Skeleton Closet: Simplicity 2367 Review -- Reader's Choice

After months of planning on creating the shorts from one of these patterns (view D--simplicity). I finally got around to sewing it.
Since it isn't my pattern originally, the first thing I did was to copy each individual piece onto tissue paper... although, I really feel like that should be done no matter what; it extends the life of the pattern.

Anyway, in the post I linked, I had a bit of choice in front of me that I left up to my readers-- which one was I to make first? It wasn't a unanimous choice, but the shorts ended up being it.

And here it is. I changed my design decisions a bit from the initial plan-- it wasn't a large deviation, but instead of the intended venetian lace trim around the leg bands, I chose to create an overlay on the pockets; a little more subtle, just so I can easily match it up with anything in my wardrobe. It has a side zipper closure, and the pockets are quite deep and roomy.

During the mock up, which is too ugly for photos ( pale yellow satin marked with purple felt tip) I noticed some errors on the pattern and on the directions; I hope they were found and quickly fixed... but in this copy, they are present.

The mistakes are concentrated around the waist band; when you're piecing the 4 waist band pieces (2 front, 2 back) together you end up with 2 completed waist bands; one is your facing. Quite regrettably, I didn't take any photos of this, so this is going to sound profoundly confusing... I will create an example and update this post in the future.

The confusion comes when you're stitching them together; it directs you to stitch each band at the right side seam, which I assumed was the right sides of both front pieces because it did not specify.
When I started piecing the completed bands onto the shorts, I noticed that the facing wouldn't line with the base band; it ended up front with back, instead of front and front. So, you'll need to stitch to the left seam of one of the bands and it'll be correct in the end-- the one with only one side of interfacing so that the front won't be too stiff.
Next, the dot marks on the pattern piece of the front waist bands needed to mark where the front tabs go is not printed in for size 14-- which is the size I am. I took my seam gauge and approximated the distance between each dot for each size and then made the dot mark for my size.

Once again, I deeply apologize for not taking photos of this-- it's rather important if you're going to undertake this pattern.

But anyway. Near completion I realized I only had 14 inch invisible zippers, and this pattern needed a 7 inch zipper.


Since I don't have zipper stops, I had to DIY it. I first thought of melting the teeth together at the length I needed, but then I remembered I didn't have my soldering wand for precision melting...
Using super glue will fall off after a few washes, and stitching an overcast stop tears apart after enough wear... next best thing? Nail polish coated overcast stitch.

I figured this method out after a few bad trials with most DIY stop methods. I deduced that since nail polish makes a great fray check that stays nearly indefinitely, why wouldn't it work for protecting the overcast zipper stop. Best idea ever, I tell ya... and yes, I'm tooting my own horn.

As I mentioned, the pockets are done with an overlay of lace, and binded with bias tape-- although the pattern calls for folding under and top stitching all around. I liked the look of the bias tape.

All in all the pattern needed very little alteration-- I just added a bit of length to the leg bands because they were a touch too tight when I sat down. But yes, it was a nice weekend project... and luckily we are still of the weather to wear shorts down here in the deserty south.
Oh and the buttons! Can't forget about the buttons... they're my favorite! They're metal skull shank buttons that I picked up on Etsy several months ago.

What I am Wearing:

• Top: K-mart
• Shorts: Self-made with Simplicity pattern 2367 in view D
• Shoes: Hand-me-downs from my momma's old wardrobe

Mortem's Tricks or Treats: Things To Do While Waiting.

My husband has been home every day since Monday when the news was announced that the U.S. government shut down, and most everyone in federal jobs were sent on leave without pay until further notice. Without going too far into it, things don't look good for many of us, and it's quite shocking to see the negative responses of such an event-- it's been quite stressful with how sporadic the government has been. First the sequestration happened, which destroyed the chance to move those months ago... and now this. It feels like we can't catch a break.

We are biding our time until then, pooling and squeezing each resource available to us since town living is not as cheap as one may think. We're not hurting yet since we've been able to make the best of what we have... that is, everything aside from entertaining ourselves. Squeezing pennies means we don't have the luxury of even taking a drive, since anywhere of note will likely cost $40 in gas... and well, the only place of note nearby is a National Park-- go figure, it's closed because of the shutdown.

