Category: sewing

cosplay · sewing

Ready for Battle: My How to Train Your Dragon Costume Reveal

Jasmine HustonLeave a comment

Hello everyone! This one took months to complete, and I’m thrilled with how it turned out. I have to admit I actually made this one a while ago but I was going through a lot at the time so I never posted it. However, I’m happy to post it today. If you follow me on Youtube then you’ve seen some of my videos about making this cosplay. This required a lot of fur and especially of different types. I ended up purchasing it at Hobby Lobby. For one thing they were half the price of Joanne Fabrics (yes this was before they closed) but I could also wait until the fabric was on sale and so I ended up getting it for a great price. If you would like a step-by-step of how I made everything, I highly recommend you check out my YouTube channel. For now let’s take a look at how it turned out.

The hardest part of this cosplay was all of the spikes on the skirt. Each of them had to be 3D printed and painted individually. I also had my battle axe, which is not shown here. However, I did also crochet a big and a small dragon to really give it the how to train your dragon vibe. There is a wire in both of them, so that you can adjust the wings or wrap the smaller dragon around the wrist.

If you would like some help planning a cosplay, let me know, and I’d be happy to help!

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How to Make Clothes on a Budget

Jasmine HustonLeave a comment

Hello everyone! Something that I get asked about a lot is how can you make clothing cheap or on a budget. This is hard to find when you’re first starting out because a lot of the prices for fabric are crazy and it might feel like it is easier to just buy a ready-to-wear clothing on sale. So here are a couple of my favorite places to get fabric.

1.) Thrift Stores – You might be suprised by this one but there are so many diferent ways that you can go. Of course you can find pieces that you an alter to fit you and your style but primarily when I’m going to a thrift store with sewing in mind the very first place that I go is to the tablecloths and sheets. My tinkerbell cosplay was made out of a leaf lace tablecloth that I purchased for 4 dollars. My pinafore dress I bought a round table cloth and use the circle that I cut out of the center to make the bib. I also like using sheets for dresses because there are so much fabric there.

2.) In My Own Home – This might sound like a no brainer but I also use the fabric from my own home. As mentioned above I’m looking at old curtains that might have some rips in a couple of different places but generally can be reused or even bed sheets. One of my favorite summer dresses that I have ever made is out of bedsheets and I’m about to start another dress with this same idea.  Either way it is more eco-friendly and budget-friendly if you can reprurpose items you already have to make some fun new things.

3.) Shopping Sales In Store – I’m going to be honest with you, unless it is something I must have in that moment, I NEVER pay for fabric full price. I will always wait for a coupon or a sale. One of my favorite places for sales is Hobby Lobby. The normal prices are pretty good but they have 40% off sales every other week. For the Asrid Cosplay that I am working on right now, I was able to buy a yard of faux fur fabric for $13.50 when it was identical to faux fur they had at Joann Fabrics for $50 a yard! I always shop around when it comes to fabric. I have even gotten some good quality fabric from walmart before.

4: Online – Of course you can always buy fabric online. My favorite place to buy fabric online is Fabric Wholesale Direct. The price is great for most types of fabric and for some of the major holidays they offer 10% off. Also, I love that they have flat rate shipping and after spending so much, shipping is for free. It does take about a week or a little more for it to arrive though so you have to plan way in advance. Amazon is another great place to order online, some of their fabric can be expensive though so I always like to check the local stores and Fabric Wholesale Direct to see what the going rate is for that type of fabric.

Do you have any other tips that are not listed here? Be sure to let me know in the comments section to help others. Have a great week and talk to you next time!

PS: Check out this new reel of a recent upcycling project from some old ripped sheets.

DIY Seat Belt Covers: Add a Personal Touch to Your Car’s Safety Features
sewing

DIY Seat Belt Covers: Add a Personal Touch to Your Car’s Safety Features

Jasmine HustonLeave a comment

Hello Everyone! I hope that everyone is having a fantastic day so far! I’m really excited to share this tutorial with you. A couple of weeks ago my mom entered her car at a car show. She asked me to make a couple of custom pieces for the car to dress it up. So this is the first tutorial in a mini-series that will show a step-by-step on how to make something things to dress up your car. This tutorial is going to be an easier one it is that of a simple seatbelt cover.

My mom had some covers from when she originally got the car but that was 4 years ago and they were really worn. Not to mention they didn’t go with the Princess theme. She had some specifications like she wanted them to be longer than her other ones. Once I measured them I cut the pieces out of the new fabric. The size that I used is 7″ x 11″ You want to cut out 2 pieces. One for the outside and one for the liner. This size is adjustable but worked well for her. The 11″ is the side with the length.

