Live • Love • Maria

Last Minute 4th of July Crafting

2011-07-04T20:29:00.003-05:00

I can't believe it is the 4th of July and this is my first post in 2011. Was I sleeping or something. I guess so.
The craft parties are going steady. At least 3 people always attend - not too bad. But it is always a surprise how many will be there.
This year we are celebrating 4th of July at home, grilling out. And I had no decorations :(
So I came up with a last minute chain of origami stars. I made them out of Marie Claire and Elle magazine pages. I chose pages by overall color so I would have red, white and blue stars.

Then I stung them onto some wool and attached them to the inside of out front window. The picture is not so good. I am not use it is still easy to distinguish the different colors after I added them alternating to the string as good as when they were in matching color piles. But I still think it looks good.

Get Going

2010-11-08T11:24:00.006-06:00

Another two months have passed since my last post. Some things have happened but others still need to get started finally.

The Etsy Craft Party Milwaukee now also has an Etsy Team. The Eagle Team was changed and the 2 existing members are still there.

I am still not liking the logo for the Etsy Team. Maybe someone wants to help, but I will take a stab at it this week. Also need to throw out another poll for a craft meeting in November and December.

I have finished the doll dress resembling the "real" dress I made.

Next step for this evening is to go through my new (well 3 month) subscription of Marie Claire and Elle to find some inspiration, and then to order some fabric for new projects :) And then....

Red hot dress & new photo app

2010-09-12T20:57:00.016-05:00

The weekend before labor day, I finished the red dress I had sketched in the last post. I did not do the gathers on the skirt. I just somehow felt that that would be too much. It looks good as is. My friend Fen came over and we made some pictures for the Etsy listing. Unfortunately, the back was a little wide. I fixed that but at the time we were not able to take pictures of the back.

Last week, I got an iPhone 4 from work, and I had to try out the camera, which is very good, as well as some apps like a photo app that lets me put some cool effects on pictures I take. Here some test pictures of the dress and my Obitsu Doll. I was thinking, I should make the same dresses I have made in doll size.

Today, Fen and I went to the Renegade Craft Fair. We had an awesome time, sore feet, and a ton of business cards from the different booths.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Place mats and new dress design

2010-08-24T22:01:00.009-05:00

Finally starting some sewing again. Two weeks ago my mom and sister visited and last week was crazy busy at work. I found am awesome fabric scrap that I am making place mats of. Here a pic of two out of four that are done.

But I need to stop digressing :) On Sunday is the Etsy Craft Party Milwaukee for this month, and my friend Fen offered to model my creations. Check out her blog at http://beadflorajewels.blogspot.com/. This means I really need to get going. I know what I want to do, have the fabric and her measurements.

Today I started with a sketch of what I want to do.
So essentially a dress and a tiny jacket. The jacket will be made of a wool fabric with a small plaid pattern. The dress is solid burgundy red with some gathers to make it flirty. I am thinking of possibly attaching a fabric flower made of the dress' fabric to the jacket - have to see. Also wanted to use the dress' fabric for the lining of the jacket.

So time is running short. Tomorrow I want to draft the pattern. Thursday, cut the fabric and possibly start sewing. Then I have Friday and Saturday to finish the ensemble. Ha ha, you think that's too much - maybe, but that's how I operate :) No serious, I am just too lazy lately, need to kick myself a little.

Husqvarna Viking Serger

2010-08-06T07:40:00.000-05:00

I found this post on sew, mama, sew: Win a NEW Husqvarna Viking Serger ~ Back to School Giveaway!

To win the Serger, they want you to answer one question: How would your life be better with a Serger?
Well, that is an easy question. I can come up with some answers right away:

I don't have an overlock machine right now. So all these seams I have been overcasting with a zig zag, would be a piece of cake.
I would be able to sew so much quicker.
I could sew with up to four different threads.
And obviously many more reasons :)

I really hope I win. Please cross your fingers for me.

