Before and After

Look what a little school can do!

Before:

My first assignment in Sketching I

After:

My 3rd assignment in Sketching II

Both pictures are bad quality, but look what 3 months of drawing does! I really do recommend my sketching books, even as coffee table books.  The illustrations inside are just gorgeous. I can only hope to draw like that one day. 

Don't steal or use my work in any way! It's mine.  Ask permission first :)

FIDM: Update

I already posted a little about my first two classes:  Sketching II and Fashion Seminar.  They are both going well, not a big fan of the seminar class, but I've decided that if I can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.  I have my beef with the class, and if you really want to know about it, we can converse privately via email.  My Sketching II class is amazing.  I feel so much more confident and my sketches are improving immensely.

My other classes are Draping and Garment Construction I and Technical Sketching.  I am enjoying both classes, but they are a lot of work!  In Draping, we have to drape three garments; a bias dress, an organza skirt, and a knit cowl top.  We drape on the form, true the seams, transfer the pattern to dot paper, and then make up a the real garment from the paper pattern.  Its the first time I've done any of this, so its quite daunting.  I spent 6.5hrs yesterday re-draping and transferring my pattern to paper, drafting facings and straps.  I now have to make a marker and cut out another muslin, sew it up and have it ready to present by Tuesday.  We also have lots of hand stitching samples due.

The text we use is:

I would recommend the book, but the croquis in it are hideous!  I think there are better draping books out there, but it is a good overall book about couture and couture sewing.











My Technical Sketching class is good as well.  We are now just tracing technical sketches by hand using straight edges and french curves.  We are also designing our own flats and then putting them on croquis. There is so much homework for this class!  I have to draw so much, there is barely time for anything else.
We got this books:
 It's beautiful!
















Also a set of flats that I can't find online to show you.  They are in the same series as the 9 Heads books, and I believe they are called 9 Flats.  Technical sketching is really boring, but I'm good at it :)

I have so much homework to do today! And, don't worry Angela, I'm getting the zippers mailed today as well!

And the winner is...

*
Angela!

Email me at ( rofishman ..."at"...  gmail ..."dot"... com ) so I can get the zippers out to you!

And I have a couple new followers!

They are Kim, dfr2010, and Allison!  Thank guys!


School is so busy right now.  I have a lot to blog about, but no time.  I'll try to get a few posts together by this weekend.

Happy Sewing (if you are fortunate enough to have time to actually do it!)

*edit:  I can't get the number generator thing to work on the blog.  I swear, it randomly picked #4, even if it isn't showing up :)

Zipperpalooza: an I have 50+ Followers Giveaway!

Hi everyone!  School is in full swing and I'm up to my neck in sketching and journal assignments.  I still haven't talked about my Draping and Construction class or my Technical Sketching class, but that's for a later entry.  Today is ZIPPERPALOOZA!


I'm finally going to giveaway all those funky zippers as a thanks to all my followers!  To enter you must:

1) Be a follower, or have commented before (but not just on CSN Giveaway post!).   If you've been a long time reader, and can't be a google follower for some reason, let me know.  I could make some exceptions.  It's my giveaway, darn it!  New followers are welcome to enter.

2)  It's open to any country as long as shipping is under $8!    I think the most I'll have to pay for First class mail to Europe and Australia is about $7.50.  I can handle that.  I being really lame, but if I find out shipping is more, I'll randomly pick someone else.   I'm sorry, but I'm a poor college student.

3) Tell me what you plan on doing with one or more of the zippers.

I might split up the loot if there are many comments.

I'll let the random # generator pick the winner.

Contest ends next Tuesday January 25th at 8 PM Pacific Time.  :)

Here's the loot:

(Some are duplicate pictures!)  I'm giving away a few  zips in assorted colors (they are so weird! a cross between a regular zipper and an invisible zipper!), a couple rainbow zips in assorted sizes (one is separating), and a couple white zippers with shiny silver teeth!

Good luck!

Pearl helping with my draping project, a bias slip dress!

Thanks Kerry for following me!  Check out her blog!

A few more Gifts and Followers

Just a quick post showing you a couple more gifts I made.

First is the doll tutu for the AG Doll:

I cut the pink tulle into strips and then attached them to the ribbon.  Eventually, I will make a leotard.

Also to go with my sister's cardi-wrap, I made a peacock feather fascinator:

Don't know if she likes it, but it was inexpensive and fun to make!  I got the clip and the peacock feather at my local swapmeet and the purple feather base in the L.A. Fashion District back in September.  

Also.......

Thanks to another Follower, I now have 50!  Yay!  Thanks June! 

I think I'm going to finally have that zipper giveaway! I also found some other unusual zippers that I will add to the pile.  More details to come later:

My Cornered Seam Tutorial is Featured on Facebook

How cool is that??? My Cornered Seam tutorial  is featured on the BurdaStyle Facebook page!

