The old stair rail

The old stair rail, a photo by sewbitchy on Flickr.

The old stair rail

Gigwalking fills the void

In an economy where start ups are hard to get off the ground, and employment is harder to come by, one company has managed to come up with a brilliant idea. Pay people to use their iPhone to do odd jobs, and pay them a small paycheck. The jobs range from taking panorama photos inside of a local business and loading it to bing maps as well as other things like secret shopper or map verification tasks. I can imagine a whole list of things something like this can be useful for. If only it were my idea!! So you get your iphone, you download the gigwalk app and you sign up. Once your approved (I was approved rather quickly) and I don't remember but I don't think it takes much more than a paypal acct to get approval. Then you can start to do "gigs". The app is basically an enhanced google map that has red dots with the gigs that you click on and follow instructions to complete it. It only takes 10-15 min for one gig, then depending on how close together they are you can probably finish 4-6 an hour. The pay ranges from 2-10 dollars per gig. I have only just started gigwalking the past week and I have done 68 gigs in three days. If all my gigs are approved I'll pull in a nice chunk of about $260. It takes 7 days for the gigs to be approved and you receive the money in your paypal account.

I have decided to see if it would be worth it to do gigs on a semi full time basis to replace my long time ebay income. The fees from ebay are out of control and customers have no understanding anymore of the system. It just isn't what it used to be. Gigwalk is such a breeze and I have made as much as I usually make in a two week period on ebay in just 3 days, even less the 3% paypal takes I still will make more because ebay wont also be getting 9% of my $260. Gigwalk doesnt charge you anything to apply or to download the app. You can work anytime you want to and any day of the week. The past year I have noticed a serious decline in the amount of sales on ebay, and I began my ebay business because I just got tired of the 9-5 job. I started it as a way to make extra money and I did well so I continued. But the system has changed, and so has the customer base. I'm thankful gigwalk has come along because I dreaded the thought of having to go look for a regular job after three years of self employment. Gigwalk can help anyone make extra money or even replace a regular job if your serious about it. I plan to start some blog series about my gigwalk adventures. In just three days Ive discovered a lot of restaurants, and also some great photo opportunities for my instagram shots!

Giveaway - Skelanimals Pink Punk Baby Booties

These booties are so adorable! If you love Skelanimals, as my oldest daughter does then you will love having these for your little one! My oldest is about to have her first daughter and so I made these little booties for my soon to be grandaughter. I have an extra pair up for grabs to my readers!
Pink cotton fabric with a variety of the Skelanimal characters like Jack, Kit and Marcy.

There are cute butterflies in different colors fluttering around them, and they are trimmed in black lace. The best part of these baby booties is the feet have crinkle paper sewn in! Baby will love the sound as she wiggles her feet around. These fit a newborn to 3 months. The contest deadline is November 15th. To get your entry click over to the contest page and follow the instructions!

UPDATE! Please leave your comments for the contest entry in this post. Blogger is having issues with comments for pages, so you cannot leave a comment on my contest page at this time. Thank you!!

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The Fashion Diaries

I had been planning on starting a spring "collection", and so far I have gotten a pair of shorts 85% finished and that's about it. I have been working on custom orders for a client as well as my ebay store which is daily upkeep. I really want to get away from that though and focus on my clothing line. Its slowly coming along.

I went to the mall today, and yes I guiltily bought a few new things. I suppose a girl deserves a few new things once in a while :) I also love to get inspiration. I went into Macys and there was a huge Lagerfeld for Impulse display at the front entrance. Seems like all the designers and stores want to do collaborations now. When will they really realize that people, that is REAL people (not the Kim Kardashian type, were talking more the really real housewives types. Not the New Jersey ones either) can't afford any of that designer stuff. We can't even afford it at Macy's prices.

But its ok, still they try. I do admit its tough to be "anti-fashion" when your a "fashion designer". Well you all know me, I'm not anti fashion, just anti-LABEL. Well anyway, I picked up this cute 80s inspired outfit today. Im loving the purple and cobalt blue I was seeing everywhere in stores. I also like that super bold teal (see the shirt hanging there on the wall?) Well I didn't buy that one but I love the color!

I picked up my share of inspiration for the day. And now its back to the drawing board. Time to drum up some ideas for my own collection. And in the meantime Ive been thinking I really should get back into posting my outfit everyday. You know wardrobe_remix on flickr was the beginning of that whole fashion diaries thing right? Just saying.

The 80s rock!

I just finished this really cool project for a client. Shes going to an 80s party and requested two NKOTB pieces. I did this really soft and sort of slinky square blouse with a wide neckline. I left the edges raw and serged them with hot pink thread. My idea behind it is sort of teen bop magazine. You remember as a girl you would cut out the pictures of your teen hearthrob and collage them all over the wall? I just love how it came out!

