What other sewing related crafts do you do?

OK, let's see...... Counted cross stitch - did it for several years, until the RA ended it and a few others. crochet - still do a little (I've been working on the same purse for 2 years, now knitting - tried it, failed miserably hand embroidery - MIL tried teaching me a Japanese form using an instrument that kind of punched through the material and you had to keep the loop on the bottom. It's still sitting around somewhere. Machine embroidery - started it when I got my Viking Rose last Christmas, lots of fun, and I enjoy the looks I get when something I embellished is given. Hair sticks - bought a ton of "stuff" to make them, and did actually make 15 or 20 - everybody loved them, nobody wanted to BUY one. Macramé - I can't do the large projects anymore, but still enjoy the little ones. Sewing is my favorite, but I've only started seriously sewing in the last year - there was a 20+ stretch when I didn't sew at all. I still haven't made myself anything, and I'm slowly working my way up in difficulty. I have a list I'm working on (and adding to). I enjoy small projects that are quick, so I like sewing things for the neighborhood kids - they've all got balaclavas, and scarves from polar fleece, and Halloween bags, stuff like that. I think I may try some simple beach bags for them for next summer. There are about 5 or 6 who have grown up together and they all gather at our pool. Sharon

I sew, and sew, and sew...most anything...my clothing, clothing,snowboard and ski gear for the boys (now men), lots of boxers, SCA stuff for a my son and his Lady Love. Christening gowns (these I sell, *no alterations and the customer is always satisfied) cute little things for neighbor's and friend's kids (GIT Gra'ma In Training), heirloom sewing, reproduction clothing for a museum (*see Christening gowns) , some home dec, quilted once, long story but am starting to think I'll give it another shot, Barbie stuff and toys, Trauma bears and preemie clothing, tatting, hand embroidery ( best compliment is when somebody puts the tablecloth down backside up because they can't tell the difference, "Thank you Grandma for teaching me that.") and machine embroidery (don't digitize, don't want to), silk ribbon embroidery.....when asked by folks who find out I own a machine if I will mend something my answer is, " NO! Would you ask Rembrandt to paint your garage?" I no longer sew for people (did for many years) as in 'hired seamstress' because I no longer need the money that bad and now my attitude is 'if I don't wanna I'm not gonna'. I'm old, I have now not only developed an attitude I work hard at maintaining it ;) I did, for a number of years, make evening gowns for drag queens in Seattle, now THAT was FUN! I sew clothing and special occasion dresses for my son's Lady Love, she's such a darling. Cross stitch and Counted Cross Stitch makes my eyes glaze over and an alcoholic beverage starts to sound better than chocolate. The futzier and fancier the better, I love to sew lace and ruffles and lush fabrics and all that sort of thing. If I see some new technique I really need to give it a try, I'll never live long enough to learn it all but I'm doing my best. I like to take classes and have some favorite instructors so no matter what they are teaching I go. When I'm sewing I usually have the TV in my work room on the continuous, no commercials, old classic movie channel, I don't listen to music while sewing so it's either dead quiet or old movies. Oliver the cat is a fixture in the workroom while I sew and also in charge of quality control. I think cats must have optic capabilities under their tail since he usually sits on any directions or literature I have laid out to read. Non sewing stuff is sculpting, papermaking, and now I'm painting those little plaster houses. I started out with 9, I wanted a tiny little village under my Christmas tree. Then a Ben Franklin was going out of business and they were selling them for $1 each......my tiny little village has turned into Chicago and I have NO idea what I'm ever going to do with all of them but it was such a good idea at the time. I do some stamping and other crafty things. The biggest problem (fault) I have is that once I master the craft I lose interest. I try two new recipes a week. Cooking for one most of the time got to be a real boring rut I needed to climb out of so I decided I'd do two new things a week, even if it's just a different salad dressing. Knitting and crotchet wasn't my forte, my fingers just didn't work right, yet I can tat like a whiz, go figure.

The one thing I miss so very much are the fabric stores that used to be every where. There were so many good ones with their own personality and specialty. The fabric stores seem to be pretty much all alike and cookie cutter, more crafty things than fabric and quality is scarce as well as knowledgeable staff, it's the exception now, not the norm. It makes me very sad. I do some shopping on the internet but it's just not the same as browsing isles and feeling texture and collecting bolts and laying them next to each other and draping it over your shoulder and stepping to the sidewalk to see just how that color looks in 'real' light......sorry, I digressed.

