Daydreaming and... Coming soon to caustic threads...

So, I have been doing more sewing and designing the past few weeks and as much as I REALLY LOVE screen printing, it is very revitalizing for me, as designing has been a long time passion. Soooo I have been daydreaming about making some investments that I think would really help me make more of a business out of my designing.

I want to buy two adjustable dress forms in addition to the designers dress form that I already have. I CAN grade (or size) Patterns, but I do not trust this method fully and would like to have SOMETHING to fit my clothing on. Since my business is an Internet business I usually don't get to fit the item directly on the customer (which is ALWAYS Preferred). So I think an adjustable dress form is the next best thing. I need two because they come in sizes sm/m and m/l.

The other thing I want is to either get my industrial overlock machine going OR try to resell it and buy a household one. I am hoping to find all of these things used, but I have a few ideas for coming up with funds if I cant.


I finally got back to this dress, it has been sitting in muslin, really just waiting to get ruined, so I finally made the pattern for it. This is what it looked like in muslin : http://acrylicandsteel.blogspot.com/2010/03/from-workbench.html

I was able to cut and sew most of the pattern this weekend, and I think it is SOOO cute. The problem is that I don't know if I can get this fabric again, so it may be one of a kind.

It has some really interesting details at the top that I just love...


And this Too Cute print in the pocket for a little interest. It helps that I love this shade of green I am sure, and I just swoon over Japanese prints. There are several variations of this dress that I have swirling around my brain, so I hope to get a chance to sketch them out and make the patter pieces soon. On this one I just need to do a little finishing on the inside on the neck and then install the zipper and do the hem for the outer skirt. It is fully lined.

I also want to offer this dress in several basic colors and fabric choices that I know I can always find, and do a version where the halter part of the dress is in a sheer fabric.



I burned two new screens this morning, this is a sample of one of them, of course the real thing will not say caustic threads across it :) the other one is a fox. I am trying to think up some cleaver text to print along with the fox but I haven't come up with anything yet. I am going to print this screen tonight to see how it turned out! I cant wait!


I also made two shirts like this. I whipped one up for autumn pretty quickly and had just enough fabric to make one to sell, so I decided to make another.



and... a bonus picture of Adam and autumn for family, fans of Autumn (fans of Adam???) and anyone else who likes cute kiddo's.

I'll be back late tonight to do my treasury of the day!

Take care!

Xoxo

Erica

Small Changes

I recently decided to purchase a showcase spot for Caustic Threads, which has made me take a long hard look at my store. If I am going to spend a little extra money advertising I really want to make sure I am presenting my product in a desirable way. Several people told me that they did not like my banner, it was too dark, boring, text gets lost. At first I felt a little sad but that was dumb. People were just trying to help me be successful. I also had several people tell me that they LIKED my avatar, but since I don't like aspects about it I decided to change that too. It looks too pixalated or something.

Here is my old Banner and Avi:




And this is my new banner and Avi:




Any thoughts or suggestions?



I Loved these silly pictures so I couldn't help using at least one of them:



I still have a lot of work to do, I am trying to make the first image for all of my listings similar so that my store has a nice clean look. There are some Items that I cant do that with, and there will be more as I continue to add accessories from my other store, but I have a pretty good Idea of what I am going for. Unfortunately this means I have to re-take a lot of pictures. I am also working on new cards and a few custom projects.

I guess I know how I will be spending my long weekend...

Xoxo,
Erica

Handmade Wedding: Custom Wedding Dress FINAL PICTURES.

So, For those who have been watching the progression of this custom wedding dress, here are the Final pictures (which also means that if you are tired of looking at it you will be glad to know that it is finished! ) You can see the original sketch for this dress here:



https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg05e1QuaYI3IZwxG7sD1ndJ07eU7yGxmi5VhBFiqeCNgaxsAeairFCvH9BVtS7ICa9ZdT6haYaK_3mxsC7ut17Fl8Nsiu1oVVZppgdS1fgz3VlYrLfNBA851ooogN24XvQAeywUm18rjY/s1600-h/TarasDress1.jpg



This project ran so smoothly I can hardly believe it is over... I keep thinking I MUST HAVE MISSED SOMETHING- but at this point it really just needs to fit, and most minor changes I would expect the customer to have done locally by a tailor, and we used a muslin fitting garment so I expect the fit to be pretty good.



