Any thoughts?

~TY

This next dress provides a bit more back coverage than the others so far, but it is more finicky than the others by far.  Getting the pleating to sit well, and not drape drunkenly is wicked weird.  Patience, and a LOT of pins. (Don’t bleed on pale fabric)

First, find a 3X ish shirt with something fun printed on it. (smaller just means less skirt = fewer pleats)

This one from ThinkGeek has Ada Lovelace on it. <3

Lay the shirt out flat.  Absolutely flat.  I had to move to the floor to get this one to cooperate…  -.-  Trim directly across the shirt from armpit to armpit. Like so:

The hemline portion will be the skirt.  =)    Then trim off the sleeves.  We won’t need them unless we’re making a bag.

Then trim directly across just under the neckline.  I only did one layer at a time, because halfway through I changed directions… Don’t forget to load your serger with something other than black thread if you’re using a pale shirt.  >.< You’ll need another shirt, I used another color because it’s what I had and I’ve been tired of trying to figure out what the heck to do with this blue one. >.>

Trim out a waistband, just enough room to go round the middle.  Only about 6in or so tall.

Then pleat (or gather if you like) the skirt to the waistband.  Double check to be sure the outsides are going to be on the outside… >.<

Also, don’t have epic battles with your flash.  It’s just going to do whatever anyway.

Decide where the edges of your top bit need to be, and pin the crap out of the pleats.  You cannot use too many pins.

Then you’ll need to choose your shoulder ribbons.  I went with gray bows.  So they’d be adjustable when my sister steals this one, or someone with more cleavage than me wants to wear it. =^.^=

Whatever you do, don’t throw on a bra and pester the nearest person into taking a picture of your finished dress.  Luckily, you can edit your funny old lady feet out. =^.^=

~TY

First, remove all 4 sleeves.  But save them, they make great purses and pockets.  Trim the sleeves off along the inside edge of the seam.

Next, lay both the shirts out flat.  Cute straight across from one armpit to the other.  The big squares will make the skirt.  The tops will make the rest of the dress.

Next trim one edge off of each skirt piece.

Pin and sew the freshly cut edges together face to face (art side to art side) so you end up with one big hoop of fabric.

Make sure to keep what had been the shirt hems on the same edge.  This gives the final skirt hem a bit more weight to hold it’s shape.

Now take one of the shirt tops you set aside earlier, and cut across both layers directly across the chest just under the collar.

Then trim the ends to be square.  Here’s a point to stop and do a bit of sizing.  Halve your waist measurement.  This is how long the front and back of the waistband need to be.  Since tshirts stretch, don’t worry about leaving yourself extra room for stitching.  Keep both pieces together as you trim them.  Then you only need to cut once.  Pin them face to face and sew the short edges.  This is your waistband.

The skirt can be gathered to the waistband rather than pleated, or pleated all in one direction rather than boxes.  I love box pleats.  They make me happy.  And they’re fun.

I like to start by pining even amounts of fabric in four places evenly spaced around the waistband. (Make sure before you spend too much time pinning, that you have the face sides together  >.< ) Then pin each section in the center, evenly all around the waistband.

Then find the mid-point of one of these sections along the waistband.  lay the skirt fabric flat along the waistband to the midpoint, and pin.

Then bring the skirt fabric flat along the waistband back the other direction, and pin in the center.

Then all you have to do is lay the rest of the skirt fabric for that section evenly across the waistband.  Pin this flat.

Pin the skirt to the waistband all the way around.

Sew, and turn right side out.

For the bust portion of the dress, I used the other shirt top.  Trimmed off one rectangle from just under the collar.

If you’re smaller of chest (as I am) this is the time to put a couple darts in the sides.  They’ll keep the neckline flatter.  =)

Trim the neckline before adding the rest of the ribbon.

Pin the widest end of the bust section face to face with the front top part of the waistband.

Now take a length of ribbon (about a meter and a half) place the center of the ribbon at the center back of the dress, and pin all the way around the back up to the top corner of the bust piece.  The tails will make the shoulders, though you can always skip that step add a few extra tucks in the center fron of the bust and you have a halterdress.  To measure the shoulders, you’ll need to try it on.  then mark the ribbon and the places along the back top of the waistband where it’s most comfortable for you.  I found that about 2in from the center back, lets the front stay square without pulling oddly on the armpit.

\o/

So swirly.

