What I've Been Up To...

Soooooo....

I haven't posted in forever!!! It's been a crazy busy semester, and I thought I might share a little of what I've been up to for Grad School. I took a fashion illustration course this last semester, and here are just a few of my favorite drawings. They aren't perfect, but I have improved so much from the very beginning. This is just a very small sampling, because each week I probably did 20-30 sketches....plus work full time. Craziness! Enjoy :)

Self-Stitched September.....Finally!

Yes, I did take on a challenge for the month of September.

No, I haven't posted since the first weekend of said month.

Yes, it is mid-October.

Okay, so lesson learned....don't sign up for an extra challenge when you just moved, started P90x, teach 12 credit hours, and try to take 9 hours of grad work. Duh. But I sort of made it. Here are the highlights of Self-Stitched September:

Dress: Sewn by me (Burda style Anda)
Fringy Boots: Victoria's Secret
Earrings: Made by me, leather feathers
Box in the background: Side effect of moving, please ignore
I called this look Hippie Chic :)


Dress: Sewn by Me (Modified Built by Wendy dress)
Leggings: Wal-Mart, bad decision, fell down all day
Shoes: Burlap TOMS


Slippers: Knit by me, French Press Felted Slippers
Wore these everyday...so I did actually wear something me-made each day!
Probably the best thing I have ever made/knit. My toe poked out of the side the other day, so it's looking like a new pair is going to have to get stitched soon, because it's getting chilly!


Dress: Tank-top re-fashion + elastic gathered skirt
Cardigan: Old Navy
Shoes: Corduroy TOMS


Dress: DKNY
Leggings: American Apparel
Earrings: Me-made leather feathers
Cuff: Made by me, Refashioned tie w/ button

The Close-up/stupid face:

Headband: Self-stitched
Top: Made by Etsy shop Replicca
Jeans: Big Star Trousers
Shoes: TOMS Wedges in Navy Stripe

So, not a complete failure. I did figure out that I don't have nearly enough garments in my wardrobe for the cooler months, so I'm looking into fixing that. I think I have a plan, too. That will have to wait for another post, though!

Self-Stitched September: Labor Day Weekend Edition

Since I'm getting a little late start, I'm going to cover the entire first week of September with one outfit. Because I'm being nice to myself, and am not going to let this challenge be stressful. Just fun :) Just moving last weekend gave me a late start, but also gave me a fresh look at my wardrobe as I was packing and unpacking it, so hopefully I can get creative here. I'm also hoping I have some time to squeeze in a little sewing time to make some new additions to my wearable handmade collection. Here's the weekend barbecue outfit!


What I'm wearing:
Dress: Made by me, details here
Belt: Wal-Mart maybe?
Shoes: Fit-Flops

Self-Stitched September....A little late!

Okay, so I've been absent for awhile! The last couple of weeks have been crazy. My sewing machine had to go in to get serviced, I started teaching and taking classes for the fall, and we moved. And the computer was in a box.....so that meant no blogging. Also, it means that I totally missed the beginning of Self-Stitched September because most of my clothes are still in boxes as well! But, I think I'm going to catch back up on Monday or Tuesday, to get started after the labor day weekend. Here's my pledge:

'I, Sasha of sashamakes.blogspot.com, sign up as a participant of Self-Stitched-September. I endeavour to wear at least 1 handmade or refashioned item of clothing or accessories every day for the duration (or rest!) of September 2010'

So that's what's getting ready to happen. AND....I finally have my own space to sew/craft! I'll share pics when I get it in working order. Yay! Check back next week for wardrobe pics and some sharing of works in progress!

Frock by Friday: Finished Anda

Here's my finished Frock by Friday! It really was a simple dress, and I will probably churn out another one in the future. For this one, I used a knit, and my sewing machine did not enjoy it. Also, I notice in the photo that the sleeve looks wonky, but I think that's just due to the fabric clinging on the dress form...oh well! It will be another comfy cute dress that will carry me into the fall with some tights and boots. :)

Recycled Tank+TOMS+Leftover Fabric

Many of you might know about my love of TOMS Shoes. I'll save the details for another post, but for every pair of shoes purchased, they give a pair to a child in need. I also interned there for a semester. After quite a bit of wear, I was getting tired of my black wrap boots, and decided to cut the wrap off and turn them into booties. So a couple of long ace bandage-like pieces of elastic have been hanging around, looking sad, and waiting for another life.

