No Longer Entirely Gray Hoodie

 I made a hoodie for the kiddo last October; I made it clear when I wrote the post that I thought it should be decorated.  I asked for opinions or suggestions of how it should decorated.  I asked many times.  I never got an answer.

I finally got tired of it hanging in here, waiting, and decided to decorate it fast, with vaguely 1990s inspiration, and simple cardboard shapes

It's a Cinch

 So, in the previous post's ramblings, I mentioned that I did not have a good belt.  Although I don't go to thrift stores much at all anymore, I do want to try to remember to look for a leather belt whenever I do go.

I did realize, though, that I do have some odds and ends of leather, and wondered if any of the pieces were large enough, and heavy enough, to cut a stopgap belt from?

Now, I have read about what you're supposed to do to properly finish a leather belt, and it requires a lot of specialized equipment that I can't think of a jury-rigged alternative to use, so this is far from a proper belt, but it looks, at a glance, like a belt.

The leather is slightly thin and slightly stretchy, and I obviously don't have any rivets (I've thought of getting some, along with the appropriate dies for the grommet setter, just in case, but, at the time, I couldn't think of what I'd actually use them for), but I feel like I did a passable job rigging it up from what I have on hand.

I used a different, thinner, piece of leather to secure the integrated loop in place.  There's a stitched overlap hidden under that piece of leather.

I know that, ideally, it would have been done with an extension of the part that's folded back to secure the buckle, but I was eking out as much length as possible and didn't have that much length to spare.  This ended up 40" long.  I have no idea if that's how long it should be, compared to my waist.  It does look like it should be fastened in the center most hole, which I can make happen by putting one more grommet in, so the hole I put in where I want it fastened in in the center.  I probably won't do that.

 

 

 

 

 

New Weights

I finally made more pattern weights!

I made the first four in late 2021, and tried making some more in early 2022, but I got distracted and mixed the resin wrong and had to, sadly, throw those away.  I paid proper attention and everything worked this time.

I was really happy with the two on the bottom.  The metallic confetti really captures the feel of my memories of the resin things I saw at the Rock Swap as a kid (although in much more modern colors), and the skeleton surrounded by color shift glitter and stars against a pink holo background (cut from doll packaging)...how could that have gone wrong?

The top two, though, I thought ended up rather bland.  The pink was an experiment in using up left-over resin by pouring it into the mold whenever I had it.  I thought it would look fun with all the layers. It did not, and I turned out not to have left-over resin very often, either.  The glitter in the upper right is a mix of glitters left over from various projects, all poured into the same container for storage.  I really liked looking into the container at the glitter blend and thought it might be fun in the top layer of a pattern weight.  It's...OK...

So I added stickers!

Yeah, they're pattern weights, they don't need to look good.  I have stickers to spare, though.

I also tried adding a contrast layer of resin at the bottom of the other three.  I mixed some of them a bit dark (they're all translucent. really.), but I'm really happy with the pale green under the pink in the skeleton weight.  Maybe next time I do this, I'll remember to do it on a level surface, which apparently the card table does not have.  The angled layers are fine--these things can still hold down a pattern piece.

The "I'm still here!" posts usually happen after a lot more than one week of inactivity, don't they

I am working on a sewing project--I actually thought it was finished several days ago, but I didn't photograph it immediately, and that gave me time to not only acknowledge that I made some Bad Decisions on it, but it also gave me time to decide that it was worth fixing.  So, it's currently in the state of having had many stitches picked out, and only some of them re-sewn.  I'll get there.

Also!  In December, I finally started putting stuff into a print-on-demand shop, which is here: DollsAhoy Shop on FourthWall. So far it's mostly stickers with graphics related to doll customizing, creative positivity, Halloween, and food, but I do have the Unwise Sewing Adventures badge available as 3"/76mm stickers in a range of colors.

I do have at least one more sewing-specific design idea, and I'll probably have more, eventually.  However...the time I'm taking to work on the designs is definitely coming out of the time I would otherwise be sewing.  I am having fun working on the designs--I have loved working with vector graphics for literally decades, but have always had a problem coming up with ideas.  There's a little more motivation now.

FourthWall shops also allow you to sell things you physically possess, so I plan to add doll clothes I've made, eventually, and maybe also some things I've made for me but decided didn't really suit me--and because I photograph everything I make for this blog, that means I wouldn't even need to take new pictures of the stuff.

Another deterrent to sewing: plain ol' winter cold.  It's a lot easier to work on the computer while bundled up in a blanket than it is to work on the sewing machine while bundled up in a blanket.

Finally, there's been an occurrence in my life that I may never go into more detail about on this blog, but it's requiring adaptation that I am absolutely choosing over sewing right now.  Things will smooth out, I'm positive.

I'll probably still end up posting another year of a ridiculous amount of projects, but, if I don't? It's because I'm putting work into other things.  Some of which may be available as stickers.

(sorting)

Just a note to my future self (because I don't expect anyone else to read this) that there will have been relatively few sewing projects this month, because the friend and I are planning to go to the craft re-use thrift store at the end of the month, and I have been poking into every closet, storage room, box, drawer, shelf, and anyplace else where craft-related things may be stored and ignored or forgotten (boughten and forgotten?), looking for things to donate, and I plan to go back through all of those storage spots a few more times before we go.  There's a growing pile of boxes and bags in a basement corner, and I hope everything will fit into the friend's Prius.  (There's another, slightly smaller, stack of boxes and bags to give the friend--I expect those will have to wait until we return to have enough space in the car, too...)

Of course there are still many things I actively want to sew, and there will always be more things to sew beyond that.  But.  Right now? The desire to downsize is stronger.  So, that's getting all the excitement and attention (and also has a deadline, so there will be a point where I can switch back to regular procrastination about sewing.)

Textile Adjacent

I realized I could use the powers of the grommet press to add spring snaps to strips of leather to make wrist cuffs.  Consider these Proof of Concept.

Yes, most of these pieces of leather are left over from the purse I made a few years ago, plus one strip from a pack of leather scraps.  I may further embellish these in the future, whether I make more or not.

...although...I suppose I could try making some from vinyl too...

Sparkle, Not Sewn

 I spent a nice day sorting out my sequins and spangles

And then spent a while the next day hammering more holes into some of them as needed (I have a 1mm hole punch, which creates a slightly more elegant opening than just shoving a heavy needle through the plastic) then hooking those together with jump rings (which was not as much fun as it was to sort them out)

I still have plenty more to work with when the urge strikes.

Ooh shiny ✨

I also messed around with letter beads

Over The Hill is the one I actively like, Skeptic is OK, the rest went back onto the bead box (I already have a Memento Mori bracelet I like more.)  Sorting through my beads for these did finally prompt me to cull the beads I just don't like, so I guess I'm starting another pile of things to donate to the creative re-use thrift store.