On the brightside, my health has been doing alright (knock on wood)-- I haven't needed the surgery as far as we can tell since my gallstones are still mobile; I've been getting the hang of which foods don't trigger a severe attack... I still wonder the long term effects taking all these pain meds means, though.

Enough of depressing realities...

After a comment from Lynoire regarding the eyeball hairbows... it got me to thinking, what else can the crafting of eyeballs be used for? Other than jewelry and, well, hairbows.
As a self-proclaimed seamstress, the answer should've came to me right away! Better late than never, right?

Pattern weight decorations!

I'm constantly in need of pattern weights since I somehow end up losing them.

Remember my post regarding DIY Notions? Well I was never able to find good enough buttons for my pattern weights, so they have always been rather unfinished looking-- I save my good ones for when I feel like shooting progress shots of my sewing (heh!). Well, now I don't have to! These were two crappy turn-outs from before, but on they went onto two of my weights.

The good and the awesome.

I love novelty sewing notions... I'm such a sucker for anything that can reflect my tastes-- especially my tools!

On a side note.. copper BB's would add considerably more weight than just washers glued together; they end up as heavy as the store bought ones shown in purple. My husband happens to own a BB gun, that's the only reason I was able to acquire them... otherwise, it's too expensive a material.

In other crafty news,yesterday my husband and I finally got around to building the foundations of a cardboard cat condo. It's not as grandiose as I would like since we lack the space, but well, the cats love it.

I even built in a staircase.

And yes, you read and see correctly... cats.

This past Sunday we made the adoption of our latest beautiful bombay boy: Khan Edgar. He came to us already fixed, chipped and updated with shots-- which is nice because the day after adopting him, the news hit us.

We wondered if it was a good idea to have two rambunctious boys, and worried that the integration would be hell, as so many have warned us it would be... 

Luckily, Poe is the sweetest most welcoming soul and has accepted his new stepbrother with open paws. After some initial hissing and sniffs on the first day, by the second day they were already snuggling each other... and it hasn't faltered slightly since... or maybe I should say yet? Heh.

Tales Of Trial and Terror: Diary Of A Copy Cat.

I am crazy over the new eyeball trend... crazy, I say!
Meagan Kyla over at Coffin Kitsch has only intensified that extreme desire to own these goodies with her recent posts.

In the past, when I was selling my wares, the eyeball hair flowers and skull bows were one of my biggest hits. But this renewed hairbow trend has opened up an aspect of detail that never occurred to me, and adds oodles of dimensions to the otherwise planar surface. They utilize the beauty of the doll eye, which is readily available where ever you can find doll making supplies; a quick google search for 'doll eyes' yielded this supplier with a wonderful array of doll eyes in a few sizes: Enchanted Doll Eyes, but as a note, I've never shopped there, so I cannot vouch for the vendor.

Anywho-- as far as I understand, eyeball hairbows in particular are trending pretty strongly in Asian countries, such as Korea and Japan. This certain type of hairbow seems to be most available to us North American buyers either through Ebay or Kreepsville.

I'm faaaar too cheap to buy anything that simplistic, but it's so cute it merits the effort to attempt to make them-- ala, knock off. Shhh, keep it on the DL.

Source: Aliexpress

It should be said that the supplies for such a task is not cheaper if you're planning on making just a sole pair of hairbows. The price of the supplies totals roughly $47-- let's say $50.00 for good measure; a single pair from Kreepsville will run you $19, (ball parking shipping at about $5.00-- exaggerated slightly again to be sure) $20 to make it even. So say you planned on making a plethora of colors? This would mean you'll only have to make 3 pairs to break even.

The only thing purchased new in this lot was the hair snaps and the sculpey oven baked clay-- a total of about $9.00 from Walmart. The rest was what I already had; if you want a rough (slightly rounded up) price break down, here ya go:

• Modge Podge-- I believe I purchased for about $5.00. Ideally you'll want an actual polymer gloss glaze, and it's about $5.00 too 
• Acrylic paints-- assuming you just get the primaries and black and white is about $1 a bottle; so about $5.00
• Specialized duct tape-- depending where you go, it could be cheaper or more expensive, mine was $8. (I went the expensive route cause I could not wait at that time of purchase)
• Glue gun-- I bought mine with a coupon, I don't remember the original price, but I bought mine for about $7.00.
• Resin or in my case model water-- $13. We have long been planning on building the U.S.S Constitution on water... that is why we have it. Ideally you want liquid polymer clay, and that'll run for roughly $10

I'm not going to include the palette, baby powder and measuring spoons because I'm just going to assume that somewhere in the household there is something similar-- if not, then it's super duper cheap to get them at the dollar store. 

