Ooh, to Reverse Applique, or Just to Bead?

I love the look of the purple stencil on the navy, so I was thinking of just beading it and embroidering it as is - what do you think? Here' the outer layer with stencil...


And here's one shape I beaded lightly around and cut as usual. With beading, you're supposed to use one strand of button craft thread so it doesn't tangle, but it looks kind of thin to me - I like the look of a double strand.


And I probably need way more beads per shape, but I was just testing to see how it looked. I don't know if I like the lighter color showing through - does it look more "homemade?" (Louise Cutting calls that "made by loving hands at home" to describe something really pitiful looking - funny!) Maybe I should've used black fabric underneath - argh!


I'm thinking it looks more refined with the stencil intact, and I just should do beading....and maybe have my knots on the outside? HELP! I can't decide!

Behold the Alabama Chanin Mardi Gras Dress!

My palette awaits...


I mean my 2 rotten sawhorses and rained-on plywood covered in 2 old sheets awaits, ahem.


The worst part was arranging the dress pieces and getting the edges to lay flat - they curled endlessly!


The best part was airbrushing - so much more refined than spraypainting.


The $90 Alabama Chanin stencil was SO worth it - it's mylar and doesn't soak up the paint, which my little posterboard stencil would've done. Props to Drew for venturing out to take some action shots for me, and major props to Dean, who graciously taught me how to use his manly-man air compressor last night (PSI of 40? No problem!). I took the other one back to Michael's - it's tiny PSI would've been no match for this dress.


And now, please feast your eyes on the most beautiful thing I've ever made:


I will be quitting my day job. I will look for a nice storefront with adequate studio space where I can airbrush and sew to my heart's content. You can call me....The Artist Formerly Known as Dr. Fun. (Wonder if Natalie Chanin needs a partner in South Alabama...)

Fabric Has Been Cut!

Oh boy, I'm getting close to actually doing something with my Alabama Chanin Mardi Gras dress - I cut the outer layer last night! (Yes, I use rulers, scissors, mirrors, my phone sometimes, whatever's handy as a pattern weight, but I prefer the term "inventive" to "cheap.") This sucker's LONG - one end hung off my cutting table and I had to carefully skooch everything together so the cotton didn't stretch. In her Craftsy class, she cuts the inner and outer layers together, but can you imagine making sure all that fabric is flat and smooth? I cut the top layer first so I can start stenciling. Oh, and I used this tutorial for doing the swayback adjustment, which is pretty much what I was doing anyway - you can see the little wedge I took out at center back.


Today I went to Michael's to look at airbrushes and such, and you can't look at them - you have to take a card to the cashier to buy them. Plus they were quite expensive. Next I went to Joann's to see if they had anything, and picked up a marine blue paint to try with some sponges, in case the airbrush thing doesn't work out.


Then I did some research on airbrushes (shout-out to Bianca for being an airbrushing queen) and realized I don't know squat about what all is needed, but we do have an art store that carries them, so I went there (trying to support local small business, you know, and Hobby Lobby is clear across town). Turns out they have many actual airbrushes, but only 2 air compressors - "very" expensive and "holy crap" expensive, with minimal PSI (the lady helping me didn't know what that meant, so I immediately lost confidence). I figured Home Depot must carry more air compressors than this, but it turns out those are only for big manly men inflating tractor tires, not nervous nellies stenciling dresses. Finally, I went back to Michael's with my 50% off coupon downloaded to my phone (technology rocks!) and bought the smallest, cheapest compressor, which still gets more PSI than the one at the art store.


This one is the "Breeze" for "decorating cakes and applying makeup," so we'll see if it's good enough for a whole dress. Of course, that's only after I tarp the whole garage so our bikes don't get contaminated...oh crap, what am I even going to hang the dress on while I'm painting?! (The sponges are looking like a good start right now.)

Thanksgiving Wrap-Up

So here's a GIF of the guy sewing from sbnation.com:


And here's a picture where you can see his foot pedal - how quaint! Wish I knew what kind of machine it was. Hey Pam, is this a position a student could volunteer for?


And now, look what came in the mail right before Thanksgiving. Two big packages...


The box has my fabric, nicely tied with recycled cotton...


and the tube has my stencil!


I spent a few minutes in Hancock on Saturday studying embroidery thread colors (there're only about 200!), and I decided on understated, elegant gray instead of Mardi Gras, wacky purple. I figure this dress will be wacky enough since it'll be the only one there made of cotton.

I just bought a few of these things to try a little sample and see how it looks. But first, I've got to look into that swayback adjustment and get my pieces cut out...

Iron Bowl Seamstress?!

I'm watching a man sitting at a really nice sewing machine on the Auburn sidelines stitching somebody's jersey. They had to get him an extension cord apparently, so the announcers discussed it. You can bet I'll bring you some pictures tomorrow!

Got the Pattern Traced...

I've traced the Alabama Chanin fitted dress, but I raised the center front about an inch for modesty (even though it'll be covered in Mardi Gras beads).


One other biggie is a swayback adjustment, and I'm going to have to study up on this, because pinching out an inch from the center back pulls the paper pattern off grain, but in real life, does nothing to affect the hang on my body - perhaps my body made it off grain already? I remember Louise Cutting saying something about not correcting something when doing a swayback, but I can't remember what it was.

In other news, Lucas is all about hacky-sacking, which Drew and his friends do every day after school, so we've had some games around here and needed a new one (little beads going everywhere is not conducive to a clean house for Thanksgiving). I checked Ravelry, and voila - can you tell which one is mine and which one they purchased today at the International Festival?


Yes, I KNOW you can tell, but just because I'm using leftover dishcloth yarn - I could do those fancy stripes if I wanted to!


Drew declared it to look like an onion due to the protuberance at the end, but he didn't seem to mind.


Back to the game!

Help Me Pick a Dress Color!

I've been knitting steadily on that sleeve, but my fingers are itching to stitch, so I'm pulling the trigger and ordering the Alabama Chanin fabric for the planned Mardi Gras dress! I'm using Anna's Garden stencil, and I've already put that in my cart, but help me decide on fabric colors. I was thinking some version of red, but I think that'll be too much, so I'm aiming more for a purplish-blue.

I actually CALLED Alabama Chanin just now to ask for their help and to see if they thought Denim and Blueberry would go together (I'm SO needy, but dangit, they're the experts!), and the girl very nicely put me on hold for a few minutes then came back and said they didn't have that combination in an actual garment on the website for me to see, but she asked some ladies "on the production line," and they said it would combine very nicely - both have a purple tone. WHAT?! The production line ladies think I made a good choice - I can die happy now! This is like a major life moment for me. (I know - I don't get out much, huh?!) So here's what that looks like:


But then, while I was on hold, I thought about Storm Blue with Blueberry - what do you think?


It would be a darker dress I think...ooh, and which color would you put on top? And what color paint would you stencil with? So many decisions, and my cart is waiting! Okay, deep breaths, I'll calm down.

Let's look at the parking lot I was in yesterday. Someone left a Doberman Pinscher in a truck with the windows open. Now, supposedly, he's chained in there, but his paws were spread wide and his glare said, "Are you lookin' at me? Wait, are you lookin' at me?" (That was an homage to Taxi Driver, in case you were wondering.)


Now hurry up and vote so I can order my fabric!