Tonight I'll be on TV!

Finally my episode of Craft Wars will be on TV tonight. I'm filled with anxiety and mirth over what I'll be watching in a theater amongst friends and family as they watch the same time as me what will be playing nationwide! There is WiFi so I hope to also be Live Tweeting as I watch but we shall see how I keep up.

Anne Evans of Columbus Underground did a great write up about it here!


There are things I don't even remember saying in the Promo Video and I am sure there will be many more things when we watch the episode, such as "That's AWESOME" ~sigh~


My assistant on the show and local Bestie Claire and I are hosting a Viewing Party at the Gateway Film Center on OSU campus tonight. It will be open to the public asking for donations for the Mid-Ohio Food Bank. Doors open at 9:30pm and show starts at 10pm eastern.

We've even made some special buttons for the event!

CHEERS!

My 1 hour skirt

If you remember a couple weeks ago I picked up some amazing vintage fabric over at Wholly Craft. I finally had the time to turn it into a skirt. Super easy and took only one hour. (please excuse the mess, my guest room has also turned into my sewing room and craft, and well general junk magazine stash room)

The fabric had a high stretch content on the weft and it was a polyester 120" wide (60" when folded).  I measured out my length for the skirt and then cut it across.

After unfolding it this was the width and my waistband. Luckily with the stretch on this fabric and thickness I was able to use the waistband without elastic.  I just needed to account for the stretch so I made it 2" smaller then my waist measurement. It was perfect.

To bring the fabric into a more manageable length I used my ruffler foot to assist me in the gathering.

I had it set to ruffle every 6 stitches.

After everything was ruffles it was about half the width but still not enough to comfortably set it into the waistband. At this point the seams were also sewn up so that they could be included into the ruffled gathers without it looking awkward.

With a contrasting thread I put in a basting stitch and then pulled the last of the gathering to make it fit into the waistband.

With everything pinned into place it was time to sew the skirt and waistband to each other.

With this type of polyester fabric there were no problems with everything unraveling so I didn't feel the need to serge the fabric and the waistband I had picked was a simple fold over straight style in two pieces. I didn't need side seams but I wanted them to be in there for extra support against the fabric stretching too much.

Carefully sewing the skirt and waistband together I find it easier if the flat waistband is on the bottom and the gathered skirt is on top so you can watch that nothing gets twisted or overly gathered in places.

Sewing with a stretch style waistband you also have to remember to use a stretch stitch and not a straight stitch or else the stitches will break when you stretch it to put it on.

You must be very careful to not sew over pins or sew them in and forget to take them out. It is an easy mistake to make when dealing with so much fabric.

The finished skirt before the hem. I decided to do an easy 1/2" top stitch hem and not worry about the stretch since there was so much fabric for the skirt I had no worries about torn stitches in the hem.

 

Ta Da! All done and ready to wear out.  

What have you been sewing lately? Is there a super fast and easy project that you are proud of?  Just because it's fast doesn't mean it isn't good or well crafted as long as you get the results that you wanted.

Cheers!

Craft wars Episode 3

Last night was another anxiety filled round of Craft Wars. I know it feels like that is all that is going on my blog right now but I have many things in the works. Just that darn kitchen impeding my studio space and starting up my Hell month of having triple jobs keeps me off the blog more then I would like.  Bear with me and we will still have a good time with DIY demos, tutorials and OTD's on the way!

Last night was my first time being involved in a livetweet! Which was an experience all on it's own. I thought I would be good on my phone and kindle fire but the responses were blowing up the entire time so i had to break out the laptop. Commercial breaks were like a well needed breather.
Once again three very different crafters from all sorts of backgrounds were pitted against each other in a toy and pet themed craft off.


Of course the Cute Asian girl Amy Ng with her foxy scarf was my favorite of the show. There was the castle builder Brad, which I thought would be some tough as nails competition and then the glitter loving Pam.

Their first challenge was to construct a toy box using toys. Very cute and clever for a challenge. The judges were ruthless in their critiques on construction and misuse of materials. Amy was pretty much a shoe in with her clever little box turning it into a monster game to feed the toys to. Robby the Robot was getting some tough love from the elements when he toppled over and I thought for sure that Pam would be a goner and not have the time for repairs. Whilst Brad just kept plugging along proud of his work.


Personally when I think of toy box I think of a chest or that rad Euro Techno group ToyBox which is probably what would of been going through my head if I had this challenge.




