WIP: Tonia Shorts

How do I work in a mess like this?  Least charming photo ever.

I used the Tonia shorts pattern from burdastyle.com.  It cost me $3 !  Yes, that's still very little to pay for a full pair of shorts, but I'd gotten so used to their patterns being free that this was a very big shock.  Paying for it made me feel more like I had to actually finish the shorts, though, since I get really excited about new projects, but have a really hard time finishing them.

So far, I've modified them a LOT.  A lot of guesswork was involved, and very little formal pattern drafting (as you may remember, I only took Draping last year), but I carried out my adjustments based on what I felt like common sense called for...and hopefully I'll prove myself right with the fit.  If you compare these with the original pattern, you'll see that these are the low-rise, short-shorts version.  With a fly that may or may not be constructed differently than the directions had instructed.  (Has anyone else found that burdastyle patterns are written really weirdly?)

But the best part of these shorts is that they will be scalloped at the bottom of the leg!  Yes! Inspired by the current Chloe collection (though it seems that they use a scalloped trim) and encouraged even further by a little how-to handout our Copying Couture teacher gave us on the techniques of Pierre Cardin, these shorts will be SO cute.  If all goes well.

Naked Pillows No More

I finally clothed my pillows!

So a while back, I made my sister send me [from New York!] her un-used pillow fillers, and since then, naked pillows have been sitting around my place, their weird unfinished seams bugging me. And the fabric I've also had for ages; definitely more than a year. But finally, they're done, and I must say it was quite easy, except that for something so easy and logical, it took quite a while to calculate everything so that every opening slit, etc. was in the right place in the end. I'm all for making things yourself, obviously, but I hate when things LOOK "homemade," you know? They should look professional!

I've only made those 2 so far, and I don't think I'm going to use the entire box of pillows that C sent me, but I think I still have a few to make.

P.S. It doesn't look like it's on purlsoho.com anymore, but it says on the selvedge that this fabric is by Tina Givens for Westminster, collection name "Zazu." Flowers, chandeliers, and pink! Hmm...I don't think it's quite girly enough...

A New Place

Shabby Chic pillowcases. Too bad they closed before I was able to make it to their sale.

So it's been about 3 months now, but I've moved! From a fancy schmancy condo with no furniture to a cozy little typical San Francisco studio. Still with no furniture. But what it does have is everything in white wood, molding around the floors and ceilings, a little glass-doored cabinet for my very small (but recently grown) vintage Pyrex collection, and hardwood floors. AND an ironing board that folds out of a long + skinny cabinet door! That was the coolest discovery ever. I keep forgetting to get a new cover for it, though, so I've been ironing on a horrible little one on the floor, which I also realized needed a new pad and cover after I started pressing metal grid patterns onto my cloth.

Ah, all the renter's renovations I would do if I had a bunch of extra money! Replace the cabinet knobs with glass ones (I need about 20; so at 4$ apiece, Anthropologie is not a good idea), line my closet with oriental rugs, get a bunch of table lamps, change the blinds to shades...that I keep promising myself I will get around to making. Oh, and furniture. Like a bed. I can't believe I almost forgot. Sometimes I don't feel like this place is home yet, which is a little sad since it's where I live, but I suppose once I get the boxes out of here (yes, I am still living among boxes) and clean up a bit... and I feel like lighting makes such a difference, but nice lamps don't come cheap! Though I guess nice lighting can come from ugly lamps as well, but I don't want to accumulate things that I'm not going to want to keep in the long term. Off to Apartment Therapy to see what ideas they have for me...

Figure Drawing : Pastels

So I think I've left charcoal-only drawings behind for good. It's not that I don't like doing them...well it kind of is, but only because I think I've reached my capacity in that medium. I'm awful—when we're doing a longer pose in class, and I've only been working in charcoal, I either keep drawing over the same parts over again, or sit back and wait for time to run out. With pastels, though, I totally lose myself in the drawing and the colors, and the other day I even noticed that my heart was beating faster!

I used to use my Senneliers, but then I discovered Nupastels, which are firmer and better for finer lines. And less messy, though it's still hard to eat and work at the same time (I like to eat and do many other things at the same time)... I think I may start combining the two next time, though, using the soft pastels for broader, first-layer strokes, and the Nupastel on top. And maybe more Sennelier on top for contrasting texture. I'm getting all excited just thinking about it! Can't wait for class on Monday.

my etsy

It's up! So far there are only 10 drawings, but there will be more to come every day. It's a lot of work for a newbie, geting it all set up: taking the pictures, editing the photos to get them to match the drawings in real life, writing descriptions and my profile,... I'm not complaining, but who knew it would be so hard to get the black and white ones true to life? I think I still need to change the banner, though. Even though I love that photo—it looks like nothing, but it's a picture I took at night in New York, of those glass circles in the sidewalk with the light from the basement shining through. I wonder what was in that underground room. Ooo, spooky..

Work in progress. And getting ready to post some stuff on etsy.

Fake Polaroids

Poladroid takes your photos and makes them look all dreamy and old-looking. I love this effect which is why I have so many toy cameras, so I feel like I'm cheating with this computery version, but it's still fun. It's a little gimmicky, like it takes forever for the "film" to develop, and you can only convert like 10-ish photos before it tells you the cartridge is empty and makes you quit and restart the program, but tonight I just worked on an unfinished dress from draping class last term while I waited for it to do its thing. So here are some from my first "cartridge" (second, really, since it froze during the first set and I had to restart it). I know Christmas is over, but I never got to post about it! These are actually from different Christmases, the bottom three photos from Paris (our family had a very romantic Christmas dinner—check out that lighting), and the first from a bank here in San Francisco—I love that one: a snowman choir! There were more I wanted to put up, but blogger was being stubborn. Actually, that last one is not very polaroided at all...hm. But anyway, I want to see your poladroids, too.