Beginning my Project

I have imported silk through Tabitha, a fantastic organisation that raises money for poor families in Cambodia.

So I got my silk last week.

And there's an issue....

My lovely gold colour...... Well, the weft thread is gold. The warp thread is GREEN!!!!!

What am I to do now? Does the green look hideous? The only issue is that it's not a simple process to go back and re-select the colour. What do I do? Is this alright? It only appears green in some lights, as you can see above. Uuuuhhhh -_-

Tea and Cambodia ideas

So I created this mini table runner thing for my parents' cups of tea that mum frets will ruin her nice table. It was a birthday present for my mum :)
(If you look at my previous post about my cushion, you may spot some similarities in fabric ;))

And a nice shiny backing :)

So I went to Cambodia earlier this year, and really liked this image of a traditional wedding outfit (Right hand side)

.
Excited!!

P.s does anyone know how to make a silk bodice that I don't think has any boning?!?

Face Shading

So, I've decided I'm going to further my experience in realistic shading-type drawings, particularly faces. And I LOVE IT!!!

This first one was taken from a random black and white picture I found of a woman online, claiming she was Joan of Arc or something, but the face and the shadows struck me and I decided to draw it.

 And then, of course, David Bowie :D He never loses his charm.

This was my first attempt at trying to draw blonde hair in contast to a dark background, and it didn't work out completely, but it's pretty alright for a first attempt :)

My dad picked out it was David Bowie the moment he saw this, and mum is still asking who on earth David Bowie is. Even I know who he is, and I wasnt a 60s kid like her!!

Getting excited to just sit back and sew and draw all holidays :) Spent today sewing a table runner for my mum's birthday, I really hope she doesn't read this blog and ruin the surprise!!
Photos shall be posted soon.

SQUARE

It's more than a square!

It's a SQUARE CUSHION!

I apologise that this is not straight, but my blogging thing just got updated and I can't work out how to turn pictures around....

Unfortunately when it's on the pillow you lose all the exciting bits around the edge D;

 

And this is the back!

 I'm so proud that this is done - there was a point there where I wondered if it would ever actually look like a cushion, but it surpassed my expectations!

I must just be awesome :D

Some more squares...

I am currently at a half-way point in two squares for my large embroidered cushion for school textiles.

I struck difficulty with the rosella one, I need to find some kind of eye-looking button or something to sew on for an eye, and I'm having a bit of a block about the blue thread which does not really show up, at all. I'm considering going over it in white thread?

I moved on to the bottle-brush in the meantime, and I quite like the overall effect. This is a terrible photo though, I hope the leaves don't look that bad in real life... Dang it, I knew I should have made them equal!!

I realised with horror today that my mum will be away during the time leading up to my handing in of this task, so I'm either going to prove my genius by whipping up some original construction stuff about making it actually into a pillow, or else I'm going to suffer with this assignment.

On the note of failing in textiles, we have an assessment next week on the properties of fibres and fabrics. I am SO dead. I very rarely come up to an assessment feeling completely and utterly unprepared. In fact, I don't think I've ever felt that before...

So I'm either going to have some brainwave about it in the next week, or I'm doomed for that too!

Leaf Stitching

That's right! Two posts in two days!! So today I started and completed a second square, or rather rectangle, and decided to share it with you.

So this one is my subtle 'square,' so I used muted tones. This picture doesn't pick up the colouring as well as it does in real life... sadface.


Since I do textiles now, and I learn awesome technical stuff, I can say that the yellow/green thread appears brighter than the others, as it is made out of nylon, with has shiny properties, as apposed to rayon thread. Or maybe it was the other way around... o_o

CLOSE UPS!

I must admit that I really don't like this square. I was so excited about doing this, especially with the freehand machine stitching....... but I rushed it so much, cause I was feeling frustrated as the backing fabric that I was using kept doing weird stuff... ah well, perseverence!!

New Sewing Machine!

So I totally got a new sewing machine! I forgot to take a photo, and so couldn't be bothered getting one now for this blog, cause I'm THAT LAZY.

Anywho, it's a massive upgrade from our old dinosaur one. I have now learned to do freehand embroidery, which is what I've always wanted to learn! Here's a sample of what it can do (although it wasnt me who made this particular sample - although I'm the one who vainly tried to write 'hello'!)

So I'm currently working on a new textiles majorwork, and I'm working on different squares for an embroidered cushion inspired by the scenery of the blue mountains. Here's my first square that I've completed, which hopefully resembles wattle!



And a close up of the detail:

I've also been learning how to applique, which is how the stem of the plant was made. Applique is the technique of gluing fabrics on top of each other.

My next square is an experiement with freehand stitching on a pattern of leaves! I'm very excited to get started.

Howl Cosplay

So the other day I attended Supanova for the first time ever! It was amazing! Supanova is a festival of nerds like me who like to dress up as characters from Pop Culture. I think that's what the criteria is anyway...

