Okay, maybe half an army. I ended up making a couple of sock monkeys as Christmas gifts and it was a lot of fun! I wasn't sure who would get which monkey, so I decided that whoever showed up at my house first that day, would get first choice. Everyone ended up loving their sock monkey
The one with the extra long limbs is mine and my first test run.. he still needs eyes, but I might just leave him the way he is now.
I still have a sock dog to make on my list.. and more people are showing interest. I didn't think there would be a demand for these guys
It's my first time making a stuffie but I tried this tutorial to make a kitten for my friend for Christmas.. (that is, if it turned out okay! ) http://dollmaker.nunodoll.com/cat/terrycat.html
I didn't follow it exactly, since I wanted it sized down enough that it could be used as a tree ornament.. and I used furry fabric, so it didn't turn out exactly like the tutorial, but I thought it was cute nonetheless!
^ I used some fleece for the ears a nd nose, and buttons for the eyes, that I painted over with nail polish and white acrylic. Then I thought it wasn't quite my friend's style, so I decided to make it a bit evil...
And thought maybe add some angelic wings to even it out.. I ended up adding some ribbon afterwards, so she could hang it. I gave it to her early and she liked it! Now it keeps her company as it hangs above her serger
I also thought of trying to make a sock monkey.. I had some argyle socks I got for free, that were waaay too skinny for my legs, so I thought I'd give it a try.. it took so much time for a first try! I used this tutorial: http://www.web-goddess.org/writing/tutorial/Image0.html
I named him Slendy after Slender Man because of his insanely long limbs/tail.. (I used knee length socks, which took up a lot of time to fill!) He still needs eyes though.. I can't find suitable eyes, but he might just remain eyeless for now.. I was thinking of making this guy for a friend.. but now I'm kind of too attached to him Might just have to make more of them now.. (but with shorter socks, lol)
My friends and I grouped together for an Alice in Wonderland theme this year. Since we decided this well ahead of time, I ended up spending months on and off working on my costume - the White Rabbit. I've never done anything so intricate, though last year I did a a generic cutesy rabbit and I was pretty pleased with it.. http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a303/yamasocoolies/LJ/15443_165785196357_511471357_270845.jpg (I didn't make the pink bra top, nor the white booties - though the boots are actually two pieces.. bought white furry slippers and furry leg warmers I made ) Anyway, I digress! I found it funny that I ended up doing another rabbit this year, but I wanted to go in a different direction with the Alice Rabbit this time around, take it away from what I did the year before... plus I have this thing (I think it's called 'competitiveness'! lol) where I really want to top last year's costume. Anyway, I decided I'd take a Steampunk spin with my White Rabbit costume this year, and this is what I ended up with..
I ended up making a matching wrap following this awesome tutorial: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=332604.0 This has definitely been my most hands on projects I've ever had.. I made almost everything! The only things I didn't make myself were the black top hat I had bought (but made all the stuff on top of the hat), the chain I used so I could wrap my pocket watch/purse around my waist, and my boots, but I made boot covers to fit over them.. and of course, the lovely Cheshire Cat that we picked up, in honour of our friend that was originally going to be the Cheshire Cat, but couldn't make it But I made everything else, and I've never made that much of a costume myself.. which took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, considering I'm not exactly all that great at sewing.. it was a lot of trial and error and tweaking late into the night.
Anyway, I'll shut up now! On to the pictures!
^ Our Mad Hatter, Alice, and me My costume without the wrap. I figured I'd be a little outrageous and made my boobs furry. I thought it was a hoot.
^ Back. My tail made Alice giggle. I made my boot covers a bit funky since I wanted to kind of give it more of a rabbit's foot shape feel. I don't know if I failed with that or not, but I tried.
^ Feet! I made a pocket watch/purse for my goodies
^ We also decided on making a Cheshire Cat pumpkin. I managed to finish this just in time for Halloween - whew!
^ Me and my cats. I'm really good at looking like a child.. lol.
I've never bought any Paul Frank shirts before, but I got this for free ages ago. I never did wear it but I didn't want to let it go, just because that monkey is amazing! Look at that pose! And the fur is actually velvety/fuzzy, which adds to the hilarity.
