sewing

WIP Wednesday: 09.23.15

by tatiana on September 24, 2015

WIP Wednesday | tatianajimenez.com

Yesterday, two things happened. 1.) I decided to cave in and give The Voice a whirl. I’ve never seen the show but everyone seems to love it, so I figured, why not. I quickly realized that it would take up two hours of my life, so then 2.) I decided to start a knitting project. I haven’t worked on a knit/crochet project since earlier this year. It felt great to pick up those needles again. I’m working on a blanket, which if you know me, blankets have become one of my favorite things to make.

A couple weekends ago while at Ikea, I stumbled upon this really great, thick, striped canvas fabric.

Sofia Fabric | IKEA

The in-store price was $5.99/yd, it was a steal! The quality feels canvas-y and heavy – a lot more expensive than $5.99. I’ve been eyeing this leather Baggu tote for a while and thought that I’d try recreating the shape of that bag with this fabric. I think I’ll also put a couple pockets on the inside and include a zipper at the top if that makes sense. I feel like this would be cute to carry around Paris when I’m there in two weeks, but I’m also wary of pickpockets, hence the zipper.

Lastly, it’s September — almost October! To someone who likes to make handmade gifts, this is crunch time! I have about four handmade Christmas gifts in mind that I want to make this year. One of which is a belated birthday gift that is now a birthday/Christmas hybrid gift. I’m about 40% done with that, which is good news. I have yet to start on the other three. Two of them are cross stitch projects, and if I learned anything from my first and only other cross stitch project, it’ll take way longer to complete than I think, I’m sure. Fingers crossed I get everything done. The two cross stitch pieces I’ll be working on are from this awesome book:

Twisted Stitches | Phil Davison

Are you working on any projects right now? Have some cross stitch tips for this newbie? Let me know!

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Adventures in Serging

by tatiana on July 4, 2011

Hope you’re all having a lovely 4th of July. I must say I’m a little jealous of everyone I’m seeing on the blogosphere hanging out in pools. I may not be the best swimmer, but I loves me a pool! [click to continue…]

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What about Prom, Blaine? What about Prom!

by tatiana on February 1, 2011

Any excuse I have to quote my favorite movie, I take. Clearly. So, Saturday night was the annual employee dinner and the theme this year was PROM. Since I’m a huge fan of anything that gives me a chance to dress up, I took this opportunity to finally use this vintage pattern that I bought at a Vintage Expo in Santa Monica a few years ago. (Pssst, I made the dress on the right).

Sew Easy? More like, Sew Not Easy. Like what I did there? [click to continue…]

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Sewing to the 80s

by tatiana on January 26, 2011

I’ve taken a mini break from crocheting to work on this dress that I’m planning on wearing to a work party. Yay! I haven’t sewn a dress from scratch in… er… well over a year. That is not good! This past weekend I went fabric shopping with a friend and found this fabulous mustard fabric that totally works for a vintage pattern that I bought at a vintage expo a few years ago. It’s a super cute 1960’s buttoned dress. I’ll post more photos when it’s complete! For now, you get this teaser photo.

As much as I love crocheting in front of the TV, I really do love sewing and listening to The Cure station on Pandora. Serious ear candy… Depeche Mode, Smashing Pumpkins, and my beloved New Order. Music is so inspiring, but I probably didn’t need to tell you that.

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Wednesday Inspiration: New Dress A Day

by tatiana on August 18, 2010

Today, thanks to the fabulous Marissa, I bring you some inspiration for your dreary Wednesday (or, hopefully it’s not too dreary). It’s another cold, foggy summer day in San Francisco, and I woke up to a tweet linked to this gal’s blog: New Dress a Day: 365 Days. 365 New Outfits. 365 Dollars.

What I love about her blog is that she not only makes new dresses out of old ones… she makes tops, necklaces, vests… (sigh) amazing. Incredibly creative and my new hero.

This girl’s creations put my dropped-off-the-map Upcycle Sundays to shame! BUT, she has definitely inspired me to start upcycling again. You should see the pile in my room. It has been growing, while my sewing machine cover has not been removed since I altered Mar’s bridesmaid dress for Chandra’s wedding. Sad times. Anyway, enjoy her blog! I know I am. Must… stop… reading!