So I decided I would go as Howl from Howl's Moving Castle, if my friend would go as Sophie! I picked up this white jacket as my base for my costume:

From there I spent many MANY hours ripping, sewing, and painting!!





These are some other photos from the day: Me and Iris being Howl and Sophie
And look! I found a Link from the Zelda series!!!!! It was a weird moment when I asked for a photo, and I realised that we were both girls dressed as male anime characters... What a strange world it is.

Skirt :D

Guess who made a skirt?!


Took me so long... my Textiles teacher says she had a quick glance over it before she marked it, and said, "Your hem is done to perfection!" which from her is pretty high praise. That was before I realised that she only noted the hem...

So happy I have made something so sophisticated on a sewing machine all by myself :D Has a hook and eye and a zipper (the button is pointless other than aesthetic appeal)

Totoro Cross Stitch and Zippers

That's right, I made a Totoro cross-stitch!!!!

I've been working on this one for 4 months. Doesn't sound like a very long time... but in this month alone I would have spent at least 15 hours on this stupid bit of stitching. Why do cross stitches take so long? Why?

And that line half way through his belly is REALLY frustrating... I ran out of that coloured thread ;( I'm too lazy to re-do the whole thing however. I shall never be able to look at it without cringing. Good thing I'm giving it to my dad!

Meanwhile, in my textiles class, I sewed a zipper!!!!! I'm feeling very pro.

Drawing and Cinderella

A few days ago, my Textiles class got a special visit from the Whitehouse Institute of Design, who spent a whole day working with us on improving our drawing skills in fashion.

This was my best drawing from the day, still not brilliant, but pretty good I think :) It was based on a photograph:

Anyway, on another note, yesterday I went to a Disney Party :D

I went as Cinderella. My costume was sourced from various opp shops, and my mum sewed the apron for me :)

Uncreative

Ahh, yeah 11 is so incredibly consuming... And I'm away on a camp all weekend, and excuses excuses, I never have any time to be creative... ever...

T-T

I am, however, getting a lot of work done.

But as the art class at school went on an epic excursion today, and I was left behind in my Ancient History class, I felt a lot like the people in that comic.

I have ALWAYS counted myself as an Art student. And now I am constantly whining that I did not choose it for senior years, as my friends and family are well aware of (Sorry guys...)

So I'm thinking I might make up for it by painting a giant canvas for an Extension English visual represenation project. Just as long as it still counts as English, and isn't obviously a vain attempt at pretending that I still count as part of the art class........

:(

I NEED MORE TIME!!!!!!!

And sleep.

Textiles

So I've just started the HSC Textiles course, and am finding it very challenging. My teacher has very high expectations, and I find myself turning up 10 minutes early to every class just to avoid the chance of being late and getting a demerit! I feel like such a nerd.

Anyway, we've started work on seams. We've been doing some sample work, and I thought I'd put some pictures up.

Pardon the terrible quality photos, but I couldn't find my camera and had to resort to my computer webcam.


These are my bound seams - very tricky. I was the first person in the class (but certainly not the last) to get a cotton lock over doing this fiddly work. That means that the fabric gets stuck in the bobbin thing and you pretty much have to take apart the whole machine and rip out your fabric. Thanks for using me as a demonstraction, that really made my day (not). At least I learned to be more careful!


These were my first attempts at using an overlocker - what a marvellous invention!! A few seconds of loud noises, and the machine creates a complex stitch and cuts the fabric for you, and it always looks professional.


On this page I sewed some very simple hems, and the bottom three were hand-stitched. Oh yes, I am amazing at handstitching after those hundreds of hours I've spent on cross-stitches!!! It was supposed to take the whole lesson, and I finished in the first 20 minutes :D Browny points for me.


As a reward for fininishing the handstitching so quickly, my teacher showed me this very unusual seam. Hand-stitched again, but I'm not sure if I did it quite right... I think this is called scalloped or something? It's supposed to be a decorative hem for sleeves or something.

So yeah, Textiles is turning out as more challenging than I thought, but lots of fun! Haven't had to do any figure drawings yet though ;)

Drawing, drawing, drawing...

As I am about to begin a textiles class at school, I thought I should put some work into getting better at fashion drawings.

Not that I'm saying any are particularly fashionable.

I was helped along the way though, so you might be able to see the way my original fairly-preportionate manga-ish drawings turn into more stylised, yet realistic drawings.

(Hopefully clicking on them will enlarge them, if they appear too small....)

based on a photo. which i could have created this out of my head...

this one was based on fanart of the Zelda character Midna in human form. Something weird with her feet... O_O

This is a drawing of a childhood figure I created in the first novel I ever wrote, starting at age 10 and finishing age 13.

okay, now we're getting into fashion designing.

random schoolgirl portrait. When i began on the eyes, it was going to be a model... thats why they're scarily 'made-up'