I think I may have mentioned about 20 times that I attended the recent Police concert at Dodger’s Stadium in Los Angeles.  Aside from the two + hour drive from Santa Monica to Downtown and the churlish limo driver who wouldn’t move so we could get out of the parking lot at the end of the concert, it was a blast.

While there, of course I bought myself a t-shirt with the intention of making it into a tube top.  After finishing my Bada Bing! top though, I decided that rather than make the exact same thing with this t-shirt, I’d experiment a little.

I present to you, the Off-the-Shoulders-Sex-Pot top:

police_front

I am wearing a tank top under it, but I think I could pull off a strapless bra (spawns of Satan that they are) with it.

This top started out looking like this:

police_before
The first thing I did was add 1/8 inch elastic to the bottoms of the sleeves to make them kind of puffy.  It was an immediate improvement and completely feminized the top.

The next thing I did was cut the neck and shoulders off the top of the shirt.  This step was kind of a leap of faith.  I knew the look I was for but I didn’t have 100% confidence that it would turn out the way I envisioned it.

After cutting, I sewed about a 1/2 inch hem.  Next, I measured roughly enough elastic to go around my shoulders and arms and I sewed at the bottom of my hem so that there would be a slight "ruffle" at the top and none of the white elastic would show.

police_back

At this point, I had a top that I would’ve worn out of the house, but deep down inside I knew it wasn’t finished.  I let it sit a couple of days before deciding on what type of finish I was going to give it.

Originally, my plan was to keep the shirt longish and add a band to the bottom so that it would look kinda like this:

example_top
(picture from Old Navy.com)

My seamstress skills do not support doing something like this without a pattern, so I had to scrap that idea.  Thankfully, even after all the cutting I did in this mistaken attempt to add a band, I still had more than enough length in the body of the shirt to just add elastic around the bottom hem.  This provides (almost) the look I was going for with the band, and it was a whole lot easier to accomplish.

Someone asked me recently what my favorite Police song is and I’m not sure it’s possible to pick one.  Certainly, Every Breath You Take is a favorite.  Disappointingly, at the concert they played this as if they couldn’t wait for it (the song) to be over.  One got the feeling that if none of them ever heard or played this song again, they wouldn’t be sorry.

Back to trying to pick a favorite.  Impossible.  So I will pick three:

King of Pain
Message in a Bottle
Don’t Stand So Close to Me
Murder by Numbers

Okay, I lied, there are four.  (Actually, more than that, but I had to stop somewhere).

I have a list of things I want to do today, and for some reason I’m putting them off.  I think the problem is that there’s like 4 projects I have going and my brain circuits are too overloaded to focus on any one thing.  This happens to me often. Hence the need for a diversion.

Today I sent off the stuff for my second swap on Swap-Bot.com.  What is Swap-Bot, you ask?  It’s a place for people to get together and swap stuff.  Fun!

The swap I sent off today was called War and Peace.  The purpose was for the swap participants to send something (or things) that reflect their thoughts on war and peace.  Yeah, I know.  How could I not sign up for that swap?

I’m not going to say what I sent, just in case my partners read this before they receive their packages.  I did give it some thought though and I hope they like it.

I just signed up for another swap that promises to be fun:  Songs That Will Never Die.  I hope my partners like the Bee Gees, ’cause there just might be a couple of Bee Gees’ tunes on my list.

My time in the jewelry studio on Tuesday was spent making this ring:

aphrodite_ring_600

It reminds me of a jeweled crown, so I call it Aphrodite’s Crown.  I’ve never actually seen an image of Aphrodite wearing a crown, but let’s assume that if she did have one, this would be it.  The ring is hand-fabricated of 18k yellow gold with a natural citrine drop and a hammered set rhodolite garnet.

This is my second dangle ring.  The first, Moonlight Sonata, remains one of my favorites.  Of course I like this one too, but the drop is a little more cumbersome and that makes it less comfortable to wear.

On another note, yesterday I was talking to a friend about a painting by artist Julie Heffernan that he recently bought.  I’d never heard of her work but this morning I googled her and found some of her paintings online:

http://www.littlejohncontemporary.com/Heffernan/index.html

http://www.artnet.com/artist/8037/julie-heffernan.html

This stuff blows me away.  Suddenly, I’m inspired to paint something!

