Ok, so these are really not all that fancy, not much of a design really, but I’ve been finding capris a little more comfortable as the windy season kicks in. They’re black velveteen with a cuff. On either side at the bottm, there’s a strip of lace attache with a button, kind of looks like it’s holding the cuff in place. I guess they’re kind of kodona style.
OH crap, the picture sucks, you can’t see the little detail at all.

I’m not sure what the thought process was here or what I was going for, it just kind of happened. It’s a pair of cream colored bloomers with vintage butterfly embroidered trim with black eyelet beading lace. The over skirt is a torn asymetrical black cotton a-line. I haven’t decided if I like it or not.

Jeez it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to make anything. This is a little frillier than I’ve been wearing lately, oh well. It’s two layers, half circle skirt, with butterfly eyelet trim. I attached blue butterflies to pins to cinch up the front part of the overlayer.

Well this certainly didn’t turn out how I envisioned it. It’s a half circle skirt, and the underskirt is made of this fabric my aunt found at my grandma’s house that’s like a taupe/tan/cream colored almost feed sack like material. It’s thick and rugged looking, but oddly it drapes and flows nicely and has a slight softness. Anyway, the over layer is black cotton with a sheer embroidered lace ruffle, and it angles up and around towards the back. Instead of putting a button or hook at the top of the zipper, I extended the waistband really long so it ties and looks like an apron. In the front I painted an oroboros (or is it oroborous?) I can’t draw or paint to save my life so it really looks a little stupid. Anyway, why is it that every time I put some kind of decoration on my skirts, it always falls in the concave part of the undulation so no one can see it? Always without fail, it’s starting to really tick me off.

I bought this Stella Marrs T-shirt but it was too big. I don’t like to wear oversized t-shirts, so I cut off the picture to use on a skirt. It’s a little fuller than an a-line, with a red lace trimmed white petticoat underskirt. The over layer is torn black cotton with a red bow and the “Resist” picture that I cut out of the t-shirt sewn on with embroidery floss.

I don’t know if this really counts as a new design or not. I just made a pair of black corduroy pants and attached some band buttons I’d been collecting. I have the Doors, Korn, Green Day, Rage Against the Machine, Sid Vicious, the Bosstones, and the Ramones. I had originally intended for them to be baggier, oh well.

Anyway, Happy New Year everybody!!!

I don’t know where my motivation has gone lately. I don’t know why it’s taking me so long to make stuff anymore. Anyway, this is a plain black half circle skirt princess seamed dress with white sleeves and collar. The bottom hem has white scalloped trim, and the sleeves have little flares at the bottom. I had bought a whole bunch of patches for my favorite bands and put them on. I have U2, Green Day, Marilyn Manson, Stone Temple Pilots, The Cure, The Ramones, Blink 182, Hole, Rage Against the Machine, Nine Inch Nails, Alanis Morissette, The Prodigy, and Smashing Pumpkins. I still may order Rob Zombie, Rammstein, and Korn. And I’ve looked EVERYWHERE for Moby, Stabbing Westward, Cindy Lauper, The Dreaming, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and Zwan, but can’t find them anywhere. If anyone out there knows where I can find patches for any of those please let me know =)

Sheesh. This skirt has been sitting on my table half done for two weeks now. I have been so terribly unmotivated. It’s a petticoat style underskirt with navy lace trimmed layers. The overskirt is kind of an a-line and asymmetrical on both sides. The edges are unfinished, I hope they start to fray soon, because I didn’t tear them like I usually do.

I’m still messing around with asymmetry, tearing, and fabric paint. Sorry, haven’t done anything ruffly in awhile, haven’t been in the mood. This is a pair of black capris with a white lining. One side it’s rolled up and accented with three black buttons. The other side is all shredded and I painted an atom, or atomic particle, or whatever you want to call it. It serves as a reminder to myself that everything is mostly empty space.

This latest skirt turned out really well if I do say so myself. It’s slightly fuller than an a-line, with a pleated ruffle on the underlayer. To make the ruffle I just tore the strips of fabric, so where they attach, it’s a little asymmetrical, and they’re ragged on the top and the bottom. I just sewed it onto the front of the skirt instead of encasing it in the seam like I would for a nice non-punky ruffle. The overskirt is torn in several places. In the front I took some of the strips I ripped off it and sewed them back on over one of the tears. On one side I took a ripped square of fabric and sewed it on with white embroidery floss. The Korean characters say “effort” and “perseverance” – the strict code of my martial art training.

I’m not sure where this came from. It is a pair of capris with attached rectangular skirt. At first I was just putting on torn scraps of fabric for a punky look, but then I started adding miscellaneous things until it became a scrap book of sorts. It has my favorite Gandhi quote: An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” I embroidered an ouroboros, my sign (gemini), and a piece sign. It has butterflies, a phoenix, a cross, and a heart. It has a little piece of peace dove fabric, an infinity made of fishnet, a dalmatian patch, a symbol from the I Ching meaning joy made out of ribbon, and a patch of blue wave fabric. It also has a red ribbon X and some heart and rose buttons. That’s all I can think of off the top of my head =) Anyway, the pictures absolutely suck, it just looks like a black blob, that camera just doesn’t get details very well.