Once you pick your size and you cut out both fabrics, you want to put them right sides together. I would recommend pinning or clipping the two layers together. For this project, I used an anti-pill fleece for the lining and a pink furry fabric for the outside. If you are using cotton for the outside, I would recommend using a stabilizer and perhaps using some batting for added padding. Then you want to sew around the edges using a half an inch inseam. You want to leave a gap open on one of the shorter ends so that you can turn it right side out.

Next, you want to turn it right side out and then you want to top stitch along the outside. This will help to close the gap from turning it right side out. I just topstitched along the short edges as the other pieces will be topstitched in the next step. You’re almost done so now you just need to add the closure. In this case, velcro. You want to start by measuring how long of a piece you need. You want it to be a quarter of an inch shorter than the fabric on each end.

Sew one side of the Velcro on the right side of the fabric creating a box close to the edge of the velcro to secure it. Once you’re done with that, turn it to the other side and sew it on the other side. So one strip should be on the left and one on the right. Clip the threads and then prepare for it to dress up your car. Here is a picture of the ones that I have completed.

There you have it! Thank you for joining me today and if you have any questions then please leave them in the comments. Talk to you next week!

cosplay · sewing

Sprinkle Some Pixie Dust with This Enchanting Tinker Bell Cosplay

Jasmine HustonLeave a comment

Hello Everyone! So I’m really excited about this post today. So I was in a thrift store a couple of weeks and saw this beautiful tablecloth. It was green and had a beautiful lace style with some leaves throughout the design. The moment I saw it, I knew I needed to make a Tinkerbell cosplay. So I bought it and then purchased some satin fabric to go behind it since it was see-through. I sat on it for a couple of weeks trying to decide how I wanted to go about and make it. One weekend I decided I was going to just take the leap and attempt it.

I started out by using sewist.com to design the pattern. If you would like a full review on the website you can check out my other blog post here. I did take some creative licenses with the design. First I started off by adding some spaghetti straps. I didn’t want to add boning to the bodice and I wanted to make sure that it would be able to stay up. Secondly, I made the length of the dress longer. I wasn’t comfortable with the length of the original design so I made it knee-length in the hope that I would also be able to wear it for other occasions as well.

Once I had the pattern designed I purchased it, printed it out, and cut out the pieces. I was really excited about it and I started with the skirt pieces and cut the green lining. I wanted to make sure that they would fit before cutting out the tablecloth. Once I finished that I started cutting the pieces out of the tablecloth and sewed them together and serging the edges to get them neat and clean. Then I started working on the top. This was slightly more difficult but I found it easier to baste the lace pieces to the satin so that I can keep a nice crisp seam. I ironed after every step to make that a bit easier. For a closure on the back, I added a zipper for convenience. When it was all done I did the bottom hem. When I created the original design I used a straight hem on the bottom. This gave me the flexibility to decide how I wanted the bottom. I folded it in fourths and used a 3.5 in measurement to make the edges. A little photoshoot in my office and some photo pixie dust and voila, I present some of my favorite images. If you have any questions let me know down below!

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Crafting and Your Mental Health

Jasmine HustonLeave a comment

Hello everyone! I hope that you have had a great month of May. Since this month is Mental Health month, I thought that I would take a moment and just talk about my Mental health journey and how sewing and other crafts have saved my life.

In 2014, I was at a big convention and had my first panic attack. Actually, I had several over that weekend. When I returned home from the event I went to the doctor because I was also experiencing vertigo and it was so bad that I could barely stand half the time. I was then diagnosed with anxiety and put on medication for it. I was doing better until I started to experience another mental health issue that likes to come with anxiety, namely depression. I have struggled with both for some 8 years. When I would have lows with my depression they were deep lows but society told me, I wasn’t allowed to show that I was struggling. Or at least that’s what my brain was telling was telling me. That there was something wrong with me and I needed to hide it from everyone else at all costs. The only problem is that after a while it starts to take its toll and I was only ending up more and more frustrated and turned into bouts of anger. I was feeling more like a mess than every before and everything I was trying wasn’t working. Worst of all, I was embarrassed to talk about it as growing up people just didnt talk about that kind of stuff.

