Two more updates...

So, I completely forgot to mention the other exciting thing that happened this month. More than a year ago, I was an intern on a film documenting the band Le Tigre. My intern duties were converting 8-track tapes recorded during their 2004-5 tour to digital sound so it could be used for the movie. Anyway, it finally premiered this month and I got to see it at MOMA. Contrary to my expectations (I hate documentaries, especially ones about bands, I even thought Behind the Music was pretty dull), it was actually very entertaining! Kathleen Hanna is now my very favorite feminist prankster. (She also has her own blog which is pretty fun to read.)

Anyway, it's called Who Took the Bomp, and if you're in Boston, it's playing tonight!

My other update is that I just joined the Refashion Co-op, a great blog where crafters post their clothing refashion projects. I have been following this site since its inception a few months ago and I love seeing what other people have made.

For the video, I'm obviously going to have post a Le Tigre video. I chose TKO because I want to make these blazers!

Cards!!!

So, I neglected to mention in my last post that a lot has happened in the past month. I've been working at my new job, which I kind of love, but it pretty much forced me to drop out of Me-Made-March since I felt the need to look fairly professional but haven't made any very professional looking clothing (yet!). I also turned thirty, and more or less had a week of partying to celebrate. Here's a picture of me with two other friends that turned thirty the same week, forcing us to throw the megaparty JASRAFEO! (Jasper+Rafael+yours truly)

This is probably the soberest picture of the night, and of course I wore my jumpsuit! Also this month, my dad had his own birthday so I made him a card. First an explanation: my parents have what I think is pretty much the cutest hobby I can imagine parents having: beekeeping! Basically, they bought two hives which sit at the back of their house in suburban North Carolina and they tend the bees in their little white bee-tending costumes. So, here's the card I made:

I added a bit of gold stitching to the bee's behind (the beehind) for added glamour, and put some extra geeky factoids on the inside, conveniently covering the back of the stitches:

Some bad things happened in the past month, too. My co-worker's mother died, and since this coworker is also my friend's mother, she was also my friend's grandmother. Like most people, I don't really know how to deal with death, especially death that doesn't affect me but involves people I care about. So, I made them cards. These were not so fancy as I hadn't been planning on making them. I made this one for my coworker, it was just a magazine picture with no embellishment:

This one I made for her daughter/my friend, combining bereavement with Easter in a potentially tacky way:

But cuteness is always appropriate, right?  Finally, a guy I dated in college died earlier this month. For the morbidly curious, he has a wikipedia page.

Alright, it's video time. I received not one but TWO amazing mixes for my birthday and this song was on one of them. Very appropriately named "Happy Birthday," it's performed by Altered Images. I really love the lead singer's voice. Also, at exactly one minute in, she's sitting next to a table of cards. (Birthday cards, I presume!)

Fundies!

So, it's been a long time since I've blogged and my fans have been getting restless. Just kidding, I can't even get my mom to read this. Anyway, I have actually been doing some sewing in the midst of my new full-time job and night classes. I went through my clothes and found two shirts that I no longer wear. One was a men's polo shirt:

It was very poorly constructed, even more so than I'd originally thought, as I discovered while taking it apart. (Has this ever happened to anyone else? I'm always kind of surprised by how badly most clothing is made.) There was also a hole:

The other was a t-shirt for the band Deerhoof that an ex bought me many years ago when I expressed my jealousy that she was attending their show and I couldn't go. I failed to take a picture of the original shirt (which is surprising considering my obsessive need to document) but the shirt was kinda falling apart and the design had faded a bit, mostly because I had to scrub out a wine stain. (I'm classy like that.)

I recently made new pattern pieces of my modified underwear pattern out of a paper bag, and these are pretty exciting:

Yes, they have handles! I hang them on my wall from a nail, ready for spontaneous underwear creation! Someday, I might even decorate them with magazine pictures (or stickers or glitter or something equally ridiculous).

Okay, here's the results:

I love both of these, but I have learned two things from this project. The first is that t-shirt material is actually not that stretchy and I should add 1/2 an inch to the sides next time. The other is that one should always presoak elastic. This did not affect the polo pair, but the Deerhoof pair has a faint grey tie-dyeish look. Despite these issues, I still wear them all the time.

Video time!!!! Just as (I like to think that) the men's polo shirt benefitted from some feminine touches, I think this version of the INXS song " Never Tear Us Apart" sung by Annie Clark is amazing. I literally shivered while listening the first time. Then again, I was sitting in my bra with the window open. (See, 100% class.)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It's also my brother's birthday, and in the spirit of this I made him this card:



Yes, that is an actual picture of him mountain biking or, rather, air biking. Apparently, addiction to danger runs in the family. (At least he's wearing a helmet!) Speaking of which, I pulled a stomach muscle yesterday which made walking, sitting, and even typing rather painful, but did not prevent me from sewing! I'll post soon about this latest project.

Video time! It's Morrisey on a bicycle!!! ♥♥♥!!!

The Smiths |MTV Music

Me-Made-March: Evidence!

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I'm participating (in a very small way) in Me-Made-March. Well, there is also a Flickr group so you can see everyone's me-made outfits (including mine, so you'll know I'm not lying).

Also! I got a new job this week!!! Which means I will probably be blogging less. The new job is more hours too so I will probably have less sewing to blog about, anyway. But I will still update, I promise.

In the Navy!

Like many people raised as female, I've long been fascinated by all-male spaces, including frat houses, men's sports team locker rooms, all-boy's schools, gay bathhouses, etc. There is something exciting and erotic about homosocial culture, at least for those of us who are excluded from it. (I know, I know, homosociality is problematic as well, for various reasons including homophobia and gender normativity, but...) Anyway, I was thrilled to find this jacket at the thrift store one day:

Jumpsuit!!!

Oh, Scully... did any of you watch the X Files? I used to be so obsessed, and recently all of the seasons (even the really, really bad ones without either Mulder or Scully!) were all added to Netflix instaview and I re-watched an unspeakable amount of episodes. Anyway, do you remember how after the credits, a little kid's voiceover would say, "I made this"? Well, that pretty much sums up how I feel over this latest project. Like a smugly proud six year old. See?

What I mean to say is, this isn't an amazing creation but it's my first attempt at wovens and I'm amazed that it turned out being something I would actually wear. I haven't been sewing for too long, and I'm still kind of amazed that I can actually make a garment. I'm sure this will pass and I'll look back at this project and marvel at my innocence and lack of skill.

This is from the same pattern I talked about a week and a half ago, a vintage McCall's number 5421. For fabric, I cut up two long black skirts I found in the dollar bin at the thrift store and the lining of another thrifted skirt. Look, I even created a before shot equation!