Tag: diy

sewing

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!

Learn Well! The Master Roshi Style is With You!
cosplay

Learn Well! The Master Roshi Style is With You!

Jasmine HustonLeave a comment

Hello, my friends! I’m so excited to be back with you to share another Cosplay adventure. So we went to our local comic con not too long ago and my husband wanted to go as Master Roshi. This is only the second costume that I have made for him so I was a bit concerned in addition to trying to get my own costume done to enter the competition. However, I absolutely love how this turned out. If you are interested in learning a bit more about how I did this then please keep reading. Since my costume was taking must longer than expected, don’t worry I’ll make a post about that one later, we needed to pick a costume that we knew for sure we could have time for. Though my husband loves to dream big, as I do, we had to be realistic and this seemed like the perfect option. He already had the shorts and flip-flops as part of his regular wardrobe so the only real thing for me to make was the shell and shirt. The accessories like the staff and facial hair we were able to buy from Amazon, fortunately.

The Shirt

I started with the shirt because I had never made a men’s button-up shirt before and it was kind of intimidating especially with the collar. I was able to find a sewing pattern on Etsy, you can find it here. The price was great and my husband wears button-ups several times a week so I thought this would be great to make summer shirts that he can wear any time. We were on a tight budget so after looking at several different fabric options, I opted for an orange 100% cotton fabric from our local Walmart. I spent and afternoon and evening making the shirt only then to realize it was too small. I was completely defeated because I then had to reprint the pattern, tape all of the pieces together once again, cut the pattern pieces out, and then cut the fabric. I will admit, I did procrastinate a little bit because of my ADHD because it was completely overwhelming to me. Thank goodness for talking to my amazing cousin on the phone as it helped me get it done. So after I went and bought more fabric from Walmart I started again. Since Master Roshi’s shirt is supposed to be loose anyway I decided to just go with the biggest size thinking that if needed I could just take it in later. As it ended up I didn’t have to do that and it worked perfectly. When the shirt was done it looked something like this:

I then used my Cricut to cut out some purple triangles and black letters. I was really fortunate with how Design Space put the triangles as I was able to use not only the ones that I added but also the “negative space” triangles so I didn’t have to cut more. As it ended up with the letters, I needed two cut 1 1/2 sets of the alphabet to cover the entire shirt. I bought some 5/8 white buttons from Hobby Lobby and used the setting on my machine to do the buttonhole.

The Shell

I’m not going to lie, the shell caused me severe anxiety. I had never made anything this big with foam and I was so scared that I was going to ruin it. I only had a month so if something went sideways I did not have a chance to Fix it. I started out trying to find a pattern. I searched the internet trying to find something that I could use. Eventually, I found a EVA foam shell on Etsy for a Mario Cosplay, you can find it here. I bought it quickly and taped the pieces together then cut it out. I quickly realized that this was not going to work for my over 6′ husband as it’s made more for a child or teenager. I started to panic and messaged the seller and she told me how I could adjust the size. With my dad’s help and his handy dandy compass drawing tool, we added 4 inches all the way around and it worked perfectly. The cosplay foam was pretty expensive and since it isn’t Halloween they didn’t carry it at the majority of the craft stores in the area. So for this one, we actually opted for the foam floor mats from Harbor Freight. We used the Weldwood Contact Cement to glue the panels together and traced out altered pattern on the foam and cut it out. (I took inspiration from the video found here for the main construction and top details)This time I wanted to try one of those breakaway blade knives to cut the foam. When making my Ahsoka Tano cosplay I used an X-Acto knife and it was a pain to keep changing the blades. This stuff was much thicker as well and I like that I could adjust it to make the blade long enough to cut in one pass. I glued the darts shut and we had a shell! I bought a white foam dowel rod and cut it in half to use as trim.

After that, I covered it in painter’s tape. Lesson learned…..if you are doing something this big, use tape that is at least 2.5 inches wide otherwise you will use a whole bunch of tape and get little accomplished. I wanted my husband to be able to participate in this and so I had him draw the lines of how he wanted the raised parts of the shell. Afterward, I cut them and unstuck them from the shell and used the left over foam from the mats to make them. For the areas that were really curved, I made single cuts to great a dart so that they would lay flat on the foam. I then started to glue them to the shell. It took me a morning and afternoon to do all of this with plenty of breaks as I was also sanding the edges to get a rounded and more natural look and the smell of the glue got to me a couple of times. I let it completely cure then I hit it with the heat gun to seal the foam. Now it was time to seal it again. Admittedly what I used, I would never use again but I bought a can of flex seal rubber sealer for roofs and figured I would just paint it on. For the Ahsoka costume, I used a spray but it’s winter time and we kept getting snow or rain and I thought it would add texture. Well… it was a pair to work with and this stuff took 3 days to fully cure. It was also incredibly thick and liked to run, but hey that’s even more texture, right? When that was finally all done and cured it was time to paint. I used some of the Flexible FX paint in purple at Hobby Lobby. It just so happened to be on clearance for 86 cents so that was a major win. I mixed it with some black FX paint I had left over and painted it in between the raised parts of the shell and on the edges. After that dried, I took the straight purple and put blended it around the edges, and applied it to the middle. Then mixed the purple with some white to get a lighter shade and use a natural sponge to apply it to the very center or the parts that stuck out for highlights.