Just ramblin' on and on, Val

wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@storefull-2116.public.lawson.webtv.net...

(snip) I no longer sew for people (did for many years) as in 'hired

I too sewed gowns for drag queens in Florida in the 1980's. Best job I ever had. They designed them and I made them. Even went to see the shows! They were gorgeous! That was fun.

Kirsten Sollie Heimdal, Norway

If you aren't selling these for an arm and a leg, please email me because I would love to have some but refuse to pay $50 for them for everyday use.

Don't mean to sound silly, but what is a hair stick?

Melinda Meahan - take out TRASH to reply wrote in news:WaTub.7239$ snipped-for-privacy@typhoon.sonic.net:

It's something you use to keep a bun in place, like some people use pencils. It works like a hat pin used to keep a lady's hat in place.

Oh......I wanna do that too! Where do I go to find a client? I am in a bit of a lul and need something to perk things up. Besides, I bet I could learn a thing or two about grace and make-up. Should I make up some cards and head down town? I think there must be some in Detroit. Do you think they would let me do a webpage? Joy

Yes, I eat at McDonalds and Taco Bell is a favorite too. Remember, I am a lousy cook?! Besides, even if they do serve up a heaping of germs, I am one for making sure my intake of bacteria is maintained (NO bottled water for me). I NEVER get sick when I go to Mexico or other foreign places like my "sterile" friends. I think they don't have any immunity built up.

Yes, I applied for "Survivor" and made my application tape. I was hoping to be the "Seamstress Survivor" ! But, I guess me posing with my tutus and thread racks was not as impressive as some of the naughty nudie good body types.

Anyway, as for handwashing I heard that bazillions of germs are spread in the public washrooms when the blow-hand-dryers come on and flush gusts of air accross the floor and counters stirring and sending them into the air. I heard that it was completely unsanitary to use them and that drying your hands with them actually put more germs on your hands than you just washed off. It sounds feasible so...I was and drip. Also, it is better to face AWAY from the toilet when it flushes (especially the high powered public ones) as they literally "spit" millions of micro organisms into the air from the water during the process.

Joy

I sort of had my clientele snowball by a round about way. First of all I lived in Seattle for a long time and had a very eclectic group of friends. It's the left coast. A woman I had helped find training and then work and had worked with for about a year said, I hope you don't feel you can no longer be my friend if I admit to you that the love of my life is another woman. I answered with, well if it doesn't bother you the love of my life is a truck driver from Oklahoma I don't see a problem. So I met her partner, they came to my house for dinners, I went to theirs, her friends became mine, mine mingled with hers, and so forth, straight and gay didn't seem to be a deciding factor for enjoying friendships in my group. At her birthday party a 6'6" handsome hunk of manhood stood talking to me about fly fishing and then said, where DID you get that dress, it's really stunning. Turns out macho heart throb was a drag queen and admired my work and wanted to know if I could do a gown for him.... well sure! He drew a picture, I made the gown and was paid the highest compliment ( and fee) I ever got......Darling girl, you make Bob Mackie look like he knits mittens! ROTFL my fate was sealed, the word spread and I had a regular clientele. They were fun to fit, fun to work with, warm, wonderful, charming, irreverent and the drama was better than any soap opera ever, I was given and still use hair and make-up tricks and I was making more money than I ever did at any other sewing I did for anyone else.

Sure Joy, do a webpage, make up a few cards, go to a club and pass them out. I will say that this is obviously not something everyone would want to be involved with but I had a ball. I sewed for a few strippers too. That was a little trickier till I got the hang of construction. Those gals just brought me a few of their costumes to see how they worked and I figured it out pretty easily.

Goferit! Val

"Joy Hardie" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

Re: gowns for drag queens

Well, there's

Sure - I was selling them for $20 - 25 a pair. Right now they're with a woman my daughter used to work with. If I can ever get them back I'll send pictures. Sharon

Valkyrie wrote: They were fun to fit, fun to

I once dressed a man who had drag from 7 different centuries! He hired a friend of mine to make him a Tudor gown, and had me make him a bodice with the scraps. Since she took teh measurements, I actually had to call him and ask "Sir, are those measurements with or without your breasts? (many wear those chicken-cutlet things to help them achieve cleavage). Now THAT'S not a question you have to ask every day!

I also dressed a stipper who billed himself as "The Bare-Bottomed Butler" - a rather large hairly man that I don't think I'd want to see nekkid....but he was happy to find someone who could copy the few posing pouches he had been able to find in an XXL - and in a variety of colors!

