The American Dream Pillow

My friend, Carlos, saw the patriotic boy-toy print I had and asked where he could get some for himself, but it appears to no longer be at Joann Fabrics. Luckily for him, I hadn't done anything yet with my beefcake fabric and was happy to make something for him as a housewarming gift, as he just moved into a new studio.

For the back side of this pillow cover, I used a stars and stripes motif:



The two fabrics overlap in the back where it opens to put the pillow in. This is called an "Envelope-backed Pillow Cover", which I roughly based on Martha Stewart's instructions.

When I measured out the 18x18" size onto the fabric, I made sure to include as many pretty boy faces as I could within the square. I'm glad I didn't pick a smaller pillow for this print; it would have been sad to have to limit and choose which boys to include.



And voila! A very huggable pillow for Carlos to lay his head down on and dream the American dream of starry, shirtless, muscly drummer boys knocking on his door. This may not actually be too far from his reality, now that I think of it.

I briefly considered adding a border but that would have made the print area smaller. I also considered adding a pom-pom trim, but I don't think one this needs it. There's plenty of pomp & circumstance within the print already! Anyway, here's a side view of the pillow:



It's an easy project and now I want one for myself too. But I would have to figure out which existing pillow I'd have to replace to allow for it, otherwise there won't be any room left on my couch for anyone to actually sit. Or... I might make another apron with the remaining fabric, which would be another nice way to snuggle with some cute American beefcake while I'm baking my weekly mochi cake.

Crafts of July, including Patriotic Boy-toys.

I'm still recovering from a whole month of painting, drawing, and lost sleep (in between foosball, Insanity workouts, violent films, & large quantities of pasta) at the Imaginism Workshop in Toronto. I made some great friends and learned a lot of technique & professional advice (and foosball technique) from the talented Thierry Lafontaine & Bobby Chiu. Even though it was usually sunny outside, the house we stayed in was pretty cold, so I got a lot of use out of my Rocket Popsicle scarf!



 As shown here, when I stepped outside to document a foosball match before a bbq dinner:

Hey, I match the little foosball guys! Anyway, while I was there, I did find some time to crochet some cupcake tops, out of that fluffy white Lion Brand Homespun yarn, from Twinkie Chan's book. So I should work on finishing that through the rest of this summer. I'll add red cherries later.

I even participated in Worldwide Knit/Crochet in Public Day and crocheted a cupcake top on the Toronto subway.

Now that I'm back home, I'm eager to get back to my sewing machine & stash of summer fabrics. For July 4, I ironed out this steamy print... should I make an apron, pillow, or both!?

Hello, drummer boy. Bang that drum!

I'll also use some patriotic starry & striped fabric as an accent for this patriotic beefcake print.

AND, San Diego Comic-Con is coming up in about a week, and I'm going to attend for the first time! I already have a Wonder Woman costume I can wear, but part of me is tempted to sew an additional costume to wear... maybe something from "Adventure Time!"

But I'm afraid that may be a bit ambitious, in between more important things I should do between now and then. Well, maybe if I get revved up sewing the patriotic fabric, we'll see if I have momentum to start a costume! If not, I also have that spacegirl quilt & the tropical print dresses next on my list. TOO MANY THINGS TO MAKE –story of my life.

Baby Quilt Sneak Peek

I've been chugging away at this quilt, which has had some odd cosmic coincidences with current events, but anyway here's a sneak peek.

Quilting is a good exercise in patience & planning something that requires many steps. When I've been sitting at my computer too long, it's nice to stretch my back, get some feeling back in my numbed butt, walk over to my handmade project and just complete another step.

Plus, it's a treat to finally put my stash of fun fabrics to use.



This is my second quilt project ever, but my first attempt at appliqué. So I tried out a few different methods before I found one that I preferred. I learned a lot about dealing with different types of shapes and sizes. Maybe I'll blog about that later.



Sometimes I found myself getting distracted with testing the funny stitches on my new sewing machine:



There's even one that draws a tiny bicycle! Or dog or car or rocket! (I figured out later that I should be using the thread-cutter & tack button, so I wouldn't have all those crazy thread ends flying all over the place.)

It's kind of nuts to me what a sewing machine can do, and that you can get one for a couple hundred bucks or less. (Though I know there are fancier ones that run for thousands!)

The other day, my friend Angie came over and noticed that it can stitch greek letters!? --which I frankly think is silly, but... if any fraternities or sororities wanna commission a personalized piece, I guess they can call me?

Uhh, anyway I better go finish this quilt so I can have it ready as a gift for my trip... in a few days!

Oh, you seductive fabric, YOU

Usually what compels me to want to sew something is finding an enticing fabric. Like the other day, I found these on sale and couldn't leave Joann Fabrics without them:

So I started browsing dress patterns for ideas, and discovered that Vogue had re-issued vintage dress patterns from the 1940s & '50s, like these!