Obitsu Doll

2010-07-19T18:06:00.001-05:00

I couldn't help myself and buy a doll :) I have always loved Barbies, as you can see from some past posts.
But I found these really cute dolls (Obitsu). They are Japanese and I think they are a lot better then Barbie, especially because you can move most joints. I bought the body and the head with hair. I painted the face myself. It's OK, but I am not 100% happy. I'll probably buy more heads, maybe different hair colors, and try different hair cuts and faces. I also want to try the glass eye balls. That probably looks a lot better. The hair was straight and I made some curls. As you can see in the pictures. Next is a dress :)

Beads, Buttons & Etsy

2010-07-06T23:02:00.001-05:00

Last month I visited the Beads & Button Show here in Milwaukee, and it was just amazing. Especially some of those very intricate glass beads with crazy scenes on them - just awesome. I bought some things there: glass seed beads, coconut beads and some shell flower pendants. Also made a picture:

I went with my new friend Fen, which I met because of Etsy's birthday. For that occasion Etsy Craft Parties were forming all over the world, and Fen and I started the one for Milwaukee. We are planning to do this every month and keep in tough and organize this through a face book group.

Now that I am in the Etsy Craft Party club, I finally got around to opening my Etsy shops.
One for paintings and other art: http://livelovemaria.etsy.com
And one for clothing and accessories: http://www.etsy.com/shop/livelovemariafashion

Today I also listed my first item in the fashion shop. Here a picture:
It's a turquoise summer dress made from 100% linen and embroidered daisies (wool and glass seed beads).

The next thing should probably be a painting. I'm thinking of starting a Namibia collection.

Have been quiet

2010-05-16T17:58:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone. I have been very quiet the last month (actually over a month), but there has been much going on, and I have not been sewing or anything. The car broke down and we had to get a new one. That was quite a hassle = happens if you try to live on one car only :)
But as long as we can we will. And of course the house. Closing was on Friday, yeah! Now we have a new house and a new car :)
I also have many ideas again that I will start pretty soon.

My Danielle Dress

2010-04-07T18:34:00.002-05:00

The Danielle dress as well as the matching purse are finished and I have some pictures. Not the best ones, so I might have to adjust the post later once the rain is gone and I have a bit of nice natural daylight. Hopefully these are not to bad.

Crafty Spring and Danielle

2010-04-05T17:21:00.009-05:00

I am in the process of making a Danielle Dress for two events that are coming up the next two weekends. The pattern is from Burda Style, and I have been fancying it for a while.
One afternoon, I left work early and stopped at Joann's fabric. I found this beautiful fabric and decided to use it for my own Danielle dress.

The dress is almost finished, but I will also add a purse from the same fabric as an accessory.
I don't have any photos yet, but I will make some when I am done. I also changed the dress a little bit, because I accidentally bought a zipper that is to short, so I put it in the side seam under the arm scythe. That works fine but it is somehow a lot harder to zip it once I am wearing the dress then not wearing the dress :( I guess I have my husband to help me :) And if the zipper was in the back seam, someone would have to help me too, so nothing lost.

I am also looking ahead for some more projects after this one. I have a long list but there are some that are most appealing, which I will probably start first:

I found this awesome bulletin board idea on the dollar store crafts blog, that I want to try. We are in the process of buying a house, and you can always use something like a bulletin board.
Another similar idea are fabric boxes, which I found on Jezze's blog. I will see how I can combine those with the bulletin board.
I love to try fusing plastic shopping bags together to come up with a thicker plastic fabric, that I can use for reusable shopping totes or for outdoor stuff. I found a great tutorial on the Etsy Labs Archive.
Found a cute bath mat made out of floral fabric and old towels on crafty leftovers. Want to make something similar.
And last but not least in my top 5, laundry sorting baskets made with PVC pipe and screen printed fabric.

