Post No. 100, or: The tulle tutu, too?

Hey there, lovelies!

So, FINALLY, I finished the project of a (mostly) no-sew tutu, but I have come to the conclusion I'd do some things differently next time, which is still good because it also is a learning experience :).

Here are some pieces of well-meant advice from my side...

Number 1) Don't shop for sewing essentials at shops which offer "cheap prices"... At least for me it was horrible to thread a needle I bought from there with yarn I bought there; I ended up breaking the only thing that really helped me thread the needle... And a pair of scissors, too, which I bought there. Yes, I did laugh a lot about this, but still... Please buy your essentials from shops selling better quality yarn, needles, etc., you name it. I will definitely do this next time, and I am quite sad because still I wasted that money on the sewing essentials in that other shop... Ah well.

Number 2) If you are planning on making a tulle tutu, too, then be prepared for the elastic band to twist... A lot. Which also makes it less elastic, and extends it to a length that is way too long at times. (I was planning on wearing it around my waist, but now it is even longer than my hips' circumference, so... I wasn't prepared for this.) Next time, I will try a shorter length for the elastic band or sew it together in two different parts after attaching all the knots of fabric.

Number 3) Buy more tulle for the next attempt. I bought eight meters worth of tulle, and it happened to work well, but now I don't have that much left over. I have several ideas what I could do with that, though, so don't worry :P.

Some other things I learned were: Sewing, despite all the mishappenings, is so much fun. I used a backstitch (mostly) for sewing together the ends of the elastic band, in case anybody wondered. I am kind of proud I mostly did all this myself, even though I did get some help from my mum with the ending knot of the yarn thread (She twisted the thread around the needle three times and then pulled this to the actual thread below the needle.). I also was kind of scared that the fact my perfectionism was pretty much not there at all would mess with the project itself. But contrary to this, perfectionism would have made it look really odd I feel. Of course, I am not telling you to let go of all imagination of how it should turn out in the end, but please don't pressure yourself. I surely wasn't, and that was a good starting point for me! :)

I cannot wait for another sewing project. I thought I could make something like the following with the remaining tulle:

• A black veil... All the tulle I have is black, and the goth in me already goes "Yippeee!" just imagining this, so... ;)
• Something like arm / leg warmers. I wouldn't need that much extra for this project, but still... We'll see!
• An eye patch. Even if the tulle were just for decorating the actual eye patch, I would still love it.
• I could sew some pieces of the tulle onto other items of clothing that I own to make them look more interesting. Maybe formed like letters?

Who knows...

Anyways, when I asked my sister to take some photos of me wearing the tulle tutu, one of our cats decided to interrupt it and looked at me all the time like, "I want to jump up to you, but... but... I can't ;_;!!", which made me remove the tutu as quickly as I could, and many photos were photobombed by him, too :D (I don't mind, though. I love this little guy, he can photobomb whatever he wants!!)...

So here's a photo of me doing some weird posing and if you find a hint concerning my cat, please tell me. (I know he is in the photo, but maybe not everyone will spot him :P!!)

Editorial posing at the PROFESSIONAL photo shoot.

And, yes, this REALLY is the 100th post. I cannot believe it either. I am so happy I want to hug the entire world now... Hope you are having a great day today, too.

Return of the FAULENZER.

It seems even to me that I am always just popping in to say what has happened and to apologise for the previous period of absence here, so I will leave it to this. It is not like I have done NOTHING in the mean time, though...

I did start writing letters again. It is slowly, but surely getting better. I found two new penpals very recently, one lovely lady from Malaysia, and another one from the US. Will not go into the details concerning these people, but it makes me happy to, for example, draw / paint for these people... To share what is important to us with each other... To learn about them, and their home as well... Ah well. I am planning on sending more letters soon, but I cannot promise them all going out in NO TIME, as I do want to put some effort into writing them and preparing stuff for people. But... YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. ;)

I recently learned about the death of a loved one, and decided to write a song for them... It is still not very easy to deal with all this; the wounds are still quite fresh so-to-say.