In the beginning of the year, I had been casually toying with the idea of duct tape couture, though it fizzled out fairly quick-- I had this idea of making a black duct tape corset with lots of bows, and neat cutouts; it's the reason I had bought all these rolls of black duct tape I now have-- blasted impulse. Who knows, I may yet go back to drafting-- thinking on it has rekindled that desire...

Well in my research I stumbled upon this slice of awesome DIY from The Ribbon Retreat Blog-- it is by far the best tutorial I have found for making duct tape bows.

During my frenzy for eyeball related jewelry, I found yet another fabulous tutorial on creating a life-like eye by Make It With Me blog. Although I must confess, I took plenty of liberties and deviated greatly from her tutelage...
I found that my method for the base of the eye is a little easier and quicker than her method, but it does lack the 3D pupil.

I found that a measuring spoon was excellent for making a perfectly shaped flat-back eye-- and in many different sizes! The bottom of the measuring spoon also worked in making the dimple for the iris

Sadly, the downfall of this trail came in the form of E-Z Water...

I had suspected it would not work out to be clear because the pellets had a yellowish tinge... add to the fact they were pellets and not a nozzled bottle of greatness in a bottle (liquid polymer-- it dries clear).
It was a hassle melting and then pouring the product into the eyes, and it always came out a little bubbly despite following and even cutting the melting time after each trial.

Even when I did manage to keep the bubbles close to none, the yellow coloring really threw off the color of the iris. She doesn't mention using glaze, but I wanted a sort of glossy-wet look, and I had hoped Modge Podge was a good substitute for this... well it wasn't. As thin as I tried to coat it, it still came out too textured. Hopefully soon I can nab myself a bottle of liquid polymer and glossy glaze.

Top one is supposed to be purple, but the yellowing turned it somewhat brown

From close up, you can see every imperfection of my first trials (the more successful ones, at that).
However from afar...

It's not so bad! 

Edit to add 09/29/2013:
Alright, so I mentioned in the comments below, I think I'm getting the hang of reducing the yellowing occuring with the E-Z water, along with minor differences in the amount of bubbling. All I did was reduce the depth of the dimple for the iris by about half of what I was initially doing. Take a look for yourself!

 I also took the chance at creating the 3D pupil and baking it inside the dimple; most times it didn't stick on its own so I had to glue it in before painting. I think there's a special polymer glue for this situation... but in my case, I just used super glue. I also tried adding some glitter into the iris using some of my glitter nail polish.

Turned out much better than the first day of making eyeballs, but there is yet another problem with the addition to the new 3D pupil. The E-Z water now bubbles only around the pupil, instead of all around the iris. I'm determined to get this right!

In the meantime, a very minor detail was also bothering me-- the white outline of the tape around the cut edges. I fixed it with a little bit of black paint and sealed it with modge podge for gloss effect.

Left: unpainted, Right: Painted

Here are a couple new shots of the latest bows:

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Spooky Basket: The 'Get Well' Gift That Gave In Abundance.

My mother had sent me some money and well wishes during this time of austerity and health concerns-- she felt I had been cooping and sulking all this time, and wanted to give me an excuse to get out.
She was completely right, I had been doing just that.

She left a message in the gram "Happy shopping, I love u!".

I couldn't help but feel like a child again-- in a good way-- being loved by your momma, and feeling giddy at having cash in my pocket purely for spending on little frivolities.

Her intense generosity is a reminder of how much I miss her company, because with all the things I bought with this money, I would be testing or sewing it with her; she would let me do her makeup while we watched our dramas and chick flicks, and she would sit and chat with me while together we would sew something up. They are always times I really cherish; thanks to this blog, I can keep showing her what I've been up to and what I purchased with her gift.

Usually I go into shops not really knowing for sure what I am going to purchase, but with a very vague idea of what I want to try out. This time, I let myself strategically plot the coming months with the projects, and purchased accordingly.

