100% allysewn

flowers monsters and robots

2010-04-14T19:04:00.000-07:00

Very quick update on easy, funny looking, and non-functional things I enjoyed making this past month!

Martha Stewart taught me how to make this.

One time I tried to teach people how to make this, and it was boring.

Almost accidentally threw this guy out the window trying to get these next few shots...

Pensive.

They say good bye! Off to book club!

I'm still here

2010-03-17T01:10:00.000-07:00

Just haven't sewn anything in a while. The sewing machine that used to sit on my desk has been replaced by a box of 50 pounds of paint that can be very difficult to move. Maybe I'll sew over spring break!

This past week I rediscovered celery and peanut butter. Please get some now or over spring break--you will thank me later!

I bought a bundle of celery on Sunday and it's all gone as of ten minutes ago. No, I did not share.

Today I taught an art class for second graders at a school in Oakland (this is why there are 50 pounds of paint on my desk). It was my third week there! Hanging out with second graders is fun, but it has not been good for my English in any way. After the first like... thirty minutes around them, I begin talking like them. I have caught myself saying phrases like:

"mmm girl, no you didn't"

"nuh uh, you cleaning up after yourself, shoot"

"ay don't be hating on her"

"oh dang girl, thats tiiight"

Yeah I know you can't imagine it.

So going from hanging out with second graders in Oakland straight into community time with my iv small group puts my language back where it normally is. hah.

Oh. Week 1:

pages of an old thesaurus

Week 2:

toilet paper rolls

Week 3:

water colors and oil pastels.

I brought twenty brand new water color sets with me today, but when I left, I only had nineteen! Thought I misplaced one, but no. Looking back on today, I totally know which girl stole one, and when. omg.

girl, imma hunt you down...

a rose is a rose is a rose

2010-02-09T22:10:00.000-08:00

Thinkin bout switching to tumblr.

I am such a conformist.

Anyway, this has been the extent of my sewing life:

Blue felt rose bobby pin!

I was going to give them away for Valentine's Day, but I think they were made for toddlers because it looks too obnoxious in my hair. Like a grown up wearing baby clothes.

I would sew wear this to a tea party, I sewwear

2010-01-05T23:25:00.000-08:00

This is my favorite dress sew far I think.

These are ruffles. I am grateful I had a dressform to take this picture..

One strap. sew scandalous

I'm gonna try to sell it on the family Etsy. (Photography by Daniel Lam. He's gonna get discovered via my blog. And I model some knitted socks featured in our shop. yeahhhh this is going to be our big break)

And if my dress doesn't sell, I will keep it for myself and pretend to not be sad that nobody wants it.

Everybody wins. Or else I alone will win.

I think I am updating a lot now because I don't know how much I'll be able to sew when I get back. I'm like 99% sure the dressform won't fit in the triple, and I don't know if there will be time to build any big projects for fun.

Saaaad.

But quite happy that this break has been going really well (minus wisdom teeth consultation tomorrow at most inconvenient time ever) and I am now very well rested, wrapped up in my favorite fuzzy, and enjoying time at home with family!

hoodies for everyone that is related to me.

2010-01-01T15:43:00.000-08:00

tall.

the cousin sweatshirts silkscreened and embroidered after waiting in a cardboard box for four years.

Dad: "Wow, that's a cool character. What does it mean?"

"I think it's your last name."

sew late for a Christmas update

2009-12-26T23:48:00.000-08:00

Actually, I gotta update again after we celebrate Christmas with my dad's side of the family tomorrow.

But here's what I have pics for so far:

Pencil bags with pretty silk remnants from my mom and checkered lining from the extra flannel that I always buy too much of. (See my tutorial)

Hair clip/bobby pin clothesline.

A new friend for my pincushion--a real dressform! Now the only problem will be finding a place in my dorm to fit her. I hope that this means clothes-making will be easier and less messy.

A purple shirt that I finished for Sarah, just a day late!

This break (so far) has been filled with a lot of hanging out with family, sleeping in, meeting up with old friends from high school and new friends from college, knowing that there is an abundance of home cooked food in the fridge, showering without flip flops on, painting my nails lavender, and tons of relaxing. Also, tons of space! I spread out sewing stuff upstairs and it's very nice. There's room everywhere for everything! I love home.

By the way, these pictures are large. Are they too much? They feel like they're a little much. But I love big pictures.

And my siblings and I have decided to start a collaborative etsy for us to sell knitted, sewn, and paper crafted goods!

Another update to come soon :)

And I guess college has made me girlier or something. I used to be very against smileys, because they are a little cutesy for my taste. But now they aite.

2009-12-14T02:21:00.000-08:00

All I want for Christmas is a machine that will turn pandas into gnomes.

like urban renewal, but not. urban renewally.

2009-11-17T23:30:00.000-08:00

In the costume shop, we get to bring in random clothes that don't fit us anymore. or that are too ugly or boring or whatever to wear. We take them apart and transform them into beautiful things. I thought this would be a really good idea for a non-profit, or just a clothing line. but then Sarah told me that Urban Renewal already does this. Oh poo.

