Keeping my inner wienerdog occupied: one trick at a time.
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I made a costume. It was a hoot. Remember this? (I made it in Adult Ed Sewing Class. Of course you did.)
Well, it became this:
And yes, I did sew those stretch white polyester short-shorts. Because, um, where do you buy stretchy white polyester short-shorts? Right. This is my point.
Really really wish you had a full shot of the go go boots. Because this costume is all about the go go boots.
Wearing a bee hive is fun. You really ought to try it some time. Especially when this guy is your date:
(Craft Debt Update.)
So this is a biggee, because I've been sitting on it For. Ev. Er. Okay, for a couple of months. But still.
So here's the messenger bag I finally pulled off for my friend Anthony:
The strap is a car seatbelt which we fit to him--he can adjust it once it's clicked on. Pure genius--his not mine. He picked this one up at a junk yard and I just sewed it in.
The bag is lined with a navy & white polyester plaid-ish pattern and a bright yellow polyester divider so that's got two sections (his request). He wanted the bag "funkier" (which is easily the worst thing ever to hear from a lifechanglingly talented artist), so I had to wait a bit for inspiration.
We'd had a great conversation months back about the way that people ask him of his art What Does It Do? (And then they suggest things like putting a clock into his art so that it'll sell. Classic.) And he's shockingly the kind of guy that doesn't deck them when they say things like this.
So I decided to make him a bag that was the answer to that question. It's a bag that Does. Think activity bag from your childhood. Think Dressy Bessy and Dapper Dan.
It's got lots of zippers and buttons
(The front: . . )
(The back: . . .)
(And on the inside of the flap. . .)
The prince goes up to meet Rapunzel . . .
And the Wolf eats Goldilocks. .
Yes, I made the thing for a grown man--luckily, he's just the sort of grown man to get a big fat kick out of it.
I fully expect to see him riding around town on his bike with it flung over his shoulder. Can't wait to spot him.
(Craft Debt Update.)
The surprise, I mean. I'm going to ruin the surprise. Because I finished this bag last night for my friend in the NW and immediately stood up from my table (after hand sewing on that eye-rollingly cute vintage button) and said aloud to my Sewing Machine, Ro. That's easily the cutest bag I've ever made.
(Ro was annoyed. She wanted more credit. Whatever.)
And I know I'm ruining the surprise for my friend, but I also know that she'll get over it and understand that I am officially more of a Maker than I am even a Gift Giver because as soon as I make something, I just want to stand on my roof, watch for people to drive by, flag them down and then TALK ABOUT IT.
But my friend Dawn understands me. So that's positive. Plus, when she sees her name typed here, I know she's going to stand up right on top of her expensive office chair and hoop out loud to her writer friends and make a big show of it and feel generally happy before leaving for a light lunch at the company cafeteria. So that's positive too.
Two more action shots of the inside:
If this were Art, I'd call it Celebration of Brown Polyester. Excellent.
Craft Debt Update.
Really super big pillow covers for my friend Susan who just couldn't say NO to the $5 Ikea pillow forms. (Can you blame her.) Two of em.
She gave me the tiki-esque fabric (I think it was a curtain possibly in its first life) and I put these covers together with not a single scrap left. And I used buttons from my growing button stash.
I've decided that my button collecting has come into my life as a means of practicing Not Hoarding--spending it all right there. Digging for the best ones I've got and then USING them and not saving them for Some Day. Every time I sew on a button I'm saying no to my propensity to hold on to the niftiest thing I've got for the niftiest project I might do someday.
So sewing on buttons is like a sort of personal life coaching exercise for me. Excellent. Good job being complex, Ginger.
(I'm about four stitches away from completing the complicated messenger bag. Will post the good news soon.)
Craft Debt Update. (Still procrastinating #3. I can't help it.)
I totally pulled off the star-shaped footstool cover
and gave it my own gingerlove stamp of love
and some peeks of color all around the edges (a different fabric at every peeky corner)
I wanted to get a photo of the hand-off to the librarian, but she was on a break. If this were the 70s I would have said it were a State Mandated Smoke Break, but it's not, so the librarian was probably just sitting somewhere, resting. Actually, I bet you 5 bucks she was somewhere checking her email. That's what I would do if I were a librarian and I was on break. Anyway, the photo would have been Mary the super nice librarian next to me. And I would have been holding a sign over my head that said WILL WORK FOR DISMISSED LIBRARY FINES.
Turns out, by the way, that all you have to do to make a star-shaped footstool cover is to flip the thing upside down onto the fabric, outline it and cut a fat version of the top shape, then sew some fabric around that weird shape. Not hard at all. Who knew?
Craft Debt UPDATE: The baby purse.
It has a happy yellow middle.
I skipped #2. I won't lie. Try sewing for an amazing artist. Go ahead. You try. On to the good news.
I pulled off the baby purse for the Lady Baby who--okay, let's be realistic--doesn't really KNOW I promised her, but still. She needed it quickly.
And now for the action shots:
I'm starting to mess with both the messenger bag and the star-shaped footstool cover. Light candles and put out makeup in front of the Craft Gods, please. Because both projects are challenging my brain parts.
