7 posts tagged “crafts”

I'm watching the Lakers-Jazz game on tv right now and it's annoying the heck out of me.  How is Ronny Turiaf's foul a Flagrant 2?  And I hate watching the Jazz players in general - they just seem so arrogant.  One reason why I like the Spurs, even though they beaten the Lakers in the playoffs, is because they are low-key, not flashy, and not thugs (well, Bowen is kind of).  I sure hope Spurs beat N.O.

I am hoping for Lakers-Celtics final.  Wouldn't that be something?

Why does ABC have those actresses from ABC shows saying stuff like "You're watching the NBA Playoffs on ABC, home of the NBA Finals" - 1st of all, do we not know what we are watching?  Come on now.  And secondly, why?  Maybe because the majority of people watching are guys? 

And how about that Mike Tirico fawning over those two from High School Musical?

Oh, one last point - those guys who have those signs (either supporting their team or against the visiting team)?

Posterboard: $1.50
Glue stick: $1.25
Construction paper: $2.38

Grown men sitting at their kitchen tables, carefully cutting out letters and glue-ing them onto the poster, like they are in elementary school?  Priceless.

After learning to draw Minnie at DCA two Sundays ago, I thought "wouldn't it be neat to do a drawing of Minnie every day for the next 365 days and see how much I improve?"  Great idea, right?

Unfortunately, most (if not all) of my super plans (usually involving crafts) go nowhere.  I have a couple of bags of flat marbles to make marble magnets, two bags of felt squares for my felt toy phase and bolts of yarn for my knitting craze.  It took me 9 months to finish knitting my first scarf primarily because I tossed it aside about halfway through.  My quest to sew a dress ended after cutting fabric.

My "drawing Minnie" lasted for one week.  Six days, not counting the first day at DCA.  Did my drawing improve?  Yes.  At the beginning, she looked like a monkey.  Now, she looks a little more like herself. 

On Sunday, a week from the DCA trip, I forgot to draw Minnie, thus ending my drawing streak.  I realized this on Monday morning and contemplated restarting the drawing chain... but the thought of drawing Minnie just didn't interest me anymore.

Left to my own devices, I think my life would be full of half-finished projects...

Okay, the dress saga continues.  This morning, I started to make a pattern for the dress, based on the mock-up dress I made from bedsheets.  Then my mom comes along and tells me that the measurements I have are wrong.  I need to measure from the bone in my neck down to my waist.  Then I need to measure from the bone in my neck to how far down I want the back of the dress to start, and then subtract the two.  What's the difference between that and the way I did it - measuring for where I want the dress to start down to my waist?  It's actually simpler, because it's only 1 measurement.

I mean, yeah, at ballet, they do record standard measurements and do calculate stuff like that, but that's because they make at least a few costumes per person.  It would be easier to have standard measurements and then just take that 1 measurement per person, than having to re-measure each time.

Anyway, so she started measuring how long/wide the fabric needed to be, drew it out onto paper and cut the pattern.  And started cutting the fabric.  I just stood there - I was soooo frustrated because she kept telling me that the dress couldn't be made the way I wanted to.  and that it takes lots of classes and practice to be able to make a dress - you can't just wake up and say "I want to sew a dress" (basically what I did).

Yes, she may be right, but I'm not entering a sewing competition or something.  Plus, I will probably wear this dress only a handful of times (if that), so it doesn't need to be perfect.

So I realized something today - that I have a fear of failure (well, who doesn't), but that because of it, I can't work in groups.  I can't come up with ideas for a whole group to undertake, and even if someone tells me to do such-and-such, unless very specific details are given.  Because if you just tell me to hang up the streamers or something, I will seriously just stand there with not a clue how to proceed.

Same with choreographing stuff at ballet - if I have to make up a step for myself, okay, I can do it.  But for a group?  No way.  It's because I can't deal with the possibility of other people criticizing the way I do something.  It happened in the 9th grade, when I had to work w/ a classmate (Ben) to make this volcano cross-section thing.  Science is probably my weakest subject and I don't know a thing about geology and that stuff.  So I just sat there while Ben did most of the work - he was annoyed by it but what could I do?  It's not that I didn't want to help, I just didn't know *how*.

I should probably work on getting over it...

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been planning to make a dress.  Never mind that I've never sewn anything in my life (other than some hand-sewing), but there's a bit of that good ol' *can do* attitude in me.

And though I really want to just jump right in and make the whole dress in one sitting (which, will not happen, because I think it takes at least a few good hours to make a decent dress) - I am going to take it one step at a time.  First up, the bodice/top.

Except one problem - I didn't soak the fabric in water and let it dry.  Which means I'll have to do it tonight and start on the top tomorrow night.  Arg!  I can't believe I forgot and a part of me wants to just start making the top anyway, but I know - be patient.

Oh, but wait!  It's raining!  Which means I can't hang the fabric out to dry outside.  Super. 

I swear, all these obstacles to make a dress.

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Remember back in the day when we used to have to make stuff by ourselves?  Nowadays, you can get a kit at Michaels to build one of California's missions (styrofoam walls, roofs, etc) and add some nice looking plants or doves.

Okay, I confess - my mom made most of my mission for me (hey, I can barely cut in a straight line... even now).  But still, we had to make it ourselves, rather than glue some pieces of pre-cut styrofoam.  But considering most 4th graders in California have to make a mission as a school project, and that most people would be willing to fork over some cash to avoid having to do much of anything, it's great for capitalism.

