, that's what's up here. Oh, that and I've actually been cooking up a storm. That beet salad with garlic sauce in the Greek recipe post is really, really good (and very garlicky), btw. And I forgot just how good quinoa is, as well. And... well, let's just say I've enjoyed the fruits of my labor. :-)
Oh, and an aside... the hematite has been working wonders in regulating my mood. I don't know if it's just grounding me, or if it is warding off others' energies, but I have been on an extraordinarily even keel since I started wearing it. Yay! Still tired, and occasionally fed-up, but no extreme reactions one way or the other. It's like natural valium, without the side effects!
Yes, I will be playing around with it myself (after all, what I'm working on right now is just the muslin draft), but any advice you can offer would be appreciated.
Already I know that I have to shorten it quite a bit. Bah. But... better to be wasting thread re-sewing this together (and I think I've re-sewn it 3 times already!) than to waste the fabric.
And oooh, do I have some nice fabric for these pants.
Fabrics, actually. One a dark, purpleish-mauve (quite dark) courderoy (supposedly to go with a magnificent coat my mum handed down to me, although it turns out the color is just slightly off... But I will have to take pictures of the coat. It truly is magnificent!), and the other a brown stretch faux denim.
I've also got a beautiful navy heavy cotton/poly with delicate teal and silver stripes that will make a gorgeous outfit. Nice thing is, the shirt I'll make to go with it will go beautifully with a flirty teal silk skirt my mum gave me. (I came back from Vancouver with 2/3 my bag's contents being from my mum's closet, whether from this trip or priors.) After making up the muslin for this pant pattern, I think that's the pattern I'm going to use for the stripey material, although I was originally thinking of making them into palazzo pants. Thing is, the fabric doesn't drape quite well enough for palazzos, but these trousers will be perfect! I already have a shirt pattern in mind that will be suitable and flattering. I think.
My impulse buy fabric gave me pause after I bought it and found it to be too narrow a width to be suitable for the pants I was picturing it for. It's green (a mix between emerald and teal) mottled with black in an almost tie dye pattern, but it's formalized by a horizontal raised striping detail in orange and yellow. It sounds atrocious, doesn't it? It isn't. As I said, I got it to make pants with, but I don't want the stripes to be horizontal, thank you. I don't know why that trend exists, but it's a horrible trend even for slim people like me!
However, I don't mind the horizontal stripes on a long, tailored-looking skirt. The fabric is just kooky enough to kind of thumb its nose at the formal structure, while the tailored design will keep me from looking, well, kooky. I can see it in my mind's eye, and this is going to be a nice skirt. I hope. (This is the inspiration, although not the actual pattern I'll be using.)
I'm pretty sure I got enough fabric to also make a nice jacket/shirt when I've reached that level of skill/patience, although I don't have a clear picture of the top in my mind yet, so it can wait a bit until I do.
I also made another impulse buy, although with good intentions... that got thrown by the wayside. There was only a yard and a bit left of this gorgeous looking silky material in a, well, orange, yellow, maroon and brown print. It's, as Geoff says, something you don't see on a Caucasian very often. I'm one of those rare, rare Caucasians who can wear African prints in the original African colors. Including yellow and orange. Anyway, I saw this print and thought immediately of my SIL, and making it up into a scarf for her as it would suit her as well. Then I draped it around my shoulders, discovered just how much of it there was, and thought it would make a lovely sleeveless blouse that would go really well with my purple/maroon pants, or the brown denim pants, or jeans, or a number of my bottoms in hanging up in my closet. And it's so... me.
If I have enough for a blouse, that's what I'll do, and if I don't, then it'll be my SIL's Christmas present.
I've also got a... well, it's not hideous, although some might consider it so, blocky print of mauve, peachy tan, maroon, brown and green (all are colors that suit me very well indeed) that will be made into a summer 2-piece outfit. It's very possible that will be the first thing I work on because that is the ugliest fabric of the lot (not that I think it's ugly, mind you) and it was also close to the cheapest.
And now I just have to exert my will power and NOT buy the gorgeous, gorgeous knit I saw for a steal ($3/yd) the other day. Or the beautiful feeling flannelette I saw in the same place for $1/yd! $1.00!!! Even though I know what I'd make out of both of them. I. Will. Not. Buy. More. Fabric. Until I have sewn one article at least! I WILL NOT! (Remember, Elizabeth, food is good. Food is important. Really, it is. The fiber content in cloth is not soluble.)
And, of course, I will provide pictures when I've finished each piece. =) (Assuming I renew the paid LJ account.)
I've also got a beautiful navy heavy cotton/poly with delicate teal and silver stripes that will make a gorgeous outfit. Nice thing is, the shirt I'll make to go with it will go beautifully with a flirty teal silk skirt my mum gave me. (I came back from Vancouver with 2/3 my bag's contents being from my mum's closet, whether from this trip or priors.) After making up the muslin for this pant pattern, I think that's the pattern I'm going to use for the stripey material, although I was originally thinking of making them into palazzo pants. Thing is, the fabric doesn't drape quite well enough for palazzos, but these trousers will be perfect! I already have a shirt pattern in mind that will be suitable and flattering. I think.
