Zombie Shuffle
By Jasmine | May 1, 2010
Below are the ones I took
Additional images are on pix.purplecow.org in two parts. Here and here.
Topics: Photography | No Comments »
Laptop Cover
By Jasmine | October 17, 2009
I lost the slip case for my lifebook a couple of months ago and I am taking it to Sydney on Monday so I though I would make a simple replacement for it…
I had earmarked some ironing board padding that was left over from when I added some extra softness to the cheap ironing board to stop it leaving mesh shaped imprints on everything I ironed.
I found some left over red heavy satin and a scrap of odd corduroy fabric and devised a rough pattern.
Originally the case was going to be a simple square piece of fabric sewn together along the edge (about 1 com in ) so the lining was visible along the edge…
After cutting it out and making said square shape I found that I had cut it too small to accommodate the additional thickness of the wadding.
It was also too thick to sew through along the edge even if I changed the orientation so that it was just a slip (no flap)..
I tried blanket stitching the edge witch some thick oiled string (heavy thread used for sewing shoe soles on) but I had to use a pair of pliers to pull the needle through the fabric and after two and a half stitches the needle broke at the eye…
I then came up with the idea of using elastic straps around the edge that were tight enough to hold the edges closed and two loops to hold the flap down.
Surprisingly it worked and it doesn’t look too bad. The squares of stitches that hold the elastic on are far from perfect but they are not that bad. Overall it doesn’t look too shabby.
Anyway pictures of the achievement.
Topics: Accessories, Useless Things | No Comments »
Mesh Corset
By Jasmine | August 9, 2009
Photo Gallery, details to follow
Topics: Musings | No Comments »
How To Make A Pair Of Jeans Style Pants
By Jasmine | August 9, 2009
When I was younger I worked for about 9 months in a factory that made mens trousers. It was not what I would call an extremely thrilling job but it paid the rent and fueled my adolescent dreams of becoming a ‘fashion designer’. While I never made it as a fashion designer I can still make a pretty good pair of pants.
The trouble with trying to make professional looking clothes at home is that most people don’t have access to all the 10+ different machines that are used in commercial production lines. One day I will assemble the requisite machines but until then I have to make do with a crappy little overlocker (I sold the 3/5 thread industrial when I moved house as it had a tendency to leak oil as the sump gaskets needed replacing) and an industrial straight stitch machine.
The dream list of machines that would be useful for making pants and skirts are as follows.
Coverstitch Machine
Industrial Overlocker
Bench Mounted Ultra-High speed overlocker.
Welt Pocket Machine
Twin needle lock stitch with beltloop style folder attachment
Twin needle lock stitch machine (For top stitching jeans pockets and seams)
Twin Spooler Zigzap machine ((bobbinless zigzag or lock stitch)with optional folder for attaching waistband interfacing)
Single needle Lock stitch machine (creates a stretchy strong seam for the seat of pants)
Straight Stitch post machine with a stitch in ditch foot assembly (For putting the line of stitching just below the waist band)
Key Hole Button holing machine
Bar-Tack machine
Blind hemming machine
Button putting on machine
But alas I do not have room or the $$ for all of these machines….
So I make pants as follows and lament the lack of hardware….
Lots of images are behind the cut.
Full instructions to go with the images will be added shortly.
Topics: Clothing, Jeans, Resources | No Comments »
Distracted and unfocused
By Jasmine | August 9, 2009
Figured I might as well try getting some of this written down somewhere.
I haven’t really made anything or done anything for so long it is almost depressing to look at this little journal of creation.
I think the last creative thing I did was to shorten an Ikea table so that I could move my mac next to the couch so there would be some chance of actually using it. Which has worked, I am typing this from a real keyboard not a laptop… Scary I know.
Before that I think the last thing I made was a series of a-line just below the knee length skirts, they worked out well, I even did a proper pattern instead of making them the old way using this method. Which works but is better suited to a slightly less girthy figure. When your ass hits 46″ you don’t get much A in the line of the skirt…
I would like to say that I’ve been distracted by techie things but that is not true either, I have thought about doing a lot of geekery but outside of work I have not exactly done a hell of a lot of anything. I was extremely inspired after attending KCA last week in Brisbane, so many wonderful new exciting technologies and ideas.
I’ve always had trouble taking one idea and sticking with it long enough to completely master it. I get bored and stumble on a new idea or concept and start tinkering with it instead, continually changing tack and focus with my fingers in too many pies. I feel like I should be focusing on one thing in particular starting one tangent and following it too the end, completely mastering one thing rather than running around like a child the the great playground of life.
So anyway, I haven’t really done very much creative work of late, I think I have lost most of the last month to reading web comics and watching Tom Baker era Dr Who. This weekend I had an unusally quite Friday night, where I fell alseep at about 7pm… consequently I was wandering around at lunch time on Saturday looking at motorcycles and buying fruit at the Vic Markets.. All of which is rather out of character. So to continue this bizarre hightened level of activity I thought I would post some of the photos of some of the last 12 months worth of projects (mostly still unfinished) that I taken. Currently I am well and truly over caffinated and waiting for my image convert ‘for’ loop to finish resizing my images so that I can put them up here.
I have previously only really posted the completed projects up here which would be great if I finished most of t he things I start but sadly that is not the case. So I am spending this afternoon cataloging the endless list of unfinished projects that I can still find all the pieces for …
Topics: Musings | No Comments »