This dress is Designed By me, the patterns are made by me and it is entirely sewn by me as well, including some beautiful hand sewn details. This is a finished project that I am very proud of. I knew I could do it of course, but sometimes you have to DO something to convince your knowledge of your capabilities to overcome your insecurities.





I was also commissioned by the same person to make this birdcage veil and facinator:

The facinator which can be worn without the veil

The veil, which can be worn without the facinator too, of course.

The dress is very versatile and has four pieces, a bolero, a top which is fully boned, an underskirt with alencon lace details, and an over skirt with an inner tie up system that adjusts the length of the skirt (and then several pin on flowers)

That means it can be worn like this:

(this is the alencon lace underskirt)

Or like this:

(this is the over skirt when it is all the way down)

(This is the back, it has a very small train)

A few detail shots:

(The bottom of the dress worn as it is intended)

(this is to show the detail of the pleating on the bolero)

And this is how it is meant to be worn:


I took these pictures in old town in Albuquerque, New Mexico

We got a lot of comments about how beautiful the dress is, which means a lot to me, because they see a LOT of dresses as it is a very popular place to get married and get wedding pictures taken, so the shop owners there see a LOT of dresses.

I should have taken some business cards :)

For future reference... (you know, like market research...but less organized and targeted)

I have a question for YOU...

How much would you pay for this handmade custom designed wedding dress?

What about the veil and Facinator?

Consider it a guessing game. I will tell you in a few days how much I charged for this dress, as long as it is known that I will never ever make a dress like this for that price again ;)

that is...unless, I just feel like designing, or you are my good friend, or....

I really loved making this dress because the customer had some ideas but she really let me design it myself, and that is important to me, but I know I underpaid myself by a pretty long shot.

Thanks!

Xoxo,

Erica

PS- if anyone is interested in a custom wedding dress, veil or facinator, feel free to contact me either by email: ericahvoges@yahoo.com or by convo in etsy http://acrylicandsteel.etsy.com/

The Twinkie Cup

Autumn Admires the Trophy

This Saturday, in celebration of our friend John's ( Johnny Rocketpants in the derby world) 30th birthday we joined him at an indoor race track for a very fun party.

This is how Rocketpants explained the event:
To celebrate my 30 years of greatness, I require a competition of epic proportions. Hence I must insist on reviving one of the greatest challenges ever conceived -- The Twinkie Cup. A battle pitting friends against friends in tiny cars, hurling down the concrete at moderately quick speeds with the victor given the most glorious trophy in all of motorsports -- an oversized Margarita glass full of golden sponge cake with creamy filling.

We will race from 8 - 10 pm, with the winner determined by their top 3 lap speeds. As well, a twist will be implemented to spice up the competition. Those participating may dress in Smokey & the Bandit attire with their ensemble deducting their total time.

In this competition, you can deduct time in the following ways:
1. Having mustache: -3 sec
2. Wearing Bandit attire (pearl-snap shirt & boots): -6 sec
3. Wearing Smokey attire (police uniform): -12 sec
4. Wearing Sally Field attire (wedding dress): -24 sec


Adam and I Prepared for the party by making fake mustaches

We had a great time on Saturday night! I did not race this time because I was watching Autumn. I didn't race last time either... I don't know why...

Adam and I wearing our fake mustaches. Mine is pink :)

Adam Raced and got about 4th place.

Bill won the Twinkie Cup this year, Thanks to his beautiful wedding dress.

I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of Rocketpants! He looked awesome in his fake stache, cowboy hat, mother of pearl snap shirt and boots.