And then, I started working on a tulle tutu this week. I cannot promise to really finish it this week, because there is still a lot of stuff waiting to be done OTHER than the skirt, but I do hope I will be able to make it still. I also bought some new sewing needles and yarn yesterday. And something to repair broken jeans' fabrics with. As in, you know when you walk sometimes there will be parts of the jeans thinning and such... THAT'S what I mean. I want to repair some jeans this way...

Recently, I have been in sewing / DIY mood a lot. But I didn't really get around to making much. I did watch some DIY tutorials on Youtube, though... So yeah. That tulle tutu is really easy to make, though (I GUESS XD!)... It is mostly a no-sew project, and actually quite popular. You will decide how much elastic band you will need for the project (Do you want your tutu to fit around your waist? Or around your hips?), cut that off (but with a sewing allowance!! I added about 1 centimeter for this project, so... I hope this will suffice!) after trying out whether you can still step in and out of it, then sew these ends together.

Next, you cut the tulle fabric in the colour(s) you want the tutu to feature into (I would say) about 20 centimeters worth of width. The length should be, however, roughly twice the length from the elastic band's final position (Once again: Hips or waist, you will decide!) to the final end of the tutu's length (This could be any length, really. I want mine to be rather short, but have no idea just yet how short in particular this will be :P!). You cut out as many pieces like this as you will need. Then you fold the pieces (or two or three together?) so that the ends meet each other, and tie these to the elastic band (You create a loop at the end opposite of the meeting point of the ends *gestures wildly*, then hold this loop next to the elastic band, and pull the other end through the loop over the elastic... ^_^).

So, that is the plan right now... I have cut off the elastic band as I said already, and I bought yarn & needles. Now on to sewing the ends together. I will have 0.5 centimeters sewing allowance at both ends (Which may be a bit too small / thin, but I will try nevertheless.). This is my first "real" sewing project, and to be frank, I am a bit scared it might go wrong. I know some tricks now as to threading a needle & tying a knot for the end of the thread, too, though, so that's great.

Let's hope for the best, shall we? And with this more-or-less understandable, written tutorial, I am leaving you today. I hope you all are in a good mood. ^o^

DIY project: Self-made envelope :)

[I decided I will just post the tutorial right now, and later on maybe post (a) photo(s)...]

Hello dears,

I mad an envelope myself yesterday. I remember as a child I did this several times, but eventually stopped and forgot how it worked, so I had to find a new way myself again.

So, first of all you will need:

1 envelope shaped like you want your result to look

1 piece of regular plain white paper

1 piece of construction paper the colour you want your envelope to be (I went for yellow, but other [probably best lighter] colours work just as fine

1 roll glue thing [like the thing shown on the right here!]

1 pair of scissors

1 pencil

and later on...

1 pen to write the address of yourself and the receipee of the letter on the envelope

Steps:

 

1) Once you have gotten all these things, you start by making your template. You take your envelope, tuck out the flap (? -- please tell me if I used the wrong word here), place this all in the upper part of the piece of plain white paper (Please leave a little space one either side!), so that you'd be able to trace around the envelope on the paper, but still have space left below the envelope on the paper.

2) You have guessed right: Trace the outlines for the envelopes on the paper. Once you are done with this, please don't move the envelope away, as it is still needed for the next steps!

3) Just below the flap (Where the flap meets the rest of the envelope) on either side draw one small line onto the piece of plain paper horizontally, which you will be able to see once you have moved the envelope away. The horizontal lines should meet with the vertical ones you have drawn around the envelope, which you still should not move away from the place it is in right now (on the paper).

4) Next, draw two more little horizontal lines, at the lower end of the envelope... Once again, the lines should meet with the lines you already drew.

5) Flip over the envelope and tuck in the flap. Now you should have a square / rectangular envelope. Please place the lower end of the envelope at the lowest line you drew.

6) Once again, trace this onto the plain white paper, without moving the envelope.

