No... despite what you may have thought, I have not been caught off guard by a wayward velociraptor, or chained in a basement somewhere... I've been busy with a couple of hands on projects.

The blog is just one aspect of what I'm doing at the moment. I'm also trying to get some real-time experience with some practical work. Ideally, this would be taking some of my sketches and turning them into real-life pieces. For the moment though (mainly lack of money, fabric and a sewing machine) I'm starting out with some basic clothes and giving them a bit of an overhaul a la Joey.. :P

So far, I've jazzed up a pair of jeans, and two tops. It's actually been a great learning experience... I usually find the best way to learn is to make the mistakes yourself first anyways... and I've managed to try a few ideas that were nagging at me for a while.

The jeans were probably the least work, since they didn't involve any actual sewing - here's the before and after:

I sanded the knees down a bit with a sander, and tried bleaching (with not much luck). The biggest change I made was the distressed areas...

Next up was a blue v-neck tee - using pieces from a basic black tee I had for parts, I made this into a blue/black sleeveless top with a hood. Before & After:

Lastly, I finished with a stripey tee - this one was interesting to start with, but I made it sleeveless and added a zipper for a bit of an unusual twist... I actually forgot to get a before pic on this one, unfortunately, but it had sleeves and no zipper, so use your imagination!! :P :)

 

Next on my list, I have 2 vests I want to alter and glam up a bit, and a pair of jeans I have to mend, so I'll try to work in a style whilst I'm at it...:P :)