I’m starting a new thing! I’m calling it #workofartwednesday, and basically I’m going to post some of my art (drawings, paintings, clay sculptures, etc.) every Wednesday. The pieces that I’m posting ARE for sale … just inbox/email me for details 🙂
Here’s my first Work of Art Wednesday:
No, this is not a book review.
We had our front door fixed the other day, which naturally required the door to be open for quite some time. Not surprisingly, many flies got in.
They have multiplied.
The door had been closed except for us going in and out, yet we see more and more flies. It creeps me out to think that they’ve laid (lain?) eggs & hatched. I almost wish we had a spider or ten to get rid of them.
Going to the store today to get fly strips or something to catch and/or kill them.
On the up side, I found a use for the Spanish instructions for my sewing machine. Makeshift fly swatter for when I’m too lazy to leave the craft room to get an actual fly swatter.
I finished the cosplay gloves this morning (still had a bit of sewing to do on the second of the pair)–Check them out on Instagram @AJMullican :). Now I have to prepare for a phone interview with a musician later today, then shopping with my mom & sending out a drawing to a friend.
Very excited for the Hobby Lobby excursion. I get to pick out fabric and other bits for making/altering scrub tops & cosplay. I feel so confident after making the gloves with no pattern and no idea really what I was doing. Scrubs should be a cinch after that lol
It’s also exciting to sell artwork again. I need to make more, but my ADD/bipolar mania has me stuck on sewing at the moment. Also, I have to be careful how much artsy-craftsy stuff I get out, because I have to be able to clean everything up for company coming over in a couple of weeks. Can’t make a mess bigger than I can handle cleaning up.
I also should probably take out the trash. There’s a lot piled up, what with boxes from the birthday presents and such on top of the normal weekly accumulation of living.
I have successfully designed and made something using mainly my sewing machine! (I had to hand sew some parts I couldn’t figure out how to do on the machine.)
Introducing my new TARDIS fingerless glove! (Matching glove to be finished when I’m not so tired and sore.)
Pretty damn cool, right? Well, I also made one with black and white Doctor Who fabric.
Doesn’t get much better than that, does it? Except if…
They’re the same glove! Fuck yeah, reversible! I feel like I can do anything lol Well maybe not anything…but a lot
I’m slowly learning how to use my sewing machine.
Yesterday, I began the morning with threading the needle wrong and breaking it. I managed to replace the needle without incident, but a little while later the thread somehow came unthreaded and got slightly tangled inside the machine. Again, with the help of the instruction book, I was able to carefully untangle the thread and get it running again.
I got one laundry bag completed before I got frustrated and stopped for the day (not to mention it was getting almost time to do, well, laundry). This morning I plan on attacking the machine again, this time to make the third laundry bag–the first was made on my mom’s machine, and the hamper thing we have needs 3 bags–then I might play around with it until I figure out some new things.
I might (emphasis on might) attempt a scrub top, but I’ll use some spare fabric first if I do that. Don’t want to mess up any nice fabric. Tomorrow I’m headed to Hobby Lobby to spend a gift card I got for my birthday, so I might get some cheap fabric for practice purposes.
The bobbin winder that I got proved less contrary and works great. Very simple to use.
Once I have this machine mastered, I’m going to alter some clothes and make some cosplays. I already have my next big project for the next convention I go to sketched up and preliminarily designed. (Yes, spell check, I know that’s not a word. Bite me.) Provided that it turns out, it’s going to look awesome if I do say so myself. A lot of the fabric I need for it I already have, so it shouldn’t be too terribly expensive–I hope. It all depends on how confident and ambitious I get. The design so far is simple enough, except for the top, which will be either a faux corset or possibly an actual corset. Again, depends on confidence and ambition. And cost. Those steel bones aren’t cheap. That, too, will have to have a practice run, but thankfully I have fabric that I purchased months ago for making myself a corset of some sort, so hopefully it won’t be too bad.
I’ll get this sewing machine figured out. I’ll master it–at least enough for cosplays, simple clothing, alterations, and repairs. I’m too damn stubborn not to.