7) One last step for the template is probably the hardest to explain, but I will do my best: Move away your envelope, tuck out the flap again, and place part of (!) the flap in the lowest square / rectangle you have drawn when you traced the surroundings of the envelope the last time. Make sure that the flap is pointing "upwards", but the upper horizontal line (below the flap) on the envelope is very much parallel to the lowest line you have drawn. Your flap should NOT be all the way in the square / rectangle, though, as it is needed to the seal the envelope in the end, and if it has the same shape as the flap up in the template, you will not be able to seal it. If you place the envelope a little lower than in general, not all of your flap is in the pattern, so you have enough place to seal it :).

8) Once you have made sure the flap is in place, please trace around the piece of the flap in the pattern (not all the flap, of course). 

9) You remember the four litle horizontal lines you have drawn? Make sure the lines have a length of (roughly) half a cetimeter, then make them a little diagonal (Easier to flap over once you are done...). The lowest line should have a line going like a backslash a little ( \ - Imagine the lower right part meeting with the lower horizontal line on the left side of the envelope ), and the upper line should have an attached slash ( / - Imagine the upper right part to meet with the upper horizontal line on the left side of the envelope ).

10) Connect the outer point of the shlash with the outer point of the backslash (Draw another vertical line; the space between this and the rest of the template should be 1/2 cm).

11) On the right side of the envelope, for the little horizontal lines, do the same to them, just make sure the slash is in the lower part and the backslash is in the upper part.

12) Connect the ending points on the right side of the envelope, too, also making sure the space between the two lines should be 1/2 cm.

13) Your template is ready :). Please cut it out carefully. Make sure that you do cut it out all in one piece, and make sure that the lower flap part you drew inside the lowest square / rectangle IS the line you are cutting on.

14) Optional step: Fold the template to see whether you have made any mistakes (If you did, please tell me, as it is my description that was bad then. I will try my best to make it better!!). First fold along the line where the "normal" rectangle / square meets with the rectangle / square into which you drew part of the flap. Next, fold the little 1/2 centimeter pieces towards the part where the envelope will be sealed. Last, fold the upper flap down and see whether it closes the spare-flap part. If all fits nicely, congratulations! Please unfold it again, though, as you will trace the template onto construction paper now!! :)

15) Get your piece of construction paper, and trace the outlines of the template onto that. Make sure the line you draw is not to thick, though, as it might show on the envelope.

16) Fold it like you may have done it with the template itself: First the seal-the-flap side and the regular rectangle / square at the line between, then the little 1/2 cm parts towards the part where the flap will be put down, and then, yes!, flap down the flap. :D

17) Now you can secure the 1/2 cm part. Grab this roll glue thing, and put glue either on the little bits themselves, or onto the part of the envelope meeting with these little things. Make sure you do not put glue onto the inside of the envelope itself!

18) If you have already written the letter, now it is time to put it into the envelope and put the respective addresses onto it.

19) Last step: Seal the envelope by grabbig your roll glue again putting it onto the flap, and folding that down.

Voilà - a self-made envelope! :) I hope it worked!! Mine did, but then again, I didn't have to explain it to myself D:... PLEASE make sure you first read the instruction and try to follow it, and if you don't understand some parts, please don't hesitate to ask...

Have a nice rest of the day, dears!! :)

PS: If I can, I will make photos for this next time, so that it is clearer what I mean :). I just did it from scratch without using a camera yesterday, and I did want to share it with you nevertheless. So please don't be surprised if this entry will have photos added to it soon-ish.

Oh the dreaded pliers. :P

I am currently taking a break from the place I usually wriite at, thus trying to gather more time and ideas for projects I could talk about here :).

Since I*m currently taking part in a project for people who want to make greeting cards and such, I got to make greeting cards a lot recently, but I cannot show evidence since I didn*t take any pictures. It was really amazing, though; we worked with water colour crayons, i. e. crayons that you paint something with, and then you grab a paint brush (NOT too wide, though!), dip it into water, and brush over what you painted ... It will give a little water colour effect, and since I love water colour pictures, I want to try this at home. We also added smaller things to the cards.