I’ve been so bummed, I got rid of my last three dresses. The blue one looked stupid, and the red one looked stupid, so I sent them to the consignment shop. The third one I got so fed up with I threw it away before I even finished it. Each one took me over a week to complete. But this baby took me two days. It has trumpet cuffs and high neck. Ever since I read The Woman with the Alabaster Jar, I have been determined to put a red X on one of my designs. It’s made of sheer red ribbon and safety pins.

Well, I tried the same pattern as the last dress with a different print and without lace. I think it will look a lot cuter. I don’t know why I picked such a large print, I hate large prints. It makes me think of a mumu or something. But it actually looks good in context with the bloomers and proper shoes. I couldn’t wear the blue dress, it looked stupid. This one also looks ridiculous on the dress form, but I felt cute in it. I don’t know why, I wouldn’t have picked it off the rack in a million years. We’ll see what happens when I try to wear it next week, then maybe you can see what I was getting at with it.

Well, this was supposed to be the next dress to go with my red bloomers, but it’s awful. It’s definitely a departure from the usual style I use. It’s weird, as soon as I started feeling all good, my desire to sew bottomed out. Anyway, it looks like a bag on the mannequin, but I added all kinds of darts and stuff to make it more flattering. It’s split on the sides, but you can’t tell it in the pic. The fabric was adorable on the bolt, but I think it will be much too loud to wear. The sleeves are flared, and I used some vintage embroidered lace for the trim. Anyway, I probably won’t wear it, I’ll just send it to the resale shop. Unless of course it looks cuter on, which it doubtful.

This is another dress to go with my red bloomers (two more to go). It’s white with a half circle skirt. The trim on the sleeves and collar has little red hearts, and it has red hearts down the front. Between the buttons and the lace I put two pin tucks.

This is my latest red trimmed dress for my bloomers. (three to go). It’s black with red under the sleeves and collar. It’s all torn and raw edges. The piece of red fabric safety pinned to the front has an Arundhati Roy quote on it. “The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling-their ideas, their version or history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability. Remember this: we be many and they be few. They need us more than we need them. Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quite day , I can hear her breathing.”

I’m doing a series of little red trimmed dresses to go with my red bloomers. I originally just had the idea for the teal and red Chinese style dress with bloomers. But I decided, if I’m going to take the time to make the bloomers, they’d better be able to go with more than one thing. So this is my latest one. It’s pink with red collar and cuffs and a little red flower patch. The fabric for the flower is kind of a satiny Asian style print. I wish I had made the sleeves shorter, but otherwise I’m happy with it =)

_sigh Stuff always looks cute as a button in my mind’s eye, then my hands just botch it all to pieces. This is a cream colored half circle skirt dress with square neckline and white and cream lace with strawberries embroidered on it. The front has red strawberry buttons. It’s kind of short because I wanted to wear it with my red bloomers. I can’t put my finger on what’s wrong with it, maybe nothing, I just feel like a doofas in it.

I am still up at 3:30 am trying to get packed for our trip to San Diego this weekend. I just finished my dress for the flight. It was a total disaster, but I’m wearing it anyway. I am probably not going to be willing to do this design for commissions because it’s all messed up. Anyway, off I go, tata!!

Ooh, I’m so exited these turned out well. I haven’t made any above the knee bloomers yet, this is my first pair. They’re kind of like the ones from the first EGL pattern book.

This was kind of a weird “Fruits”-like idea, not sure what I was thinking. But I really liked that rectangular skirt I made from the G&L Bible, so I did it again with white voile. I trimmed it with white lace and put tucks on the long ends. The skirt is attached to a pair of purple bloomers with matching lace and a ruffle.

Yesterday I made this apron with tucks on the bottom, a double lace ruffle, and a velvet ribbon with a bow on one side. I didn’t gather it quite enough though =(

Then I made these bloomers. Each row of lace is alternated with a tuck. I’m not really sure if I’m ever going to wear them though. Do they look like clown pants?

I think I’ve finally got all the tearing out of my system. This is a two layer dress, navy over white. All the edges I tore and left raw which also lead to a slightly uneven hemline. I also tore some slits in the skirt of the over dress, and the arm holes of the overdress are unfinished also. It was just a little experiment in raggedness, not a very serious design.

This is a navy half circle skirt with a ruffle. The overlay didn’t quite look as cute as I pictured it. It is four white voile rectangles with lace trim. It doesn’t quite hang the way I’d hoped, but it’s ok I suppose.

I’ve been messing with tearing instead of cutting to get that raggedy edge look. This is a plain black blouse with black eyelet sleeves and collar. I tore all the edges out instead of cutting them, so the collar and bottom hem are asymmetrical, and the bottom of the sleeves I ripped up a little bit so it’s kind of tattered looking. The buttons are pewter toned roses. It really photographed terribly, it looks a lot cuter in person. I say that a lot don’t I? Maybe the camera is more honest.

