bus ride mentor meetings!

well from the title you should be able to tell that drew and I talked today on the ride back from our track meet!! woooooooo


Pretty much filled him in on my weekend successes! talked about when to sign up for my presentation. Talked about deadlines for when and what I'd like to get done! I want to have my dress sewn and completed by May 25th at the absolute latest!! Scheduling with Nancy is gonna get a little tricky.. I'm probably going to have to go up on a couple weekdays to finish! She's out of town for this week so I'm really gonna focus on research. Drew suggested that I really look into what makes a good sewing machine and research a little about where the best deal is in town. Whether thats Jo Ann Fabrics or craigs list I'm gonna find out!! I'm not going to be getting a sewing machine before Wise ends, but I'm definitely considering getting one someday and doing this research now will be beneficial! I also told Drew that I'd like to plan an "outfit"to go with my dress.. so shoes, jewlery, hair style even? Maybe have someone model it and take pictures.... which would mean my deadline might need to be May20th and have the pictures done by the 25th..... there is some wiggle room though!! ANYWAYS! it was a successful meeting! I feel good about this home stretch and I feel like I'm totally on track to where I want to be!

comfort zones

This is my friend Kelsey from camp. She's such a fun and outgoing person! She started out going to college at Naz near rochester. Then took some online courses while living in florida. Then moved to cali to be with her sister. Took some classes and was a nanny! all while insanely working out and maintaining a really healthy diet. I know all of this based on our social media contacts mostly. We've been out of touch since camp this summer which is sad but she still inspires me! Anyways this post about going and living with your fears just really reminded me of all the comfort zone talk. Kelsey is a really good self motivator and has just made her life so exciting! All by trying new and somewhat scary things! Anyways I thought I'd just share her story. She's really someone to look up to and it's crazy that she's done so much on her own! 

anyways thats my little share for the day :) 

also her sister is Kate Weston!! an up and coming singer! look her up she's also awesome! 

3 hours worth of step by step

First we looked at our pattern and found the pieces we would need to cut out for Bodice A with open back D! In this case pieces 1, 2, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15

Then we found those pieces on the sheet and cut them out! Notice how there are 3 similarly shaped pieces in the middle? Well they each measure a different size. When I was at the store the lady cutting my fabric recommended a 6 for me. I told her I was more like a 4.... But then when I measured myself it turned out to be I was more like a 12!!! I'm not kidding. Nancy and I were both really confused! But a 4 had a 22inch waist.. that's literally the size of my thigh... and It's not like I have huge legs! So we figured we best just go with the 12 sizings because it's easier to take it in then let it out! So we cut out all the pieces that were for the 12 size! 

BIG LEARNING MOMENT. ALWAYS MEASURE YOURSELF!!!!!!! 

Then we folded the Fabric as the directions told us. That way when we cut the patterns, we'd either have a single, double, or a cut at the fold that made the sides symmetrical! 

Like here! Also see the arrow on the #9? That is to make sure the pattern is being lied down horizontally with the fabric. Also this is before we put pins in.. normally there would be pins holding down the pattern outlines before cutting the fabric. 

Once all the pieces were cut out we began to sew! and add the little details. Nancy was really good about helping me through the pattern steps, but then letting me sew all by myself. She kept leaving the room to go check on dinner and that was at times a little nerve wracking! I kept wanting to make sure I was doing it right before continuing on. I'm glad though because it definitely got me out of my comfort zone. She came back the one time and I had even pinned down the next part without her guiding me! AND IT WAS RIGHT! so that was rewarding for sure!

Front piece cut

ME! sewing, obviously! Nancy's sewing machine is soooooo much better then the ones I used at my class! It just glides along so effortlessly! the other machines would tug at the fabric and it was hard to keep them going straight! 

Her foot pump also works so much better then the old singer ones at Sew Green! I just felt like I could control it much more, whereas the other ones were either dreadfully slow, or way to fast and threatening! For some reason I thought I would like the older ones better, but Nancy's is way nicer. I forget what kind but I'll ask her and do some research to see what has changed! 