It’s possible that the title of this post makes no sense whatsoever.

18k_ruby_600

I will try to explain it by saying that this ring reminds me of Indian jewelry, which is generally 22 karat or higher and as a result, is a much richer gold color than the 14k jewelry you generally find in the United States.

So trying to think of a clever name for it, I thought of India, then Mumbai, then Bombay… I never did come up with a name for the ring, but hence the title of this post.

The ring is hand fabricated in 18k gold, with a bezel set ruby and two gold balls on either side of the bezel (which also reminds me of Indian jewelry).  It is a very simple little ring, and I’ve been wearing it stacked with my wedding band and a ring Mick bought me for Valentine’s Day.  (Okay, if you want to know the truth, I ordered the ring for myself and then told Mick he didn’t have to buy me a Valentine’s Day present).

Whenever I get kind of tired of making jewelry, as I did after the PAWSAPALOOZA event, I go back to making the more expensive stuff that takes longer to make and that I mostly keep for myself because I’d have to charge too much for both the materials and labor.  That’s always a problem with making hand-fabricated jewelry, at least for me, although many of the women in my studio have had varying levels of success selling their high end pieces.  Also, the harder I work on a piece, the less I want to give it up.

Going back to basics like this helps me rediscover why I love making jewelry so much and it feels more like an art than a production line.

The Sopranos might be over, but Tony will live on forever in my mind.  Especially since I fashioned this rad tube top from a big men’s t-shirt my brother sent me:

badabing_side
As mentioned in yesterday’s post, I used a pattern in the book Sew Subversive.  Since it’s their pattern and not mine, I won’t go into too many details, but this top is basically two rectangles hemmed and sewn at the sides with a band of elastic at the top.

The t-shirt started its life looking like this:

badabing_original
(photo courtesy of HBO.com)

My original idea was to put the "Bada Bing" front and center, but when I measured the fabric, putting it on the side was really the only way it would work.  I’m glad about that because I like it this way better.
badabing_front
The only real place I differed from the design in Sew Subversive is on the sides–I added slits about 5" up to make the top more roomy.

badabing_back
Since this was basically a practice run, I’m going to make the next one I do a bit larger in the midriff area and I’m also going to add straps so I can wear a bra.  With the Bada Bing top I’ll probably end up wearing a tank underneath it or use it as a swimsuit cover up.

But boy, am I proud of this pillow.

I’ve been threatening to start sewing for a long time now.  The primary reason is that every time I go to U-Handbag I find another bag I want to make.  I’ve just been too lazy to set up the sewing machine I bought a few years back.

The other day, however, I decided enough was enough, I was gonna start sewing.  I am more or less a complete novice–I’ve sewed a little here and there, but not enough to have any degree of competence.

A couple of years ago, I bought a cool book called Sew Subversive, which contains a lot of easy but cool patterns and funky ideas for customizing your clothes. 

It contains a pattern for a simple tube top made out of a t-shirt and I decided I wanted to make one, but I thought it would be best to start with the first project in the book:  a pillow slip cover.

pillow_dragonfly_front_600
I went to Joann’s and found a fabric that I liked, then asked the nice lady to cut me a yard of it.  Then I found some thread to match it.  Armed with these and a few other supplies, like sharp new scissors, I went home to tackle my project.

pillow_dragonfly_back_600
Alas, when I set up my machine, I realized I didn’t have the manual, and I couldn’t figure out how to fill my bobbin (yes, folks, I am that inexperienced).  After some trial and error, I finally got it filled, and thanks to a helpful diagram on the front of my machine, I was able to thread it.  Next, I measured and pinned my fabric, then ironed the hems to make it easier to sew (and, they say, to make it look more “professional”).

sofa_pillows
I actually ended up making three pillow slip covers.  The first one I made was for a 20×20 pillow, and while it looked real purty when I was finished with it, one of the seams didn’t sew correctly and I decided to do it over, but with a smaller pillow so I would have enough fabric for two slip covers.

The second cover I made came out absolutely perfect (well, I use this word loosely) and it’s the one I photographed for my blog.  The third came out not-so-perfect, but perfect enough for my purposes.  I proudly have them displayed on my sofa, much to the dismay of Mick who is already frustrated by the amount of pillowage in our house.  The concept of throw pillows escapes him, poor sod.