I also did a custom clutch witha brooch made from hand dyed croched lace. I used this florescent pink and black stripe for the lining, and gave it a keyfob strap.

You can find my items in my etsy shop, just click the link at the left. You can email me to request a custom item as well!!

$1 Salvation Army Sale

So I scored big at my local salvation army on friday. It was $1 clothing and half off the rest of the store. The flea market was dead so it still ended up being a great day! I scored some Ferragamo Penny Loafers practically new!



This awesomely 80's Flowered Jean jacket which I may have to keep





And this amazing 60s dress with a super sexy zipper front that is as usual not my size. Drat!


There were a lot of other great finds too. Be sure to check my ebay and etsy shops where I will be listing them for sale.

Baby Booties Tutorial

So I cant take credit entirely for this tutorial. The original plus pattern are here, and there are many others like it online for free. I simply improvised it a bit since Im a perfectionist and all! I also wanted a clean finished looking product, and I also figured out that depending on how you sew the pieces together you can make the sole and bootie contrast each other. So heres what I came up with:

(I will add more photos in a few days)

For EACH shoe:

Cut 2 of each pattern piece.

One main fabric (outer) and one lining

Cut lightwieght fusible for the top and sole pieces

Cut medium wieght fusible for the sole

1. Iron the interfacing to the pieces. For the top piece fuse the facing to the lining top.

For the sole fuse the facing to the main (outer bottom) piece

2. Sew the top pieces right sides together along the straight side. Open out flat and iron.

3. Now using a buttonhole stitch make a small button hole on each of the marks for the top lining piece. I did this instead of just slashing holes there with a seam ripper because again I want a clean finish and because the elastic will be put through here I wanted to avoid tearing with stretching the shoe on and off. Use a seam ripper to open the buttonholes.

4. Now fold the piece in hald on seam line and iron flat

5. Sew the heel pieces right sides together along the straight side, then iron the heel pieces out flat :

6. Now serge the short ends of the heel, or use a zig zag stitch if you dont have a serger. I do this to make the booties polished and professional looking (even though you dont see this. But I think it will help with fraying as well.

7. Now fold the heel section at seam line and iron flat

8. Place an 8 inch piece of elastic in the crease of heel:

9. On the outter fabric sew a casing close to elastic being careful not to catch it in the seam.

10. Place both heel pieces wrong side together. You can baste stitch if you like but I just wing it.

Here is where you will finalize the booty assembly. Decide if you want the sole of the booty to be contrasting to the top and heel back, or if you want the entire booty to be one fabric. Like these examples:

11. For the first option where the sole is contrasting the top you will pin the top with the outside facing the sole "wrong sides together" Start by lining up the center point and pin easing the edges around. If you want the booties to be all one fabric on the outside like the skelanimals one above then you will pin all the pieces "right sides" together.

12. Remebering the above step now pin the heel portion on to the sole in the same way. Again starting from the center point and easing around

13. Now place the elastic through the buttonholes and pull tight. Pin in place and stitch about an inch and 1/4 from end. Cut excess and rotate elastic into heel piece concealing the cut end.

14. Trim close to the edges, use pinking shears if you have them. Turn right side out.

Embellish them with bows, buttons or lace. Have fun!

Treasury Feature!

I was featured in this great treasury last week. Mine is the Happy Birthday dress!

'Oooh, Nana and I just love, love, love to shop for me on Etsy!' by cactusflowerwomen

Granddaughters are such a delight!

Poppy Patchwork Toddler... onlyu $45.00	Girls toddler dress bac... Woodfrock $59.00	Halloween Skirt and Shi... BabyEllasClose... $35.00
Custom Children Boutiqu... hollywo6 $51.99	Girls Dress, Sizes 10 1... berrypatchusa $52.00	Girl's Tshirt Dress... cactusflowerwo... $18.00
Happy Birthday Yellow J... SewBitchy $32.00	FALL - Meadowsweet Todd... KinderKouture $68.00	Bow Tie Baby/Toddler Dr... McIntyreGirl $16.00
Flower Girl Tutu Dress.... SewLovedBoutiq... $67.50	MadieBs Lightning McQue... MadieBs $25.99	Flower Toddler Dress si... angelswan81 $14.00
Twirly Dress and Pants LindaBloom $43.00	Size 3-6 months - Short... veryKIKI $13.00	Limited Edition Unique ... MonkeyTees $58.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

The fabric hoarder confessions...

Yes it sadly very true, and its really making sense to me now. I am a compulsive fabric hoarder. I know it all started some 13 years ago when I first discovered scrapbooking and back then I was a paper hoarder. I just absolutely LOVE prints. Beautiful pretty prints and colorful prints. Vintage prints and baby prints. Abstract and off the wall prints. I could spend hours in a fabric store and if I were a gazillionaire (which I am not of course) I would buy yards of it all!