For my first project, I used:

- the bottom of my grey t-shirt from dodgeball tournament (we got slaughtered don't ask)

- one of brother's plain black t-shirts

braided strips of grey t-shirt + pleated black t-shirt (minus sleeves and neck) =

Because I have a sewing machine snuggly stationed on a corner of my desk, and because the only fabric I have to sew with (at least for this semester) will be from clothes I don't want to wear anymore, I will probably do a lot more of this stuff.

I promised myself I would start working at 11:30, so this blog post will have to do for now.

Oh but I have to add somewhere here that yesterday I woke up at 2:30 and missed all my classes and now I'm so traumatized I'm pretty sure I will not miss another class ever. Or at least for the rest of the semester. Okay 11:30. Good bye blogging world I will be back soon!

this day was sew productive

2009-11-10T01:27:00.000-08:00

Today I spent fifteen minutes just sitting at my desk, wondering if I had enough room for my sewing machine in my cozy corner of the triple that I live in.

I decided I did.

Stay tuned for more interesting updates that actually have to do with sewing!

I think this is my new favorite website.

2009-10-06T10:29:00.000-07:00

That is correct. You can make fonts! It's really fun and so I'm going to make like 10 more fonts that don't look like they were created by a five year old girl. I'm going to make sophisticated, womanly fonts. And then I will update this blog again.

fontcapture.com

GO!

secret treasures in unit 1

2009-09-12T18:05:00.000-07:00

I like it here.

Yesterday, I skipped class!

2009-09-11T09:37:00.000-07:00

I know, right? What kind of college student have I become?!

I promise that I didn’t do this on purpose. I really wanted to stay ahead and be a gooood college student. I made lots of lists of To-Do’s and To-Read’s. They are color coded and written in pretty markers. I even like my classes! I open my eyes really big even though it dries out my contacts just so my professors think I am being very attentive. I nod in agreement sometimes. I use ACT and it makes my teeth feel good. I also go to an abs and back workout on Fridays to try be healthy and stuff! But I woke up too late and I missed class. And none of my efforts to stay ahead, not my lists, my markers, my big eyes, my ACT, or my abs and back class could help me.

The good news is that I missed Music27, and the lectures are about very basic things in music.

The bad news is that Music27 starts at 11:00AM. And I accidentally slept in until noon. This is just embarrassing. But when I think about it, if anyone were to sleep through an 11AM class, it would be me.

OMAH.

It’s times like this that I miss having parents to drag me out of bed when I can’t get up. Even when I get rug burns because my dad pulls my 5’7” body across the carpet in my room, through in the hallway, and into the kitchen. Man, I had it so good...

On Thursday, I woke up, looked at the time, and the first thing I thought was, “Aw man.. well at least I have something to blog about!”

So I am not as organized or put together as I thought I’d be at this point. I try really hard, but I’ll still make ridiculous mistakes. And I don’t need to set up everything perfectly in my new little college life. And when I do try, I will still miss my 11AM class.

OH MAN. Can you imagine if my classes started at 8AM today?!

Anyway. Yesterday morning was a good reminder for me that I am not perfect, and even when I try to make everything work out perfectly, I’m me and I will still make mistakes. And that is okay because I will learn lots while I am here in Berkeley. wow I’m so excited to learn like a lotttt of new things. That’s what people do in college.

I live here.

Even though I missed Music27, I made it to my costume lab on time, later that day! I am in a stagecraft class and so I get to do costume labs twice a week. It’s fun! But mostly menial labor… like sewing on labels, sewing on buttons, and hemming. Oh well. It’s not that boring. I'm learning a lot. Especially since I have always been really sloppy at sewing. And people say that costume lab will make me more meticulous and better at hand sewing. And it will make me care about small things that nobody else notices. I think I will like this!

hello, i'm going to college!!!

2009-08-17T21:46:00.000-07:00

laptop case. let me know if you want one!

flannel lining. pretty mac.

Moving to Berkeley in five days!

This ugly yellow broom makes the dress work.

2009-08-01T14:00:00.000-07:00

You need to feel this fabric.

I saw it at Fabrix in the 99 cent/yard section, and after one touch, I went ahead and bought three yards without thinking. It was so soft! Anyway, when I went home, I completely regretted it. I didn't know what I would do with three yards of soft, flannel fabric, except make many identical pajama pants/shorts. Or make lots of little matching outfits like Maria did for the Von Trapp children. Neither of these ideas really appealed to me. I still have a lot of leftovers from the last time I went out and bought flannel. Flannel is not as useful as you would think it would be.

So last night, I googled flannel dress and decided to try something similar to what the image results gave me. It's a little sloppy and uneven, but it feels soft and I like it. I feel like a mom when I wear it. And the broom only adds to the matronliness (A word, I looked it up.) of this dress. Ah! It makes me feel old. Like a college student! I can imagine myself wearing this dress in college. Carrying a broom. I am excited. I move in on August 22nd!

Pencil Bags for Everybody!

2009-07-30T18:48:00.000-07:00

Hello!