Ever since I was a kid though, I loved crafting and making things but I hadn’t really found that one hobby/craft that spoke to me. When the pandemic hit, like happened with many, my mental health took a serious hit. I was used to keeping myself so busy that I didn’t have time to think and suddenly I was stuck inside and couldn’t go anywhere. For as long as could remember though I wanted to learn how to make clothing. I had a sewing machine already since in the past I had an obsession with making quilts. So I started with masks because they were small and I could make them quickly. With that, my confidence grew and I then made a tote bag for groceries that had pockets and lining. Then a headband. After these successes, I wanted to try making a pair of shorts. I found this fabulous video on YouTube about drafting your own pattern. My first attempt…well, I think it speaks for itself…

I’m not going to lie, all of my hopes were dashed in that moment. But fortunately, I’m stubborn so I recut the pieces out and watched the video again and again until I got it. That was almost 2 years ago and I’m still going strong. I have been able to create and design some breathtaking things because I never gave up. Along the way, it has really helped my mental health.

It has given me a creative outlet when things are not going the way I had hoped. It gives me a way to express myself and show up as my authentic self. Not only that but I have also discovered a wonderful and supportive community. So I encourage you, no matter what kind of creative craft works for you, keep searching until you find that one that speaks to you and makes you happy. The road isn’t always going to be smooth but it is worth it in the end.

To finish it off, I’m going to add a glimpse of my newest creation. It’s still a work in progress but I’m so proud or how much I got done this weekend. Can you guess which character this is a cosplay for? Talk to you next week!

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May Craft Show

Jasmine HustonLeave a comment

Hello! The warm weather is finally and you know what that means, it’s craft show time! I have a couple of craft shows that I am going to be doing throughout the summer. I figured I would share a little recap of what I brought in the hopes that it will give you some ideas in case you want to do some craft shows. I had quite a bit of inventory from last year since I made a ton and so I brought back some of the items that I have lefts.

For this show, it was inside and I had an 8-foot table for my display. This was the first time that I had ever done an inside event before and I wasn’t sure what to expect. So I got there and set up my table. I have to say I’m pretty proud of how it was set up, you can see how it looked below.

I’m not going to lie in terms of sales I was rather disappointed by this Fix. That said I was in a really small country town and there wasn’t really that much advertising and was just a small sign out front of the community center. That said, though, it showed me that I can transport, set up, and run a booth by myself. I was able to beta-test an idea that did work out well. Most importantly, it was a good beginner show for the season. It’s been 9 months since my last show and I was so nervous. Really what I lacked in traffic in the venue and sales, I learned that I needed to remember that there were a lot of positive things too. I’ll make a separate blog about that later but for now, I want to break down my setup to maybe give you some ideas if you are doing a craft fair this year.

Since I only had a limited space, I decided to only use one of my peg that I made last year and combine my lanyards and wristlet. These have a swivel clip that makes it great for keys or even ID cards/badges. I love these because it adds some height to elevate the look.

For the middle section, this was wear I put a variety of different items. I have some lower priced items in the front and then have some of my higher and middle priced items in the back. I have learned how important it is to have some higher priced items as it shows your items have good quality even if the larger ticket items don’t sell.

As you can see now, on the other side I’m adding more height with a tiered display for my scrunchies. I also like to add some bags for convenience for those who are planning on buying a lot. One of things I added new this year was grab bags. I’m not going to lie, I’m a sucker for a good grab bag. I had two different kinds one that was $5 and the other was $10 and this was actually my best-selling item. Needless to say I’m going to continue to make those this year. The bags came as a 3 pack from Dollar Tree, and I loved the pink color went well with my brand.

I hope this gave you some ideas. If you have any other suggestions on how you set up your craft show display, be sure to let me know in the comments. Have a great week!

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Reuseable Paper Towels – Eco-friendly Project

Jasmine HustonLeave a comment

Hello! Are you looking for ways to be more eco-friendly? Over the last couple of years I have started taking small steps into adjusting my day-to-day routine routine make it better for the earth. When I started this journey I was scared at first because I thought it was going to be really expensive, but it actually saves you money too. I started out with my laundry detergent by using Earth Breeze. In case you aren’t familiar, they are a company that sends you dehydrated laundry detergent. They completely dissolve in water and the package is biodegradable in just 3 months. 1 package lasts me a couple of months, and it’s only $12 for a package. After I got used to that I started using dissolving hand soap tablets. All of the packaging is biodegradable and I use the same glass soap dispenser that I’ve had for years. I’ve also switched my cleaning products to dissolving tablet cleaners as well and repurposed old clothing or fabric to make new pieces.

There is something that has always bothered me, though, and that is how many paper towels I use, especially when cleaning or cooking. It is a very embarrassing amount because I can’t stand to have certain textures on my hand. I’ve tried hand towels and cheap multi-use cleaning cloths but there was always something I didn’t like about them. This brings us to our post for today. I saw on Joann Fabric’s Instagram this year for earth day a guide for reusable “paper” towels. I knew right then that I had to make it. If you would like to find the instructions on Joann Fabric’s website click here.