Anyways! The winners were Robby the Robot box and Amy's Monster Box. The Judges were harsh in their critiques how they worried about Kids getting into the glitter and the clean up afterwards on poor robo Robby. While Amy did not escape scorn either for using felt everywhere because let's face it kids are sticky and fabric on toys unless it's a stuffed animal are not a good combination. Another problem is that you can't just stick a felt box in the wash to get it clean. I was not too surprised about Brad going home with his tent box. It was a cute idea but not very well executed and I think he should of stayed with materials her knows better and castle it up! I was sad to see him go of course because knowing that the master craft was huge he could of made an amazing Cat Castle that my three lovelies would of pounced on. Here is the last Video from TLC

 

The Master Craft was creating a pet house out of pet toys. Pam and Amy did not disappoint in size and both of them had strong beginnings. I was surprised by how much more work they had to do in their last hour. The fabric that Amy used for her bottom floor wall paper was super cute but her second floor was lacking in decor and the use of her materials was too literal. I would of taken the food bowls and made decorative mirrors on the inside and used the stuffed toy dog bones to create the flooring in the upper cat area instead of just a cat bed. This is supposed to be luxury right? What cat wouldn't love an entire squishy furry floor for them to knead and roll on?  Pam's aesthetic wasn't my taste but the craftmanship was there for sure. I think Glitter all over the walls was a bit much because just like the kids the animals will get that on them one way or another. From experience I know what it is like to clean up some glitter/sparkle poop out of the litter box.

At the end of the this episode I got to see my promo commercial! But I was on the phone having a quick festival recap meeting for Friday's Food Truck and Cart Fest.

What would you do differently if given these challenges?

Moonrise Kingdom - Fair isle

If you haven't seen Moonrise Kingdom and you are a Wes Anderson fan there is something wrong with you. This was a fantastic movie with a lot of innocent charm and quirk that he is so good at. Well the innocent part is new at least. I won't get into details about the movie itself because I think that people just need to go see it for themselves. There is also no good way to explain Wes Anderson movies.

The crafty part of me is obsessed with the narrator and his costume, namely the fingerless gloves. They have this great black and white fair isle pattern that I am itching to duplicate as my new spin for fall craft shows. It'll be a good exercise on charting out my own fair isle and punch card patterns via graph paper.

This is about as good as I can find Looks like a partial heart with some patterning. I love the way the thumb has a contrast row. I think that will have to be a woven in addition to this pattern.
Luckily Lisa Solomon and my friend Claire posted this handy little website on twitter to print your own graph paper so I can get working on this immediately.
Graph Paper HO! (ignore the PDF download just click on the option of paper you want)

Do you have any craft endeavors planned for this weekend?

Craft Wars Episode #2

Did you get a chance to see the latest Craft Wars?
I know it was a super busy day being the night before the Fourth of July holiday and at least in my neck of the woods we were out and about to see Red White and Boom on our bikes.

Thankfully a friend has it DVR'd so we saw it the day after. The line up for competition was certainly a mixed bag with a strongly proclaimed crafter, a welding artist and Vintage re-vamp decorator.

It was great to see a guy involved on the show and another younger person that I felt I could connect with. It also helped to break up some of the misconceptions of what and who a crafter is.

The pressure of the Pop Craft was definitely felt as they were asked to make a bird house that was functional and meant to be outside. I felt like the Judges comments were pretty dead one.  I did not really agree with keeping that woman Michaela, I think the competition would of been much more intense with Mandi versus Kevin.  Kevin had a great a innovative birdhouse design but the foam core was a very poor choice.  I completely understand why he did it, with only an hour of time you feel the pressure about trying to get the wood cut and still have time to put it all together.

If I was doing that challenge I most likely would of taken apart the junk drawer itself to use as wood for my birdhouse or tried to get a ready made box and cover it with the wood. I would of also used the rubber brands stretched out as covering for the roof of my house to give it some color and a little bit of shingle feel while water proofing the top. My house would of been for a magpie, covered in just the shiny bits like the keys, bottle cap tops, coins with several different perches around it.

The Master Craft of making patio furniture was a lot of work to put into just 5 hours. I'm not even entirely sure what I would of done in that time. The bar seemed to be necessary with bar stools seemed simple enough. Kevin definitely played up his welding skills which I thought were fantastic. I was very skeptic of the boogie board chaise he was putting together but the finished project turned out pretty well. I think my favorite thing of his was the deflated beach ball tray. I thought that was clever and a great little addition. I was also very fond of the way he got everything to coordinate together such as the drop lights, the stool covers and that amazing skimmer board bar top. His whole project just felt complete. Aside for the missing storage the judges pointed out. I think the storage would of been an easily forgivable things considering how good it all looked. Personally I don't worry about storage because you can always find some milk crates someplace and cover them in or if they are behind the bar no one is going to see them but you.