I wanted to make it a fun top, so this is what I ended up with. When I looked at his pose, I figured it would work well as a one-shoulder shirt, and I think it turned out okay. I'm starting to get addicted to making things frilly.. can you tell?
On me It's funny that I made the pink stripe part off-center, yet it looks centered in this shot. I really should get around to ironing all these recons so they look more finished when I wear them.. I like making them but I hate ironing.. bah!
I haven't posted in a while, but here are a few things I've reconstructed since.
#1. I picked up the Generation T book a few weeks ago for $5 (woo!) so this was my first project from that book. I took this shirt..
.. added some extra black scrap fabric and did a bit of chopping and sewing and ended up with this. I'm not completely satisfied with it though.. I'll probably hem the edges and possibly add some cups for a built-in bra. The Generation T book is definitely inspiring, but I think I'm just not so keen on raw edges nowadays.
The back.. or lack of.
#2. I've had this skirt for ages and stopped wearing it years ago, so when I pulled this out of my to-do pile, I really wanted to turn it into a full dress. I also had this tank top that I bought for $2 that was shiny and smoooth (and kept riding up, ah!)
This was possibly the fastest dress I've made
On me:
#3. More shirts I don't wear:
The after: (plus some fuzzy pink fabric)
I added a bow to the top as well, though I'm going to redo the bow since I'm not happy with how that turned out. I love the rest of it though.
#4. Some more shirts I never wear..
I didn't end up using the blue shirt after all but here's what I came up with Frills!
Here's an ugly old tank top I had. I'm not quite sure what compelled me to pick this one out of the piles.. I've never worn it before. I think I got it for free from.. someone. I think the busy pattern caught my eye so I pulled it out.
Ugly old tank top got turned into a little waist cincher.. thingie. I ended up picking out some buttons and covering them in this shiny red fabric; then added a yellow band at the bottom because, well, I was already 2/3 of the way there to having all the primary colours and all. (Hey, it makes sense to *me* )
In action.. sort of. I need to tweak it just a bit, make it a little smaller up top because it's still a bit loose. But it's silly and I like it.
Here's a weird shirt with a hoodie. I probably got this from the same place I got that ugly tank top, lol. Never wore it; plus it was really baggy on me. Yikes. (There's my toes in the shot, just because I love the colours on them, lol)
First step was to chop up the blue and use a black tank top for the bottom half, making the shirt more fitted.
How about an appliqued bunny? Because it TOTALLY NEEDS ONE.
I really liked how it looked at that point, but I wanted a Funky Shirt, not a Cute Shirt. Wait, how about a corset bit on the side? JUST BECAUSE I CAN!
Wait.. the back is boring too. HOW ABOUT MORE CORSET BITS? And why not diagonal while we're at it! JUST BECAUSE.
Close-up of the bunny I made. I drew up a little template and used the same fabric from the ugly tank top above... placed that under the black fabric, sewed the shape of the bunny with the sewing machine (really tricky but quite fun!) and cut out the black fabric on the inside. Instant awesome! I like to think that it's one of my bunnies I lost earlier this year.. Added a little button for an eye as well.
Close-up details. I used black velvet fabric (from my Halloween project) for the corset part, and the extra pair red shoelaces that came with my boots, rofl. WOO RECYCLING.
Action-y shot.
Action-y shot of the back. Hard to get a good shot in a bathroom at night THIS IS MY NEW FAVOURITE SHIRT. YAY!!
Other than the random hemming and resizing, I haven't actually made anything in about a year! I've been dying to get back into it and I finally got around to making something today I'm still figuring out my personal style (at 24!) but I decided that from now on, I'm going to make clothes that I absolutely LOVE, something that is truly me. This is one of them, haha. Something colourful and fun and a little different.
I love this flower shirt, but it's short yet loose.. I think it's a kid's shirt? lol. And I have NO idea where I got this psychedelic tye-dyed shirt, but I've never worn it. When I was holding the flower shirt and saw the tye-dyed shirt peeking out from my to-do pile, I knew it'd be a match made in heaven!
Work in progress picture. Oh so excited!!
The finished product. Tadahhh!
