Days Forty Three and Forty Four

2/13/13 Just popping in really quick to say that I'm not dead and I actually have worked on stuff the last two days but I've just been lame and not posted it. Hopefully I will get it done tomorrow! Right now I'm off to bed. Sorry.

EDIT 2/15/13 Ok, I'm finally getting around to writing this post. I'm really excited about it actually!

So. I messed up dyeing my altered pants purple, so I bleached them white. I like how they turned out, so I may keep them this way, or I may eventually try dying them again, who knows. 

Here's what the pants looked like after I finished altering them from flares to skinnies, and then what they looked like after my sad attempt at dying them.

And then... what they look like now! (I'm slowly starting to figure out how to take more flattering photos of my legs, lol). 

I used this blog post to help guide me through the bleaching. Her shorts apparently took 31 hours (?!?) to be completely bleached, which is kind of confusing to me, since my jeans took only three hours. I probably could have done it longer to get them a little more pure white, but I was satisfied with them and I didn't want the bleach to hurt the fabric more than necessary. And it's a good thing I took them out of the bleach when I did, because on day forty four I had to do some repairs.

The bleach literally ate away at the hole where the button goes through the fabric!

I had to sew that hole up before I could attach a new button, but it's pretty rough since it wasn't just a cut, where you can just sew together the two sides, but a big gaping hole. I wasn't sure the best way to go about fixing that, so I kind of just pretended it was just a cut and pulled two sides together and sewed it all up, but it created gross puckers. A better way to do it probably would have been to put a piece of fabric behind it, but I didn't think of that until later when I had to fix the next thing.

Anyway, here's the new button I attached and the inside with my mess of sewing.

The next thing was that when I put these pants on for the first time after bleaching (then washing and drying), one of the belt loops ripped right out. I put a piece of the jeans (from where I cut off the extra fabric after altering) behind the rip and sewed it all to that backing piece. I also did this to one other belt loop that hadn't ripped out yet, but I saw some tears forming so I did it as a preemptive measure.

 

 

All fixed up! I like how these jeans turned out. Hopefully they're still strong enough that I can wear them for awhile without them falling apart. Though I may be getting good at jean repairs in the near future...

Day Thirty Seven

I finished the second pair of jeans today! Hooray!

I like how the first pair turned out better, but I I think they fit me better in the first place, so there's not much I can do about that. I think I'll dye that pair dark blue and this pair purple!  Or maybe white with cool designs in black. I can't decide.

This is not my favorite photo of me (or at least my legs) for several reasons, but whatever. I'm not a model, I just alter jeans, and that's what I'm showing you, not my fab bod!

Day Twenty Four

All done with my painting! It looks pretty much the same as it did yesterday; all I did was add some highlights. They're most noticeable in the eyes, lips, and hair.

This is definitely not perfect, but I'm pretty satisfied with it.

Mitch should be home late tonight unless something goes wrong - I am worried because the roads are quite slick - so I should be able to have better photos soon!

UPDATE: Here's a better photo as promised! (1/25/13)
I just realized that the highlights in the hair makes it look wet. Dry hair would not be that shiny- or at least dreads wouldn't be. Silky hair maybe, but this lady's hair definitely not. Oh well, learning moment for Jessica I suppose. I've also noticed a lot of other flaws after finishing it... I won't point them out though, because there's a chance you have not noticed them, and I'd rather let you continue to think that I am so talented! Baha, kidding. Sort of.

Day Fourteen

I FINISHED THE SHOES. FINALLY.  My kitchen is free! And Mitch can wear his shoes again!

I am really pleased with them! After a refresher in drawing I'm feeling good about tackling new projects. I'm going to be taking care of my three cousins for the next week while their parents are out of town, so my next few posts are most likely going to be fun, crafty things that I can do with them.