Front with stitched folds to give the bust some shape! 

Back with straps! 

The straps were on backwards at first! we had to rip the stitches out.. which is so tedious!! and then flip them around and sew them on correctly! but I bet you cant even tell :) and it was a good learning experience anyways!

the 12 fits!!!! 

The back! The edges of the shoulders still need to be trimmed and of course the skirt still needs to be attatched but its something!! It's wearable! And it only took 3 hours!!! I'm not kidding... I was working on it with nancy from 2-5! And then we got to eat her yummy lasagna! and rum cake for dessert! I'm home now after the long drive from tburg to brooktondale! I've already modeled it around my house and posted it to social media! I'm already proud of it!! And I sewed the entire thing!! Not to say I could have done the sewing without Nancy's help, but it feels good to know I can make something thats wearable! When I go back to make the skirt part and attach it I want to try reading more of the instructions and interpreting how the patterns go together! Overall I'm really proud of myself and the work I've put in this week! I think Drew is going to be really surprised too! 

MONEY$$$$$

So yesterday I went to JoAnn fabrics to buy my fabric and other materials to make my dress... well... Member how I had that brilliant idea that sparked this project? About how that Bandeau was so expensive! and I could probably make something for a lot less! well holy crap! it was 45$ for 3 yards of the pattern I wanted and a 14" zipper..... THATS FOR FABRIC!! That doesn't even take into account the manual labor hours it takes to make the darn thing! and by then who even knows if it'll fit right, or look the way you want it to! Clothes are expensive to buy in a store, but I wouldn't want to have to make all of my clothes that's for sure. I'd be broke. out of time. and in the end I'd probably still end up naked!!  Buying clothes in a store at least you can decide if you like it first or not and try it on for size.. when ya buy 3 yards of fabric its all up in the air. HOWEVER, there are some pretty cool fabrics and patterns to chose from, and it's definitely exciting to be able to say "I MADE THIS"


Which brings me to my next post.....

Todays Plans

So, as you know I bought my patten! and today I'm going back with the coupon to buy the fabric for it! I need roughly 3 yards, a zipper, and some fastening fabric to make the sleeves a little stiffer. THEN! Tomorrow I'm going to Nancy's house in T-burg to begin working on the dress, and also to determine how long we think it will take to complete it. Nancy is going to be there to help, much like the instructors in my class. I always asked a lot of questions in class because with sewing it's easier to do it right the first time, then mess it up, and have to undo stitches and yatta yatta.  HOWEVER, I also think there is some comfort zone boundaries that I can leap over by starting this dress! I deffinitely feel more comfortable asking questions, being checked on to make sure I'm doing it right, which I think is ok for the start of the project. But as time goes on I want to really be able to sit there and sew, and read the patterns "blue prints" by myself.

I'm really excited to get going on this! and have the actual fabric in my hands! I know I'm going to feel empowered  and its a good feeling to feel like I'm doing something again! I'll be sure to reflect on how tomorrow goes tomorrow :)


Emma

Thoughts

I got my dress pattern from jo ann fabrics!! I waited on getting the material just yet, because they have a coupon for this weekend and I'm trying not to spend tooo much money!! My plan for tonight is to call my friend Nancy, I'd really like to be able to go up and start sewing either saturday or sunday this week, I just have to see when she is available!

 It was a little weird at the store, the lady checking me out was very confused as to why I wasn't buying fabric with my pattern! She was thinking I had no idea what I was doing! and in some sense she was right.. when I go back in, to buy the fabric I assume I should bring the pattern too? It must have the dimensions and amount I need for everything right? I guess that is something I need to look into! Next time I wanna go in feeling like I'm in control of what's going on! As you can see from the pictures though the dress looks really pretty!! and I'm excited to see it in full! 

Check List 

- call Nancy, ask about what I need.. Thread? Zipper? cloth? 

