Long time no post! I’m sorry I let nearly every social media account I have go quite, but life hit me hard last month. Continue reading “Life Update: September 2016”
Category: Emmor Hunter
Etsy 2015 Holiday Break (Plus a little life update)
I can’t believe I made only one post in November! I usually make at least three or so posts a month so I’m a little annoyed with myself for not blogging. This past month was chaotic because of preparation for the holiday season and continuing to deal with a family illness. Because of everything going on, whenever I sit down to type blog posts, I feel way too tired to think of something to write. Although things are getting busier for me, I feel better than I did in October and much better than I did the beginning of this year. I’m able to do more things by myself and I feel good enough to walk and even run a little! Reminding myself about how much progress I’ve made in my health helps me when I feel sad or depressed about everything that’s going on in my life right now.
Since I’m very busy with my normal life and the holidays, I decided to take a holiday vacation from my Etsy store. The vacation starts on December 7th and ends on January 18th. I will unlist everything in my store until January 18th, then I will relist anything non-Christmas for sale. So, if anyone wants anything from my store for Christmas, you’ll need to purchase it by December 7th.
During my vacation, I’ll still be sewing, but I will not work on the ballgowns and dress I wanted to make this year. Although I have a huge list of dresses and ballgowns, both costumes and non costumes, and I bought the fabric and supplies to make them, my recent growth spurts caused me to outgrow costumes very quickly. (I made a costume in August and, after I tried it on in October, I’m already too tall to wear it!) Since I want to wear the costumes for more than a month, I’m waiting till I’m done growing to make them. There are a few I can still work on and finish, but for the most part I’ll be working on making other things to wear. I hope to write posts about the new things I’m working on. 🙂
I’m also working on some new drawings. I’m not sure when I’ll finish them, but they are coming! Eventually. XD
Well, that’s about it! Thank you for reading!
New Items for My Etsy Store!
After too many distractions and what felt like forever, I was able to make new items and list them for sale at my Etsy store! And then I forgot to make a post about them. *face/palm*
I made three Christmas decorations, two Christmas stockings and one Christmas tree skirt. All three are made out of back satin and Marvel’s The Avengers fabric. I really like the way the back made the bright colors of the Avengers fabric stand out more. 🙂
Here is a photo of the skirt…
I made two Christmas stockings, one with a hanging loop on the right side of the sock and another with a loop on the left. I didn’t intended on making the sock with loops on different sides, but thanks to a mistake in cutting the fabric it turned out that way. I don’t mind is so much though. Although I hang my socks with loops on the right side of the sock, I’ve seen others hang their stockings with loops on the left. So, this gives anyone interested in buying the stocking options. 🙂
Here are the socks…
Unfortunately, that’s all I was able to make at this time. I’m currently doing a major cleaning of my house so I don’t have the time to sew as much as I want and need to. It’s frustrating because I have so many things I need to finish or work on, but the cleaning is long overdue and is very badly needed. I think once I’m done cleaning, I will have more room to properly store fabric so it’s actually a good thing!
Thank you for reading!
I’m on Instagram! (Plus an Etsy store and life update)
After almost a month of not touching my blog, I’m still trying to get back to blogging. Like I said in my previous post, I was still sewing, drawing, and taking photos, but I never blogged nor updated my social networking sites like I wanted to. This was due to many things that happened last month that distracted me and/or took away any energy I had to sit down in front of my computer and type.
Although I cannot talk about nor can give details of many of the “things” here on my blog (I’m following my parent’s wishes for privacy), I can say my mom became very ill a few years ago. Her illness became much worse in the past eight months and, because of it, I had to dedicate most of my time to taking care of her. (This is also why I did not attend this year’s Phoenix Comicon) Last month was the worst month she had so I had to forget about anything personal I wanted to do in order to help take care of her. To make matters worse, I had yet another unexpected bout of growth spurts. The growth spurts was not as serious as the ones I had in April and May, but it was harder to find time to rest when I had to take care of my mom plus work at my day job. Although I can still feel my body shifting around and trying to get longer, I’m doing better and my mom is too, but I’m still weary of her health. Still, I’ve been able to rest more and I have time to work on things again.
Although I didn’t have the energy to continue blogging this past July, I did focus on sewing, drawing, and taking photos as a way to take my mind off the stress I was under. I hope to make posts about what I made, drew, and took photos of over the past month in the future.