Fortunately, the fabrics were also on sale so it made it much easier and cheaper. I also have never used snaps before so I was kind of nervous but they were easy to use and I bought a set from Amazon. Since you can find the information on their website I’m not going to repeat it on here. The instructions are very simple. You can also use a serger to make it even easier. I put my snaps 1″ on each side of the corner.

Would I make these again? Absolutely! I absolutely love them! While I will still use paper towels for raw meat and cleaning disgusting places (toilet I’m looking at you) I will make more for everything else. They turned out so beautifully. I want to make ones just for cleaning and summer just for drying my face after I wash it. If you would like to see a video as I work on it please head over to my YouTube channel! Is this a project that you would be willing to try? Let me know in the comments!

Is Sewist.com worth it? Is it legit?
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Is Sewist.com worth it? Is it legit?

Jasmine Huston1 Comment

Hello! Have you wanted to make a dress or outfit that is completely unique but has little to no pattern drafting experience? Is there a specific design that keeps you up at night but you just don’t know how how to make it a reality? In comes a website called sewist.com. The idea of this website intrigued me as I always have big dreams of dresses and things that I want to make but I’ve been sewing clothing for less than 2 years and still have so much to learn. What I liked about this website is that you have total and complete control of everything about the item. I’m going to use dresses as an example. You can pick if you want it fitted, the sleeves, the neckline, darts, skirt, do you want ruffles, the length of the skirt, waistline, and more. It uses AI to create a pattern based on the items that you select. Then you can purchase the pattern from them and it supposedly comes with instructions. Just to put this out there, this post is not sponsered in any way by the site. This is my personal opinion and experience with it. My goal is to make others aware of the pros and cons of this tool. So let’s talk about this.

Interface

It has a very nice beginner and user-friendly interface. It is simple so you don’t get overwelmed and confused by unuseful graphics and it’s easy to just click on the things that you like.

Options

For the basic items to start with they have a good variety of options. At this time for Women’s clothing they have Dress, Top, Skirt, Pants, Jumpsuit, and Lingerie. For Girl’s Sizes they currently just have Dresses and Skirts but Tops are coming soon. That said if you are looking for men’s patterns they do no carry those. Once you actually started selecting what you want after picking the main type of item the options are actually very impressive. I was surprised by the amount of neckline and sleeve options. Some of them I had never seen before. Each option has a drawing to give you an idea of what you are looking at.

Personalization

Once you get to the part where you have selected all of your options it gives you a preview of what you dress looks like. But you can actually personalzie the preview even more by adding the colors that you are going to use or selected a pattern from their preinstalled library. This helps you visualize it even more. You can also decide if you want to add seam allowance or not.

Sizing

This one kind of goes right along with personalization. One of the things that I love about this website is that it is size inclusive. I am a mid-size queen. In normal sizes I wear around a 14ish but could go one smaller or bigger depending on the design. I find it incredibly hard to find sewing patterns my size as everyone wants to make them for the thin girls or if I’m lucky they list me as a 4XL. Every body is beautiful and I’m not ashamed of my curves. However I do get frustrated easily with this lack of inclusivity. This website is different though. It goes from 4XS all the way up to 9XL. This means that no matter what size you are, you can design somethign that makes you feel confident and to me that is the most beautiful thing in the world. You can also have the sizing personalized even further by entering your measurments and then the AI will make the pattern to fit your specific body. If you do this option, keep in mind that if you sizing goes between two sizes they will pick the bigger size. You can also use the size chart to determine your size. For the users in the United States be sure that you click the inches buttons on the side panel otherwise the size chart will be in centimeters. You can also include multiple sizing optiongs if you are making the same dress for several different people or if you want to sell the pattern.

Pattern Instructions

I found the instructions complete with basic information on how to put it together. It does have a picture of your finished design in the instruction files and but when it comes to necklines it just has basic facing pictures and things however it is written in a way that is easy to follower. I also love that it’s not just limited to english speakers. You can download the instructiongs in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Russian.

Price

Last but not least, we are going to talk about price. To me this is probably one of the most important things. Patterns can be very expensive especially if they are bought from the store. I don’t know about you but I’m all about trying to save money. Can you guess how much it costs for the pattern. $3. Yes you saw that correctly. Only 3 US Dollars. You can also download a Preview for FREE so you can make sure that it’s set up in a way that you want. There is another site called Tailor Nova that offers a similar program but it is I believe $13 for the pattern at each size. However I was incredibly impressed by everything that it offers. That said if you want an additional sizing of the pattern it is $3. So if you were putting it up to sell and you wanted 10 different sizes for example, it would be about $30 ($3 x 10 patterns). To me that is still a fantastic deal.

