P.S. I Made This

I Make Weird Yet Thoughtful Things

FIRST:

I failed at making ginger ale. It looks nothing like ginger ale. It tastes nasty. Nasty, I tell you. Actually I think it fermented so long that I was actually starting to make ginger hooch...that would explain the burning throat...

Arthur helped.

SECOND:

I'm attempting to make ginger ale again. This time I boiled the ginger in water first (It looked like chicken floating around in there!) and I achieved somewhat of a gingerish color. Good start. I'll give you updates as I let it ferment. If I ever use this for company, I'll prolly just use club soda! Yeast makes the color funny.

AND THIRD:

As everyone knows in the Midwest who does not live under a rock, the Bears vs. Packers game is tomorrow, and as a late Xmas present, I made my great aunt a housedress to wear tomorrow--she adored it! She loves that I sew :)

Isn't she adorable? Today she told me Vanna White looks like a hooker when she wears red. She's got sass for an 87-year-old with cancer!

Go Bears!

Gratitude

I am so self absorbed that I am sure I make the best "thank you" gifts in the entire world.

It was definitely owed to my teachers who wrote my letters of recommendation, since I chose to not even wait for my acceptance letters to any of the schools that required it.

But without further ado, handmade, personalized ties for my English and History teachers--something they probably will never again receive in their teaching careers.

You can get the iron-on letters at Joann--how cute are they?!

I'm just glad to have finished a project. Now onto a housedress for my great aunt (sheesh, nothing for me?)

Christmas Creations

Hope everyone's holiday went smoothly!
I was so busy I have several projects I made for everyone as presents, thought someone'd be interested...

This was actually from last month. I made a collage for my parents' 20th Anniversary. It turned out beautifully, but lemme tell you it took forever, and took me until the wee hours of the morning before to finish it. If you look closely, you can read the "Love is patient, love is kind..." quote from 1 Corinthians. Very fitting.

I made me mum a scarf for Christmas, since she always complains that my dad has one from me and not her. This is the first time I tried out the basketweave stitch (the original one was all purled and turned out as a disaster) and it came out really nice. I must admit knitting is much cheaper than sewing!

Ben got another tie from me...this one is a bit nicer than his first (I actually followed directions!) and is in Illini orange, for whenever he needs to look spirited. [By and by, I've decided that's where I'll be going to college as well!]

My friend drew this in math...adorable, no?

Will Sew for Sandwiches

Despite the fact that I have to write six essays this weekend, I still fit in time to resize my two guy friends' tee shirts for our homecoming pep rally. I couldn't let them run around in XLs and look like fools if I could help it. And so, in exchange for a fluffernutter, I totally revamped them.

This involved shortening them, making them thinner, changing the armhole, shortening the shoulder and sleeves...it was a pretty in depth process. I used this super helpful tutorial to get the basics, and it actually turned out really well. The outside still looks very professional, so I'm pleased. I had enough  fabric to make a matching headband to go along with it! They'll be the best looking dudes in the dance group, for sure.

And now, back to those essays.

Look, Ma, Mini Bloomers!

I made mini bloomers from the free pattern at Colette Patterns. Every pattern they sell is adorable. I'm wearing these everywhere!

Has she escaped from the psychiatric ward again?

Asyndeton (n): consists of omitting conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses. In a list of items, asyndeton gives the effect of unpremeditated multiplicity.

So that's the story behind my latest sewing project. Super, super simple--almost to hospital gown proportions, but I like it.

I took the Simplicity 2584 and basically changed everything. I redesigned the neckine to make it wider and not-as-low [it was REALLY low] and added a lining so I could wear it without a camisole underneath. There's no zipper (who in the world would put a zipper on a top?! Yeesh.) I drafted my own sleeves. Then it's like 3 inches shorter, despite me having a long torso. Nuttin special?

Think again.

I think the Swiss Dots do it.

Fish Necklace: Koala Art & Design LOVE her pieces--I have two! I get so many compliments on them.





P.S.: If I were single and crazy, I would get my hair cut like this. In a heartbeat.

The Exigence Coat

Exigence: (n). In rhetoric, an issue, problem, or situation that causes or prompts someone to write or speak.



I am naming all of my future projects with terms from rhetoric, and boyy did I need some exigence to finish this coat. It just kind of sat for a long time after I cut it back in December, and it was kind of a pain to finish, but here's the stats:

Fabric: Orange wool/nylon blend from fabric.com
Pattern: Burda 7735 [with major alterations]
Difficulty level: Intermediate to Advanced

Alterations: Oh my gosh. Here we go. First of all, I chopped off 5 inches from the bottom before even cutting the fabric, and still took a little off more later. Second, I only used 6 rather than something like 12 buttons, so only on the front. I got rid of that stupid tab in the back. I made the collar pointy instead of rounded by just continuing the straight lines on the collar pattern piece to form a point. I also got rid of the cuffs on the sleeves by measuring the cuff length and adding that much to each of the sleeve pieces. THEN I added bound buttonholes AND single-welt pockets!

Man I was ambitious.

And now, I will model my beautiful and pride-filling coat in a totally impractical shade of lipstick and my favorite sunnies.

Bound buttonholes, anyone?

Pattern notes: I didn't really care for this Burda pattern. They don't tell you there's a back yoke until you cut the pieces out, so if you don't like that look don't use this pattern. Some other pieces are evil. The bottom hem I had to do twice, and the singlewelt pockets don't always sit right. The bound buttonholes alone took me hours to figure out. I did find an easier way to do them. Expect a tutorial? Yeah, right.

I forgot to mention I got my hair done at a salon for the first time yesterday and I had em blow it out. Suh-weet, huh? And the coat is all wrinkly because I've worn it everywhere.

I'll be uploading to BurdaStyle soon! And keep a look out for my next [much easier and faster] project.

Love y'all...if there's any of you out there reading.

Joanna