The last part I had to worry about was how we were going to make it wearable. This was difficult because I wanted something he could take off for panels easily and if he dropped something I wanted it to have enough give to stretch. As it ended up we were able to upcycle some old dress suspenders and hot glued them to the inside. This allowed the straps to even be adjustable and comfortable all day.

So that’s pretty much it for this costume. He loved it and got so many pictures with different people and those Dragon Ball Z cosplays and best of all it was comfortable and affordable. If you have any questions don’t be afraid to let me know! Thanks for joining me today!

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Cosplay In A Galaxy Far Far Away – Ahsoka Tano Cosplay

Jasmine HustonLeave a comment

 Hello and thank you for joining me again for another cosplaying adventure. From the moment that the last Comic-Con was over, I knew the next one that I wanted to do. While I had originally planned to take it slow, I learned that once I get excited about something I can’t stop and even found another convention to attend exactly one month after the first one. Let me tell you this was a crazy month and I had a lot of moments of frustration and tears but I absolutely love how it turned out.

I started with the headpiece because I knew that was one of the most important parts of the whole costume. This was only the second cosplay I had ever made and NEVER have I used foam so this was going to be interesting. I was able to find this pattern on Etsy for the Lekku (Click Here to be taken to the pattern) I tried a variety of different adhesives on the 3mm in an attempt to find one that would actually work. In the end, I used Weldwood Rubber Cement. Something that I look is most important with this is to apply a THIN layer then you want to let it dry for a couple of minutes. It should not look wet. You can use a heat gun to bend the foam to get it to the shape that you need. A video tutorial on Youtube provided by the seller helps to show you how to put it together. Please note that it can only be printed on A4 paper so if you are in the US you’ll have to buy special paper.

After you finish putting it together, you need to seal it with your heat gun. This will close the particles and help to make sure it doesn’t melt or get deformed when painting. The foam will be shiny when it is properly sealed. Next, I highly recommend sealing it again, some recommend Plasti Dip though I used a spray rubber by Gorilla. Personally, I used the white color so that I could make sure that everything was covered and sealed properly. I let it cure for the full 24 hours before painting. For the paint, I used Plaid FX Flexible acrylic paint in a couple of different blue colors to add depth to the piece. 

For the armor, I purchased the pattern from the same seller HERE. It came with no instructions but was able to figure it out. Eventually. Please note that I am a size XL and the belt part I had to adjust because it was not long enough to go around. After everything was put together I sprayed it also with the spray rubbed and painted it. For the silver parts I was running out of time and opted to pair it with spray paint with a hammered metal texture. For everything except the belt, I added elastic straps. To keep it secured I sewed a piece of nylon webbing (or straping) and then hot glued it to the back of the piece. For the belt, I hot-glued the buckle to one of the sides and then put velcro to hold the other end of the buckle to the other end of the belt. However, I was worried it would randomly fall off so I bought some parachute clips from amazon and attached elastic to each one, and put it on the inside of the belt so that it would have doubt security but still stay hidden.

Last but not least is the dress. I purchased this pattern from Etsy HERE. Admittedly at first I was worried because there are no sewing instructions what’s so ever. However, it is a pretty easy sew. I started with the shoulder seams and then the side seams. I trimmed the extra from the seam allowance and clipped the curves in the side seams. Since I have a bigger chest, it didn’t fit quite right there so I added a couple of darts that fixed the problem. For the silver details, I traced the guides on my computer and had my Cricut cut everything out of silver HTV and then applied it with my Cricut Easy Press Mini.

I finished off the look with a $5 pair of navy blue leggings from Walmart and some tall boots that I used that I already had.

Dress fabric: Click Here
Silver HTV: Click Here
Navy Forearm Sleeves: Click Here

Now with the final reveal of the whole costume:

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Until next time!

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Can I do it? Let's find out!

Jasmine HustonLeave a comment

 Hello everyone! Thank you for joining me today. I’m super excited to announce that I have decided to do an Arts and Crafts Festival. In a local town, they are having a market just for handmade goods. This is only the second one that they have ever had. I have never done a market like this and so I’m super excited to delve into the world of farmer’s markets and festivals like this with you. 

As you may have seen on my Instagram, I have already started making some products to sell. If you would like to stay up to date on the creation process of the pieces be sure to check out the highlight story on my Instagram page called craft festival.

