flowers monsters and robots

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

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 The sewing machine that used to sit on my desk has been replaced by a box of 50 pounds of paint that can be very difficult to move.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

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

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.

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

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.

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

like urban renewal, but not. urban renewally.

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

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.

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

I like it here.

Yesterday, I skipped class!

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!!!

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.

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!

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.

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.