Right now, the next step of the project is to make things for Crizzlemas (something that, once folded, looks like a tree or an angel or whatever), aaand we start making key chains ourselves next week. All this really IS inspiring me to make my own greeting cards and such. Working with the pliers (something that is necessary for making key chains) was a little hard, but I will get the hang of it after a few tries I guess :).

Then, I am planning on corresponding with other people more via actual letters, which is a good idea I think, since I haven*t written to people in such a long time. ^^

I also want to make a list of projects I really want to do, but then again, they are probably not always unlike the original ones. I want to try some things, though, like ...

* CRAFTING MORE.
* Making stuff off FIMO.
* Making jewellery myself.
* Working on the perfect paper (...) :D.
* Painting an actual picture with water colour crayons first and then making a water colour painting out of it.
* Making an actual art journal.
* Continuing to work on my RSLB.
* SEWING, knitting, etc.

I have found that, unlike what I believed when I was a child, I am not that bad at crafting. Back in my childhood, I thought I totally failed there, but I also guess I just didn*t have the right tools ... E. g. the glue I used always was very dry and didn*t stick. And I could barely use the scissors I had. It is getting better :).

Sew awesome!! :)

Sew awesome & special!! Oh my, those puns are GREAT :D.

How are you all? I somehow wanted to share with you some resources about sewing. I went to a small list of things I*d like to do and there was "Learn to sew" written on this, so I thought I should write about this a little, share some resources with you, etc. :)

During my childhood, I had an almost-"sleeping beauty" moment when I tried handling a sewing machine without anybody to give instructions & help, and then got my finger in between a piece of fabric and the needle - ouch! That moment, I SWORE to myself to never touch a sewing machine again. In fact, I started despising people who did sew, and I though they were "too feminine" in my eyes. Because being feminine is evil and all that *note for the readers : SARCASM!*.

Then Natron & Soda happened to upload their page(s); I am mainly refering to the actual site of "Natron & Soda", because Soda took down her site years ago, and I won*t blame her for this. However, "Natron & Soda" REALLY was a great place to start, at least for me. Basically, the page used to be all about sewing and generally making goth-related clothing, accessories, and so on. It is amazing!

So, I made a list of clothes to sew, but the list grew and grew and basically said includes (almost) every piece of clothing introduced on this site :). I *always* wanted to cut that list down, but all the planning is getting boring, to be honest. I can, however, see where the patterns come from - or better said, there are (mainly?) sewing instructions on the page on how to make your own unique pattern and how to sew it. They also give tips on music to play whilst doing that, and many people have contributed their own sewing instructions :).

So that was a turning point - discovering this site. Ever since, I couldn*t stop thinking about "I want to sew!", just imagine that with a zombie voice ... "Need ... to sew!! BRAINS!" (Need to sew brains? - Sounds like a cute version of a plushie to me :D!) Ah, that said, they also featured how to make some plushies on the page. I will put the link under "Resources" :).

(The page*s in German only as far as I know, though.)

So, I bought some books from book-selling pages which are famous for low prices :). Around the same time, Burda (a sewing/DIY magazine) released a collection of four magazines in which they explain the basics of sewing, and that said, the instructions are easy to understand. :) For example, I learned (theoretically) how to make a bigger version of an existing sewing pattern - which to me is really important, as many awesome sewing patterns are not available in my (plus) size.

On BurdaStyle*s homepage you can either download [or order?] sewing patterns ("Schnitte & Shop"; you can also regularly buy the magazine, it is really worth it!) ... There also is a section (somewhere) in which people explained how they tailored their clothes, plus there is a how-to on how to (ORLY?) make your own dress form. Great, I say!! (Also in German.)

Then, there are also resources like Dunkelsüß, Kostenlose Schnittmuster, and Cut Out And Keep. Dunkelsüß is probably most famous for being probably the most popular German-speaking page on which you can find information on lolita clothing. I am far from being as elegant as many lolitas (I mean it! I am just really clumsy and all that :(!), BUT I love the fashion styles in this genre. It is beautiful to look at, plus I like the broad creativity which enables fashion designers to create unique and pretty pieces of clothing.