For this first item, I wanted to make something that was eco-friendly and could make with things that I already had in my fabric collection. These make-up remover pads are a life saver. They have a fun cotton on the front with a flannel back that is super soft against the skin and gently exfoliates. So far the ones that I have planned are the seashells (pictured above), fall leaves with acorns, and a gamer fabric. These are so easy to make and they are amazing for extra fabric that is too small for another project. I do plan to make two sizes of these as these can be rather small to do the whole face but they are the perfect size for removing eye makeup. The best part is that you can put them in the washing machine and they are as good as new.
I want to hear from you! Have you ever gone to an Arts and Crafts Festival? Until next time, Stay Crafty!

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Personalized Gift Basket for $25!!

Jasmine HustonLeave a comment

Welcome back! I have been planning this post for a little while but had to wait to post it. I made this gift basket that I was super excited about but didn’t want it to get back to the couple. So let’s jump right in.

So first up is this beautiful split monogram cutting board. I had been watching various youtube videos trying to find an idea of what to make them. One of the first videos that I came across was how to make a custom cutting board. Believe it or not, the glass cutting board was actually bought from Dollar Tree. How cool is that!?! So this gift is so easy to do. I designed it on Cricut DesignSpace. I use Oracle 651 vinyl because the color is on both sides. When I cut the image I mirrored it so that I could attach it to the bottom so they could still use the cutting board. When I applied it I used a ruler as a squeegee to make sure there were no bubbles and voila, this one is done.
So for my next part of the gift I bought this luxury plush blanket from Dollar General. I love how soft it was and since it is starting to get cold weather a blanket it seemed like a great idea. I used the custom monogram that I used above but put it on some gold HTV and applied it using my easy press 2.
Next, I made this beautiful tray. Lately, I have been really into these Split Monograms so I wanted to use this again. I wanted to add a little spice to it though so I added the leaf frame. I spray painted the tray black then added the details in a light blue Oracle 651 permanent vinyl.  After I let it fully cure for 48 hours I sealed it a clear coat by Rustoleum. 
The last part of my gift was these adorable coffee mugs. I bought them at Dollar Tree. I looked online trying to find the perfect saying. Then I found these and I loved it so much. It perfectly describes my friends. I made sure they were fully cured before giving them away so they would be able to be hand-washed.
I packed it into a collapasable cube and a gift basket bag and it was ready to go! If you would like to have a step by step tutorial on how to make any of these items then let me know in the comments below. Until next time, stay crafting my friends!
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Super Smash Trophy!?!

Jasmine HustonLeave a comment

Hey guys! So I have another exciting post for you today. So my husband today is having a super smash tournament with his friends today. So earlier this week he asked me if I could make him a trophy to give to the champion of the tournament. I thought about it for a couple days and looked online trying to find some sort of inspiration…well I didn’t find very much. I found maybe 2 trophies and they were 3D printed or you could buy it on Etsy for $30. So I thought to myself how could I make something that wouldn’t break the bank? So this is what I came up with.

It may look super complicated but it totally wasn’t. So the base of the trophy is a 5X5 round plaque that I bought at JoAnn Fabrics. I used a 50% off coupon and got it for $1. If you are looking for one you can find it here. I loved the detailed edging of this one. Then I used black glossy spray paint to give it a more finished look.
For the gold stand, my adventure took me to dollar tree where I found a package of three glass candle holders for $1. So I went ahead and picked that up. When I got home I got the one I wanted to use out of the package and use a metallic gold Rustoleum spray paint that I had from another project and used that to give it that first place feel.
For the Mario on top, there were many different ways that I wanted to do this but I figured that simple was probably best. I searched store after store to find a little 2″ Mario with no success. So then I turned to the internet and found a set of 18 Super Mario Action Figures all of them that were 2″ tall. You can find that set here. The set was $12.99 but I plan on either using them for cupcakes later or just selling the rest in my local buy sell trade. Then I used Gorilla Glue Epoxy to glue everything together.
I was almost done and so excited about my creation but I still needed some words on the trophy. So I downloaded the official Super Smash Brothers Font and cut it out with my Cricut on a permanent vinyl sheet and attached it. Then voila it was complete. I hope this is helpful in case anyone else wants to make a trophy but doesn’t want to spend a ton of money. Until next time, have craftabulous day!
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Fall in love with Autumn

Jasmine HustonLeave a comment

Hello everyone! Welcome back to my blog. So today I wanted to show you something else that you can make with the Cricut. This is probably my new shirt. You may not know this but Autumn is my FAVORITE season. I love the crisp air and beautiful leaves. Basically, I just love everything about it. Since Autumn officially starts on Monday I wanted to make a shirt in preparation. So here is a picture of my finished product.

This may look complicated at first but it is so worth it. The words in black are all 1 piece so that makes it easy. The leaves and words on the sides are in four different colors. I used orange, gold, medium yellow, and medium/dark green. The leaves are very easy to apply. The hardest part of the project is trying to align the “I live for autumn” and keep it straight but once you have it, you’re golden. The shirt is antique cherry red by Gildan that I bought at Michael’s for $2. If you are looking for the SVG file, you can find it here. That’s all for today. If you have any questions please send me a message. Talk to you soon!