Sewing 101: The dress, the curtains & the birds.

Remember the dress I mentioned I was sewing a few months ago? Well, it is now finished!

Despite a few sewing glitches around the neckline and a 2-week hiatus from completing the hem of the dress, I can now say that not only is the dress finished - but I also wore it!

The dress is form-fitting and slimming. The fit is absolutely perfect as it should be because it was made to fit my body. My favourite part of the dress is the neckline and the bodice area. There is something to be said about making your own clothing. Not just from the satisfaction of finishing a project, but that you actually get to use the finished product, and the end result looks damn good too! FYI - This photo does not do the dress justice.


Truth is, I had help making this dress. My sewing skills from Grade 7 and 8, just didn't cut it to complete this dress flawlessly. I must give credit to my good friend and sewing tutor, Cara of Leopard Spotted Designs. Cara's background is in costume design and she has worked in numerous films and movies as a professional costumer, dressing many famous celebs. She also teaches sewing at a Toronto-based sewing studio.

Cara also made these lovely kitchen curtains for me from (get this) cheese cloth fabric!! This loosely woven fabric, provides privacy, while allowing natural light to penetrate through. Clean, simple and with no frills. I LOVE my new curtains! Thanks Cara!!




And because all good things come in threes, Cara also sewed up these adorable fabric birds for me and I stuffed them with polyester fiber fill. I also added some rhinestone eyes to the birds, just because. I have a vase with some branches in my living room and these birds will look just perfect on there, once I've finished attaching the ribbon on them, of course.



So this ends my foray into sewing 101. I don't think I will be sewing anything else at the moment as I must tend to other pressing matters, like my neglected Etsy jewellery shop.

Projects galore!

In a previous post, I had showcased an assortment of vintage beads my friend K had given me to incorporate into a necklace. Well, the necklace is finished! I have created a long necklace using sterling silver parts (chain, beads, clasp) along with the one-of-a-kind, vintage beads. I am very pleased with the results as I'm sure K will be when she sees it up close!



On another note, I have become inspired to sew a summer dress for myself.
Here is the lovely grey-blue fabric I will be using.


And here is the Burda pattern for the dress. I'm so excited to be making this dress! And you know what? The supplies hardly cost that much. The pattern, 3 of metres fabric and the zipper came out to $30 CDN with the Fabricland member discount card. Of course, there is labour involved, but since I'm making the dress for myself, I'm not factoring in the cost of the labour. I'm anticipating that it will take me a while to complete, as I am a newbie. All I know is that if I had purchased a similar type dress at a clothing store it would have been priced anywhere from $60 to $100 and it would have been made in another part of the world, and probably in a sweat shop.


I have also (finally!) completed the Photoshopped image that my photographer friend J asked me to help him with. Here is a portion of the image with the copyright watermark splattered all over it. Yes, I'm paranoid and neurotic! (As a side note, for the Bloggers that may want to know how to re-create this copyright watermark effect, there is a tutorial on YouTube showing you step-by-step how to do this using Photoshop).

On the image below (and with the help of Photoshop), I tweaked the model's make-up, the skin on the entire face and body, the eyes and eyebrows, the hair, I added a motion blur in the background and I also highlighted some details of the vintage car. I sent the photographer a jpg of the finished image and he really liked the work I did!!! I have learned quite a bit at my Photoshop course. I now have new work to add to my portfolio and a new skill set to add to my resume!

Plenty of hats...

I'm wearing many hats these days. Jewellery making is still at the forefront of my daily regime. I'm designing a necklace for a friend with some vintage beads she picked up at an estate sale years ago. The beads are gorgeous! Unlike anything I've seen. Have a look:


I'm also completing a Photoshop advanced level course at night school. This will soon be followed by InDesign. I'm trying to get up to speed in my knowledge of graphic design software. My hope is that it will open a door (or two) for me in terms of job placement. I've been wearing the unemployed hat far too long and it really sucks!

I'm still plugging away at sending out resumes, and networking, and telling everyone I know, including their grandmother, that I'm looking for work. According to the job hunting books, this is the way to do it. I've also visited two temp agencies as a last resort. And, if that weren't enough, I'm also looking to volunteer at the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum). I love learning about ancient civilizations and dinosaurs!

Friends of mine have been very supportive and have been offering me all kinds mini-projects to keep me busy and inspired. I mentioned earlier in this post about the necklace I'm working on. Another friend, a photographer, asked if I would be willing to tweak some photos of his with Photoshop in exchange for some professional photography shots of my jewellery. Sweet!

I've also been asked by friends, who are launching their own businesses, to design their business cards for them. These are the perfect projects with which to augment my design portfolio!

In my previous post, I had mentioned about working on my on-line portfolio. Alas, it is still under construction. I really want to hit the 'publish' button and make it visible to all, but it's still lacking in samples of my current work. I already have plenty of scanned images of my art class projects from high school from over 20 years ago. I doubt a prospective employer cares about those doodles. I need plenty of fresh, recent work.

So as you can see, I'm working at a variety of things in an attempt to keep busy and I'm also enjoying the creative work process. It takes time, effort and commitment to create things I feel are worthy of displaying.

For instance, I made these two pairs of earrings this past week. I am so pleased with the results that I wanted to share them with you. The 'peacock' earrings are my recent favourites. They are made with Swarovski crystals in two shades of blue for added depth. And the beads splay apart over the silver "Smarties" bead just like feathers, hence the name.


The second pair of earrings which I named 'glitterati' were made especially to be worn on a sunny day. Why? Because the sterling silver beads I've used, pick up the light and sun beautifully due to their glittery, pocked surface. A perfect homage to the sunshine we've been getting lately.


The weather has warmed up considerably and I'm much more inclined to go for longer walks with my dog. He's such a sweet, quiet little dog and he's made so many friends in the neighbourhood, with other dogs and people alike. Neighbours greet him before they say "hi" to me. I'm not complaining though, he's been (the vet and I suspect) through some abuse in his former life in Texas (before we rescued him), so he deserves all the loving he can get. Here is Dexter sunbathing, his favourite afternoon activity.