Things I Don’t Like

I want to give you a fully transparent review and there are a couple of things that I really wish were different. For example, when selecting your pieces you have to remember and visualize what you already selected as there isn’t a Preview that updates on the side as you select things. That is one of the things that Tailor Nova has and I found incredibly helpful. Another thing that I don’t like is that you can’t upload your own picture to use in the finished preview. You are limited to the short supply that they already have in the system.

Final Word

Would I use it again? Absolutely! I loved using the designer. I input my measurements and height and it came out perfectly. I like how size inclusive it is. The different options that you can add to the design and that they keep adding even more options. This is definitly not a scam. When I first saw this the old say came to my mind “If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.” So I was worried but for $3 dollars I was willing to try it and I was not disappointed. I can’t wait to design more items in the future and browse the collection that others have made as well. If you are interested in designing your own patterns, give this a try. Did you know about this tool? Have you used this or Tailor Nova? Let me know in the comments. To finish off, I’m going to post a picture of the dress that I made using this tool. Let me know what you think.

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Pattern Review: Confetti Frock by Lydia Naomi

Jasmine HustonLeave a comment

Hello! I hope that everyone has had a great week! I am so excited to share with you a pattern review of the newly released Confetti Frock by Lydia Naomi. This was released in the middle of the week and I’m so excited that I was able to pattern-test it before the release. Let me tell you. This is the cutest and most comfortable dress that I probably own right now. Don’t take my word for it take a look at these pictures.

Just look how cute that is! There is a couple of details that I really love about this pattern. First of course the sleeves. Lately, I have been into big voluminous sleeves and these are no exception. They are gathered at the top and have a hidden elastic in the bottom to make them super full. Second, I love the length. The ruffle at the bottom is optional but since I’m 5’8″ I need to have long dresses and with the ruffle, it made a nice tea length for me. Something that I was not expecting to like was the zipper. If you look at the image on the left you can see the seam where the invisible zipper resides. I am wholeheartedly a back-zipper kind of person. The zipper of this dress not only goes on the side and into the sleeve but it is still perfectly comfortable.

Some of the things that I love about this particular pattern is how complete the tutorial is. Not only are there pictures and written instructions on every step but there is also a video for each style. One of the styles is as pictured above and the other style has spaghetti straps. In order to be successful you MUST read the Read First file completely before doing anything else. This tells you how much fabric you’ll need, the measurements of the finished garments, sizes, and notion lengths such as the elastic, twill tape, zipper, etc. Some other important information that is tucked into that file is how to do a full bust adjustment. The pattern is for a b/c cup but the adjustment shows you how to make it bigger or smaller as well as how to make it longer and shorter. This is absolutely essential. Please do not skip this step.

Another essential step is when you print out your pattern make sure to use Adobe Acrobat so that you can print out only the size that you need via the layers tab. There are darts and such in this pattern so it gets confusing with all of the sizes if you do not do this. There are quite a few pages, I can’t remember exactly but I want to say around 32 so just be prepared for that.

The dress itself has a very snug fit and is made with a woven fabric with no stretch. With that in mind, I actually went a size up as my weight loves to fluctuate and I wanted to make sure that I would always be able to wear it even if I was a couple pounds heavier. (Just for reference my normal dress size is 14/16. According to the chart, I was a size 20 and sized up to a 22 so be sure to check out the sizing chart.) Because I sized up, I didn’t do the bust adjustment but that might be something I try next time. In the photos above I actually sewed an extra piece of fabric where the cups tie together to keep it more modest. However with the official release she added in the Read First file how to make an adjustment to close the gap which I am incredibly thankful for.

All in all, I really recommend this pattern as it is cute and perfect for spring/summer. It’s very comfortable as well and allows you to be unique. I actually upcycled fabric from old bedsheets to make this dress so get creative with it! If you are interested in trying it out you can buy the pattern from her website: https://www.lydianaomi.com/ or her Etsy store https://www.etsy.com/shop/LYDIANAOMI. Also if you are interested in seeing her tutorials on how to make Style A and Style B check out her YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/@LydiaNaomi. What I love about her YouTube channel is not only does she have video tutorials for her products but she also shows how you can alter clothes that are currently in your closet to fit you and gives great tips for sewing. So show some love to this amazing artist and support her small business. If you do try it, let me know what you think in the comments, or if there is another pattern you would like me to try, link it below! I hope you all have an amazing rest of your week!