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Operation Pillow

by tatiana on July 10, 2010

(Photo Credits: weheartit)

I’ve been living in my apartment for about 9 months now, and I’ve been decorating it at a snail’s pace. Today, I decided it’s time to take a big(ger) leap towards making it a place that is visually stimulating and inspiring by making some pillows. [click to continue…]

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Rainy February Shop Update

by tatiana on February 23, 2010

Happy Tuesday! It’s been a while since I’ve updated my Etsy shop, so here are some new goodies. Keep warm and dry out there!

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Upcycle Sunday: Sewing Machine Cover

by tatiana on February 14, 2010

Happy Sunday, guys and dolls, lads and ladies, blokes and betties. I hope your Valentine’s Day, or Lunar New Year, or whatever today means to you, is going well. Here in San Francisco the sun was shining through my window and the weather was nice enough to not have to wear a sweater indoors. Perfect for a day of sewing and blasting iTunes while simultaneously having a solo dance party or kareoke fest every hour or so. I have way too much fun by myself.

Moving along! One of the ongoing projects is vamping up or apartment. Within the next month or so I volunteered to take on the intimidating task of making a slip cover for our couch… so in efforts of preparing for that monster project, today I’ve decided to do a smaller scaled slip cover of sorts, for my sewing machine. [click to continue…]

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Do anything, but let it produce joy.

by tatiana on June 21, 2009

laptop1

I made this laptop bag today for my good friend Katrina’s birthday! It’s so cute, I cut enough fabric to make two, so the second one should be up in the etsy shop sometime this week. Of course, it won’t be exactly the same as this one.

laptop2

My lovely friend/coworker’s favorite artist is Renoir, and her favorite writer  is Walt Whitman, so as you can see I wanted to incorporate them into the bag. I used left over iron on paper from another project.

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I lined the inside of the bag with leftover fabric from a diaper bag project from a while back (that I actually still haven’t finished). It’s a “Fun with Dick and Jane” print. :) I’m currently doing this thing where I’m not allowing myself to buy new fabric until I use as much as possible from what I already have. We’ll see how long I can go without making a trip to M&L Fabrics. Sorry this wasn’t the usual Upcycle project for today! This little bag took up a bit of my time. Now off to be techy and work on web stuff. Toodles and Happy Father’s Day!

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Don’t worry, Eat BBQ

by tatiana on June 15, 2009

moabi

That was the theme of this weekend. Four friends and I decided to be adventurous and live life on the wild side this weekend and went camping at Park Moabi. And by living life on the wildside, I mean pitching our tent at midnight, sleeping on and around rocks that we forgot to move before we pitched our tent, and encountering spiders the size of my hand in the bathroom. Ok, well, the first two things were true.

It was a great weekend though, and boy, does my friend’s aunt know how to make some excellent Korean BBQ. Excellent food in general. YUM.

Alas! Since it is summer time (even though it may still be gloomy out), today’s Upcycle Sunday is appropriately themed for hot, sunny, beachy times. Today I turned a Dodgers shirt I’ve had for a few years into a bathing suit cover up of sorts. I was inspired by a cute shirt that one of my friends wore to the river. So here we go!

upcycle_3

This project was a quick one. Took a little less than half an hour. I started using an adult small shirt. Although, I think the shirt is actually a medium… but who knows.

dodgers6

The first step is to remove the sleeves at about a half inch inside of the seam. Throughout this project, make sure you make your cuts very clean, otherwise you’ll have to go back and fix it later… unless you like that raggedy look.

dodgers5

Next, cut the top of the shirt. We will be reattaching this later.

dodgers4

Next, try on the shirt and mark how low you would like your neckline to dip. Fold in half to cut evenly and trim any excess. You want to remember that for this project, the less fabric you’re left with, the better. (But don’t get all hoochie on me.)

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Here, I started getting a little experimental. I should have prefaced this tutorial with: I have never made a bathing suit cover-up out of a t-shirt before. So just as you are learning, so am I. I just cut the shirt in a way I thought would work.

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After that slicing and dicing, I took the two pieces and twisted it up. I then pinned the back straps to the front straps and secured it with a straight stitch using my sewing machine. I think it would work to just tie the straps as well.

dodgers1

And there we have it! As I am sitting here staring at it on my dress form, I think I might go back and make the neck line dip about an inch lower. Live and learn, right? Well, this once-a-year outdoorswoman needs her beauty sleep. Have a lovely week and don’t forget that you can almost always turn something old into something fab. True story.

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