This is a two layer skirt with a white cotton poly under layer and a white voile asymmetrical over layer. I used a Sharpie to put a quote on the overskirt. It says, “Beware the Leader who bangs the drum of war, in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the Leader will have no need of seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all their rights unto the Leader, and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar.” Julie Caesar.

I used the pattern from the most recent G&L Bible for the rectangular plaid skirt. I decided not to make it an elastic waist like they had it, and I added and underskirt slightly off center. It has red plaid cherry ribbon for trim.

Eh, the picture kind of sucks, but it’s actually kind of cute in person. I like working with different lengths and layers. The base is an a-line, but it’s the front is shorter than the back, it has a little apronlike layer in front, a longer layer in back that just goes a quarter of the way around, and the sheer layer goes around back and goes until that layer. All layers are trimmed with fleur de lis ribbon. Don’t know what I like about fleur de lis, but I do use them a lot.

This is an unfinished ragged edged white voile headscarf or kerchief. I took a black Sharpie and put another one of my favorite quotes on it. It says “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.” Dwight D Eisenhower.

It’s been awhile since I’ve been so proud of a design. It’s a half circle skirt with white eyelet and a box pleated ruffle. Each pleat has a white cross on it. I guess it’s the most technically EGL thing I’ve made.

OH yeah, that purse I have in today’s picture has my corporate logos flag on it. Instead of stars it has little white corporate logos.

They didn’t photograph very well, but they have a navy matte satiny material on the bottom and these adorable fleur de lis buttons.

I really thought I’d be making one new thing every day, but it turns out I’m working a lot slower than that. I’d rather read, I must be more burnt out on sewing than I thought. Anyway, this is an a-line with a vintage embroidered lace trim and a box pleated ruffle. It was going to be a half circle skirt, but the flat trim wasn’t going to work on the curved hem. It would be better on a flat hemmed gathered skirt, but I’m not making gathered skirts any more, they do absolutely nothing for my shape.

I finally have time to do a little designing. I’m not so sure I like this one though. It was darling in my mind’s eye, but sometimes my ideas don’t look as cute when they come to reality. It’s an a-line with red/gold sheer ribbon and the lace on the white tulle says “Have a Nice Day”. I really like it on, but it looks lame on my mannequin.

I can’t really put this under my design gallery, since I didn’t actually make the purse. I bought one of those plain black purses from the fabric store that they sell so you can put all kinds of rhinestone embellishments and studs etc on it. I guess purse making is a big thing right now. Anyway, I just bought some white fabric paint and put one of my favorite quotes on it. In case you can’t read my awful writing or the pic is bad, it says “We as women are trained to see ourselves as cheap imitations of fashion photographs, rather than seeing fashion photographs as cheap imitations of women.” Naomi Wolf.

Once again, I tried pin tucks, only to crash and burn. Apparently they cause the fabric to have it’s own structure and it doesn’t ruffle well.

This is a pair of capris with an attached overskirt that’s split on both sides. The bigger heart matches the little heart trim. I can’t use my mannequin for pants because it has a pole up the middle =)

I found these absolutely adorable little black music note iron on appliques. I tried to put on one of those iron on transfers of a bright blue butterfly but I screwed it up and melted it. This sucks though, I’m two weeks ahead of schedule on my orders, but my machine is causing trouble. Any seamstresses out there after awhile have their machine start getting tighter and tighter stitches, then you have to pull the fabric to get it to feed, so your stitches go along getting smaller and smaller, then BIG when you pull and then normal and smaller again. This is the second machine that has given me this problem. So, I have a choice, either take it to get worked on, which will take two weeks putting me back on schedule, or just buy a new one. Anyway, the skirt:

I am so proud of my new skirt. Putting in all those eyelets is a bitch though. Good thing the neighbors didn’t complain =) Does anyone know where to get nice eyelets? These are really crappy on the inside, and the nicer two sided ones would have been to big for this project. Anyway, it was going to be six panels, but I had to get it done quickly in my spare time so I did four instead. The white lace on the bottom is vintage from my grandma. It was in a little label, four yards for 37 cents!

I’ve been dying to make a bondage skirt for the longest time. I finally scrounged together enough time to experiment with straps and different skirt length layers. I tried to find metal d-rings, but all I could find were black plastic, but they worked out better because they weighed the fabric down less.

I just got done with this funky apron. It’s my tribute of sorts to the American Flag, dark red for the blood, safety pins for the chains, and black for the oil. Or maybe it’s just a little experiment in raggedy deconstructionism. =)

I tried going tucks on a skirt. They turned out ok, but I wish I’d used nicer fabric, this cream crap is to light and you can see my black petticoat through it. I don’t have time to make a cream petticoat.

Here are my two latest goodies. This one I had found some really pretty tulip shaped venise lace on Ebay, so I tried to make a tulip theme skirt, but all I could find were these funny pink colored tulip buttons, so I tried to build it around that. It feels more like a hippy or 70’s skirt.

This one is vintage lace on velvet. I don’t really like it though because the lace is to wide to be used vertically the way I did.

I really like using half circle skirts because they don’t droop like a full circle skirt, but they don’t have all the gathering around my hips making my butt look more enormous than it already is =)!