I'm so excited!

So is Pearl!

Pearl in my friend Laurie's handmade, beautiful Ewok hoodie!

FIDM: A New Chapter

Just started back at FIDM for my second quarter!  I've only had 2 classes so far, but they both seem pretty good, especially my Sketching II class with Mrs. Riegelman.  I've very excited to learn from the author of these two AMAZING books:
















Just got Colors for Modern Fashion today and it is beautiful!  It teaches you how all about drawing in color with color pencil, Prismacolor markers, and other color media.  I'm really excited to learn from her.  















I already feel I am improving.  Working with color is difficult, but much more fun than working in graphite pencil.  I also like her teaching style better than my previous teacher.  Not that he didn't sketch well.

I also had my Fashion Seminar class.  The text for this class is:
















It is the first textbook I've had that reads like a textbook. I've only read a few pages.  If you are curious about the text, email me and I'll review it for you once I've read a little more.

I have Draping and Garment Construction on Tuesday and Technical Sketching on Wednesday.

In actual sewing news, after I finished all the Xmas presents, I had no time to start this project:

The pink version here.

Using this wool fabric I bought back in September in L.A.:

I had a few minutes, so I cut out a pair of pj pants for me because you can never have enough pjs IMO.  

My mom bought this adorable flannel at a swap meet, but there was only 2 yds.  I'll show you them when they are finished.  They are going to be cute and not quite your standard pjs.

Finally, thanks to my new followers!

Rachel of l'oiseau, a design student from Arkansas, Crystal, and Gabrielle (I think you joined recently).

It's getting much harder to figure out who's a new follower!  Thanks for everyone's support!

If I've missed ya, let me know!

I'm not sure I'm going to post anything for the New Year (ie. past goals met, which obviously weren't blogged and goals for this year).

Blast From the Past: I wish I knew... (Simplicity 3964 and 3850)

I wish I knew how to sew cornered seams when I started to sew.

This was the first (or second) shirt I ever made myself:

Built by Wendy S3964

I was really proud of the shirt, but it was too small in the chest!  There is lots of bunching!

I did a really good job on the shirt, IMO.  I knew nothing about sizing, or how to finish seams properly.  I also could not sew corners.  The inset is a little wonky, but I did an awesome job on the neck binding.  Sometimes I wonder how I made this shirt.  

And the Pattern Review:

Pattern Description:

3964 Misses Tops and Dresses

Misses Built By Wendy Collection Dress, Tunic or Top

Pattern Sizing:

4-12.  I didn't know much about sizing and ease. I made a 4 and it was way too tight.  I think I did this because I made another top in a size 8 and it was huge!

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?

Pretty much, yes.

Were the instructions easy to follow?

Yes. At the time I was a true beginner and I could understand all the directions. The only reason I said it was difficult and great for Advanced Sewers is because the cornered inset was very difficult to sew.  Now, I would have no problems with it. 

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

I thought it was a cool, funky pattern.  I thought the inset was difficult to sew though. I also thought that with the crappy quilting cotton that I used (I didn't know I should use fashion fabric) the sleeves stuck out quite a bit.  

Fabric Used:

Quilting cotton.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:

None. I didn't know how.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?

Maybe I would make it sleeveless.  It was fun to make.  

Conclusion:

It's a fun top. Lots of different techiques to practice your skill set.  I wish it would have fit. 

Oh, in the picture above I'm also wearing the first pair of shorts I made.  I totally forgot about those. 

They are also a Built By Wendy pattern S3850:

I was an ambitious beginner sewist, wasn't I?  

I actually referred to Pattern Review for these shorts and everyone said they ran big.  I still made the size that matched my measurements ( a size 12) and they were huge! I had to take in the side seams to fix that, but in doing so, the pockets got really tiny.  I finished all the seams by zig-zagging and the front fly looks really good.  They are still too baggy so I don't wear them, but I can't get rid of them because they are one of the first things I ever made.

Pattern Review for the shorts:

Pattern Description:

3850 Misses Pants

Built By Wendy Misses Slim Pants, Capris & Shorts

Pattern Sizing:

4-12. I made a 12. They were huge!

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?

I guess. They weren't as slim as the picture indicated.

Were the instructions easy to follow?

I thought they were easy to follow.  They were one of my first projects.  My first attempt at pants other than pjs.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

They ran ginormous, but I liked the style.

Fabric Used:

Cotton twill.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:

Since they were large, I had to take in the side seams on both the legs and the waistband.  This caused the pockets to shrink.  I could barely fit my hands in them.  Thank goodness for little hands.  

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?

Now that I know about sizing and flat pattern measuring, I think I would try them again. Maybe for spring or summer.  

Conclusion:

Flat pattern measure.  It will save your sanity and your pockets :)

Do you guys hang on to your "firsts?"