I've been coveting the dresses from Hell Bunny... specifically these dresses:

Source: Unknown

Source: Atomic Cherry

But I can't seem to find where to purchase the first, and further more... they seem simple enough to add my own twist to; A.K.A recreating them myself.

Since making this apron for what feels like forever-and-a-half ago, I felt like I really needed an actual dress that was similar to it... I still have a few yardage left over of the day of the dead fabric. This Hell Bunny dress was just the inspiration I needed to pool my motivation into buying the notions needed to make it happen-- minus the pom pom trim... I'm not sure if that'll make it to the final dress, heh.

This came into the lap of having the desire to try out more patterns, and having a few on my wishlist that I really wanted to experiment with. Patterns are a nice way to bide my time, because I don't have all the tools I need to draft the more complex patterns, at present; they lie somewhere in the cavernous abyss I call the boxes I packed back in Canada.... and I've been too incredibly lazy lately to draft them anywho.

Entrez Halloween fabric and patterns.

They're all New Look patterns... what can I say, I love a decent sewing challenge, despite my laziness-- and New Look offers just that.

The two upper fabrics weren't purchased with the money my mother gave me, and are probably not going to be turned into dresses because of the nature of the type of material; I had purchased these very late in August, and just hadn't blogged about them yet.

The spider damask is very thick, and has an almost flocked silvery pattern-- I find it suitable only for a vest or maybe some other accessories. The pumpkin and candy fabric has glitter in the weave, also making it rather sturdy-- I have a very cute corset in mind for this fabric.

Now the lower two... these will be dresses, along with the day of the dead fabric.

The eyeball fabric will be view A from pattern 6457, the spiders will be made into view D from pattern 6143, and the day of the dead into view C of pattern 6208 (all circled in the fancy frame)

Eyeball

Spider

Skulls

After having purchased this mess of notions, fabrics, and patterns, I actually had lots of money left over (you can thank preparation and planning for that!). After having visited Walmart and Joann's, off I went into the malls of madness, not far from where the two stores were located...

I took a visit to Hot Topic hoping to find the Black Heart skull shaped nail polishes, after seeing the post Karoliina published on her blog. Indeed, they were there... and much much more skull shaped cosmetics that I regret not cleaning them out of. The rest of the cosmetics were found at Walgreens, Target, Walmart and Dollar General. I'll make a proper post of all these in the future, once my trials are done.

While in target, I happened upon the shoe section... nothing much of note... that is, until I hit the children's section. Behold!

And they were on sale for about $8... which makes it that much sweeter. Size 5 is the highest they went; sometimes it really pays to have such tiny feet.

Sadly, when I got home, the fresh scent of virgin shoes lured my cat once again... and off went one of the rhinestone buttons.

You'd think I'd learn my lesson from the first time, right? ... wrong. Luckily, I was going to change the buttons anyway-- I just haven't decided if I am to use bat or skull buttons... hmmm.

I love how they very nearly match the color of my favorite nail polishes (including the new), and my new baked eyeshadow from Hard Candy in Super Nova.

I sense an outfit brewing.... Thanks, Momma!

P.S. That reminds me... I still need to work on this, which by majority vote turned out to be the shorts. I have so much to do now! How exciting!

Fashioning My Cyber Microcosm: "Hmph" Said The Bat

The month has been creeping by slower than I could possibly tolerate.
Unfortunately, just days after my last post, I became a bit sick.

Gallstones-- hooray. <rolls eyes>

Having to actively monitor what I eat, how much I eat, and when I eat, before I receive the surgery has become such a drag...
It's a hurdle that feels much like weaning off some drug I was addicted to... I am definitely not happy if I don't get to eat whatever I damn well please... but such is the life of a person who disregards structure in many senses (most cases without intent)... including healthy habits, much to the dismay of the loved ones.

