Niko VS Nicole Part 2... Almost

I had planned on spending some more time with "Niko" and taking some more photos, but my life got very busy very quickly (something I don't take too kindly to) and lost track of being creative for a little bit. I wanted to do ONE more setting in this series after these photos but I literally haven't had the time to do anything.

I just worked a 9-day stretch and the timing of my scheduled work hours are insane and allow minimal time for creativity.

Contrast: Books important now and then - my sewing books are constantly being used/looked through and in high school my "notebooks" (the rest of the world calls them journals) were my world.

I actually took these photos right outside of my old high school. It was funny because I was certain I was going to get yelled at somehow by someone for taking these photos, setting up my tripod nearly in the middle of the street but not even the guys cutting the lawn that day at the school cared!

I had to do a quick outfit change in my van which was interesting to say the least. It was ridiculously hot out the day I took these so Niko's hair and makeup were melting a little.

And a phone photo from that day. Super-sunny out!

I have a few other creative things happening at the moment: playing with pattern repeats (see my Instagram @manicpop for photos!), working on a dress with a sewing machine print on it, and hopefully putting what I learned from Burda's PDF pattern design class to good use.

Although... I really have literally NO time to do anything lately which is severely bumming me out. I guess I'll figure it all out. But until then, keep peeping my Instagram for the most updates.

Comments

Latch Hook Rug Update

A little under a month ago I received all of my supplies to take on one of the biggest long-term projects I have ever taken on - a self-designed latch hook rug. I don't know why, but I am clearly nuts. So beginning today I am posting photos each month, (preferably on the 1st of each month) progress of this gigantic shag rug. See how I started it here (scroll down past posting of my $10 dress). This is a photo of it today: Yes, I used the candelabra for scale. Haha. This rug is really soft and is fun to run your fingers through. It doesn't look like much was accomplished, but though the number of packages we have gone through of pre-cut latch hook rug yarn already I have calculated that we've used over 2500 strands for this ie.) 8 packages. I also just ordered 10 more packages of lime green since that's what I ran out of first and 6 more packages of straw yellow. There is still quite a bit to go, but you see the blue row squares? Each of th

DIY Trapeze Dress

I'm a pretty big fan of tent dresses (or trapeze dresses - call it what you want). They're simple, easy-to-make and you can have many variations of them. These are a fun style to wear for spring and summer! See this DIY from a Good Housekeeping Crafts book from 1971 - photos at the end of my own trapeze top from a while ago! (Bear with me on the photos here - this book is quite cumbersome and hard to scan.) Applique patterns, in case you wanted the dress to look EXACTLY like the photo. (But why?) How to cut the fabric efficiently. (This is actually pretty important cost-wise for you - especially with something this big.) Using pattern instructions from my patternmaking book from college, I created this swingy trapeze top a bit ago. I used sweater fabric from a thrift store find for the collar of this top. I also opened up the back on the pattern to have a diamond shape. It can easily be belted like in this photo fo

How Print on Demand Sites Helped Me! And Pros and Cons

I don't know about you, but I don't always have a ton of time. Well, ok -- maybe that was before the pandemic hit. But one of the things I have learned over time being a designer of sorts and loving fashion design was that it seemed I never had enough time to do/make everything I wanted to have available within a product line to sell. Especially not when I was working a full-time job either! Bags! Shoes! And yeah, duh -- clothing! It seemed most of my friends who are designers made all of their own items from scratch on their machines and I just didn't want to sit at my machine after working 40+ hours a week. Maybe for myself only but not as a side hustle. But I always had requests from people - "Can you make me something? I want something designed by you!" I really appreciated the sentiment, but often times it was just as confusing/hard for me as it was for them. I would sit there and go "How should I adjust this for them? Am I even gonna find that fabri

Manic Pop