Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Dusting Off My Sewing Machine!



I have not had the urge to sew for quite a while. In fact I have been so not in to mood to sew that I put off hemming 2 pair jeans (I'm 5'4 and the jeans were cheap but long) for almost a year. And this is a little sad because I have a fashion design degree so I should love to sew right? Wrong! And I got that revelation a few years ago when I decided to make a dress from scratch and found no joy in it. I think that I got tired of all of the steps i.e. cutting,basting,notching,marking,etc... I also think that all these steps are what drew me to jewelry making which require fewer steps - except for metalsmithing. Plus making jewelry just came so naturally to me and I love shopping for gems.

Anyway, and few days ago I was kind of bored and decided to pull the sewing machine out. The main goal was to hem the 2 pair of aforementioned jeans because the jeans I was currently wearing started to show some wear and tear-literally. So, I hemmed the jeans and then suddenly a miracle happened-I felt inspired to sew something else. I looked through my old stashes and found some denim fabric that I was going to use to make a tote. I decided against the tote and thought that making a really simple a-line skirt would be cool. I then found an old torn denim skirt and decided to use that as the pattern. I laid it out, cut out the pattern and sewed the pieces together and now I am almost finished. I just need to add a zipper and maybe a waistband or facing and hem. I must also mention that I have gotten some extra inspiration from Threadbanger.com which has all types of sewing projects and tutorials. One of the tutorials that I found really cool to watch was the d.i.y body form in which a body form was made using water activated packing tape. I probably won't be making a form anytime soon but it made me realize that there is always a way to do it yourself.

3 comments:

  1. Congrats on pulling out that sewing machine. I always wished that I was taught how to sew. I can do a basic hem, but that is it...lol...I will leave sewing to the experts:)

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  2. I also go through phases with sewing. I had my machine packed up for years before pulling it out again. And like you, inspiration suddenly hit and I decided to start Angelina Fong Designs! Funny how things work like that. I look forward to following your blog!

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  3. Nice! I did not know you could make your own body form. Good to know.

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