- research patterns

-research material 

-Mentor Meeting 

- think about comfort zone, how to get out of it? 

-plan a deadline!! 

Fabrica/Pattern

Fleece!? Thinking about starting another side crafty project and make a fleece blanket? 

Thursday

Drew and I talked today... I'm going to search for my dress pattern and fabrics this weekend! I'm going to research further about what kind of material I want it to be made out of, as well as what kind of dress I'd like to get a pattern for. Drew suggested I buy at least 2 patterns from Jo Ann fabrics that way I have a couple of options to pick from. Nancy, my family friend who I have asked to help guide me through this last portion of my project may also suggest I chose one patter over the other. I'm going to make this trip to the craft store by myself, but when it comes time to buy fabric I will hopefully be accompanied by Nancy, mostly because I don't want to spend money on fabric that wont work. (also why I need to research which fabrics I'd prefer!!)

I also still have 3 more tye dyes to unravel but I have been with my dad the past couple of days and the T-shirts are at my moms! The colors might be extra bright!!! we'll see! It's all experimentation anyways!

products

I'm really happy with how this turned out! I had never done a bullseye one before! It looks saucy!

Loving the double spiral here! The top one is a little less defined than I had hoped, but its still a bright, eye catchy tee shirt! I'm satisfied :) 

This is the attempted accordion .. you can kind of see it! the one corner clearly go missed in the folding, but it actually still looks good! I wonder if I can donate these to the art auction?? I'll have to ask our class officers if they'd be interested!! 

these are 3 of the 6 shirts.. I decided to leave the others for another day to see if it would result in brighter colors!! Im really happy with how these turned out!! 

Comfort Zone

my comfort zone..... well I'm not very shy, I like meeting and talking to knew people, I too, like this NPR broadcast man, think we can learn a lot from unique individuals. And like he showed, these people don't have to even be experts in the areas you are necessarily focusing on. They can just be people who have put their mind to something, and that you believe can make you a better person, from what they have contributed.

I kind of am unsure of where my comfort zone boundaries lie... I guess I'm not always good at asking for help? and I realize I'm going to need to ask my family friend Nancy for help with my dress. I'm also not always the greatest at trying new things... I'll try new things, like foods, but its rare, I definitely like what I know, so unfamiliarity scares me some.. I guess that means I need to find some project ideas that are new and daring! if thats possible within a sewing/fashion project. It's at least worth a gander around!

I think those are two big zones I can work on expanding!!

Last Mentor Meeting

I realized I didn't blog about my mentor meeting last thursday! I had a public meeting to go to afterwards and totally forgot!!!


Drew and I talked about my tie dye and he was really pushing me to get it done this weekend. He knew I needed to get my 8 hours for the week and this was the only way that was going to happen. I really felt that I couldn't let him down, so I definitely worked hard at setting aside time to be able to successfully tie dye! He and I also talked about our self evaluations and discussed areas where we thought we both could improve. My research is definitely one of those areas, and I also wanted to work on setting weekly goals of research, and hands on time, this way I would have to stick to these deadlines!

I realize this post is a little behind but I still felt it was necessary to get out there!

tie dye woah

These are my colors! Green, Red, Orange, Purple, Blue!

Fist T-shirt, this should hopefully come out like a bullseye with different rings of color 

Accidental Art 

Ah, this one should be interesting, I started out making it an accordion like in my one video, however they recommended you soak each half in a different color.. I wanted to experiment a little differently, so we shall see!

This was originally a green tshirt, that had been ruined by one of my red pants running in the wash, I decided dying it could only improve its looks!

Double spiral... It looks like EYES! 

Double Sprial dyed! I inverted the 2 spirals hoping that would enhance its looks 

an originally all orange Tshirt, I decided to spiral bleach.. we'll see how it comes out! 

I've always loved to tie dye. There is just no wrong way to do it! Yet it leaves for so much diversity and creativity! I'm glad I had done some research prior to beginning because I made sure to buy a kit that included the ash water soak, to enhance the color of the dye. I also have a ton of left over coloring! definitely might come in handy again soon!  