I have not blogged in a long, long time. I have not sewn in a long, long time. But I did get to...

fly to Hawaii with friends for six days!

hang out at day camp with twenty two ghetto and now not-so-cliquey eighth graders that really grew on me and the messiest and nicest group of counselors ever!

celebrate my cousin's wedding!

schedule for my first semester at Berkeley!

go on the annual lam fam camping trip!

and now I get to relax, reunite with friends, sleep... and SEW!

Here is today's project:

and now, for the first time ever-- a tutorial! So now we can all have identical pencil bags. I like these because you can make them out of small scraps of fabric that aren't big enough for anything else. Also, if you go out and buy a yard, you could make a million of these pencil bags with just that one yard. There's very little sewing involved, so you could probably make this by hand relatively fast. And they're really easy to make tutorials on...

--------------------

(1) Cut out 2 rectangles from the fabric you want on the outside of the bag (thicker fabric is better for keeping the shape of the bag) and 2 more rectangles from the fabric you want to line the inside of the bag. For a small bag, use 6"x8", for a large one, use 6"x12".

(2) Stack each lining rectangle (checkered) on top of the outer fabric rectangle (leafy.) Hem one long side in about 1/4" for both stacks.

(3) Sew the hemmed side onto the zipper like so!

(4) Flip over.

(5) Fold in half, sew along the side opposite the zipper, about 1/4" from the edge.

(6) Match up the part you just sewed with the zipper so that it lays flat like this.

(7) Flip over. Sew along the two open sides. Try to get the lines you sew to go perpendicular to the zipper at the zipper's endpoints. Yeah.

(8) Cut off the extra fabric from the sides you just sewed so it'll be less bulky inside.

(9) Unzip the bag, reach inside, and fold each corner flat (into a triangle.) Sew along the base of each of the four triangles. The length of the base will be the height of the pencil bag.

(10) Flip inside out and fill the bag with all sorts of little trinkets.

And the pencil bag I have been holding onto since 8th grade broke, so this one will replace it!

okay go make pencil bags for all your friends now.

2009-06-14T22:22:00.000-07:00

Three graduations and two graduation dresses later...

(I used pipe cleaners in this dress! teehee)

I'm leaving for Hawaii tomorrow for a senior trip with friends! Maybe I will get fabric there. Hawaiian fabric! Or maybe I will just get the shortbread cookies. We'll see. I'm excited to spend one last week with school buddies, stay up late talking and playing games, snorkel, play in the sand, and eat shave ice. I do not know how dark I will get. The first time time I went to Hawaii, I accidentally used tanning lotion instead of sun screen. No good. This time will be better--I have lots of sunscreen.

And now it's time for a (highly exclusive) BDC (Banquet Decorations Committee) meeting! Steph is not here. She is not working on this with us.

Dress like a graduate

2009-06-06T17:13:00.000-07:00

Hello!

I've been looking forward to this entire month for so long! Senior activities, orientation, and now I have graduation, Hawaii, and day camp. I can't wait. Also, I had some free time after graduation rehearsal, so I picked up some fabric to make dresses for my graduation and my cousin's wedding(!!!) coming up soon.

Graduation's on Monday, so I worked on that one on Thursday. My original intent was to create a tutorial, with pretty pictures that explain how I created my dress, but I didn't get very far. I didn't know exactly what I was doing until I was almost done. While I was walking around Fabrix, thinking of what my dress should look like and what kind of fabric I should choose, my only requirement was that I had to be able to put pockets in my dress (to hold phone/camera under my graduation gown.) But I didn't even think that through very much, because the dress I ended up making could never have pockets. There were also a lot of times where I would just stick the fabric under my sewing machine and really hope that things would turn out okay. I even broke a sewing machine needle!!!! because I was getting sloppy, trying to finish the dress in time for me to prepare for orientation, the next day. So those are all my excuses. No tutorial. At least not yet. All I have photographed is the first step, above, and the final product, here:

More pictures of the dress after graduation, I guess!

And I just came back from orientation a little while ago, so I'm exhausted and going to take a little nap now. But I will update again later this week!

PROM!

2009-05-25T21:48:00.000-07:00

This past month, I have neglected my blog in anticipation for this post- the hustle and bustle of everything I have to do to get all girly and prepare for prom!

Starting with.. nails!

My amazingly artistic friend, Jasmine, painted nails for my friends and me!!

from top, clockwise: Erika, me, Lorriane

more of me.

She also made my earrings into clip-ons, for my unpierced little lobes:

on my ear.

Two days before prom, I realized that I didn't have a nice bag to hold money/camera/cell, etc. So I made one out of a hat that doesn't fit my head anymore. It is only a hat, folded in half, with one pleat on each side, and a button/clasp to keep the rim of the hat down. I also put a little pocket inside the bag, for moneys and things. It's very easy. I would make a tutorial, but you don't even need one. It will take you all of five minutes. Here's the bag:

and now, about the DRESS!

It began with a very spontaneous trip my mom and I took to Fabrix. Fabrix pros: the suspiciously low prices. The cons: the strange quality of most of their fabrics. And the dirty, messy, hard-to-find-anything sense that you get immediately after stepping inside. [I did, however, discover that the woman buying fabric behind me was working on costumes/tech stuff for WICKED, which I will be seeing in a week!!! So I feel like I can trust Fabrix with my prom. If it's good enough for Elphaba, it is definitely good enough for me.]