My impulse buy fabric gave me pause after I bought it and found it to be too narrow a width to be suitable for the pants I was picturing it for. It's green (a mix between emerald and teal) mottled with black in an almost tie dye pattern, but it's formalized by a horizontal raised striping detail in orange and yellow. It sounds atrocious, doesn't it? It isn't. As I said, I got it to make pants with, but I don't want the stripes to be horizontal, thank you. I don't know why that trend exists, but it's a horrible trend even for slim people like me!
However, I don't mind the horizontal stripes on a long, tailored-looking skirt. The fabric is just kooky enough to kind of thumb its nose at the formal structure, while the tailored design will keep me from looking, well, kooky. I can see it in my mind's eye, and this is going to be a nice skirt. I hope. (This is the inspiration, although not the actual pattern I'll be using.)
I'm pretty sure I got enough fabric to also make a nice jacket/shirt when I've reached that level of skill/patience, although I don't have a clear picture of the top in my mind yet, so it can wait a bit until I do.
I also made another impulse buy, although with good intentions... that got thrown by the wayside. There was only a yard and a bit left of this gorgeous looking silky material in a, well, orange, yellow, maroon and brown print. It's, as Geoff says, something you don't see on a Caucasian very often. I'm one of those rare, rare Caucasians who can wear African prints in the original African colors. Including yellow and orange. Anyway, I saw this print and thought immediately of my SIL, and making it up into a scarf for her as it would suit her as well. Then I draped it around my shoulders, discovered just how much of it there was, and thought it would make a lovely sleeveless blouse that would go really well with my purple/maroon pants, or the brown denim pants, or jeans, or a number of my bottoms in hanging up in my closet. And it's so... me.
If I have enough for a blouse, that's what I'll do, and if I don't, then it'll be my SIL's Christmas present.
I've also got a... well, it's not hideous, although some might consider it so, blocky print of mauve, peachy tan, maroon, brown and green (all are colors that suit me very well indeed) that will be made into a summer 2-piece outfit. It's very possible that will be the first thing I work on because that is the ugliest fabric of the lot (not that I think it's ugly, mind you) and it was also close to the cheapest.
And now I just have to exert my will power and NOT buy the gorgeous, gorgeous knit I saw for a steal ($3/yd) the other day. Or the beautiful feeling flannelette I saw in the same place for $1/yd! $1.00!!! Even though I know what I'd make out of both of them. I. Will. Not. Buy. More. Fabric. Until I have sewn one article at least! I WILL NOT! (Remember, Elizabeth, food is good. Food is important. Really, it is. The fiber content in cloth is not soluble.)
And, of course, I will provide pictures when I've finished each piece. =) (Assuming I renew the paid LJ account.)
So, anyway, that's what's been occupying most of my mind lately. The exchange has been another part, and my lousy, lousy drawing has been yet another. Really, I should post this particular drawing as an example of why not to draw without the muse. I haven't drawn something so out of proportion and... stiff for a decade! Well, drawn and considered it good. I'm trying to make something out of it, but I don't know if I'll be able to. It's an illustration from the last posted chapter of SMHC... and if I can't even illustrate my own piece, my chances of illustrating professionally are pretty slim.
I will say that I got Snape and Hermione's faces and expressions (and Snape's hair!) to just about how I picture them in my mind. Just not their pose. :P
Oh, and speaking of getting hair right, Geoff just came home, and he finally, finally, finally got a hair cut! He's not shaggy anymore, but shaggable! Yay. (I'm not critical of other's appearances... except for hair. I'm not picky about the style as long as it suits the person (ironic, really, as I'm lousy at doing my own hair). Geoff's face really, really needs a short 'do, and it's been about 2 inches too long for about 4 months now. Although, looking at him the other night... If he wanted to go for the beach-geek look, he would look pretty damn hot with his hair about 2 inches longer than it was. If we ever move to the tropics, I'll suggest he adopt that look. :D )
Anyway, that's what's up here. Oh, that and I've actually been cooking up a storm. That beet salad with garlic sauce in the Greek recipe post is really, really good (and very garlicky), btw. And I forgot just how good quinoa is, as well. And... well, let's just say I've enjoyed the fruits of my labor. :-)
Oh, and an aside... the hematite has been working wonders in regulating my mood. I don't know if it's just grounding me, or if it is warding off others' energies, but I have been on an extraordinarily even keel since I started wearing it. Yay! Still tired, and occasionally fed-up, but no extreme reactions one way or the other. It's like natural valium, without the side effects!
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no subject
Date: 2007-05-30 06:18 am (UTC)Very elegant skirt!
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Date: 2007-05-30 10:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-30 01:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-30 05:41 pm (UTC)I plan on making (http://www.taunton.com/Threads/pages/t00002_p2.asp) a dummy, actually, as I don't have any knowledgable friends around here. I meant to make the dummy this last weekend, but I guess it'll have to be this weekend instead. Maybe even Friday...sometime when Geoff is around, anyway.