A side view. The colourful sides slopes down at the top so the front of the shirt is higher than the back..
.. which is TOTALLY ROCKIN!!
The front
Detail shot of the back THAT IS TOTALLY ME AND I LOVE IT OMG.
I am so excited to get back into the groove of reconstructing clothes. Now to look through my pile and pick my next victims..
My mom had this big, baggy.. well, sack dress that she was going to get rid of, but I saw lots of potential and loved the fabric/hoodie/pockets that it had, so I had to keep it for myself!
Before..
AAGH I AM THE BAG LADY RAWR. Yup.. it had a drawstring on the bottom. Yikes.
And I'm apparently pregnant in this too!
After..
My first attempt.. I chopped off the bottom and took in the sides.. and realized I made it too short for a dress
So I tucked it away until last night when I dug it up again. My plan was to use the original material I chopped off and turn that into a band that I could add to the middle of the dress to lengthen it. I think it worked!
Another shot:
The back.. it's rather snug at the hips/butt though. Oh well.. I wanted to tone up anyway!
I got this collared shirt for free from.. someone? The material was totally awesome and I knew I had to keep it. The tag said that it's 100% organza. It's more of a navy blue with a sheen.. silver? Purple? I can't tell, and the pictures don't really show it either. There's shots with no flash and with flash:
When I put the shirt on to see how it fit, my mom immediately said how it basically looked like a Chinese elderly person's shirt. The fit, the sleeves, the material. It was EXACTLY like it.
...I was wearing what looked like an old Chinese granny shirt.
She laughed so hard when she said that, which made me break up laughing.
My mom is awesome.
I then immediately tore off the shirt and vowed to do something completely different to it.
I honestly had no idea exactly what I wanted to do with the shirt. I remembered seeing a collared shirt that was made into a halter-style top, so I thought I'd try the same. What I came up with:
It was probably the easiest reconstruction I've done, but it took me all day, mostly because I'm a lazy ass and watched the John and Kate Plus 8 marathon all day long (so worth it though!!) When I cut up the shirt into a halter, the fabric sit me oddly with some dangly bits at the front, so I ended up taking the front in to create those pleats. Problem solved!
On me: (sorry for the blurriness, bad lighting, etc, etc Taking good pictures with this camera with no natural light coming in from outside just doesn't work.)
With the flash: ( I didn't fix the top bit but it's not all creasy weird like that!)
I've been trying to sift through my clothes to see what my next project would be. It took a while but I got inspired by this Charlie Brown shirt I've had for ages. It's definitely a children's size.. it hits waaay above my belly button, but fits loosely while the collar is high and just looks ridiculous on me:
But it's Charlie Brown; and therefore awesome!
I decided I'd make a Charlie Brown-inspired shirt. It had to be done!!
My second victim.. I needed the right yellow fabric for this one.. might as well use an old Tommy Jeans shirt I never wear anyway!
My inspiration. I love Mr. Sack:
^ The result. ZIG-ZAG POWER!
On me:
The back:
Long for a shirt, kind of too short for a dress. But I'll make it work!
Oh the list of things done goes on.. resized the Charlie Brown shirt, chopped it up, re-attached the sleeves to fit better (bloody annoying. I've never reattached sleeves before), gave it a wide neckline.
Chopped up the yellow shirt, cut the zig-zag into it. LOTS AND LOTS OF HEMMING. There was actually another shirt I used that I didn't take a picture of, just a boring black t-shirt that I needed for the zig-zag material since there wasn't much fabric from the Charlie Brown shirt.
I was thinking of adding a hoodie to it.. but I'll just leave it as is for now. Opinions?
I haven't seen any Charlie Brown shirts with the zig-zag actually sewn on, and I can understand why.. because it takes forever! And I kept screwing things up!! I can't remember how many times I've resewn things. OMG. Complete madness.
But this is probably the most fun I've had making a shirt. Friggin Charlie Brown, man!
Show Images
THIS IS MY NEW FAVOURITE SHIRT. YAY!!
There was actually another shirt I used that I didn't take a picture of, just a boring black t-shirt that I needed for the zig-zag material since there wasn't much fabric from the Charlie Brown shirt.
