Author: maksu2013

No More Excuses

Published on by maksu20134 Comments

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Hey Hey!

So I know its been a little while since I posted something here, specifically something fashion related. I have made a thousand excuses about why I shouldn’t or dare I say “couldn’t” post anything. “oh I don’t have any pictures”, “Oh I have work to do”, “Oh Peter Panky stressed me out and now I can’t post” weeell I’m done making excuses. I made this sweater in September and I’ve gotten a ton of compliments on it and even a few requests to recreate it for others (which I am going to do btw).

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Firstly I would like to say thank you to WithWendy on youtube for posting the amazing tutorial that I used to make this sweater. I made a couple of adjustments and I think it turned out fabulously. I used 1.5 yards of double knit fabric. I would rate the difficulty of this project a 4/10. It was pretty basic once I cut everything out, my main challenge was when my sewing machine got drunk and did this…

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My sewing on this project was also not quite straight but I’m getting better though. At least it was straight enough not to make the sweater bunch up weirdly. I thought it would be a cute touch to add the little gold buttons on the cuffs. To be perfectly honest, I had a completely different sketch for this sweater but somehow I just ended up sticking to this. I have no regrets though, I would certainly revisit my initial sketch for a future project.

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One last thing; where is the best place to get fabric downtown Toronto? Cause my fabric shopping experience was so-so.

well I guess what I’m trying to say is…

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ateem

You’ve held me down from day 1! and I mean that literally. For 19 whole years I’ve known you and everyday you’re brand new to me. I remember you waking up (against your will I know) to make my morning milo and when you would do “magic” tricks and make things disappear. Or the time when you told me I could have one wish on my birthday and that wish came true. Or all the times you would make me laugh when I was sick and when you would help me with my homework.

There were the times you would yell at me for being a little brat and all the times you would encourage me when I was too busy being a brat to believe in myself. But you know what’s really cool? all the friday night arguments and watching Girlfriends and Friends and Love and Hip Hop(don’t judge us) together. All the inside jokes, the made up songs, disturbing W and eating things we shouldn’t eat.

I guess what I’m trying to say is you’re the most special sister I could ever ask for. You’re beautiful, intelligent and for some reason you always know what to do (I know you’re laughing and saying “no I don’t” pfft). You’re charming, classy, goofy and lovable. So before this sister apprecation rant goes on forever and then I start bawling uncontrollably cause you’re so stinkin’ awesome…Happy Birthday! And I’m not just saying that in the regular “oh happy birthday slugger!” way, I mean have a truly happy birthday. Channel your inner Ms. Pearl and smile till your cheeks hurt. Laugh with useless abandon, well, cause you can! I love you more than words could explain. You rock!

love,

Downy extra fresh 😀

Random Rant: Hairy situations

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okay I need to be a little less cheesy with my titles.

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With my life swirling around in a whirlwind of schoolwork, personal goals and a whole lot of everything, for some reason my hair seems to comfort me. Okay before you write me off as completely weird, hear me out. I strongly believe that you reflect your mental state on your surroundings, which is probably why my room right now is…well.. lets not talk about that. I have been growing my hair out for about a year and 9 months (give or take) and in this time I have become very attached to it. My mum was certain I was addicted to my hair and I guess in some way I was but its different now. Now I don’t just fiddle with my hair out of mere curiosity, I’m more calculated. I’m about to go all semiotics on you  so here it goes; When I’m stressed I wash my hair  this could symbolize clarifying the issue at hand. After washing I have to detangle much like separating the kinks of whatever has me stressed out. Finally I style however I feel I should aka solve said problem appropriately.

Of course this is just a simple theory not grounded in any scientific fact but it seems to work for me. I could actually talk forever about my hair and all the life lessons I’ve learned from deciding to grow it out  but I guess that would be a future post. Speaking of future posts, I will be posting one of my go-to hair styles soon, just haven’t gotten around to it. AND I have been working on a couple of sewing projects that I can’t wait to share 😀

ps. hint to my next post included :p

Random Rant: Grateful, Hopeful, Blessed.

Published on by maksu20131 Comment

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Hey hey!

I honestly can’t believe it’s October already. I just looked at my planner and saw a bunch of tests lined up and was like “whaaa?!” when did that happen??

Anyhow, I just wanted to come on here and talk a little bit about gratitude. I was talking to a friend the other day and he was feeling kind of down and overwhelmed with all the responsibilities that he had. After having a pretty extensive conversation about what was wrong with his life, I asked him to tell me 15 things he was grateful for. To be honest its usually a lot harder for us to think about the good things that we have going for us because we have been socialized to discuss the bad.

When I speak to some people, I almost feel like they take more pride in their pain than in their success. It’s almost noble to constantly acknowledge what’s not going right for you. I think we would be generally happier people if we remind ourselves constantly of all the things that are going well for us. My mom has a “praise book” where she writes down daily miracles, or you could just make a mental list of what you’re thankful for. I just know for a fact that when I think of just how blessed I am, sometimes it seems almost silly to be miserable over certain things.