As for Michaela's I just didn't really like much of what I saw was going on. I felt that wave table was a bit of an eyesore and all her pieces seemed to be mismatched from each other. There were some cute ideas and concepts but the execution just wasn't all there.

I applaud Kevin for his Victory but still wish I could of seen more of Mandi's Skillz.
She had a great blog post about her defeat on her blog here!

Ups and Downs

Polyps #1 by Jonah Jacobs

The past week has been a little bit of a roller coaster! Being able to finally announce my participation on the new TLC show Craft Wars. I've been juggling a flood of e.mail from friends, day job, organizing craft vendors for two upcoming festivals, teaching my Pattern class at CCAD, and prepping for my College Preview High School Class also at CCAD. My best friend called and asked me how I find the time to do all of this as I was sitting in a gallery doing some volunteer work for Ohio Art League. I told her I just do. My day job is so unfulfilling that I need to fill the rest of my life doing things I love to counterbalance it all. The above art was one of the pieces that was on display at the Columbus Metro Library exhibit I was volunteering at for artist pick up. I loved all the colors in it and how it reminded me of a deep sea surface covered in barnacles. It reminded me that I need to get back to making art myself and finish up some projects I have been holding off to the side.

I sat down this weekend and took another long look at this Overshot weaving pattern and finally decided to just dive in and get it started. I have my warp threads measured out over a month ago it was time to just try it all out. I was hesitant because I haven't been able to go to my weaving classes regularly with my teaching schedule conflicting this summer and it is a format I have never tried before. I'm one of those people that also hates to waste anything so I feel like if I mess up that I will have wasted some decent wool yarn and a lot of my time.

 I got about half of it threaded in the heddles yesterday and I hope to finished the rest tonight and give it a test run. I've also been obsessed once again in finding a loom for myself to keep. I'm thinking even a rigid heddle is better then nothing. I've taken a gander at Inkle table looms as well but I have a feeling they are not my cup of tea.

In other news, not sure if it's because of the weather or just because I have been much more productive the good ole hands and elbows have needed braces as I work on knitting, tatting, embroidery or typing. I know several other ladies my age who are having the same problems being long time crafters in needle arts. It makes me a little scared that if it's this bad now how much worse will it get as I age? I could never imagine life without being able to craft and create. I think I would just down a bunch of pain pills and carry on.

Do you have any slightly embarrassing injuries to claim?
Tonight is another Episode of Craft Wars! I'm not sure I will get to watch it as it airs due to Red, White and BOOM! tonight but I'll be sure to find a way to catch up on it and blog ASAP!

Cheers and Enjoy the Holiday my Fellow Americans!

Just a little Kawaii Goth

Last week I got this little gem from my craft friend Erina of Tragic Stitches. I had cleaned out an assortment of anime and kawaii keychains and trinkets from my years of working at SHOCC Comix back in high school and college. She was kind enough to do a trade for all my knick knacks and I love this necklace!  Kuromi is one of my favorite newer Sanrio Characters. She is like the evil twin version of My Melody.

The close up shows it's Hello Kitty pretending to be Kuromi which I find cute but also slightly creepy since it looks a little like she killed Kuromi and put on her skin. It directly reminded me of when I met famous traveling Gothic Lolita blogger La Carmina!

I met La Carmina when she was in town for the PRSA conference as a guest speaker on the panel about Travel Blogging. I've been following her blog off and on for a couple years. I found her off of Doe Deer I believe.  Please excuse the terrible picture it was far too dark outside and my flash just wasn't going off. She is just as cute in person as the pictures on her Blog.

 It was really excellent to meet her and also get some solid conversational time in. I feel a bit shy when I meet other more well renowned bloggers, because I blog but I'm not in the same dynamic that they are and don't have the audience that they do. I get a bit self conscious or that whole "I'm not worthy feeling". Carmina was amazing and very down to earth. We had a good bit of things in common and coo'd at cute kitty photos on our smart phones. It also goes to show once again how small the world is. She had recently taken a trip to Prague with Kat of Rock n Roll Bride whom I was a featured bride for last August! By the end of the night I made some great impressions to get her team to come out to Columbus for a visit to witness our Goth and Subculture in the city so hopefully I'll get play hostess in the near future. If you look for it we have a pretty great and long running Goth/subculture scene that people frequently travel to be a part of.

Do you have any secret Goth or Lolita fashion you wish you could wear everyday?
I'm a huge fan of sweet Lolita styles but I feel too old to wear them or Cosplay anywhere but a Con.

Cheers!