Christmas craftyness :)

Didn't know what to get one particular friend of mine for xmas, as she happens to have everything, however she is a bit of a handbag fiend, so I russled this up for her. (Hope she doesn't secretly read this blog lol!) Hopefully it'll go down well. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out given that I'd never made a bag before and I decided to use satin which is horrific to work with.

It's just a basic envelope style clutch bag (with added wrist strap, cos I personally think clutch bags you literaly have to clutch are the most annoying thing in the world). The exterior is chinese satin and it has a black velvet interior. Thanks to he magic of fusable interfacing the satin isnt going to fray everywhere, woop woop!

Anyway, as always comments appreciated :) Merry Christmas everyone xxx

Some decent pictures thanks to my gorgeous model :D

My friend emma kindly volunteered to model some of the stuff I've made recently, it's kind of difficult to take pictures of yourself and clothes never look anywhere near as nice when they're not on a person, so here goes :)

So here is that waistcoat again minus the myspace mirror pic effect. She requested Studio London levels of direction on posing, hence the leaning pic, she didnt ask again after that...strange :p

Aaaaand the skirt again, I think I've decided I like it best with the long part hanging at the back. Mmm sexy legs ;p

This is one I don't think I've posted on here yet. Its a kind of cross between a high belt and a wasit cincher, either way I like it :) Since the material I used (pleather) wasn't elastic the halterneck strap is there to hold it up.

**WARNING: socio-political rant I warned you might happen** USA Election Day 2008

I am not a hater. I was brought up by loving liberal parents and I like to think I'm pretty accepting of most things. American poitical propaganda however, is an exception, as is the glorifying of religion to achieve a political aim (particularly one which is inconsistent with the values of modern society).

Anyway, I was just directed towards a video on youtube which made me want to throw up just a little bit, and have a good old rant just a little bit more (hence the blogpost:p). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61wj4tJICcc It has been posted as a reminder to catholics across America to vote in line with their faith - okay. It contains slogans such as 'the family must be upheld not redefined', across the image of a homosexual wedding - not okay. Furthermore it used images of firefighters taken on 9/11 to portray the message that society must be protected Sure, one of the functions of politics is the protection of its nationals but equally our politicians should be seeking to create a world which is safer to reside in through better international diplomacy. Imagery which reminds the world of atrocities like 9/11 are only likely to stir up feelings of anger and resentment, indeed it is only going to purpetuate the war 'on terror' and stir up hatred for the islamic world. It might just be me, but I am more concerned about the people dying in Iraq in an oil fueled illegal war (no-one have a go for presenting opinion as fact because the United Nations have recently acquiesced that it was in fact an illegal war in violation of a jus cogens prohibition on the use of force) than I am about the fact that women across America might be able to get an abortion if they choose to.

Stuff like this makes me really angry (can you tell? :p) I really don't want to offend anyone but it strikes me as absurd that in this day and age relgion and the concept of God and higher law should come into politics, it is outright dangerous, particularly when it comes to choosing the leader of the free world. (I'm sure there is some famous quote from Bush relating to the war in Iraq being a mission from god...is this really so far removed from your toddler saying it was their imaginary friend who spilt the milk over?) Faith is a wonderful thing, which I've been assured enriches the lives of many, but it does not belong in the political arena.

Another message sent out by the video is that the USA was founded by thousands of catholic immigrants. This is true, however it is also true that the United States of America was originally founded as a nation based upon no particular religion or creed where people had the freedon to practice their faith or lifestyle as they chose to. (Well we didn't want the puritains here did we ;p). How this has dissolved into the farce we have today is a mystery, particularly when compared to the political regime in England, which is supposed to be entirely Church Of England, and yet where religion seems to play an incredibly minor role.

Anyway I hope i havnt offended anyone I really didnt mean to. I anxiously await the election results in the morning and my best wishes and support go to Obama.

On a slightly lighter note, go watch this - dedicated to Sarah Palin (watch out for her cameo appearance :P) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUba4aq8imk

Updates from uni land

So there isnt too much time for making stuffs in cambridgeland, especially in freshers week, but I have recently managed to knock together these two beauties (lol well I like them anyways). Firstly (above) I made an asymetrical/ pointy/ strange shaped skirt out of a scarf I picked up for £1.50 from H & M...bargain. It was pretty see through so I made a little underskirt from some plain black jersey and attached it underneath. It has an elasticated waist, and can either be worn so its longer at the back or at one side. What do we think? :)

Secondly, although thinking about it I actually finished this before I came down to Cam, we have a blue shiny waistcoat type thing. (Excuse the myspace style mirror pic, I lack willing models :p) I made a pattern for it from an existing waistcoat belonging to my sister and sort of winged it from there, so given the lack of planning I think it came out pretty well :) I'm not too nifty at making buttonholes yet so it fastens with a purple ribbon laced through some large D-rings.

Well that's it really....although 'some large D-rings' doesnt feel like an appropriate ending to a blog post....which is why I've typed this....woot woot :p

More old pictures...

Sorry, it'll get more current soon, but I think 2 posts makes the page look rather empty so I thought I would fill it with some more pictures of old projects. (Yes I can kid myself into thinking people want to see them :p)

The one on the right here is an evening style bag made from a folded record. I don't know why melting and reforming vinyl is so fun but it is:p This was made for the same girl as the black and red skirt and so in line with her requirements the interior is green satin and there is an image she chose covering the record centre.

The image on the back of the tank top is a stencil. (If you're into stenciling i find photo quality paper maksthe best stencils). The lettering round the arms is painted by hand.

And finally, this cute little critter is Terry. I made him for my boyfriend while he was revising for his exams.

He now lives on top of his computer.

EDIT! I forgot, I also made this (probably my biggest project of the summer). Alex's costume for Brinky's anime party. I forget who he was meant to be but i machined up the pink gi and hippy trousers.

Adventures in silk and tulle

Hello again! So I got very very bored this afternoon, and this sort of mindset results in me making very pretty but completely useless things. So here we go - a purple silk and tulle skirt. Its teeeeeeeny, so im thinking of selling it on ebay as a fairy skirt for a little girl (since i dont know any personally).
You can't really tell how it falls properly from the flattened out version, but it goes all pointy and pixie like at the bottom when worn. (Its the same style as the black and red skirt posted below but a bit more poofy and tutu like cos of the tulle)

Ooh lookie, I have a blog

Look everyone, I gots a blog! Well I've created this mostly to put up pictures of the things I've made/am making, and possibly have a little rant about problems encountered along the way.

So to get it started off here's a few recent creations :

The image at the top left is some gothic fabric chokers. They were pretty easy to throw together, just sort of put them together on a whim to use up some scraps i had.

The image on the right is a simple earring holder made from a melted and reformed vinyl record. It had a horrible lurid yellow centre so t now doubles up as a photo frame :)

This one is a pixie skirt made from black silk and chinese patterned fabric with an elasticated waist which I was asked to make for a teenage girl in america :)