With that said, it was hard to find anything prom-y. All the satin/silk fabrics were shades of blue or green, but most of my friends already picked out dresses that were those colors. I ended up going with black slacks-like fabric and white canvas (also useful for a Mother's Day tote bag).

I found a thin, pretty, silver trim too, which I knew I wanted to use for the straps. I am almost ashamed (but not) to say, I learned from About.com that black and white can look good on anyone. So if you want to make this dress, you can. Go to Fabrix.

I bought:

3 yards of black fabric, 1 yard of white fabric, 1 black invisible zipper, and 1 yard of silver trim.

All for $13, which my mom paid.

Even after I bought the fabric, I wasn't completely sure what my dress would look like. I only knew I wanted it to be long and mostly black, with silver straps. Plus some white embellishments, to keep the dress from looking too plain. I ended up with this sketch:

After many hours spent in the back of my house, laying out fabric in the hallway (the only place long enough,) poking myself with too many pins, putting on and taking off the dress, sitting in front of the sewing machine, and standing in front of my mirror, holding seemingly endless amounts of black fabric around me while thinking (spent at least an hour doing that...)

I ended up with this:

Sarah and her friends did hair and make up for my friends and me.

Our hair looks very good in this picture.

Group picture!

And... yes. I think that covers all of me getting ready for prom. Pictures from the actual prom will be on Facebook later, I guess. And prom itself was a lot of fun! in case you were wondering.

callysewn

2009-04-06T17:11:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Because I haven't updated in about a month, this entry will be filled with little updates of the things I remember happening since my last update:

Went to LA for a track meet. Got owned, but that's okay, they won't remember me...
Went to San Diego with family
Made banana bread
Got better at ping pong!!!
Just got on spring break! I stayed up late yesterday night sewing this:

And in this picture I am petting a glass bear because...

I'm going to Berkeley!

It's not really skirt seasewn but...

2009-03-08T19:55:00.000-07:00

I really like this fabric as a skirt.

The silver lines are pretty and not overwhelmingly sparkly. I used it on my last dress for the skirt part, too, because I can't find any other use for this fabric besides as a skirt. It looks like normal fabric (what I originally thought it was when I got it at Fabrix) but when I took it home, I found out it's like at least 90% spandex. And it's really thick. And if somebody ever invented a spandex tablecloth (like those spandex reusable book covers) they would definitely use this fabric. So thank you, Fabrix, for tricking me into buying elastic table cloth. You win.

k I'm not really that bitter. I still like

this skirt. I still like Fabrix.

And these are the pictures of me wearing the skirt! I have to post more than one because it definitely took me longer to take pictures than to sew the skirt. I went online and found these nice guidelines for me to follow on taking pictures of things I sew. I didn't really follow most of them, but I tried sewwww hard. Especially for this last one. I was going for the scene in Model Behavior (really bad Disney Original Movie) where these identical twins think they're staring at a mirror but they're actually looking at each other.

Confessewns of a sorta only child

2009-02-27T23:00:00.000-08:00

Week 3 (of 4) of being an only child is coming to an end. I thought I would be miserable and sad and insane by now--and every once in a while I do get that way--but for the most part, I have a lot of fun hanging out with my parents. I don't feel like a nerd staying home. Actually.. I'm sure I'm a nerd whether or not I stay home or go out, but I don't mind being home. Home is cool.

As a sort of sequel to my story about my haunted phone (see my other entry, "Sew Scawy!!") I have this magic toothbrush. Or toothbrushes. They're electric, and came in a two-pack that we bought from Costco a long time ago. They're Oral-b, and you probably have them too, because a lot of people have them. We have one charger and the 2 brushes in the two-pack, which we use interchangably. My dad insists that they are broken, because when he pushes the button, nothing works, and a dying motor sounds. He brushes manually with the electric brush and talks about going to Costco to buy a new one, or two. But everytime I use the brush, it works perfectly. The motor is fine. Sometimes, during the day, I walk up to the toothbrush and turn it on, just because I can and my dad can't.

The secret? I have faith. Really strong faith. I believe so firmly that the toothbrush will work that it does. Every time.

My dad doesn't believe. He figured that by luck, or lack there of, the toothbrush he was using was always the dead one, and the toothbrush I was using was always the alive one. I use the one on the charger, he uses the one left on the sink. So my dad does this:

Yes, he brought a napkin, sharpie, and tape into the bathroom so that he could tightly wrap the working brush in the napkin, remove it from the charger, and place the identical "broken" one on the charger in its place.

Instantly, I lost faith in the brushes. I was like, "Mannnn, now I have to tear off the napkin and use this one, cuz the one on the charger is probably broken" even though before I was so convinced that both toothbrushes worked. I unwrapped the "working" one, and it didn't work. Is this some sick sort of reverse psychology? My dad would. So I tried the one on the charger, only to find that one didn't work either now!! Neither of them. Now we have to use the new toothbrushes that my dad bought from Costco. That's what happens when you lose faith.