BTW, there is a great page called SpoonFlower for designing your own fabric!! (Link in the resources!)

Anyways, I*d love to try out wearing Lolita fashion [I don*t want to make myself ridiculous but it would be an honour and a pleasure to me to wear it?], and for the reason Dunkelsüß also offers some sewing instructions for Lolita fashion, I want to go for this :). (Reminder to self : Do that!! :D)

Also, you might find the releases of the "Gothic Lolita Bible" interesting. They also feature some patterns on how to make some Lolita fashion items yourself, like scarfs and such. I only own one of the releases but they show how to make a skirt there, explain how to alter sewing patterns, and there*s a kitten scarf explained :). The version of the GLB I have is in English even.

Kostenlose Schnittmuster is a collection of links to all kinds of sewing patterns online. Some descriptions are in foreign languages like German, [English,] French, and Japanese. I guess there are even more languages I didn*t come across, but brace yourself for the mass of languages you can choose from (I find this amazing. If you need help with some, please tell me!).

As for Cut Out And Keep, that is an English-speaking page on which everybody can contribute their WIP for creative projects. Some might show you how they painted their shoes, some may show you how they dyed their hair, some may show you how they tailored a skirt ... It is an amazing resource and in my opinion one of the best :)!!

Of course, you can also google DIY blogs or craft blogs or sewing blogs or whatever you like.

Lastly, some words on the "Nähmaschinen-Führerschein" and the "Große Nähschule" : I have bought the former book, and it is showing you step-by-step how a sewing machine works. You have small tests to pass after each lesson, and all through the book you get to sew smaller items like plushies or bags.

The latter I haven*t bought yet, BUT I once saw it in a book store in one of my former hometowns and thought, "Someday I will buy this book!! It is amazing!", and my opinion hasn*t changed ever since. Fabrics are explained, steps on how to sew what are explained, and so on. I think it doesn*t contain any sewing patterns unfortunately, but the general knowledge delivered makes it worth the price nevertheless.

Okay, now I want to sew :D. I also have two (!) sewing machines, one is a bigger one by Singer, and the other one is one of these small sewing machines which you can use for smaller projects. Which one would you choose for your first projects? (I haven*t tried either of them. Maybe they still need some oil or so? Hm!)

Resources :

Web Sites :

* BurdaStyle. (Also has a "physical" magazine you can buy over here.)
* Cut Out And Keep.
* Dunkelsüß.
* Kostenlose Schnittmuster.
* Natron & Soda.
* SpoonFlower.

Books :

* Der Nähmaschinen-Führerschein (Author : Eva Schneider).
* Die Große Nähschule (Author : Alison Smith; original title : "The Sewing Book").
* Gothic Lolita Bible.

Der Strickdiktator will euch stricken seh*n ...

And here*s some bigger news : Two or three days ago, I learned how to knit. I cannot knit every single knitting style already of course, but I am so proud I can make the first row & the garter stitch :D.

I cannot post my knitting results as I still have some problems with knitting (The knittings (?) always tend to fall off my needles, nooo!!), but I still want to explain it a little here. I will make a video for this purpose then, most likely! It is pretty easy actually - however, I don*t know how to make left knittings (yet).

I wish I could post more about this (Actually I tried a moment ago, but it is hard to explain although it is easy to do :P). So I will leave you to that, will try to make a video this weekend or so to explain the knitting techniques ... :)

Ah yes, and if you end up buying wool for your first project, please have a look at the wool pack; mine said you*ll need 6-7mm needles. This way you*ll know what needles are needed. (You cannot knit every kind of wool with every kind of needle!!)

Ah yes #2, the magazine "Brigitte" released a knitting special this month, which actually is the mag lying below my needles :). I have two wool balls right now, both the same width -- one is pink, the other one is turquoise :D. These are two of my favourite colours after all.