On a happier note, after years of resisting, I finally broke down and created a profile on Instagram. Like with my other social networking sites, I’m Essie of Who on Instagram but I styled as essie_of_who and you can see my profile here. I’m trying to be good about posting photos on there, but since I can’t post photos from my digital camera, only using my phone’s camera which isn’t that great, I can’t guarantee the quality of them. Still, I was able to take some really nice photos of sunsets that impressed me very much! Since I’m still trying to figure out how to use Instagram, I’m cannot link photos I took here on my website like I can with Flickr. I did figure out how to post photos to my twitter, which is great because I let it go quiet because I like to use more spaces to say what I want to say than twitter allows. So, right now twitter has more activity than it used to, but the tweets are just links to Instagram photos. XD
I am also learning how to post photos I took with my digital camera onto Instagram. I can do it, but the problem is finding time to do it!
As for my Etsy shop, I reopened my store! I also relisted the two Rose Tyler Idiot’s Lantern dresses, but I added to the listings an option to include an underskirt with tulle on the bottom of them. I also relisted the Christmas socks I listed last year but didn’t sell. So far the only new listings I have are of earrings I made but never got around to listing and some of my art work. There are other drawings I want to list, but they’re much larger than the ones I listed so I’m looking into how to ship them safely without getting bent.
Well, that’s it for now!
Etsy Store is Temporally Closed
I’m afraid it’s true: my Etsy store is temporally closed again, this time because I don’t have the time to make anything right now. My normal job and daily life became too busy and I really do need to concentrate on it at this time which means I don’t have the time to go fabric shopping and sew. Also, my recent bout of the spring virus and growth spurts depleted my sewing energy. I’m really not happy about closing my store, but I don’t have a choice right now.
While the store is closed, I plan on making some more Christmas things for the store. I also plan on making underskirts for the Rose Tyler dresses I had for sale a few months ago. Although I like the dress without an underskirt, I thought it would be a good idea to add them so cosplayers don’t need to worry about finding or making an underskirt to go with the dress.
There are other things I’m thinking of changing and/or selling in my store, but I’m not ready to talk about them at this time.
If anyone has any ideas for things to sell in my store, feel free to say so! I’m having trouble figuring out what to sell in my store because I have so many ideas I don’t know where to start. So, any suggestions will be helpful. 🙂
That’s all for now!
Announcing an Extended Break from Hand Sewing!
Although I tried to make the title of this post happy, it’s not.
About a week ago, while trying to finish costumes to be worn to the Renaissance Festival, I began to feel a lot of pain in my right hand. I was pushing myself really hard to get the costumes done in time for the Festival so I was working on my costumes about 8 hours a day, but I think it was longer than that. Because of all the work I was pouring into my Renaissance Festival costumes, I overworked my thumb muscles, causing the pain and a lot of swelling. Due to the pain, I didn’t get my costumes done in time to be worn to the festival and I spent the past week wearing a brace to immobilize my thumb so it can rest. Fortunately, I didn’t need to go to a doctor and after a week of not hand sewing, my thumb is feeling better.
After spending the week with my thumb in a brace, I decided that I’ll ease up on hand sewing and instead depend on my sewing machine to do the work for me. (That’s why I got the machine for anyway!) Unfortunately, I’m used to sewing many thing by hand such as zippers, pleats, and so on. If I’m going to depend on my machine to work for me, I’ll need to get better at sewing zippers, pleats, and so on by machine. In order to get better at sewing things by machine, I decided not to make anything for sale at my Etsy shop until I feel confident enough with my machine sewing and am satisfied with the quality that I want to sell it. I’m not sure how long it will take for this to happen, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this takes at least two months for this to happen. (Probably longer depending on how busy I get at my normal day job)
Since I’m not sewing things for sale at Etsy, I plan on making personal sewing projects. My personal sewing projects, including costumes, dresses, skirts, jackets, and more, have built up because I wanted to make things to sell on Etsy. I have plenty of things to make and chances to practice sewing with a sewing machine. Thanks to a small break at my job, I’ve already begun to sew things for myself, though I have yet to talk about them online.
I’m not going to ignore my Etsy shop or stop selling things I make there, but I do need to get better at sewing with a machine in order to create new and better items for sale. I also need to save my hand for drawing. I can’t draw well with a swollen thumb!
Elsa Inspired Prom Dress
I’m slowly getting the chance to finish the dresses I was planning on making for sale at my Etsy shop. (My day job has been driving me crazy lately so I don’t have the time to sew like I want to) I was able to finish a dress and list it a while, so I decided to talk about it.
I had an idea a while ago to make a prom dress inspired by Elsa’s Snow Queen outfit from the movie Frozen. Although the outfit would look cool as a prom dress, I thought for prom or another formal dance it might be a little much and not that easy to move in. So, I set about making a prom dress inspired by Elsa’s Snow Queen outfit.
The dress was made with sequin dot fabric with a crinkle lame overlay on the bodice. The top of the bodice was made with light blue chiffon and has beads and sequins sewn onto the edges. The skirt is made out of satin and the whole entire dress, including the skirt, is lined with lining fabric.