So I'm glad God doesn't work like this. Cuz with all the stuff going on with my mom's cancer, I've gone back and forth a million times between being really pessimistic and really optimistic, and I'm glad it's not like I need absolutely perfect faith for God to be faithful. Especially for times when I feel really hopeless, I'm glad there's grace for me to not feel like I'm not allowed to think what I'm thinking. It's good to know God is faithful despite all my "what if" and "why me" and "what are you doing" questions.

This picture is really gross, but it makes me laugh really hard.

Also, my family has a lot more healthy food around the house. I'm not always really happy about it, but sometimes I am because I get to explore this whole new side of baking that uses all these crazy ingredients. I think healthy recipes are a lot more creative than recipes that just use different combinations of chocolate, butter, and sugar.

Tonight, I made oatmeal cranberry flax seed cookies!

EDIT: okay, my mom just used the toothbrush (old one, not the new costco one) and it works. whaaaat?

allysewn beanie

2009-02-26T20:59:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I started working on Mr. Hoffman's Shield and Scroll beanie. It looks like this.

I never really liked how these beanies look. I know some people like them, but I think it's kinda embarrassing to wear so I never wear mine. Maybe I'm just overly self-conscious.
Anyway, I was supposed to cover the white sectors with light blue felt--YEAH. FELT. It brought back so many bad memories from previous felt projects (see my other entry, "Failure".) And I'm pretty sure the entire beanie is made out of some sort of felt, which was really hard to work under the sewing machine. So I had to hand sew it. It's probably better off that way, though. Things would have gotten really ugly if I tried to do it all by machine.
I also got to try embroidering by hand! The cat was kinda just for fun, so I took it off (the legs are weird and it doesn't really look professional. Really.. Would you respect someone wearing a little cat on his head?) If I'm feeling ambitious I might try and embroider the cousin sweatshirts! (We ordered it years ago and never actually got it done.)

The Final Product!

"Mr. Hoffman, do this *asian studio pic pose with hands under chin* so I can put you on my blog!"
"What? No. Why?"
"Please?"

"Wait can I see it to make sure it turned out okay?...Okay, tag me."

Sewme of the crafty things I've been up to

2009-02-21T22:43:00.000-08:00

I haven't sewn for a while (although I do get to sew/embroider on Mr Hoffman's Shield & Scroll beanie, haha) and now, a lot of the time, I don't want to. Usually, when I sew, I just close the door to my room and spend the time by myself, on my floor, or at the sewing machine, cutting and sewing for hours, singing songs from Wicked to myself. I don't really want to isolate myself at home like that. I think I'd rather spend the time watching Arrested Development with my parents and fall asleep on their shoulders, or playing ping pong and getting dominated by my dad, who is surprisingly agile, or my mom, who just came out of surgery 2 days ago and can't move around, but still manages to own me so so so badly. Of course it feels good to run out of my room wearing something I just finished sewing and see the expression on my mom's face (WOW) but it's been good trying to find other crafty things to do that don't involve me isolating myself.

A little over a week ago, I made conversation heart shortbread cookies--not those nasty chalky tasting candies, to pass out at school before Valentine's Day. It's shortbread with food coloring, and the writing is done by a red food coloring marker, which was dying on me (no pun intended!!) the whole time.

Also. apparently nobody knows what S.W.A.K. means anymore. But it's not like anyone says that. I have never heard anyone say "swak," and I can't imagine a situation where anyone would. It's weird. Maybe it's just a conversation heart thing.

Another thing. I'm trying to make little clay things. I used to be really into clay a couple years ago (every time I made one I would announce to my family that I made a new little friend to play with) but I slowly stopped. But my friend at school, who makes amazing things out of clay and nail polish and anything artsy, inspired me to start up again.

Eve, rose, strawberry cake, and wildberry pop-tart.

I miss pop-tarts. Kashi Go-Lean and Joe's O's just aren't the same as those overly frosted, just-out-of-the-toaster pop-tarts. When I go to college, I'm gonna buy pop-tarts, and I'm gonna be so happy. I used to love the strawberry ones, but I just searched pop-tarts on wikipedia, and there are so many new delicious-sounding flavors!!!

A milkshake in a tart?! I didn't think it was possible either.

mmmmmmm. This has to taste good.

Is it Eve or Eva?

And lastly, college stuff is coming out soon! I was going crazy yesterday in the halls at school when I heard people saying that UC Irvine sent out its acceptance emails. I spent at least an entire minute getting really excited, hurrying to pack up my backpack so I could check my email in the school library, before I remembered I didn't apply there.

Still, exciting.

my life as an only child, sew far

2009-02-09T21:47:00.000-08:00

I haven't sewn anything big in a while. I'm not feeling it right now.

But I made this ribbon flower:

I just followed this. I stuffed it in a bouquet of real flowers to see if people would notice. They haven't. And, I've tried making it again with my other ribbons, but I can't do it anymore. So I will not be making these for Valentines Day, as I do not know how anymore. Sew Sad.

Things are still sad at home, but my family is so much closer now. I definitely say that after every bad thing that happens in my family. But it has become even more true now. Even though we're miles apart. (guess where that's from!!!!)