Here's the wrap boots if you're not familiar:

I also had a tank top where the hem had started to unravel, and had shrunk up to be too short to wear in public. The missing piece of the puzzle was about 1 1/2 yards of fabric leftover from this romper. I didn't want to make a whole dress out of it, since it would be pretty close to the romper, and quite frankly, I was looking for easy, patternless sewing. This is what I came up with:

I cut the fabric up the middle fold to form a front and back, hemmed it, gathered the top to attach to the elastic, and then attached the elastic to the tank at the waist. I even put some sneaky pockets in at the side seam. Probably took me about an hour. A super-cute way to up-cycle some pieces I had laying around! Maybe I can post a tutorial for this later??? Would any of you be interested in that??

Summertime and the Reading is Easy...

I just finished reading "Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea," by Chelsea Handler, and I have to say it's hilarious. The perfect read for summer, as it made me laugh out loud, and had plenty of inappropriateness to go around. It's a collection of ridiculous tales from her life, and takes me back to the summer of 2007. (If you should know what I'm talking about, you will.)

I also hit up the local library to pick up a few more books to finish of the summer right. My library card is one of the few things I'll miss about living in town, if we get moved to the country. It may have been a little ambitious, but I picked up 2 books, and went back a day later for a third. I'd hate to risk one of them being checked out when I'm ready to read! Here's what I ended up with:

Superhero dress

This is my second use of the pattern from this post. It was such a simple and comfy dress I couldn't resist making another one. This time I used a screenprinted stripe fabric (with lightning bolts, duh), and some matching rib for the edging and contrast. Maybe a little wild, but it really is great for summer. My husband of course dubbed it the "superhero dress," and that's fine by me.

Frock by Friday

Have you heard of the "Frock by Friday" challenge over at Grosgrain?? I am loving this idea. For anyone wanting to hone there sewing skills, she posts a dress that you can follow along in making throughout the week, and by Friday you have a finished dress. I have actually been sewing long enough that I don't need the step-by-step, but it's still fun to see the way she does it, and to challenge myself to follow through with something.

This is the tech drawing for the pattern they are using that you can get here.
I love how simple it is, and I think I'll dig into my fabric stash and find something to follow along. You can follow along this next week here!
Anyone want to join me??

Busy Creating: Romper

This summer is going by way too quickly. So that means I've kicked it into high gear to try to cross a few more creative goals off my list. One of those was to make a fun summer romper. I found this black & white print fabric on sale and knew it would be perfect for an easy breezy one-piece outfit. It's a cotton/linen blend, and even has pockets! In the picture it looked a little bit like a blob of fabric, so I added a belt so you can see the waistline. I think it will even look cute layered up in the fall with tights and a cardigan. What do you think?

DIY: Spray dyed shirt

Here's a fun DIY if you have a white shirt laying around that you're tired of. This one had a tiny little stain on the shoulder that I couldn't get rid of, so I decided I'd make it over. Here's the before:

Have you seen those new fabric paints at the store?? I just scrunched up the shirt so some of the white was hidden, put a plastic bag in between the layers (so it didn't soak through), and then I went to town decorating to my heart's content. Here's the after:

Fun right?? Post a link if you try a t-shirt makeover of your own!

Fun DIY share: His & Hers Pillowcases

This summer, I have been taking every opportunity I can to make things myself. This is one of the projects I did on a whim, and had a lot of fun with. His & Hers pillowcases. Mainly, this idea came to be because my hubby is always stealing my pillow. Now there's no excuse! :P

Dress Day 2

I'm on a dress kick lately. This one is in a fun stripe pattern on super comfy knit fabric. I think this is my new favorite pattern because it only took me a day to sew it up. It's Simplicity 2865 which is a Built by Wendy design. Now I'm going to be on the hunt for more knit fabric on sale at the fabric store so I can make one in every color! Check out the racerback and fun inset on the side. Super flattering, and not too tight to make you feel like it's clinging.

If you're new to sewing, or just need some inspiration on cool things to make, I would highly recommend Wendy Mullins' books. I have the one on dresses and knit fabrics, and I've flipped through "Sew U" a few times thinking it would be a great resource for someone just starting out.

Anyone have weekend plans?? Fun projects you're trying to finish before summer slips away??

A new blog, a new dress

So it's the first post of this new creative endeavor, Sasha Makes. I decided to start this blog as a way to document my creative projects, and share ideas and inspiration with anyone who wants to listen (read). This is where I will share my most recent projects, and believe me, I always have several going on. It's been on my mind for a while, but after following a few posts from my friend Emma, as she started her new blog, I finally got the motivation I needed to get going. (On a second blog, that is-if you like photography, check out my business blog here.) So, have at it! Let me know if you have any questions/comments in the section for comments below!

This is the first dress I put together completely from scratch, drafted from my own pattern. I have sewn since I was younger, but always from a pattern. This last semester I learned how to draft patterns from body measurements and this is the first garment I've made from that experience. I'm pretty excited to makeover my entire wardrobe now!

-Sasha :)