Like I said before, I put the dress up for sale at my Etsy shop so if anyone likes it, wants it, and can fit in it, you can buy it! XD
As for the other dresses I’m making for sale, they’re coming along slowly. I’m not sure what happened that slowed progress down, but I’m working at a snail’s pace. (Or, that’s what it feels like!) I’m not sure if I’ll get all the dresses I’m working on done by the end of the month, but I’ll try to get at least one done!
New Stuff in my Etsy Store… Sort of
When I started my vacation from my Etsy store, I planned on working on new things, specifically prom dresses, for sale in the store. Unfortunately, my normal day job and my life in general got in the way of my plans, causing me to not have the time to finish my stuff for the shop. So, here it is, March, and most of the stuff I have to sell at my shop is sewing patterns I want to sell. It’s disappointing, but it was beyond my control.
Although I had problems finishing my intended Etsy shop projects, I was able to finish one thing in time to be listed today. It is a skirt intended for a Clara Oswald Time of the Doctor costume….
Although I’m trying to aim the clothing I sell in my shop away from Doctor Who cosplay items, I decided to sell this skirt. The reason why I’m selling the skirt is because I made the skirt for myself, but I made the skirt too small to fit me. *face/palm* It’s weird. I can make things for others and it can fit them, but I can’t make anything fit me properly. Ugh. Anyway, I decided to finish the skirt and then list it for sale on Etsy. It’s not a bad skirt and it should last many wears. I just wish it fit me! XD
That’s the only new thing I have for sale on Etsy at this time. (Sans sewing patterns) I have two dresses I’m working on that might get done by this time next week. (If nobody bothers me while I sew…) Once they’re done, I’ll talk about them in their own post. 🙂
I’m planning on selling some original sketches and watercolor paintings on Etsy, but I’m having a hard time letting go of some of them. I really like how they turned out so I think I’ll keep them, frame them, and hang them on my wall. When I get tired of looking at them, I’ll either list them for sale or give them to a friend.
Changes to the Idiot’s Lantern Dress
When I decided to make a new, as accurate as possible version of dress Rose Tyler wore in the Doctor Who episode The Idiot’s Lantern, I thought everything would work out well and by this time I’d be almost finished sewing sequins onto the bodice. Boy, have things changed!
Since my last post about the dress, I cut out the pieces to make the dress from Contessa satin. After doing this, I pinned all the bodice pieces together to see if they’d fit over my bust. They didn’t. By this time I ran out of fabric so I had to go to the store and purchase some more. After working with the pattern I was using to make the dress some more, I determined the pattern is very weird and I shouldn’t use it. That meant I’d need to by even more fabric to make my dress because the other pieces could possibly not fit the bodice of a new pattern. The problem with the old dress pieces is the length of the skirt. If a bodice is longer, it will make the length of the skirt too long.
By this time I was very frustrated with the dress so I set it aside to think about what to do next. This ended up lasting a few months and now, I came to a decision on what to do with the dress and any Rose Tyler dress I make for my Etsy store. Continue reading “Changes to the Idiot’s Lantern Dress”
Sewing (And Costume) Work-in-Progress Mass Update- The January 2015 Edition
This past month I’ve been sewing a lot. So much that I feel bad because I’ve been ignoring my art! Originally I planned on sewing my costumes for Taiyou Con and the up-coming Renaissance Festival and nothing else, but a few weeks ago my vehicle got hurt so badly I couldn’t drive it anywhere. I know this is old news (I talked about it in my last post), but because I couldn’t drive anywhere, I was stuck at home on my weekends with nothing to do. I did have a lot of sewing projects built up for months that I just didn’t want to work on, so I pulled out as many as I could find and then began finishing or repairing them.
One of the first costumes I pulled out was the bodice for my Miku Hatsune Cantarella dress. Since I made the dress back in 2011, I fixed the back of the bodice in 2014 so it would fit my growing bust better. Now that my bust has finished growing, the bodice was too small. When I fixed the bodice, I thought I’d grow an inch at most so adding some ribbon to make the bodice lace up was the best option. I ended up not growing an inch. I grew a few inches. So, in order for the bodice to be fixed so I can continue to wear it, I needed to add more fabric to the back of the bodice. I ended up adding so much fabric to the back of the bodice I could add a zipper instead of making it a lace up.
Here’s what the bodice looked like after I sewed the zipper in and before I pressed the seams…
After I found that bodice, I found another Miku Hatsune bodice, this time for the 7th Heaven Dragon 2020. Here’s what the artwork looks like…
Continue reading “Sewing (And Costume) Work-in-Progress Mass Update- The January 2015 Edition”