For my mom, who can't eat anything rich, cheesy, spicy, spicey, fried, fiberous, or tomato based, and my dad, who can't eat anything fatty, salty, meaty, or starchy, and us kids, who want to eat something that will not taste like garbage, Daniel and I made turkey noodle soup and grilled vegetable sandwiches. If you can think of anything else we could have possibly made, you are incredible.

Sew Scawy!!

2009-01-31T23:41:00.001-08:00

NOTE: This post is not sewing related. But for some sewing news, I sketched out my senior prom dress. I think I'll work on it next weekend!

Since forever, my family has had two phones-- upstairs and downstairs. The upstairs one, on a separate line, belonged to my grandma, but nobody ever used it. All of us were always downstairs, except when we slept. Even my grandma's friends called her on the downstairs phone. From time to time, the upstairs phone would ring, but we assumed the calls were from telemarketers and didn't bother picking up the phone.

We canceled the phone line for the upstairs phone after my grandma died. But from time to time, it would still ring. This went on for months, maybe even a year. There's not supposed to be a number that leads to our phone anymore. It was spooky. I even had a couple dreams where I picked up the phone and my grandma or God would answer and tell me what to do...

Eventually, my fearless mother answered the phone. It was some computerized thing about credit cards. Disappointing. I guess it wasn't that spooky of a phone after all. We unplugged it.

So that was like three years ago.

A couple nights ago, I was up in the living room, sitting next to these weird Chinatown underwear my grandma bought Sarah. (They go up super high and have a zippered pocket to hold money and things in. I think I could sew one, but do not worry. I never will.) I'm so lonely. Sew lonely. My parents were asleep and no one else was home, so I was just sittin. That's what I do now that I am (for this month) an only child. Just sitting here under a fuzzy, next to weird underwear.

So it's totally silent, and then, suddenly, I hear this really annoying ringing sound from upstairs. At first, I assume it's Daniel's annoying key finder, which beeps when you whistle, or when it senses any high frequency sound. But Sarah and I dismantled the key finder and hid it downstairs a while ago. I listened again, and it sounds more and more like the upstairs phone. Even though the phone is UNPLUGGED.

At this point, it's past midnight, I'm freaking out, silently, and the hallway leading upstairs looks really scary. THE PHONE IS HAUNTED. There is no explanation for this. The phone keeps ringing for about a minute. And then it rings a couple minutes after, and it doesn't stop.

At this point, I'm through with being quiet. I start shouting "It's ringing! It's ringing!!!!!!!!!!!"

My mom comes out and, somehow, knows exactly what I'm referring to. She goes upstairs, picks up the phone, which is not ringing anymore, reassures me that these things happen (THEY DON'T!) and goes back to bed. I consider going to bed, but then I figure I would much rather blog about something like this. I start the first couple of paragraphs.

Then Sarah and Andrew come home and discover it was Sarah's friend's cell phone, which she left upstairs, and which happens to have the same ring tone that our upstairs phone had. Really, what are the odds?

I'm not sure what to make of this ending. It's not nearly as exciting or crazy as I was hoping for, but that's okay. For the rest of this month, I'll probably still be just as alone late at night, and I'll probably find other things to freak out about, or other weird articles of clothing around the house to mention in my blog. But at least I can take comfort in the fact that my upstairs phone is no longer haunted.

Sewwww Done with Finals!

2009-01-18T00:00:00.000-08:00

Hello!

Sorry I've been neglecting the blog lately. I promised myself I wouldn't sew during finals, so I had nothing to blog about (sad, I know...) But now that finals are over, I decided to go a little crazy and try making a shirt with SLEEVES! I wanted it to look sorta like an American Appearel V-neck but lower quality. The fabric was only 99 cents/yard, so there's no way it will feel as nice or soft as the real thing. But I wanted to try it so I could start learning how to sew casual clothes.

Especially now that I am a second semester senior, I have time to have fun and have sewing parties and learn how to sew more complicated things.

Now I realize that what you see below is a little gross, but I am posting it anyway!

I think we look similar, minus my skin color.

Wait what the heck. I look really dark. I can hardly tell where my lips are. This is absurd.

In other news, I need to do something with my hair. There is simply too much of it and it hinders my ping-pong playing abilities. This morning, while I was waking up and getting ready and all that, I looked at my hair in the mirror and saw something white. "What could it be?" I thought to myself. Not dandruff. Not flaky enough. Not food. Didn't eat anything white yesterday. I usually don't get food stuck in my hair. So I reach for it, combing through my hair. And out tumbles a small, shiny...

...PIN!

IN MY HAIR!

ON MY HEAD!

I don't know how it got there.

It could be because I use the carpet on my floor as a gigantic pin cushion, or it could be because my hair is out of control.

You decide. <--Guess what movie that's from!

Why Sew Serious?

2009-01-08T22:00:00.000-08:00

NOTE: I created this blog for a couple reasons, but one of them was because I wanted to include cool sewing puns (actually, just the same one over and over again) in the titles of all my posts. This time the title doesn't really relate (I won't be linking sewing to The Dark Knight, sorry.) But this does have to do with sewing...