And, by learning how to knit, a childhood dream of mine was fulfilled. I never learned knitting in school, and so, this is a beautiful opportunity :). My mum* and my granny* both helped me a lot and I want to thank them for their patience :).

What were your childhood dreams? What did you always want to learn? Maybe this is a good opportunity to make them come true at last ...

Papercutting? Calligraphy? Art? Music? Ohhh, the love!! :)

Recently I went to the dentist with my mum*, so we sat in the waiting room and I looked around and found some papercuttings on the walls, and now that my curiosity was awakened, I really have been thinking about ways to make them myself. This didn*t really help me, so I went to Wikihow instead and found this tutorial ... I really found the idea of using papercuts in all variations great, but I won*t tell you too much about my plans.

What I will tell you, however, is that i am totally in "construction mode" right now, which is good :). I really want to do calligraphy now, for real. I once made something calligraphy-like for my granny* for Christmas, but then again, she couldn*t read it ... I felt rather sorry then for confusing her, but that*s not the subject right now.

Also, I am currently - along with "Lost Souls" (Poppy Z. Brite) and "Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon #6" (Naoko Takeuchi) - reading a book by Barbara Sher, called What Do I Do When I Want To Do Everything?, and it is very good. I followed the advice so far and really found some projects I could work on, for example, in my own room :). For example, I want to draw notes (Yes, yes, sheet-music-like!) onto the walls in the rehearsal room, and I want to make some furniture, or better said build something else out of them (Apart from the desk which I will really make myself ... With help, though ;)!), and I want to make, not a triptychon, but "one" image made of five (!) single pictures. And I want to have a corner with photographs & postcards & collages.

I need aaart~!! Also I started working on a new song on Friday. :) I hope I will be able to record it well & also to upload it.

What have you been up to? I really want to make an art journal, too, thanks go to Gala Darling & the person whose "Radical Self-Love Bible" she shared in her blog recently :). I am amazed because of this, so thanks for the inspiration!!

Brave people*s lullaby?

Oh man, you may have thought I have left this place, never to return again. I haven*t. In fact, we have done a lot in this house, meaning PAINTING my rooms, for instance. I shall upload pictures as soon as I get around to taking them :P. One room is turquoise (the one with my bed), the other is orange (the one with the music instruments in it).

I got the idea for those colours because I like them (especially turquoise; it is my favourite colour!), but also because I read they are good feng-shui-wise. Now I don*t know much about feng shui; stating the opposite would be spreading a lie; BUT! I read that orange is good for creativity, and that turquoise and blueish colours in particular are good for bedrooms. That said, I want to try it out :). We mixed both colours ourselves, too. Turquoise contained two parts blue and one part green, mixed with a LOT of white (But not too much, since I didn*t want it to be that bright!), the orange was mixed with three parts orange and the rest of the white. It is not extremely bright either, yet the room looks bigger now. Same goes for the bedroom. Especially the turquoise turned out a little neon-like, which I definitely approve of! :)

Even though I did that, I didn*t do MUCH creative stuff lately. But on Monday, I bought myself oil pastels and two notebook-like things, and drew a friend of mine (Her name is Kei*). ^^ I already am planning on more "portraits", yet ... I need to learn to handle the oil pastels :D (It*s weird when not being used to using them).

I also FINALLY got around to adding some things to my wishlist, including a pack of 24 pieces of FIMO (in different colours), and also some fabric paints - both for light fabric, and for dark one. I *hope* that the dark one includes black t-shirts. The plan is now to buy some basic t-shirts & paint on them. Write on them. Draw on them. Whatever. I might even end up writing down musical notes for songs onto them if I don*t get anything else to use for this purpose.

As for the FIMO, I want to make some jewellery out of this. :) Mainly I am thinking of a pendant for a necklace; it should be inspired by somebody who I really, really, REALLY like a lot. Also, I want to start painting on flower cachepots! Since spring is approaching and such, haha.

So, after some winter sleep, I am finally getting back to normal!! And that*s it. The brave people*s lullaby. Sleep well, my dears~!