Metals! An Introduction

This semester I really wanted to take Print and Dye.  I faked this whole scene with the Design School for a year just to be able to take the class. But alas, I felt really pressured with my other classes and decided not to take it  :(  It does have a history of being a time intensive course, and I did not want to risk that.  I'm very "risk-averse."

In any case, I decided that I needed to fill my void somehow.  In the past I took computer classes.  They were great!  I learned a lot of important skills.  Last Friday, one of my friends (a really awesome one, btw) took me to a "Free Art Friday."  Free Art Friday is a program UW-Madison has where you do art... for free.  The coordinators choose what the project is, so I guess not all of the art is free. But, it's still a great program, nonetheless.  The project at this FAF was bead making.  I got into DIY, so when I saw that the project was working with polymer clay, I got super excited.

Here are the beads I made.  They're not very unique, but with the limited time I had (I had a b-day to go to), I think I did well.  I will def, add them to a chain later.

Anyway, while I was waiting for the beads to bake in the oven, I checked out the catalog of mini-courses offered during the semester.  I knew that dying classes were offered as mini-course, so I wanted to know if there were any this coming semester.  I didn't see a dye class I liked, but I did see one with stone cutting.  

Jewelry has a special spot with me because one of my cousins is really into jewelry design.  Any jewelry related topic makes me think of her. Thus, when I saw that there was a stone cutting class, I was super excited.  However, I got a little discouraged when I saw that the stone setting class was offered off campus (not easy to get to!).  Then, I saw that there was a course (offered on campus) that teaches stone setting.... but then I saw that you need to have basic metal working skills before taking the class.  That's when I saw that there was a basic metal working class! It was perfect!  So I signed up for it.

I had the first class today.  I was SO PLEASED with class that I figured that signing up for the class was one of the best decisions I ever made.  Seriously, I can not get over it.  Everything about that class is perfect.  The students are nice, the teacher is fantastic... just thinking about it makes me happy.  

This is the first product I made. The point of this was to learn cutting and texturing.

I envisioned this pendant/thing to be with the small hole on top (for a jump ring).  But I have this picture because the lighting is really good, and it's one of the better pictures.

I can't wait for next week! :)

Seriously Tacky Pants Part 2

So after I made the first pair of pants, I was able to easily adjust it to make another pair.  I tried to experiment with this pair.

...And this is why I call them "seriously-tacky."  I used vinyl (and for all purposes, i consider them to be leather) to add visual interest. 

I did not do separate seams for everything.  I put the vinyl on top of the pinstripe and top stitched.  I decided to do this because I remember when I made similar pants, I had a lot of time issues.  Unfortunately, the fabrics were not cooperating with me this time either.  When I had the vinyl against the presser foot, the pinstripe would move, but the vinyl would not.  So I got this huge bunching mess.  So basically I had to go backwards.  This was not fun because the top stitching was not very appealing. The waste band was an issue, too.  Basically, i hand stitched the stitch in the ditch part.  I was okay with this because by the time I got to the waste band I was expecting this problem.  Also, this way I was able to avoid putting unnecessary holes in the vinyl. 

One of my classmates did a project with "leather," and I remembered the rule to not pin. [NOTE: You can use pins if it's only in the seam allowance, but it's better to just use clamps or paper clips.] 

POCKETS!!!

It does look good from the back!  However the stripes just add to the tackiness.  I'm still in love with them!

It is a little weird to walk in because the vinyl does not move well.  I also think that the rise is too low and might be affecting the front.  This is something to experiment with later.

Seriously tacky.  But Super fun.

Seriously Tacky Pants Part 1

Last year, sometime mid August, I promised myself that I would make a pair of pants from scratch by the end of January.

What can I say!  I made pants!  AND I made my deadline. I know I'm posting this February, but I finished January 16.  I just haven't had the incentive to post up pictures.  The reason I'm doing that now is because I really need to post the pictures up, and I have some other project coming up that I want to talk about.

My friend calls these "swishy-pants." He's almost right except for the fact that they're not swishy from the waist.  The reason why they're so thick is because I did not take in the inseam.  This was because I went straight from the pencil skirt pattern to pants without really caring about the shape on the inside. 

Here's the skirt pattern, They are in my measurements, and yes I did make the skirt.  I look good in the skirt, too, but I'm not willing to go drag online. Soo.....

Anyway, This pattern has two darts in the back.  I wasn't a fan of that because it's a lot of work so I simplified it to one dart.  And then I made the pants based on that skirt pattern.

See?  All I really needed to do is add the crotch extension.  You can also see the lines where I should have brought the lines in.  Super simple.

Yep, way too much fabric.

With a belt.  Just to prove that there can be a belt.

Croquis form?

This reminded me of Combusken, so I had to add it. (Combusken is a Pokemon, for those who do not know)