~TY

=^.^=

Thank you for your patience =^.^=

~TY

The bags happen from 2 tshirt sleeves.  One main center space with 5 smaller inside pockets around the outside.  Since many of the newer designs don’t use the sleeves there has been a growing pile on my sewing shelf.  I may add a longer strap to a few and we’ll see how they stand up to more rigorous use.  So far the average bag holds quite a bit.  The larger capable of holding a DS, 2 decks of cards, lip gloss, a couple of pens, spare girl necessities {not pictured}, keys, a full set of dice, some change, card case, and set of necessary id things.       o.o

I don’t know that making bags is going to be a permanent addition to the store, but perhaps if this wild hair continues to uncoil in the sewing room there will be a few to come through.  They’re still in the testing phase though, so it will be several weeks of hard wear before we know if they pass.  For this I have given one to my sister to stuff with things and carry around, I will do the same, and might keep some small knitting projects in it for a few weeks. (I’ve a composition class this fall, and the professor’s format lends itself well to small project time. =^.^=)

There’s also this dress:

I do wish I’d made the skirt a bit fuller, but perhaps that can be saved for shirts with smaller art.  In order to get the astronaut to sit properly without the paint rumpling it fits a bit snug.  I feel like I should dye it maybe a lavender?

I should go back to fighting with Zune now.  I should update my new phone (windows7) from my laptop (also windows7) but microsoft security essentials seems to believe that part of the exe from microsoft for zune is malware o.O  And even with admin overrides and yelling at it to stop being stupid and update already it’s blinking at me again.  We shall see.

~TY

=^.^=

Getting up earlier and earlier in hopes of a reasonable schedule to fit the school’s.

And keeping a lab notebook on small scale (usually culinary) experiments we can manage here at home to refresh some math skills and work on handwriting.

This week’s experiments involve making butter.

We looked up a few movies on how butter is made, commercially and at home.  Why the fats do what they do when they’re bounced around.  We’ve added in a few historical notes on butter just generally.

Now she wants to make butter at home because our buttermilk “is nothing like the stuff from the store we made pancakes with”.  It was one time.  YEARS ago.  Unless heavy cream somehow magically becomes cheaper than buying butter premade I can’t see this really happening very often.  But once and a while. =^.^=  We’ll mash some salt and honey into it and eat it on toast pretty much regardless of the future.

~TY

Which boiled down to: “The patterning and design process happens months before the listings are posted, and each design is thoroughly tested for ultimate comfort, wear-ability under varied conditions, and extreme low maintenance before being made from the art shirt or shirts. Many of the latest designs, especially the pleated skirts, use more than one shirt.

If I haven’t found a particular shirt you’d love to have deconstructed in a specific way, please don’t hesitate to shout! =) It’s a continuing process so new stuff will appear as soon as it’s ready.

I do NOT sell t-shirts which haven’t been deconstructed and made into something new. I can happily redirect you to where I found a particular shirt though >.> if a deconstructed/rebuilt version isn’t what would make you happiest. “
The custom order listings will be gone for now.  The blank shirts weren’t giving as clear an idea of what I’d like from that.  Until I can get better pics, and more feedback on the individual designs they’ll stay gone.  This doesn’t mean I wouldn’t happily make anyone the dress or skirt they’d like, just that those listings won’t be in the shop until they show up in the Reserved listing for someone specific.

Also, I think it’s bedtime =^.^= Or starcraft time… we shall see.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheYarnmaiden

~TY

A pause for the perfect G&T recipe.  This recipe is highly dependent on your drinking vessel of preference.  I like the insulated cold drink cups with the straws that every coffee shop chain ever makes these days.  It’s extremely helpful of an adult beverage vessel to have a straw which doesn’t detach itself when the lid is securely on.

Step one:  Fill your drinking vessel with ice!

Step 2: Add tonic water to about the mid point. >.>

Step 3: Add gin to taste. (usually from line 1-2 and a splash is good) (Boodles zomg tastiest gin on the planet) (So tasty in fact, that I didn’t bother to trim off the sections of picture with my neck showing. ew. Sorry about that.)

Step4: Top off with more tonic maybe squeeze a lime, and screw on that lid.

Here’s why:

Yay!  Now stop stressing out about exams.  You’ve done your homework and studied.  You’re as ready as you’ll be.  Sleep is good!

~TY

=^.^=

=^.^= Finally.

Todays menu:

Guinness braised bratwurst*, tiny broiled red potatoes with sea salt, some sauerkraut simmered with onion and a bit of veggie broth all on a few spring greens.  I’ll have to wait until after the grueling 3 hour palates class (I don’t know why I thought it would be an ok idea ) to eat it, but it should keep me sane.

TheBoy’s lunch is similar, though larger and he gets a bit of honey mustard.

New dress design in the works.  It requires the use of 3 whole t-shirts, but the skirt is very fun.  As soon as I’ve a working prototype I’ll post the walkthrough.

=^.^=

~TY

*Guinness Braised Bratwurst:

1 package of bratwurst (your favorites)

1 Guinness (any variety though I like to use the rocket bottles, they’re just a bit sweet.)

Empty the Guinness into a saucepan that is just large enough to hold your brats (if you’re using an outdoor grill, a washed out coffee can works perfectly.  Just stand the brats up in the can and top with Guinness).  Bring the Guinness to a simmer and add the brats.  Bring back to a simmer and let heat through until the brats are no longer visibly pink.  I like to then broil them until their golden all over.  It’s not rocket surgery, but it sure is tasty. =^.^=

~TY
=^.^=