You know, sometimes the cow costume sounds almost normal.

------------------------------------------------------ Wendy Z Chicago, IL (Moo) Wench Wear Costumes

my list:

Counted cross-stitch.......several projects in the works right now, some for over a year

Sewing: clothing and quilts, and decorative items

Crafts: whatever my son wants to do for that day

-have done candles and soaps to amuse myself

I sew and sew and sew. I used to do theater and some drag queen costuming, too. Unfortunately, in Vegas, every place has their own costumers so I had to give it up for the present. I knit, crochet and hand embroider (not museum quality, but nice enough to get attention). I also do some painting and woodcrafts when I feel up to it. I like to design doll clothes for my DD's Barbies and my "Gene" collection, but I haven't gotten to the bigger step of the repaints and all that stuff. When I crochet, it is usually to make baby presents for my co-workers' new additions. Knitting is more for me and DD (socks, sweaters, scarves and similar). Sewing is now also just for me and DD for the most part. I still make things for the family members that I know will appreciate it (goddaughter, best friend, former roommate...) I also do a whole lot of artsy-craftsy things with my DD and her friend (suncatchers, beadies and the like). I am still teaching her the very basics of sewing, so that's still part of the whole sewing circle.

Sometimes they are the best customers! They are creative, like value for money, but KNOW fancy stuff costs! Also, they are some of the most polite people to work with! They like exciting fabric, too!

I'd rather do alterations and repairs for drag queens than brides!

Think of those big long things you see spiked through buns in Japanese paintings!

Embellishments and fabric creation are my thing. I try absolutely every technique I can find: free machine embroidery, smocking, crinkling, beading, sequin work, couching, layering, faux chenille... Always freeform

- I'm not into cute reindeer and that kind of thing. I use a lot of vintage fabrics and metallics (recycling and decay are big themes for me).

I do shibori dyeing, and some fabric painting, stencilling and batik work, but prefer the shibori, as the results are so random. Will do more batik soon, when I get back the other end of my sewing room.

I make simple clothes, especially ethnic garments and bias-cut lingerie. For patterns, I like assymetry (Miyake, Sewing Workshop, etc).

Can't knit - tried several methods, including machine. But I do embellish knitwear. Loathe cross-stitch - too regular for me. Don't do needlepoint - don't know why. Don't do patchwork but have decided to try this winter and have cut out a whole bunch of pieces. These are now piled up, glaring at me resentfully. I quilt garments but not quilts per se. Would really like to get into weaving and silk screening. Never tried crochet or macramé.

UFOs everywhere in the house. Sometimes old UFOs get cut up and become new UFOs as I am genetically incapable of throwing anything away.

Crafts: again, you name it - for years I did course every winter in London, under the Floodlight scheme. A lot of them involved jewelry-making (beads, enamelling, metalwork, etc). Currently making wind chimes out of seashells and beach glass.

I also take photographs, mainly close-up stuff of barks, lichens and rock formations.

:) Trish

But Wendy - we have come to EXPECT the weird and wonderful from you!

Interesting question, Cea.

Hmm, well, I consider myself a "gourmet" garment sewist, so that's my main craft. However, I've also dabbled in:

-Knitting. Hate it, but still have projects I've been working on for years, including one sweater that will never be finished. I grew out of it at least five years ago, and it's hopelessly out of style now. But I did just finish a long scarf. $30 for yarn for a scarf I could buy for $5 (and which would look better than this thing).

-Crocheting, which I taught myself to do, but haven't done in many years. My mom also crocheted, and with so much output that I lost my need to do this craft.

-Embroidery, hand. I have several projects sitting around here, and will pick them up periodically. One project has been going on since the mid-70s, a late-period Matisse pillow top.

-Cross-stitch. See Embroidery, hand, above.

-Needlepoint. Very boring, and the results are too flat for me. I have a chessboard that I made (and made the pattern for myself), a sort of sampler of stitch patterns, but I've never even framed it. And there's a picture of a Siamese cat I started for a friend about 27 years ago, still in the stretcher frame wth only the cat done. She and I didn't even speak for about 10 years, and I hate Siamese cats!

-Jewelry making, Fimo crafts, foiling, applique, beading, etc. When I had my sewing school the kids did all kinds of crafts during the month of December for Christmas gifts (it was a Santa's Elf workshop all month). If you ever find yourself needing some odd craft item, let me know; it's probably in my studio! Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati