Zen and the Art of (fill in the blank).

Post-Traumatic Sewing Disorder (Full version)

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 07:06:20 GMT

I haven't posted here since the day I found out my Suki had cancer. Suki was like my daughter, the love of my life, and my true heartdog. It's been a rough couple of months. Suki was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma that had spread to her lungs. She was given weeks to live and chemo was not an option for her. I also fucked up my ankle and was out of work for the 2nd half of December and first week of January. My family lost pretty much all of their life savings due to the Bernie Madoff scandal. My car died on me, I broke my oven and a crapload of other things....and the shit goes on and on.

I didn't care about any of it but my Suki. Thankfully we had more good days than bad. To see pictures of her or read of our story you can check out our blog at http://fortheloveofsuki.blogspot.com>fortheloveofsuki.blogspot.com

Unfortunately we were forced to make the decision to put her down close to a month ago. (1/29/09 - I miss her so!) During our battle anything to do with sewing was put on the back burner. I refused to spend her last days strapped to a sewing machine. The only thing helping me get through the days is sewing now. Plus we're booked up with shows so I'm kind of forced to work hard. It's a great catharsis.

This is my newest project. It was for a valentine's themed show. There seem to be some burlesque enthusiasts on lj so I'll include some of the details that makes this gem different from my other costumes.

Everything was made from scratch but the bra. I glued and sewed on the sequin fabric and rhinestones on a thrift shop bra instead of making one from the beginning due to time constraint. This entire outfit was made in just under a week in my spare time. It consists of heart pasties, bra, corset with interchangeable ribbons, skirt with detachable tulle, heart knickers, tie-up knickers, garter/suspender belt, and a handmade double-sided giant heart. The fabric is this cheapo sequiny stuff and it fused like a dream. The red part of the tulle has 2.5 yards of chiffon, and a total of 10 yards of two types of tulle. It looks much better live on stage when the light hits the thousands of sequins.

Here's some pics of it in action and of the construction. Enjoy!

My Suki is sick :(

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 06:13:35 GMT

..

11/25/08 - I just found out today that my little girl Suki might have cancer. She's had two lumps removed in the past two years and both were benign but she stopped eating properly after her last surgery three weeks ago. She's lost 5 pounds which for a little dog is a lot. She had x-rays today which showed she has a tumour the size of a tennis ball near her kidney and a bunch of smaller ones riddled throughout her abdomen. She hasn't been herself for awhile now and my Vet thinks she has lymphosarcoma. I won't know the full prognosis or official diagnosis till Monday but her medical bills are already starting to add up to well over $600 in the last month and that's before any real treatment has even started. I lost my last dog Zippy to cancer and I'm terrified it might happen again with Suki. I've created a donation button on my page through paypal. No donation is too small so if you can give $5, $10, or only a dollar I would truly appreciate it. If any of you hold a soft spot in your heart for a cold wet nose please keep her in your thoughts as she's having surgery tomorrow.

La Vie en Pink...the pink Panther...pink squirrel....The Pink Lady...

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 09:58:42 GMT

Lot's of pink! Just in the nick of time I've managed to finish my second costume for my show with Shameless Burlesque on Tuesday. The theme is Save the Te-ta's - A Masquerade Ball. We will be raising money to support breast cancer treatment. I decided to stick to pink and have made an outfit to go with the theme song from the Pink Panther.

The ensemble includes a bra, panties, garter belt, skirt, faux bustle thing, and of course the corset. I also made pasties for it but absolutely had to show off the pasties to match my other costume I posted last week as I am totally smitten by them. They look so much better in person when you can see the light bounce off of them....Crap I love swarovskis! And they only took 2 and a half gross of swarovskis...heh...only. The bra, pasties, garter, corset, and panties are all trimmed in black sequins to bounce light off of. I went over budget on swarovskis for the last costume so this one gets the frugal treatment. Once I get some "action" shots of these pieces I'll post them in my personal journal as my mannequin doesn't quite fill this baby out.

Corset info. This is my first single layer corset and I'm pretty happy with the heaviness of it. It easily stands up to the thickness of my usual corsets. The pink leopard stuff is fused to a very heavy dark coloured denim, and that's it for the layers. The inside has a contrast pink stitching which looks darling against the denim but since I was so pressed for time my stitch lines leave much to be desired. Combination spring and spiral...underbusk, and HD busk. The lacing in the back will be my standard black laces...I have that light pink in temporarily while I cross my fingers for my grommet order to arrive so I can put the rest of them in. (It arrived)

Action shots of my show and pasties

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 09:50:47 GMT

Here's a video filmed, and edited by Juan of The Damn Juanchos. The background music is "Heatbreaker" by his awesome band! It was filmed at Shameless Burlesque's Save the Teta's Masquerade Ball October 28th at Kitchen 305 and features Miss Holly Peno, Morgan La Rue, Miss Audrey Rose Lautrec, and our guest performer Go-Go Amy. NSFW! It's not lewd or anything but it is a burlesque show so view on an appropriate computer.

Here's a quick pic of my teardrop hat, and the dual coloured swarovski bullseye pasties.

That's all for now!

Sew-a-thon results

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 21:02:40 GMT

Here's the rest of the outfit. My mannequin doesn't have the curves to really show this lovely off, and I'm too tired to put it on right now.

I posted the construction details in my other posting. The only really extra stuff to add is the skirt corsets in the back and has spring boning down the edges. The entire outfit is skin tight and flares out at the knees into the tulle and taffeta skirt. I used het hematite swarovski crystals on the the black lace on all parts, and there's also crystals on the top layer of the skirt. When the light hits it right it looks magnificent. There's a matching parasol (brolly decorated with lace, sequins, and fringe), which was really the inspiration for this whole concept. I really tried my best to pattern match all 5 pieces of this outfit and for the most part it worked. Yay :)

All I have left to make is a matching teardrop hat, and the pasties which will be done in light siam and clear crystal swarovskis.

Yay! Now I'm working on my second outfit...an homage to the pink panther for out breast cancer fundraiser burlesque show.

Burlesque stripes and the never ending sewing storm

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 16:19:12 GMT

I think this may be my first official livejournal posting. I can't sleep so I might as well spread the misery. So I've been working steadily hard on my newest burly-q costume. It's a splash Gypsy Rose Lee and a sprinkle of Mae West and I'm pretty happy with the way it's turning out despite a fewer minor setbacks (mainly to do with interfacing issues). I've finished the panties, corset, bra, and garter belt. All that's left is the skirt (pattern made...yay!) and the teardop hat.

I've definitely become significantly more calmer when sewing. I've learned when to step away for another day which help alleviates and prevents a multitude of mundane mistakes I've found myself making in the past. Usually the main signal is when I can't find my tools of the trade despite having them seconds ago in arms reach. When that happens it's time for bed. The main thing that keeps me going these days is seeing the progress I've made from start to finish these last few years in my sewing escapade. Having virtually no experience I find it truly liberating, empowering, and rewarding. It's as though I've finally found my path in life. I'm not advancing at some genius level or anything like that but I've definitely changed my thought process when it comes to designing. Now if only I could make decent money with my passions. That's the next step!

Ok...time to pretend to sleep again.

What Do You Have To Say? - Arts & Crafts: My Inspiration

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 09:11:55 GMT

Where do you get inspiration for your arts and crafts?

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A beautiful or crazy piece of fabric will usually do the trick to inspire me. Sometimes I'll start with a design and then search for the fabric, sometimes the fabric will inspire me to create a design. Lack of sleep also helps!