By the way, the mission I chose to make was Santa Clara (like the one pictured).  It was because I was infatuated with The Nutcracker and the lead girl's name is Clara.  Get it?  My mom thought I should have chosen the San Gabriel mission because then I could have visited it and gotten brochures, etc.  Well, too bad, there's no Gabriel or even Gabrielle in the Nutcracker.

I don't have the best track record with crafts.  I'll start a project and then lose interest before long and give up.  Or I'll be impatient and then half-*bleep* it so it'll be "complete" but not as I originally planned.  And then I'll say "well, see, I told you I can't sew/knit/whatever!".

Case in point - I saw some cool marble magnets on the internet and thought "I can do that!".  People will look at them and say "oh, how cute!"  So I got some clear flat marbles and printed out some graphics (which I made on Illustrator and colored with Photoshop).  Glued the pics to the marbles.  But then I didn't get any magnets.  So the four glued marbles just sat there.  And I lost interest.  So now I have two whole bags of flat marbles sitting in my closet.

Another example - I taught myself how to knit, with instructions online.  Actually, I was a little confused at the beginning (I didn't know to leave the knitted part in between the two needles, so the first scarf thing I made, which was for a teddy bear, ended up kind of twisted.  Looking back at it, it's kind of cool-looking.  But that's a different topic).  Anyway, I started a scarf and it took me 9 months to finish.  Seriously.  Not because it was a complicated pattern or anything, but because I was ultra-lazy and knitted only a few rows at a time, filled with weeks of not even trying to finish it.  So yeah, 9 months later, I was finally done.

One of the problems with the internet is that you see crafts and sewing projects other people do and you think "I could do that!"  Well, maybe it's just me, but that's what happens.  I decided I wanted to make a dress (searched through Craftster and found something called a Lolita dress - it's basically a dress made from 4 panels - and can be flouncy, if you choose).  The person who came up with the pattern said it was easy to make.

Let's get this straight - I have absolutely no sewing skills whatsoever.  Yes, I sew ribbons onto my pointe shoes and I've made some felt stuffies, but that's all hand-sewing.  And it doesn't involve trying to make something to fit on a human.  But I've always had a bit of a "can-do" attitude, so I told my mom that I wanted to make this dress (I wanted to wear it for a thing I'm going to in mid-April... so about 3 months away).

My mom has taken some sewing classes and made a couple of dresses for me back when I was in middle school, not to mention some jumpers and stuff like that.  She looked at the pattern (or tutorial, technically) and said "this is not easy to make."  She's sewn more difficult stuff, like pants and skirts with layers, but she didn't think this was a good idea.  I pressed the issue and she said "well, find a pattern" (but it's right here on the paper!).  And then it was like "well, what kind of fabric are you going to use?" 

I love my mom, don't get me wrong, but sometimes... so anyway, today we stopped by Walmart to check out fabric.  We have some at home but I just wanted to see what was out there.  My parents had been bickering earlier (which they do all the time) and so she decided to stay in the car.  Well, I think it was because we had already gone to several stores and maybe she was tired.

I wandered through the aisles in the fabric dept, picking up bolts of fabric that caught my eye, checked the price, etc.  There was this semi-light purple shiny fabric with embroidered flowers that I thought was pretty (it was $2.97 a yard, I think) but I wasn't sure if there was enough fabric left on the bolt.  I also saw some taffeta but I think it would be difficult to work with a fabric which is probably unforgiving (I mean, it's not like felt where you can sometimes fudge stuff).  I checked the discount bin, I looked at some patterns and walked back down the fabric aisles. 

I almost gave in and asked one of the other shoppers there (they were all motherly types) or the lady who worked there for suggestions.  Whether this or that fabric would be good for a dress such as this.  But then I thought - they'd probably think "oh, how sad, her mom never taught her about sewing."  So I ended up leaving without getting anything.  When I got in the car, she asked if I had seen/gotten anything that I liked (which obviously I didn't because I wasn't holding anything in my hand).  Then she said that the fabric was expensive, and I said "no, I don't think it was" and she asked "well, how much was it?"  I replied that I didn't know whether the fabric was expensive or not, since I don't buy fabric... so what's inexpensive?  They had stuff from $1 per yard up to like $8 per. 

Obviously, living in a major metropolitan city means not having to make stuff yourself - it's cheaper and less time-consuming to just buy stuff premade.  And my parents basically spoil me (including not making me or my sister do many chores around the house), so it's not like I would have needed to learn how to sew or cook or whatnot.  At the same time, my mom says things like "when you get married, what are they going to say when you can't cook?"  Well, if you are unwilling to take the time to teach me without getting impatient (or in the case of the dress, even to help me with the basics), how am I ever supposed to learn?

I guess I'll just have to check out a book or something at the library.  But I think I probably won't make a dress.  It's too complicated and would take too long, which automatically means I'd lose interest fast.   Maybe I'll try making just a skirt.  Or nothing at all... I also wanted to make some tote bags (really simple ones, just for fun, to use occasionally).  She was like "they won't hold up, they'll fall apart easily."

Sometimes I wish that she didn't know how to sew - so then I could just try on my own and make the mistakes that I'd make... and not have her in the background ready to say "I told you so".

I have a fear of failure... hmmm, I wonder where that comes from.