Oh man. Then I found maybe 10 dress patterns I wanted to try, but it's been ages since I've sewn apparel, so I settled on a simpler one that I could try. Eventually I got myself out of the store, and this was my haul from Joann Fabrics:



But I also have a stash of fun fabrics left over, some from NY Elegant (a shop that was recommended to me by Fashion Designer, Diana Eng). That's where I had found the fabric that I used for my cute reversible apron and also this fabric that is out of this WORLD:



I mean, just look at those colors, rockets, buildings, and Barbarella-inspired pin-up girls! How could I resist?

So I have some plans for those, in addition to this quilt that I'm working on, that uses fabrics from my stash, Joann Fabrics, & Brooklyn's Fiber Notion (Park Slope).

(That orange gingham is leftover from my apron, and the yellow's leftover from my dessert quilt.) Now excuse me while I go iron & trim some of that fabric.

Defibrillatin'!

Oops. I forgot about this blog. In the meantime, I've moved back to L.A., land of everyday sunshine. I'm still crafting (and designing toys) though, and I'm on Tumblr, Instagram (as "domojun"), Ravelry (as "supacrafty"), Pinterest, Facebook, and a regular player on "Words with Friends" so who knows how I will keep this up.

But I've also collected a crop of crafty friends, so let's see if we can resuscitate this baby with a new League of Supercrafters! (-Sorry. I started going to NY Comic Con & am going to my first San Diego Comic Con this year, so yes, the slippery slope into cosplay has started.)

I've also since accelerated my ADD/addiction among crafting projects. I like to keep 3-5 projects going at once if I can. Today, I'll highlight various projects I've done since my last blog update:

My first and only completed quilt - dessert themed squares:



I hand-sewed the whole front of this thing. I KNOW. It was a reaction to my sitting in front of the computer all day at Yahoo! back when I used to work there (and back when it was cooler than Google, if anyone remembers that). I put it away while I went to Toy Design school and then triumphantly finished it after I graduated...

I don't plan on doing that level of hand-sewing again, because frankly, it seems masochistic to me now. But I do love this quilt, and I plan on making more and to try other methods... preferably also leaning more on a sewing machine than that hand-stitched madness.

I also have been a huge fan of Twinkie Chan's food-inspired scarves. Last year, she finally compiled her patterns into a book, which I had been WAITING FOR since I saw her stuff at that first Maker Faire. I used to be primarily be a knitter, but her book has turned me into a crochet nutcase! I started with this cupcake hat.



...which I later gave away as a X'mas gift.

I also made these handwarmers for friends:





and finally made this popcorn scarf for myself. I like to wear it to the movies.



I also dabble in amigurumi, a Japanese term for crocheted/knitted animals/toys. I customized a few, like this monkey with a cupcake, as a gift for artist, Jon Burgerman:



I also knitted tiny ones from Anna Hrachovec's "Teeny Tiny Mochmochi" book as X'mas gifts:



Sometimes I'll dabble in a plush project. I'm a huge fan of "Adventure Time," and they were slow on releasing merch for it, so I made this LSP for my cousin's little daughter:



And I made myself a Jake doll from felt:



I was also commissioned to do a custom plush, for Katie Cook. I sewed this one based on her adorable webcomic, Gronk, after I met her at my first visit to New York Comic Con & fell in love with her mini-watercolors. Here she is at San Diego Comic Con after she was handed the plush by my courier-friend, Emotion Eric, who also took this photo.



Oh my gosh, I guess I made a lot of stuff last year. You'll just have to browse my Flickr album.

As for 2012, I moved to L.A., and then knocked out two more scarves from Twinkie Chan's crochet book. First, I did the Buttered Toast scarf, which I felt would be easier to wear since it's mostly a neutral color tone.



Then I completed this Rocket Popsicle scarf, which was pretty easy, because it's mostly just repeated rows and swapping colors. At some point, I'd like to try a knitted version of this, because the ridges seem perfect for a ribbed knit, and also I found some sparkly soft yarn in the same color scheme.



Also I made this "Robo-Egg" as a get-well gift,  for my friend & artist, Josh Ellingson based on his drawing. (He's doing fine now.)



And recently, I finally treated myself to a new Singer machine. I tested it out with a quick reversible apron project, using this free online pattern.

I chose apples with orange gingham on one side,



and Cowboys, Cowgirls, & ponies on the other!



I definitely favor this cowboy theme side. I loved this project; it was easy and quick. Next time I'd leave out the D-rings; I don't think they work so well, but I bet a tie or just a sewn fixed length neck loop would be better. Anyway, I'd like to make more as a gifts! If you know me, don't be afraid to drop a big hint if you'd like one. Just know that it will fall into my long queue of craft projects and may take awhile.

Next time, I'll share the various projects I'm juggling at the moment, which include more crocheting, more knitting, a quilt, and.... a dress! -which I haven't attempted since my Powerpuff Girl costumes back in 1999 or so. Eek.

Okay, now your turn! Share what you're working on!