His & Hearse

This is another It Came from My Closet! post, as I am attending a wedding this weekend and working on a project for someone else. It is no surprise that I, like most spooky types, dig hearses.  I love them, quite frankly, and they hold a special place in my dark little heart.  Ya see, when I met the now Mr Not Pixie, he drove a purple hearse.  (I wish I could say it was love at first sight, but it wasn't.  Not even close.  But he grew on me.)  Ever since I started sewing, I have been on the look out for hearse fabric.  I had even pondered doing something like Spoonflower, but always shied away at the cost. Then two summers ago, Robert Kaufman released Eerie Alley.  Not just purple hearses, but lime green and orange ones too!  On white and black!  (And another with pink hearses on black, which I, of course, made into a different blouse.)  "It must be mine!  Immediately!"  It was a designer release, and a new one at that, so this didn't come cheap, but I didn't care.  For purple hearses, I would pay, and pay gladly!  And so I did.  (Even a designer fabric is cheaper than Spoonflower.) New Look 6515 is so long out of print that it doesn't even appear on the Simplicity web site.  (This link will take you Pattern Review's, um, pattern reviews for the, um, pattern.)  I made view B, though my finished blouse doesn't really resemble theirs.  It's a testament to how much I love this fabric that I was willing t put in so much work to get a wearable garment. First up: blouses like these, that lap one side over the other, rarely (in my experience) instruct you to stitch the bust pieces to each other somehow.  I suppose that would work out just fine if you're the busty variety, but I most certainly am not; consequently, these always gap in the front.  Though I am flat-chested, I am also broad-backed, which tends to even out, usually, in terms of ease.  However, the amount of ease in both the front and back was ridiculous.  I kept pulling the bust pieces closer and closer together, and omitting more and more gathering (so the cup itself would be smaller), but it finally got to the point where I had no gathering left and the pieces were lapped straight over one another.  It fixed the gapping, but because there was no gathering, it ceased to be an empire-waist blouse.  So I grabbed a piece of elastic and hand sewed it into the white band that you see at the front. Even after all of that, the ease was still so extreme that I look off a few inches of the back of the blouse too.  Originally, this actually called for a zipper, but even now, I can still pull it on over my head with no problems.  I can't imagine why you'd need a zipper with as much ease as the pattern originally called for. So, in conclusion, this pattern didn't really work for my body type. It might work for someone who has a full bust (but not too full, or you'll spill over the top). It wasn't difficult to sew, but it did require a lot of adjustments to get it me-sized. I did see a lot of other people complaining about the same problems I did, so maybe it wasn't just me Sorry, once again, for my wet hair. Please admire my floormat in the background. I usually move it out of the way for pictures, but forgot to this time. It decorates my foyer year-round (I have another at the back door as well). They were gifts from my sister-in-law, who seems to live out her spooky dreams vicariously through me.

Lydia update: the day I write this marks four weeks of having this little grey terror live with us.  She's put on 18 ounces (~.5 kg) in that time.  The vet said she's doing well, though said with her feral start to life, she will probably have some delayed growth.

Outfit:
Skirt: Wet Seal, free at a clothing swap
Shoes: Famous Footwear, $70 (featured on Green with Envy)
Socks: from the same pack of vibrant colors featured on Green with Envy
Earrings: Hearses and coffins were charms I bought on Etsy and attached to fishhooks; skull earrings from eBay (featured on Skull Skirt)

I have a coffin necklace (made from the same charms as the earrings) that I usually wear with this, but couldn't find it this morning. I was so distraught that I forgot my awesome purple hearse barrettes too. :(  Not all bad though - at work, a guy in a suit that I'd never seen before, told me he liked how my purple socks, hair, and hearses coordinated together. :)

Well, That Didn't Last Long

Last time, I posted about how someone's extremely unprofessional behavior on Etsy left me steaming, stewing, and vowing to not purchase anything there for quite a long period of time.  Er, well, I guess "quite a long period of time" is only a few days.  I had forgotten that in mid-April, I'd emailed someone I'd previously done business with, asking her to do some custom work for me.  She had been on vacation (and, as a professional, put up a notice on her shop and auto-replied as such).  I'd forgotten about it, until she got back to me last night.  Since I have experience with her custom work, which is excellent, I decided to go ahead with the purchase.  So, I guess my self-imposed exile has ended.

I never intended to stay away permanently, nor do I want to imply that I don't support the DIY community (which would be pretty stupid, because that's the entire point of this blog).  I'm just going to employ a great deal more caution in the future.

As a shout-out to those sellers on Etsy who are absolute professionals, I'm providing a list of sellers that I've used in the past (some of them multiple times) that I've been truly impressed by.

• Birdz N Beez sells beautiful lockets.
• Kasket Kustoms motto is "jewelry to DIE for!"  What else needs to be said?
• Melissa Dawn Arts combines my love of kittehs with my love of pixies in the form of compacts, tins, and other media.
• The Mighty Squirm provides a wonderful selection of spooky t shirts on organic cotton.
• Purrfect Knits by Catmother is a shop I've gone to many times when I'm in need of a gift for a niece or nephew
• SobeBotanicals creates makeup (mostly veggie-friendly) in a fun variety of both natural and unnatural colors.  I don't wear cosmetics, but this is where I went when I needed green lipstick last Halloween.
• Sweet Anthem sells vegan perfume that she makes in her shop in Seattle.  She does have a long turn around time, but she's quite up front about it and trust me, it's worth the wait.
• Sweet Heart Sinner creates weird (in a good way!) pillboxes, business card holders, jewelry, and more!
• Teaman sells various blends of herbal, black, green, and white teas.  I can only speak for the herbal tea, but it is excellent and addictive.

This is just a small selection of the great sellers on Etsy.  As I said previously, 99.5% of the DIY community is truly spectacular.  I encourage people to use Etsy and local artisans all the time.  Just be careful who you buy from.

I'd love to hear back from the community on this.  Does anyone have any great shops to share?  Any horror stories?

The Cure for My Etsy Addiction

Like just about everyone everywhere, I am utterly addicted to Etsy.  Or perhaps I should say "was."  Despite nearly every transaction, from the now-defunct Alchemy, to custom requests, to binges on in-stock items, going entirely smoothly, it only takes one bad apple to spoil the bunch.  I have just had a thoroughly unpleasant and unprofessional transaction that I think is going to keep me away from Etsy for a long, long time.  It's sad, because though 99.5% of people in the DIY community are completely awesome, it's jerks like this that give DIY a bad name.  Srsly, anyone that resorts to threats for following Etsy guidelines is an asshole in my book.  I would advise anyone using Etsy to be extremely careful from whom they purchase from.