Adventures in Fashion: Makin' a Thing

None of this is sewn together yet.  It's just pinned, but you can see what the Hell it's going to be. 

The idea is that I'll wear it with a white or black top of... some kind.  Starts under the boob and then goes down.  That's it.  That's all it's gonna be.

It's a Kind of Magic

For a little while, and perhaps again soon, I was altering Magic cards.  

I don't even play the game, but I love the art and some of them were fun to play with. 

So, here are a few examples because this is my blog and I can show what stupid things I do with my time.  

First up, bunnies and that... thing.  With scared people.  

Here, I had a request to make this dude into a lady.  The colors are actually a lot nicer in person, but oh well.  

Sometimes it's just fun to extend the artwork...  

And lastly, NEKKID.  I think this was the first one I did, so I wasn't really...  sure what the Hell I was doing. 

Halloween Season!

I'm one of those people who gets over excited about Autumn.  

 After living in the desert, I missed the trees changing to be sure…

But Halloween is what really gets me.  

I love the corny and cute strange things.

The moment it becomes fall, I buy a thousand pairs of socks.

I start huffing various pumpkin-related candles.

I start going to decoration isles to pick out stuff for my future haunted mansion.

I have imaginary children.

I have imaginary pets.

I decorate my boyfriend.

I think up a million costume ideas, knowing I'll wind up doing one of the few I always do all the time, because I'll run out of time to do anything else.

Every so often, I am reminded of the classic horror characters of my youth.  
I decided to try quick sketches of whatever came to mind...

 I had a crush on Lon Chaney Jr. as a kid, and I loved the tragedy of the Wolfman. 

 The Egyptian imagery that comes along with the Mummy can be really beautiful when done right. 

 "Bleh bleh"  

 Boo! 

There are a few seconds of behind the scenes of The Creature From the Black Lagoon on a family home video somewhere...  

 "FIRE BAD"

 My father says Bride of Frankenstein is the superior film to the first.  In some ways, I can see that.  

 "Help me..."

I actually don't know what this bird lady is about. 

 
In any case, what makes this year special is that it's a good opportunity for me to take another step toward healing. 

Out of my own stubbornness, I'll want to try cider again, and certain Halloween candy, even if it says "may contain" whatever. 

I'll live dangerously, while actually being totally safe.

A couple years ago, my friend and I sat down and finished off a family sized box of Count Chocula in less than a weekend.  I want to be the person who will do that again. 

In fact, it's some kind of sign from above that Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy are back after so many years of being discontinued. 

…Also, I should probably give Frankenberry another chance, since he is apparently supposed to actually be strawberry.  
Well, "strawberry flavored" anyway.  


 

Dress Number Two!

For the first dress, I was learning how to properly use a pattern (and making shit up on the fly anyway)...  
So, for the second dress, it was all about altering a known pattern into a slightly different dress, and also using a different kind of fabric. 

The basic shape of the neckline started the same as the first dress, for example: 

Then, I wanted to see if I could add a cowl-neck.  I made up how I was going to do it, so... THAT was interesting:

 Instead of long sleeves in three pieces, this has capped sleeves:

Finally, I think the biggest change to the design was the bottom.  I cut it a little higher on the sides, and let it drop to a point a little lower: 

I'm still working on the way the stitches should look.  I'll admit, Mom helped me a lot with the machine.  

  
After many days of working a bit, stopping, questioning everything in my life, and then starting again, this is the final product: 

EDIT: The cowl neck is actually much cleaner looking now than it is in these photos. 

If I ever get around to doing a third dress, it will be time to learn how to make a pattern.  
In fact, I don't think I'd start with a dress there.  

That seems...  No.  

I'll make something small so that I can figure out how to design and cut flat pieces to build a three dimensional, wearable object. 

That might not be for a while though.  This coming semester is over filled with not-so-simple classes, and one class too many.  

Also, I might be moving yet again, which would be awesome.  It would also take up A LOT of time.  Time is a thing I will not have this semester.  

However, the hope is that in a better, safer environment, I'll get more work done more often.  

Fingers crossed!  

Lastly, a reminder that the Etsy site is up!

Also, the Deddrie site is... up?  But there is nothing currently there.  
We (Rob) are figuring it out.  We still have everything saved, so no worries there.  I'll keep you all posted. 

Meanwhile, my portfolio site IS up and running at RowynGolde.com. 

Drawings and commission info is not yet up, but prints and commissions are available.  That will be more apparent soon.  

For now, you can email me at deddrie@gmail.com for a specific question or commission. 

Adventures in Fabric: Summer Fun!

This'll be the last post I make like this for a bit until I get started actually working on that dress I talked about in the first one.  I'll be showing a step by step then too.  

Most of these have tutorials on various sites and in books about doing fun things with shirts.

First up, I got this shirt at a thrift store.  I sliced off the collar and the sleeves before anything else.  It was slightly too big as well: 

 Here is what I did to the back:

 Aaand a close up: 

The red underneath is a separate, not attached shirt. 

Next up is a shirt from one of the thousands of colleges I've gone to in my time.  The design for this logo was done by my friend Teresa.  Check her out here among other sites.  
Again, I sliced off... everything:

 After cutting the bottom into a triangle, I went ahead and had fun with the back:

 Next was an old Donald Duck shirt I loved a lot.  It had never fit right, so I made it fit a different way using a similar method to above, but with outside materials, rather than the shirt itself:

 Laced up the back, it is also a halter top: 

 This one was two different shirts, each sliced right down the middle and then sewn together.  It was going to be a skirt, and might still be (now that I'm wearing skirts again) but right now it's another halter: 

Okay.  I think that's enough for now.  Ready for my first real sewing project?

...I mean, I've done like... stuffed animals and a ninety inch sandworm (See: Birthday Bashing) but never an OUTFIT from scratch!  I've already changed my mind about the fabric.  I want to use the fabric for something else (I have no idea what) and then a more simple, easy to work with fabric for the dress coming up.

RANT

*breathes*

Hokay.

Adventures in Fabric: Fun With Paint!

Fabric paint is my friend.  

For sweatshirts to sport my favorite things:

To fixing shirts that previously fit me but had stains:

To making ridiculous things just so they glow in the dark:

 

Weeeee!