Recently I went to Tuesday Morning, and I havnt been in there except once about 15 yrs ago. I was suprised to see how much craft stuff they had! I even found fat quarters! I bought a stack of 25 at a cost of $25 so $1 each isnt bad at all. And turns out they're really expensive fabrics so I guess I scored a deal! You should see if you have a tuesday morning in your area and who knows what you'll find!

PS: Tutorial coming tomorrow and my Vintage shop was featured in this blog! So please pay Miss Bea a visit. Her blog is very nice!

Spring Fashion Review

Jill Stuart

I have recently discovered that you can watch fashion week live on youtube. Who knew? I obviously dont get out much. LOL I had the chance to catch most of the shows and they replay them so really you dont miss a thing! There are some gorgeous collections out there, and all of it is really inspiring me to get my ass in gear and ramp up my own collection!

I am absolutely in LOVE with this Vivian Tam dress! So MAH-JOR! Throwback to the 60s sort of lounge wear in an oh so modern print. LOVE! Im going to be trying to recreate this asap!

Monique Lhuillier Gowns were all so major that I cant even have a favorite!

It wouldn't be a complete fashion report without a bit of Zoe! She also had yellow and black prints in her line but this orange dress is also AH-MAZING!

The Tracy Reese show was super girly and I loved just about everything! There were great jumpsuits in most of the shows and Im super glad to see those making a huge comeback. Although I love those to death, I've never worn one well since Im so damn short. Well now I can make my own! lol The maxi dress/skirt is also big for spring.

Tracy Reese

I'll close with Betsey Johnson, just love her stuff. Most girls do! I like that her shows are so fun and the models look like real women! I was amazed when I saw this cute short jumper coming down the runway. Because not long ago I sold 10 yards of that EXACT fabric on ebay!! Uh. SO kicking myself. If that jumper glows in the dark then I guarantee you that is the SAME fabric.

I was holding onto that damn fabric for three years and finally decided to sell it and uh...regret??? Say la vie.

The beauty of nature

I went back home last week and I got disconnected from "work" for the most part. I had time to relax and breath. It was nice. I cleaned up my container garden, and played with photography some more. Theres this cactus that we picked up free a while back and who knows why because its huge and it needs to be put in the ground. Its been in it

s same pot a year since we got it and we severly neglect it. But yet it continues to astound me with the most absolutely beautiful huge flower display I have ever seen. I started getting into catus last year and I hadno real idea that they flowered until I saw a few at a local cactus nursery. Let me tell you roses hold nothing to a cactus flower. With literally thousands of types of cactus, most which flower, they have the most either amazingly beautiful or absolutely interesting flowers you will ever see in nature.

I have a small collection now but this huge poorly neglected cactus (really Im suprised it isnt dead yet) has the biggest flowers of al of them! It has about 10 or so pods and over the past 4 days I have had to privilege to watch them one by one open up. One each day. I cant get enough photos of these beauties. They open starting late in the evening about 9:30 or 10 when it begins to cool and in the morning about the same time am they start to close up. And then they are gone forever. The cactus is a most amazing entity isnt it? Survives any conditions, has its own protection system, and yet something so barren of life puts on the most amazing flower show. And the show is short lived. Almost all flower at night and each flower opens just once, then shrivels up and falls off. If you sit and watch it you can actually see it slowly opening. I wish I could have had a better camera for some time lapse photography.

Here is the same flower above, edited with hdr simulation. Which do you like better? Of course nothing beats the real deal.

Exploring through the lens....

I know, I know, this blog has of late turned into a photography blog hasn't it? I havn't been sewing the last few days and its high time I got back to it but I have been exploring my newfound joy that is lo-fi cameras. I have also been trying to catch up on the mounds of ebay listings that are well, mounding up. lol I think I should sew more because I spend half the time listing and the other half searching for more camera stuff to buy and I really cant afford to spend any more but its just so dang fun to get those packages in the mail!

I got this roll of expired film last week for my Brownie Super 27. Expired Jan 1959! 52 yrs ago!!

I will be amazed if I get anything off of it, and if I manage to develop it at that. Because it is c-22 process after all so I will c what comes of that experiment. I have been reading up on developing my own negatives and Im ready to go for it! I bought a lot of old stuff on ebay today for $15 that included a Nikor developer can and one reel which is worth more than that alone. There is also some old developing powders in there so Im hoping I can find a use for those. I think they should still be good. Heck if people can get images off of 50 yr old film, then the developer should still be good too!

I took some shots with my cameras today. The sky was amazing at about noon today with those partial clouds and blue sky with a contrast between the two. Darn I didnt catch it on digital but I took some shots with my Diana, Holga and my 126. Also went to the park and shot. I already know Im going to burn through tons of film which is why Im gonna develop my own negs. heres one double exposure I tried with both cameras and my digital. I edited this as the first verson on retro setting was way washed out. you can see both in my flickr stream: