All posts tagged: sewing

robin @ comic con.

I went to Comic Con with my nephew! He’s an aspiring director so I told him I would take him if we could wear costumes. Lucky for me, he loves this stuff. We got tickets for two days so we planned two outfits. On the first day it was my nephew’s idea to dress up as Robin and Steve from Stranger Things season 3! #scoopstroop My sister made most of my nephew’s costume from thrift store finds and old clothes. I found most of my costume essentials online or in stores, and accessorized with some of my felt creations. My nephew found sailor hats at a thrift store so I cut out felt ‘AHOY’s and glued them on. I joked we could be the Filipino version if we just put HOY. I had ice cream clips in my stash of cute felt things that I made a long time ago (My friend wore them when she was dessert for a Yelp Elite dress up event). And I made felt name tags – they were comically …

sew yeah.

To commemorate Fashion Revolution Week (April 22-28), I’m excited to share two more sewing projects from Craftcation. In addition to espadrilles, I made a cardigan and a bias dress. I had a whole outfit; it didn’t match though. 😉 My cardigan class was taught by Kimberly Payne of Straight Stitch Designs. She creates her own patterns so it was really helpful to learn how to read the class pattern by the designer herself. This was my first time working with knit fabric; it wasn’t as scary and difficult as I thought it would be, but you really have to pay attention to the stretch direction or else it will be all sorts of wonky. Also, there were so many pieces; focus is key. I had to run off to teach a class mid-cardigan, so I finished my project in the sewing lab later in the week. My friend roomie Rebecca hosted (I told you she taught all the things, too!). My bias dress class was a shorter project, but also confusing. There was fabric origami …

i made shooz.

I have so many more Craftcation stories to share with you! Instead of starting from the top, I’ll start from the bottom – I made shoes, espadrilles to be more precise.  This sewing class with Melissa Quaal of A Happy Stitch was my first class at Craftcation. After a road trip through Ojai, I checked into the Craftcation hotel, grabbed my conference badge, ran back and forth to the car and my hotel room to unload all the crafty goodies, and headed straight to class. Ready! Melissa made the cutest craft kits and goody bags for us. Even the tag with our shoe size was adorable. I had only worked with a sewing pattern once before so I was excited that I got into this sewing class to get more practice in (with adult supervision!). Melissa walked us through each step of the process, sharing all of her sewing secrets, too – like how to cut fabric with weights and a rotary cutter (I’m so impressed!). I was too scared to cut this way for …

zippers!

I took a zipper class at Hello Stitch and it was amazing! Our instructor – Michelle of Hummingbird Textiles – made it super easy to follow along to make a zipper pouch. Class was BYO fabric and zippers. I brought a few choices for fabric and zipper combinations, but I decided on using my kitten fabric from Japan (thank you, Joy!) for the outer fabric and fabric leftover from wedding crafting for the liner. We got to use these amazing machines – they were so quiet and so smooth. And they have an automatic bottom thread cutter! We measured and cut our fabric. Then we ironed and sewed, and got expert help along the way. I decided on adding “tabs” to finish the zipper ends and a strap. The process/steps are relatively simple, but what I need to work on is the actual sewing and getting used to guiding fabric through the machine. For the class, it did help to know sewing basics, but Michelle is super helpful if you have any questions. I had …

sew cool.

Watch out world; I know how to sew my own skirts…with pockets! I recently had a private sewing lesson with my crafty friend Rebecca of OodleBaDoodle. Not only is she a super talented, super lovely human, but she is the most excellent instructor. I got to hang out in her studio all day (I am a slow sewer!) and see where all the OodleBaDoodle magic happens. I brought in fabric from Old Yak Bazaar in Berkeley. Super mega heart eyes, am I right? I measured and marked, and did a lot of ironing and pressing. And I got to play with Rebecca’s new sewing machine! So cute! Rebecca helped me navigate through my mistakes. Pockets can be challenging! I added a little stretch… And Rebecca hand-stamped and hand-stitched on a tag for me. Viola! I was too excited and I wore my new skirt home over the skirt I was already wearing. Thank you, Rebecca, for making the process fun-filled and easily-to-follow. Now that I know how to make something durable (I’ve worn my skirt …

hoop, there it is.

My friend gifted me an embroidery hoop so I made a pendant. Obvi! For this project I used: one embroidery hoop fabric to fit the hoop needle embroidery floss pendant setting (from Etsy shop Kailea.) fabric scissors All you do is: Place the fabric in the hoop. Embroider with design of choice. Fit the design/fabric in your pendant. Attach your pendant to chain or cord to wear as a necklace or leave as is and call it art. These would make super cute gift tags, too! What other designs would you create? Share below!