I'm a terrible shopper. Shopping makes me bored, and when I'm bored, I go into youngest-child-hypermode. Just ask my family--less than a week ago I was pretending to be the hamburglar, stealing all the tennis balls so they would stop playing a very boring, long game of tennis. Robble robble.

Because I don't like shopping, I've never taken the time to figure out how to dress very well. It's not like I thought I was so cool that how I dressed didn't matter, cuz I kinda cared--just not enough to be a really intense shopper. So it was really nice when I learned how to sew because then I could dress how I wanted to by just making things for myself. And that's what I've started doing. It became really fun. Every project, I would try for something a little more ambitious. It started with a sun dress for the summer, then another dress for a dance and a wedding. After a while, I ran out of occasions and seasons that demanded new clothing. But whatever, I sewed myself clothes anyway because I thought they would be fun to wear. Here were some of my goals:

Make all my own wardrobe (or at least the tops) so I wouldn't be dressed in the same brand names and colors as everyone else.
Make my senior prom dress... and save a lot of bank in the process.
Never shop again (or keep it to a minimal, and just make everything I want to wear.)
Create a cool blog where I can post all my sewing creations. (Hey...)

Now as you've probably noticed, I've been writing in the past tense... like things are different now. And, well, that's what I'm hoping it will be. I, like my cousin Nate, have read The Irresistible Revolution and I want to figure out how to be a different kind of seamstress. I can admit, my endeavors in sewing, though few and extremely basic, have always been pretty selfish. I mean, yeah, I saved money and I don't really shop a lot, but I don't shop just cuz it bores me, and I spend the money I saved on myself in other ways. (I think I spend it on going out to King of Thai almost every Tuesday these past few months, which is totally unnecessary but I just do it cuz I get bored of bread and hummus for lunch. Plus, everyone else in the Social Studies office is doing it, and I don't wanna be lame or not spirited on King of Thai Tuesdays.) I haven't really tried to learn how to read patterns or sew correctly because I always just assumed I'll only ever make clothes for myself. In all the hours I've spent sewing, I've never even tried to sew clothes for other people. So here are some of the goals of the seamstress I'm hoping to become:

Learn how to sew for other people. (So far, I can only make clothes for myself cuz I just hold up the fabric to my body to know how much to cut and keep trying it on over and over again. It's the most inefficient, sloppy way of sewing ever, and I will settle for it no longer!)
Make clothes for people who need some (I can think of two girls already!! Know others?!)
Use the money I save less selfishly (and foolishly...) Still gotta think about what I will do with the money, though.
Make less clothing for myself. I don't really need it. Sewing clothes takes me a long time and I don't want to spend all my time working on articles of clothing for myself just because they make me feel a little cooler.

So, (or should I say, "sew,") this is exciting. Stay tuned for what else is going on, and leave comments! You have NO idea how much I look forward to comments, or how pathetic I sound when I complain to Sarah about my lack of comments.

Dress #4

2009-01-01T22:11:00.001-08:00

Hi. Happy New Year!
I was really excited after I finished this one! I think it's my favorite so far.
I need to learn how to take better pictures. And I needa figure out what to do with my face. Otherwise I'll end up cutting off my head in like all my pictures...

Details on the white part of the dress:
Sorry this one's a lame post. I don't have much to say. I just wanted to post this dress before I forget (btw, I wanna name my dresses. All cool dresses have cool names. So.. IDEAS?)

Weentar Break!!!

2008-12-30T20:25:00.000-08:00

This winter break has been really relaxing. For some time now, I have just woken up whenever, sat on the couch with a fuzzy, and watched tv. And I nibbled on peppermint bark. Then I would stay up late and play tetris. And it was great for a while! For the first week or so, I embraced this sedentary lifestyle. Oh and my sleep schedule got really messed up--like I'm still trying to recover.. One day I woke up at 2PM..and I had to get woken up. So I probably could have kept going.

Yeah so after that week, I started feeling like I was too lazy, and being lazy didn't make me as happy anymore... and I wanted to do something with my life. So I made this:
My mom took these pictures for me. She likes my blog.

And I got this thumb injury in the process! I learned that my sewing machine is really hard core. One time, I accidentally left the plastic thing that covers the bobbin under the needle, and the needle sewed through the plastic! CRAY CRAY! But this time the needle didn't do anything bad.. the plastic thing that beats down next to the needle did. Anyway, it was totally worth it. It made me feel like I really did something that day, and I wasn't completely lazy. I made something that I would wear in public (and I did the next day) and I got this battle scar. Yeah! Felt good. So I learned that if I'm ever getting lazy, I need to get out there and do something more risky and challenging.

I decided I was done with just sitting around, wrapping a fuzzy around me, and watching bad commercials (I love my abdominals. I love my abs. I love my abdominals... call now. call. call. call now. call now. please call now. etc.) I wanted to not just settle for comfortable. So I made a dress. I ran... to the Barnes & Noble a couple blocks away. I read. I made dinner with my siblings. I played piano! I wanna learn that cool Canon Rebel XSi football commercial song without cheating off the other youtube videos of people that have already mastered the song. it's gonna be really cool!!
Yeah. I wanna do more challenging things.