Spring or bridal dress for Barbie

2010-03-20T11:31:00.000-05:00

Last Monday I started this Barbie dress. I tried to do most with the machine, but had to put in the sleeves by hand as they are just so tiny. Next time I need to alter the pattern so I can add the sleeves with the machine before I close the side seam. I used a very simple white batiste and the pattern is from a pattern for an Eowyn dress fro Barbie I found online: Link. But I only used parts of it: the bodice, the sleeves (shortened) and the skirt, which is just a circle. After that was done I added the stitches, which took me about 3 days. I did id while watching TV, so it's a nice side activity. The idea for the stitches I had from the Alabama Studio Style. Check out the gallery here.

And now some pictures:

Jean Slippers

2010-03-20T11:14:00.000-05:00

I made these slippers of my own pattern, which I am not really happy with. They look a little "bumpy". But it looks a lot better when worn. I do not have a picture of that, because they are too small for me and were a present for my mom. Doesn't it seem that the kids always have bigger feet than their mom or dad respectively?
And are taller? :)
Well, this is them:

I added a little button in front. Next I need to redo the pattern and make some for myself. The fabric was kind of laying around, as it is from old jeans that were too torn to repair.

Girl's Top

2010-03-04T17:03:00.011-06:00

I made this top for my sister. My mom still had this fabric and my sister really wanted a top. She drew me a picture of how it was supposed to look and also told me she wanted a yellow ribbon. I had to add a zipper in the back though because the fabric isd not elastic at all. It is pretty interesting fabric, kind of like a quilt out of little plaid shirt squares :D

And here some pictures:

from the back

details

the front

Google Translate

2010-02-16T23:54:00.002-06:00

I have seen on other blogs, that people are using Google Translate. So I added it to my blog too.
I tried it with German, and eventhough there is a funny rythm to it because it does not translate that, the general message is very understandable. Great job, Google!

Africa Bag

2010-02-13T15:22:00.002-06:00

A couple of days ago I was looking through my fabric stash for some fabrics for my new 2010 project list. Of course, I did not find what I wanted, but something I had planned a long time ago and never finished.
Many years ago my relative from Cape Town gave me some wonderful fabric. It's a cotton print with Africa animals on in. I had added some rough linen from another garment and some inside pockets and zippers from an old corduroy bag that had "died".

Now that I had found this projects, I had to finish it, and forget about my new 2010 projects for a while. I always get side tracked like that - it's horrible :)

So this is the final result - my Africa bag:

But let's start from the beginning. Below is a picture of the original fabric patch and the linen that I used for the lining:

I first sewed the inside pockets, that I had rescued from the old corduroy bag onto the linen:

This is how it looked after I added the outside fabric and zipper - from the inside:

And from the outside without the handles yet:

Luckily I only got side tracked for two days - ha ha - but it's going to happen again, I just know it.

Napkin Rings & Napkins

2010-02-13T15:04:00.002-06:00

Just is time before Christmas I finished napkin rings and napkins for my aunt. I had bought the fabric a long time ago in Germany. I always felt this is a very elegant and festive fabric - somehow oriental but it also seemed to fit to Christmas a lot. The patters - or let's say the directions on how to make them - I got from my Burda sewing club here in Milwaukee. We started with some right in our meeting and I finished them up in time - just in time :)
Here the whole bunch of them:

And this is how one napkin ring looks unroled and with the napkin:

I still have something left of the fabric and will make some more napkin rings and a table runner for myself from it.

Sewing Machine Mat

2009-10-07T08:04:00.007-05:00

I finally made it – a sewing machine mat to sit under my machine and hold some smaller stuff in pockets that hang in front of the table. It started out very simple but then I decided to stitch scales around the different sushi. That added a lot of work and time but I think it did make it look better. I used some medium weight cotton with this awesome sushi print for the upper side. It has a little stretch to it. For the bottom, I took some off white medium weight cotton, which also has a little stretch. After stitching around all those sushi pictures, I sewed on the pockets by top stitching around the sides with some purple yarn.
And here the pictures of the finished mat:

Pumpkin Pin Cushion

2009-09-26T11:31:00.004-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I found some tutorial on a pumpkin pin cushion tutorial on the Rachel Rabbit Blog.
So I had to make one of some scrap fabric. It turned out really cute. Finally, I have a new pin cushion. The old one was a knitted octopus, and let me tell you knit does not make a very good pin cushion. Pins kept disappearing :)

Old and new sewing projects

2009-09-13T18:08:00.006-05:00

In August I visited my family in Germany. What a great trip. It is so nice to see everyone again, but it also makes you miss them more :( But I will go soon again.