In other news I have been very sick for the past week. I have had really awful stomach pain and throwing up daily. Last week I had a cold on top of that. When I Was going to FIDM I had some really bad ulcer attacks, and they acted exactly like this, so I am assuming that is the problem. I am taking some medication that should make it feel better soon and I am also eating really mild foods like oatmeal... but I really want a pickle, damnit! I would also love to eat pasta with tomato sauce or even an orange.


Also, I have created the inner ties in the wedding dress I am finnishing up so it looks MUCH better now. All I have left is the viel, which I plan to make this afternoon. Sorry if you are tired of looking at this silly dress, expect to see it one more time after the final pictures are taken :)

Updates on a dress I am working on...

Well, first of all, I am giving away a pair of cute hand warmers! You can enter my giveaway HERE .


I have been doing a custom order for a wedding dress and I have reached a point where I am finally willing to share the progress. This has been an extremely fun project, and I liked having an excuse to spend $70 a yard on lace (even if the laces I wanted the most were all over $100 a yard) . I am only getting about $100 for this dress after materials, But I am so glad to have the opportunity just to MAKE it. I couldn't afford to make it if someone were not paying for the materials.


Just as a reminder, here is the Fashion Sketch of the dress.


This is the top and the underskirt. The top is not pinned on tight to the form. The form is only about a size 2 so the dress is a little bigger than that. The lace is all hand sewn on. I still need to hem the skirt, put the zipper in and cut off the extra netting on the lace.


This is the dress with the top sewn pinned on tighter and the over skirt on as well. The over skirt still needs all of the pleating done and I need to put the zipper in.



The top is fully boned and lined and has these buttons all the way up the back. I need to put some pleats at the top of the corset and then it will be finished.


This is the dress with the over skirt pinned up as it is intended to be. It looks pretty good to me so far!

I also still need to make the veil and the bolero. There is still a lot of work to do, but I am very pleased with the progress I have made.



Also... speaking of weddings.... Adam and I got our wedding rings finally, after being married tor almost 2 years. We got them from http://bendthefish.etsy.com . Mine is very elegant and has a tiny little diamond !I love it!

My First GIVE AWAY and also a TUTORIAL: How to Make Hand Warmers

So, arm warmers are a pretty big seller in my store. I use old wool sweaters and I felt them by washing them and drying them. This creates a dense fabric with edges that do not fray, even when unfinished.



There is a limited amount of sweater that is usable for arm warmers, so I also like making purses, pouches, wallets, baby hats, baby shoes, and anything else I can think of with the remaining felt scraps.

I have a HUGE collection now, though many of the sweaters I have in my stash still have parts that are good for making arm warmers.

I also received a custom order for a pair of hand warmers this weekend, which seemed like an excellent opportunity to use some of the smaller scraps that I have.

So, to start out you will need some felt scraps from a wool sweater. If you need to make them, wash and dry a sweater on high heat a few times.



Trace your hand on a piece of paper to make the pattern, then add seam allowance. I used 1/4 of an inch. Draw a straight line with a 90 degree angle on either side across where your knuckles will be and also where your wrist will be. Draw a curve from the top of the thumb to the bottom. Then cut out your pattern.


Then pin your pattern to your fabric. You will need a total of 4 pieces. if your fabric is doubled just cut the pattern out twice. If it is not- for example I did not have enough of this black sweater to double it- then cut 2 with your pattern face up and then cut 2 with your pattern face down.


It is not necessary to put an applique on your hand warmers, but I think it looks way more awesome :). If you ARE going to put the applique on the easiest time to sew it on is BEFORE you sew up the sides of your hand warmers, but I usually do it after wards because I think that placement of the applique is easier after the hand warmers are sewn. I often wish I had done it BEFORE sewing up the sides when I am working on ARM warmers and my hands are cramping up, but since there is better access into the hand warmers it makes little difference when the applique is sewn on. This applique was made from my own original drawing of a heart, Iron-On transfer paper and recycled poly felt.