This doesn’t mean that there wouldn’t be those days when you just want to pout, but if you spend everyday sulking and pouting about how unfair life is, you WILL miss out on a ton of happiness. One thing that always inspires me is this ;”the fact that you’re alive means you still have something the world needs”. That in itself (the gift of life) is something so special that we can be thankful for everyday.

Random Rant: Vera Bradley got me cheesin’ real hard!

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My momma and sister were in San Fransisco late August and they were sweet enough to stop by Vera Bradley and pick up a little gift for me, well two little gifts. I vaguely remembered a couple of youtubers that I religiously watch, mentioning the brand but I had never looked into it. Now that I have…Vera Bradley is a color lover’s heaven!!  

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My mom and sister got me these really pretty hair pins and gel pens but what the store is really famous for are bags. They have bags in the same print as my hair pins (Cocoa Moss) which I thought was cute. I also loved how the receipt came in this pretty little envelope almost like I was rewarded for paying. Its always exciting when you find a new store to obsess over isn’t it? No? Just me? Weeell this is awkward… :p

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Skirting about with the magic of patterns

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Ooh la la!!!!!!!

I had no idea how amazingly fantastic patterns were! And no I don’t mean patterned fabric (although that’s also uber fantastic and relevant to this post). I’m talking about patterns that help you craft the perfect piece every time, much like a stencil if you will.

I feel the need to explain what a pattern is because I had never heard of one up until a couple of months ago when I first started researching how to make my own clothes. There are tons of blog posts that explain better what a pattern is but basically its a cut out that helps to guide you on how exactly to cut your fabric for a specific piece of clothing. You could buy your patterns ooooor make them which is what I decided to do. I would discuss how to make your patterns in a future post as I’m still learning and trying to perfect it myself.

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Anyhow, I made a pattern for a pencil skirt and seeing as I had quite a bit of fabric left over from the shorts I decided to make myself this pretty little number!

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For difficulty I would rate this a 5/10.

My main challenges were:

*attaching the invisible zip. (I find Zippers in general to be a little tricky)

*When I had finally succeeded with the zip, I decided to add a little pearl button to hold the waist together but unfortunately I had not accounted for a button hole so that bit is still a little wonky.

*Finally there was the huge debacle of the pointy hips. This was a problem that came from my pattern. (Note to self: don’t try to draw a curved line with a straight ruler, it just won’t work boo!). Anyhow that was fixed by trying it on, pinning things in place and sewing down.

I’m pretty happy with the outcome, well i’ll be really happy as soon as i find a way around that wonky button hole 🙂Begin-skirt back

All things work together…

Published on by maksu201311 Comments

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So this week I took a trip to the fabric store in search of two things, some lining for a dress I’m working on and some really pretty lace I spotted on my last trip to the fabric store. However as I entered, what wondrous thing did my eyes behold?… A SALE!!! All my initial plans went out the window and although I still managed  to pick up the lining, I also bagged two fabulous extras.

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When I spotted both fabrics, the first thing that came to mind was “Romper!”.  The colors went fabulously together and when I cut and pinned it all together I was giddy with excitement, Alas my excitement was very short lived as I absolutely butchered the top of my romper through bad measurements. The shorts had however worked pretty well so I decided to make that worth my while

I would rank the difficulty of this project at 7/10 (beginner’s opinion)

My initial challenge with the shorts was the way it sat way too low in the back. This was fixed by adding a waistband.

After adding the waistband I found that the waistband did not quite fit my waist so I decided to take it out., fold it over and add a piece for buttons. This seemed like a great idea until I tried it on and realized it looked absolutely ridiculous.  There was a huge magical gap that appeared out of nowhere between my body and the waistband for no apparent reason and they shorts sat really low once again.

Tired and frustrated I decided to sleep on it and try again the next day.

I took out the waist band once again, unfolded it and re-attached but of course it was still too big. And then I discovered the magic of darts!!! I could have saved myself the trial and error by just doing a teeny bit of research but alas I had to discover things for myself. After fiddling with the darts here and there, I finally managed to get the shorts right. Popped in a couple of buttons and ta daah!

It was certainly worth the trouble. Absolutely love these bad boys!

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Warm Floaty Cotton Candy.

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How I made my chiffon top

So as my sewing journey begins I have attempted a few things not all of which have really worked out (a.k.a its a 70-30 split between bad and good).

Anyhow, I decided to make a little hit list of stuff I intend to sew. At the very top of that list? A floaty tank top and since I had only just bought waaay too much chiffon I decided to put that puppy to good use.

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As a project, I would rank the difficulty level a 4/10.

*My primary issue as usual was sewing a straight line. So simple yet so complex *sigh*.

*My second issue was the utter flimsyness of chiffon. Seeing as I’ve been working with cotton for the most part I was a little frustrated with how easily chiffon slips and slides all over the place.

*My final challenge was cutting perfect lines. I intend to invest in a roller cutter in the very near future.

All in all I was content with the outcome. 😀

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People barely noticed the flaws and it would look absolutely adorable with jeans and itty bitty skirts.

Super excited for projects to come 🙂

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