You see, I found myself in this predicament purely because of how seldom I actually eat; not how badly the foods I eat are. Ordinarily, my meals (when eaten) are highly balanced-- meat, grain, veggies... the whole deal. But I have been indulging myself in high fat meats in the past months; pork and beef. And since I am genetically predisposed to gallstones, this caused my system a bit of a shock and thus gallstones were formed and now causing heaps of pain.
It's not entirely my fault-- that is to say, my budget for groceries is quite strict, limiting the amount of proper ingredients I'm able to purchase... and as of late, the price of chicken and fish has been sky rocketing out of control at our local grocers. They seemed to have raised all their prices, matter of fact...
They're the only supermarket within a 40 mile radius, sadly, and lets be frank... their "fresh" food is never the freshest; the veggies go bad within days of purchase, and you ought to watch their dairy because they're always trying to foist off their past dues to an unsuspecting poor devil.
It happened to me twice... the last time was a very bitter and chunky guava yogurt drink-- I was looking forward all day to my treat that I simply forgot to check the date; the time of purchase it was already 2 days past due. At least it was only 2 dollars...

We bit the bullet and bought the exorbitant chicken and fish so that I can have some joy during the most eventful part of my daily existence... I can't and won't live on just salad-- I absolutely refuse to. I have always refused eating what cannot provoke a positive emotion from me, and salad in every form has always been at the tippity top.
But you want to know the real irony? Whatever power saw it fit to do this to me dealt its final blow with a sinus cold. So not only can I not eat what I want, but the foods I can eat... I can't taste. At all. For a few days now...

So, here I am, typing this obnoxiously long post with nary a positive point so far...
You all deserve at least one... let's see...

I made this thing in a bout of frustration at seeing the bathroom so tremendously cluttered with my primping gear.

Or at least I think I was frustrated at the mess... it could've been just the catalyst and focus to my frustrations for the former subject.
It is made from the junk I have lying around the house; a box, and a few random containers (tea tins, and Parmesan jar)

I simply traced where I wanted them to sit on the rectangular box, cut it out, placed the jars in and taped the sucker up with masking and duct tape.

And so ends the jumbled display of heat styling tools upon the bathroom shelf... next step is de-cluttering the rest of the bathroom. The tea tins give the added bonus of not having to wait till my flat iron or curling iron cools down before I can put them up.

Mind you, it's not going to remain undecorated-- I wholly intend on doing so, but at the moment I haven't found trimmings that fill me with gusto. One absent feature is certain, however, I am going to put a couple strips of magnet so I can store my pin curl clips in an orderly fashion.

... funny... I don't even know how to use these tools properly... they're purely for experimentation and attempts at doing my hair up in ways other than a pony tail or side braid. Hmph.

Mortem's Tricks or Treats: Sophisticated Kitty Shoes

I'm not sure whether it was pure happenstance, but when Mrs. Kitty over at Sophistique Noir announced her latest monthly theme I couldn't help but to laugh.

This month's theme is "Special Occasions".
And here's why it struck me as amusing...

Today is the exact day my beloved kitty Poe was born; his first full year of life.
Since adopting him, I tried to chronicle most of his growth... but the other photos didn't quite fit in to this little collage, so there's a considerable gap.

From tea-cup kitty to cool cat

Last Saturday, my husband and I were invited to the wedding of one of his colleagues. I was particularly excited because only a mere week before I got my hands on a beautiful pair of t-strap vinyl pumps, and at quite the bargain of just $7 from Payless Shoes.
I had kept them nice and packed away, and waited for the right time to bust them out-- and happily it was not a very long time.

New and ready to be blogged about...

The day of the wedding came, and I promised my neighbor I would help her pick out her outfit and do her make up and hair. So over next door I went, unaware that during the commotion in the house and my sudden absence after said commotion, that my own Mr. Kitty decided to have a vinyl snack...

Poe is the first cat I've been raising from kitten-hood... he's also the first cat I could truly call my own. In the short time I've had him, he's made me realize one unequivocal fact: as a cat owner, you come know and accept that sometimes owning something in its original bought state is a pure luxury. Poe is a firecracker compared to the gentleness of my late dog Chico, but in being the little pest that Poe is, his exuberance has led to some very savvy ways of fixing what he fraught with destruction: my sewing machine cover, lots of thought as to how one should decorate the house, and these pumps-- among various other disasters.

As an avid believer that nothing is too far gone to do nothing with, I took my anger and frustrations and went into my creative laboratory.

So with a little glue, some lace, and bows....
I managed to recreate and even exceed the beauty of the former heels.

I guess I have Poe to thank for all the forced moments of angry creativity he's given me thus far...