Also, I was finally able to take some pictures of a dress I made for my sister. It's plaid cotton fabric with a little bit of stretch in it. I drafted the pattern myself with the help of the book "Metric Pattern Cutting" by Winifred Aldrich. It is essentially a button down shirt with a simple shirt collar. On the bottom I added a ruffled stripe to make the skirt part.

Then I did two little projects so far in September. One is a bag for my new sewing machine made of old jeans.

The other a little bag for water color brushes also of old jeans. I just bought the brushes and need to start some water color painting soon.

Today is my posting day and I fixed the layout of the blog. Unfortunately I do not feel that great because I got sunburned quite bad at the Badger Game yesterday.

Sewing Club

2009-07-24T19:37:00.006-05:00

I have not sewn for a while now. But I got my motivation back. This week I went to the Milwaukee Burda Sewing Club meeting. It is so much fun to meet other people with the same passion.
We had a lot of fun showing some creations. We started sewing a clutch bag after a pattern from our sewing club organizer Karen. Of course we did not finish it in the meeting : )

So today, I am listening to the soundtrack of "Amélie" and finishing the bag. Here it is:

FRONT

BACK

And there are more news. I just bought a new sewing machine. It's the Brother CE-5000PRW, with 50 stitches and it's computerized. It also is the Project Runway edition, but well, that is not really important :) I am really happy with it, and can't wait to create more. My next project is a bag for this new machine. I am using old jeans and a strap from a messenger bag that I took apart before recycling the broken parts.

This looks fishy

2009-06-20T09:00:00.002-05:00

I am hooked. I had to make another little crochet friend. This one I came up with on my own = no pattern. Why are these arigurumi so cute... :)

Little Crochet Guy

2009-06-19T19:10:00.004-05:00

Have been quite busy lately at work. So, I am a little behind on crafting.
But I found a pattern for this little crochet guy. I think he turned out really cute.
I wonder if I should make different clothes or some costumes for him. Maybe a hat?

Shirt + shirt = shirt

2009-06-12T21:47:00.003-05:00

Finally another project done. I have been so busy at work, and too tired in the evening to craft anything lately. So I am really happy to have finished another Up-cycling project.
For a while I was thinking about this. I got so may similar, "normal" shirts, especially the checkers patterned ones, that I got a little bored with them.
Inspired by some cute Japanese fashion I saw, I created a simple shirt with some ruffles out of two.

I do not have a picture of how it would look worn yet. I wanted to add some buttons or Velcro between the two "chest buttons". As always with tight fitted shirt....

Red Satin Barbie

2009-05-29T21:39:00.005-05:00

Today I was in the mood to go through my leftover materials and use something up for Barbie clothes. I found this nice red-pinkish satin and made a top out of it.

Here the view from the front

and the back (color is a little off).

I will also make a skirt soon that matches. Right now she is just waring a piece of fabric that I wrapped around her as a skirt. I thought some jeans might also look good with the top. So let's see what I can come up with. This is a great way to use up some scraps.

Pants Up-cyling

2009-05-26T22:00:00.005-05:00

One of the biggest reason why I am sewing is trying to make old clothes of mine, which are became boring over time, a little more interesting. I guess you call that up-cycle :)

For the longest time I did not like wearing these jeans. Only if I was totally out of pants, because I had been lazy with laundry. They are a short, and unless I wear boots, they look just a little off - a little awkward you could say. So I decided to make knee-long Capri's out of them. Those are supposed to flatter me more anyways, as I am not super tall aka. my legs are.

So here some before and after shots.

BEFORE

AFTER