So due to low number of doctors working at the office next week, I’ll have Monday off. What to do?
Okay, so I know I’m going to be spending most of tomorrow on sewing up laundry bags & playing with my new sewing machine before doing laundry, and probably most of Sunday doing such as well. But Monday I’ll have to get started on cleaning up our spare room for my in-laws coming to visit soon.
There’s not really much to clean up (especially once the laundry bags are done) but I really should step to it. The less mess I have now, the less to deal with then.
I’ll be working more on the design for the #TARDIS dress in the coming weeks and possibly some other things. I want to lose weight, so I need to do the majority of the actual work for the dress later on (so there’s less taking in if I do in fact lose the weight. I’m going to try to make most of it so that it’s adjustable (elastic waistband, corset-type top that I can cinch more/less, etc.), but that still doesn’t mean I can make it too early. Plus, I need to practice with smaller, easier things on my new machine before jumping into the kind of endeavor I’m planning for Comicon next year.
Oops, lunch time almost over. Gotta run.
I got a sewing machine for my birthday yesterday, so that means of course more #cosplay! And what have I chosen for my first creation?
Yep. A #TARDIS dress. I have tons of blue fabric, plus some blue TARDIS print fabric and some black-and-grey Doctor Who fabric. Don’t know if I’m going to use the black-and-grey on the dress yet, but I’m going to start working on designs tonight. I think I’ll go the steampunk route with lots of gathers in the skirt & a bustle. I’ve accomplished something similar before, so I don’t think that part will be a problem, but it’s the top that’s going to be tricky. I’ve never done any sort of top from scratch. I’ll most likely make it sleeveless since I’m so new at the whole sewing thing, but we’ll see.
Go big or go home.
Okay, so I typed up a nice, long post this morning about birthdays and whatnot–and after I posted it, the links were saying “Error 404-page not found.” Thanks a bunch.
Anywho, today was a pretty good birthday. I got to sleep a bunch this morning (though our cat Rory woke me up frequently with his throat-kneading), my husband made me breakfast burritos, I had a short, easy afternoon at work, and a great dinner with my family & a friend of ours who is visiting from out of town.
I also got my first sewing machine, which has me excited because it means I can do more #cosplay and fix/alter my own clothes if needed. I’m able to hand-sew, but this will make things so much easier!
My first two goals: Make a dress out of the blue fabric and TARDIS fabric I have, then possibly a skirt or corset out of some black-and-grey Doctor Who fabric I have. After that? Who knows! I have several links and tutorials saved on Pinterest for different types of sewing projects, so I might be able to keep myself busy for quite some time.
I’m going to start this weekend with finishing up the laundry bags I’ve started, then I’ll be designing and drafting until I believe I’ve come up with the perfect use for my fabric 🙂
Well, I’m back in the swing of things this morning. The lazy weekend has passed, and I’ve gotten two critiques and a sketch done this morning. Granted, it’s not the best sketch ever, but for my tremors & my lack of a ruler, I’d say it turned out pretty good.
For those not in the loop, it’s a TARDIS. Watch Doctor Who. There’s almost 50 years of material to choose from, though I’m one of those hipster nerds who only likes the new series. (That’s Doctors 9-12, in case you were wondering–not counting the War Doctor). Eleven is my favorite Doctor (Matt Smith’s portrayal is amazing, and his character development throughout his stint as the Doctor is flawless), and his adventures with the Pond family–which is a whole new level of complicated–are my favorites as well.
Anywho, productive morning, confident of a productive work day, and tomorrow it’s my birthday 🙂
So aside from a couple album reviews and an interview, I’ve gotten next to nothing accomplished today.
Thanks to my wonderful, supportive mom I got my #projectsemicolon tattoo today. But that doesn’t count as an accomplishment really. I just sat there while the artist did all the work.
I guess I’m entitled to a day like this every so often. I’m normally not the type A person that has to be doing something all the time, but I’ve been keeping myself occupied with so much for so long that I have forgotten how to just be.
So this is me. Being.