Sew up the sides with a regular stitch. Try them on and make sure you like how they fit. I made these smaller because they are really stretchy and they felt better that way. When you are happy with the fit zigzag stitch over your original stitches (make sure that you back stitch at the beginning and end of your seams so that they do not unravel) and cut off the excess fabric.




This is what the custom pair looked like when I was finished. Pretty awesome.

I shipped them out this morning. :)


SOOOO... I am pretty sure I said GIVEAWAY:

I have been meaning to have one of these for a while now, and have actually created my own arsenal of great AcrylicandSteel.etsy.com Items to give away. In Lu of the tutorial just given I decided to make a pair of hand warmers to give away.

one reader will receive these cute blue whale arm warmers . The felt on these is VERY dense making them a little tighter than the other pair I made using the same pattern, but they will stretch as far as you make them. I think a young girl... or even a teenage girl would just love these. I am 26 and I love them!




To enter:

1 entry- Follow my blog
3 entries- Go to AcrylicandSteel.etsy.com and post a link in the comments to your favorite item
10 entries- purchase ANYTHING from my store during the duration of this giveaway or ANYTHING from any of my friends at the christie cottage's buy and sell thread (There is a new one daily today's is http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6377432&page=26), the Booty buy and Sell Thread http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6363199or The Crazy buy and replace thread http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6377598&page=29. (12/14/09-12/28/09)

Please post a comment for each of the above ways to enter and provide your etsy shop url in the comment as well, or some other way to contact you if you win. If you make a purchase from any of these stores please also leave the transaction ID in the post.

A winner will be picked December 28, 2009. I will also Feature the winner's store on my blog, unless the winner does not have an etsy store or requests that I do not feature their store.

Adam finished the kitchen knife he was working on, and it is really beautiful! The base is so simple but so pretty!



Adam and I worked together on this piece. It is a custom order. A very nice and fun guy ordered it for his best friend, The Bomb Dylan, who skates for Prison City Derby Dames.

I love making things for everyone but as a a derby girl, it is especially fun to make things for other derby girls, refs and fans. It did not turn out quite as well as we had hoped, we tried 6 times and used three different bearings... of course the one we went with was the first one. I guess that should be no real surprise :) What I really love about this necklace is that it has the skaters name in it- and I love that because I never would have thought to do that! I guess that one of the many why custom orders can be so much fun!



I also had several items to list this morning! I only finished listing the two letter openers. They were a custom order for another etsy seller http://BDOODLES.etsy.com Adam made those, obviously. This was fun because Adam works mostly in wood so he got to have bun and get creative with antlers. It is also fun because the antlers were provided by the bdoodles and they are meaningful to the people she is giving the letter openers to. It feels good to make these kinds of gifts, just like it feels good to give and recieve them. I need to go list those 6 bearing necklaces! Two of them were salvaged from issues we had with the custom order, and then the others were made because we saw some perfect pre cut inserts when we went to the jewelry store to get the silver for the letter opener in the picture.

Costumes and preview for CAUSTIC THREADS !

Halloween was fun, and stressful. We had two parties to go to, and relatively little time... and after a while the costumes can get a little uncomfortable.



Adam was the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland


I was Little Bo Peep... and am very happy with how my costume turned out. I started it at about 1:00 on Halloween and had it completed in time to go out- that required making 5 pieces from scratch! ( I also make my own patterns) I DID get a new sewing machine. More on that later.


and Autumn was my adorable little lamb!


also, I am going to start another etsy store called Caustic Threads. I already have the shop, but it is empty and there has been no activity in it yet. This is going to be one of my first items. This picture kinda sucks but it is a t-shirt that has been altered into a small halter top and it has a crow and heart fabric applique.

I have a lot more work to do before I get it up and running, but here is a little sneak peak :)

I am also going to start moving some of my Acrylic and Steel merchandise over there, things like purses.