And it made me think about what Mr. Chan told me. He said the problem with the church, that I needed to make sure I wasn't falling into, is that people are going and getting fat and lazy. and people just go to feel good and be comfortable, and not really do anything. And I probably have been doing that at New Start for a while. I've only been staying there because it's easier to go and hang out with cute little babies named John and Terri than wake up early and take up the challenge of finding a church that I learn things in, and don't get all fat and lazy in.. shoot, just playing with those cute little babies...

So I'm done with little babies (well not really--I like babies.) and being all lazy. I wanna do more challenging things now. And try harder with finding a church, even if I am going to college next fall.

anyway... look at the BABIES!

Failure

2008-12-26T01:16:00.000-08:00

Behold, the Sheryl doll. During day camp this summer, for a counselor gift, I attempted to make a miniature version of the real Sheryl (yeah. you're welcome for the shout out. what great publicity...) The idea was excellent. We were going to create tiny, stuffed versions of each counselor. I bought felt squares at Beverly's, I had the stuffing, and everyone would have clothes that resembled their real wardrobe. Brilliant, right?

So I was planning on giving her a yellow shirt, a pink cardigan, and skinny jeans. I sewed the entire doll inside out, planning to flip it the correct way later. Then, after, I would add hair, a face, details on the clothing, a camp scarf, actual legs, stuffing, etc.

I never got that far.

As you can probably tell from the pictures, felt is very thick. So thick, in fact, that it cannot be flipped inside out when it is sewn in to skinny shapes like... necks. I tried to shove the head through the neck for about half an hour before getting frustrated and asking my mom to help me. It took about another half hour. My mom grabbed a chopstick and jammed the head through the hole. The felt had been pulled and forced in way too many ways, so it looked kinda messed up, and I would have to redo the seams in the neck, which broke while we were pushing the head through. But at least it had a head. Success!

And then I remembered, "Hey... these arms are kinda skinny too. They're skinnier than the neck, and the hands are chubby. I wonder if those hands........

crap."

Failure.

Complete failure.

Sometimes I wonder why I still have this thing. I mean... it's ugly and does not resemble a human in any way. Plus, usually, in my family, we hide our failures. Anytime we mess up, we pretend we didn't. We burn all the evidence that we ever tried. Like, we don't really bring up the time my mom accidentally vacuumed up some purple yarn, undoing half of the afghan my brother had almost finished crocheting. We just show people all the afghans that he has completed. But, for some reason, even though we don't bring up any of our other failures, no one in my family has forgotten about this doll. Every time we need something to remind us that we're not perfect, that we fail and mess up too, we bring it up. We remember shoving a chopstick up its body just to get its head to peep out of its neck. We remember how pathetic it looks, and how the hand is still stuck inside its body. I could never throw this thing away. Big failures like this are good to have around to remind us that we don't have it all together. Plus, it's really funny looking.

But as a side note, I made these for Christina for Secret Santa using the felt that I bought for the counselor gifts. I needed to redeem myself after that felt disaster.

Tote bag! I stole the owl from the print used for the lining.

Hair clips! I bought a bunch from Chinatown and then covered them in felt. This time, I did not flip the felt inside out. What was I thinking when I decided to flip it...

Senior Year

2008-12-23T17:52:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! I'm a senior. Here is what I have done so far with the year!

I made this blog because I liked the username. I thought to myself, "Hey, I think I'll post everything that I sew. I'll say it's been 'allysewn.' '100% allysewn.' 'Everything allysewn.' 'You've been allysewn!" At the time, I was working on a bunch of Christmas gifts that I had sewn.
But then I forgot to take pictures of everything, so I don't have that many pics to post of my creations. It's okay though, cuz I'll probably post other things, besides just what I make. I don't wanna be boring. Next year I'll be designing/making costumes for Lowell's musical, though, so I'll have things to post then.

Here's the dress I made for senior boat. And Becky. This is a small little picture. I wasn't expecting it to come out so small. We look so tiny. Well, she looks tiny. I look tall and gigantic. I like this dress. It's kinda plain, but I like the color. And it's soft and comfy. Also, the top is separate. It ties in the back. I'm gonna wear the top to some dinner or party or something.
I'm working on another dress now. Or sorta. I figured it out in my head, and I got the fabric, but I haven't started sewing. But I do know it's gonna be white and pleated, if I can learn how to pleat things neatly.

And this is one if the pillows I made. On Black Friday, we went to Joanne's at 7am, and, without thinking, I bought a lot of flannel. I didn't realize that there is not much to make with flannel, since I wasn't making gifts for any babies... So I made a lot of pillows, pajamas, and stuffed animals.. but there is still so much more flannel. I don't even know why I bought it in such great quantities. Ugh. Stupid flannel. Stupid Joanne. If you want something made out of flannel, let me know.

Besides sewing things, I have been playing a lot of nerts, learning "Defying Gravity" on piano, working on agape, and having a lot of dart gun wars. I'm not really busy, and I'm done with college apps. I think I'm using senior year to rest up before I start college and make up for all the fun I missed out on during junior year! I like this.
So this is now officially my blog for life. I will actually stay committed to this blog and post sewing projects, my thoughts, interesting stories, etc.
So follow my blog! I'll follow yours...