I'm glad I took the time to do this, and expirament away from sewing a bit. It was fun! and creative, and I didn't get frustrated doing it. My hands however, are quite stained. (I don't believe in gloves) 

It says to wait 6-8 hours before rinsing but I'm going to leave them at least 24 hours before unraveling them, hoping that the time will also increase the intensity of the color.  

I'll be sure to post what the heck they look like tomorrow or Tuesday! 

Tie Dye

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHSpLduY99k

accordian tie dye! I've never been able to do this!! So I'm going to try it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkorEZJtwIk

Fringed top! I've never thought about tie dying a not white shirt.. thats a very neat trick!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmhuD6qznp0

WOAH! Bleach and then tie dye! people are so creative.. and I've been dying to bleach something!

lol... get it DYE(ing) to bleach... little humor there... yeah.. giggle!!

Okay so! Tomorrow I'm going to ACmoore and getting some tie dye kits and some bleach, as well as some t-shirts black and white! If anyone wants a Tee let me know :) I also have this bag I got for free, that could really use some spicing up, so I may try and experiment with that too!

I probably wont have the time to Tie Die until this weekend, so I'm going to keep looking at tutorials until then, and see if I can get anymore ideas until I begin my craaziness!!


also check out another blogger!
Their dyes are awesome!

http://artcraftdesignreferencesite.blogspot.com/2009/06/tie-dye-designs-patterns-colors.html

Mud Time

Well first of all I'm sorry I've been gone for so long!! Spring Break was just very pleasant, a lot of laid back days for sure.... but it's back to school and back to WISE!!!

Today in class we read a FROST poem.... Robert Frost you know the guy? He's literally my favorite poet.... prolly cause my dad loves him too, and Mr Armstrong, how could anyone not like Frost??

Also I must say, I haven't heard very many people who can read poetry better than Mrs. Gergely.. like seriously, it sounds a million times better coming from her, then when I try and read it again.

The parts that stook out to me the most were the parts when the man spoke of his appreciation for what he was doing. He says "These two must make me love it more By coming with what they came to ask." I think that that's really important. It always seems like people are telling me, you should really appreciate this time, and not take it for granted, because some day you'll want it back. And I always try to savor moments in the moment, to make it last longer, but there really isn't a way to make a moment longer.. only to appreciate it while it's happening. That's in my everyday life too but I realize I need to put that appreciation into my project. This time that I currently have is so precious! I need to accomplish something with it! Or else I've wasted it. I'm having trouble loving what I'm doing, but I also understand Mrs. Gergely's advice, of really indulging into it full force, becoming surrounded by work and being happy that I've found work to do!

I think that's going to be my goal, to find work, and enough of it to feel like I've been doing things (like when I had my class)

also the lines "My object in living is to unite my avocation and my vocation as my two eyes make one in sight." I MEAN IS HE NOT A GENIUS OR WHAT.

maybe I should try and write poems as good as him for my wise project..... hahahaha I'd be sure to fail!

Anyways, that line, not only makes me think about my future and my career choice, but just my daily choices. I shouldn't do things I don't love! Naive as that is, for I know we must all do things we don't like at some point or another, I want to focus more of my energy around the things that make me happy and fulfilled, for that is what living to the full extent is.



Well I've deffinitely managed to ramble on and on, nonsense I'm sure... but it feels good. To think! I miss English class :( I've always felt English class opened doors in my mind that led me to live a better life. Really! The things we read and how we interpret them and how we chose to let what we interpret affect us, that is truly awesome. And I miss that :((((((


P.S. I'm sorry for the gramatical errors Mrs. Gergely..... I don't miss that part of english hehehe :)

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1RXUYS/:VsnOn1$p:KGUygb9n/heidiklum.aol.com/category/coast-to-coast-style/15-creative-ways-to-reuse-old-jeans?ncid=dynaldusheid00000001/x

what to do with worn out jeans