Today’s project will be that tank top.  I bought a t-shirt at the Police concert specifically so I could make one out of it.  Sting will be proud.

“I’m a lousy gardener.  I can never tell the soil from the dirt.”  –Woody Allen

I’m not the only creative person in my family, not by a long shot.  My mom is an avid gardener and the other day she sent me a photo of the flower box she made:

que_bonita
The box was made with an old wooden box my dad got at a garage sale.  She sanded it and hammered in the loose nails.  Next, she stained it with a yellow water-based stain and wrote the words with a black permanent marker.  She then sealed it with a water-based sealer.  For the legs, she attached an old TV tray she got at a flea market and removed the clips.  She painted the legs with a flat black paint and attached with clips she’d previously attached to the box.  Voila!  A nifty and very cute flower box.

And speaking of flowers, I had to show a photo of the gladiolus on my balcony:

 gladiolus
Definitely bonita.

My mom is also a very accomplished crochet artist.  Here is a photo of an afghan she recently made:
afghan_mom_front
I think it’s gorgeous, and she picked a great color.

I’ve never made an afghan, but I’m thinking it might be time for me to give it a try.  I prefer knitting to crochet (especially since I’m not that great at crochet) so maybe I’ll design and knit one this winter.

I truly have let this blog lie dormant for far too long–I’ve been busy the past few weeks turning 39, getting a new computer, fulfilling my teenage dream of seeing the Police in concert… what else?  Oh, and of course I’ve been knitting and making jewelry.  I’ve just been too occupied to blog any of it.

Today, however, I finished a project I had high hopes for.  To some extent, the hopes weren’t dashed–this halter top turned out precisely how I wanted it to.  Hence, the good news:

halter_600
This design is from Speed Knitting–24 Quick and Easy Projects by Kris Percival. 

I knew going into this project that there might be a problem with fit.  I’ve lost some weight in the last couple of years, but I’m still fairly large up on top and halter tops, much as I love them, don’t generally offer enough support to be flattering on me.

To address this issue, I decided I’d put some short rows in each cup to give some additional room in the bust.  This has previously been a technique I didn’t really "get," but one of my WIPs is the Scarlett Woman tank top by Jennifer Tallapaneni at PieKnits.  I chose this project specifically because of the short row shaping in the bust and because it is "bra-friendly."  I’m almost finished with it, and I’ll definitely blog it when I’m done, but I mention it now because just as I’d hoped, it did a great job of explaining short rows as they apply to bust shaping.

After completing this halter top, I tried it on and knew immediately that there was no way it was gonna be supportive enough to actually wear out of the house.  It looked rather ridiculous, actually.

Nobody panic!  I had purchased a sew-in bra for another knit project that I never completed, so I decided to try it here.  I pinned the bra in then sewed it, using a simple running stitch.

halter_bra

Now for the bad news:

It still doesn’t fit!  I guess it’s time to panic.

I could probably get away with it, but it would be a stretch–literally.  So what’s a girl to do?  Give it to a smaller friend, I guess.

It might just be time to admit that I need some industrial strength undergarments to keep these girls under control and a skimpy knit halter top just doesn’t fit the bill.

I have to look at this as a learning experience (I’ve been having a lot of those lately).  Aside from the fact that this top, regardless of the size knitted, probably shouldn’t be worn by anyone larger than a C-cup, I think I could’ve chosen a better yarn.  The yarn I used is a "suede" tape and it’s too stretchy for this project.

But I’m really happy I modified the design and it actually came out the way it was supposed to.  It was worth it for that alone!

Okay, I know it’s been awhile since I’ve posted.  I just haven’t been in the mood.  I think that’s all gonna change in the next few days though.

First of all, the Summer issue of Knitty came out last week.  Hooray!  Here’s what I’d like to knit:

Coachella – This sexy top is begging to be knit.  And so I shall.

Zinzin – Another sexy top, with strategically placed ribbons to hide a bra backstrap.  It’s a win-win.

Askew – This top also appears to be bra-strap friendly, so I might give it a try.  I looks like it will flatter a buxom girl like me.

Sophie – This design tempts me, but it’s unlikely I’ll get around to knitting it.  I do like an unusual design though, so who knows.