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Lying on the couch, clicking away, taking random and fast photos of my little girl Emma as she danced around me. Taking the photos into the computer and playing with colours and styles and moods and fonts. Loving the results.

Priceless.

Emma turns 5 on Saturday.  She has been asking “how many days till my birthday” for about the last 11 and a half months - seriously.  I can’t believe my baby is turning five.  Another milestone.  I look at her now and she looks so big and yet still so young, all at once.  We are having a party here at home for her on Saturday and having some of her friends over for some fun.  It’s the first proper party she has had as we have always just done the extended family thing (dinner and cake or ten pin bowling or BBQ) before.  Now that she is in preschool she has a bunch of friends to invite - we’ve settled on eight girls and one boy. 

Still working on the activities for the party and hoping I don’t procratinate all the way to Friday night on this!  So far, I am thinking: beading (a necklace to take home), making a mask or hat to decorate, musical statues, pin the tail on the pony and running races.  I made this invitation tonight which Emma just LOVED so at least I have started!

 

I haven’t posted a studio shot for a while… Love these Janomes:

After many years of thought and research (here and there when I would think of it) I finally bit the bullet and bought some pattern design software. I didn’t go with the one that everybody else has (PMB - Pattern Master Boutique) because I really don’t like the interface and figure I can more easily make more complex pattern changes on paper instead of with the CAD interface.  After weighing everything up, I chose My Pattern Designer instead.

After having my husband measure me up last weekend, I made this casual jacket today from thrifted black fleece as a wearable muslin to try the software out. Overall, I am pretty happy with it, although the hem looks wonky in the photo.  I’m sure it doesn’t in real life.   It is great to have something fit you without any pattern alterations - even just little things like hemming the sleeve and knowing that it will be just the right length for my arm. I always thought sticking bits of paper together would be a pain but if you are used to tracing patterns off from magazines then it’s really not a problem to get out the sticky tape instead of the tracing paper. Quicker and easier too.

I want to make another one of these with a few changes.  Things to fix/investigate:

• I am not convinced that my front and back armscye measurements are correct so I will check those before I make anything else.  The side seam is further toward the back than it ought to be.
• I would like the yoke to be about 10cm (3″) further down and perhaps a bit more fabric to gather.
• I had a Peter Pan collar cut out which I just totally forgot to add before doing the neck facings. I didn’t bother unpicking to insert it as this was just a test garment but I think it will look cute on this style of jacket
• It’s a little too short - add an extra 2-3″

There was a weird angle thing with the side seam that needed to be trued before I cut the fabric but honestly, it was all very easy and only small things to investigate.   Looking forward to trying a few more patterns out…

Before I begin, let me just say that this IS most definitely still a craft and sewing blog, just exploring other things too.

So, I have been working on my drawing, and I’m still learning the basics. I wish I had done art at school but hey, it’s never too late huh?

You might remember the drawing I did the other day of the Prime newsreader. I know it wasn’t great but for me and the level I’m at right now, it was good. One of my commenters didn’t agree: “No offense, but that picture is ghastly.” Gee, why don’t you tell me what you really think?!? I replied, reminding him that I was learning to draw!

Anyway, moving on… I took that same drawing today and redrew it digitally with my tablet and coloured it and shaded it.  I took the chance to fix up a few problem areas while I was at it so she looks a lot better, especially in the face.  Her arms, still a bit odd looking. Her hands - still working on that!

Here they are side by side for comparison.

Digital is very forgiving - love that Ctrl-Z.

I have never thought of myself as a person who can draw. I am determined to work on this in the next few months (years?) though and train my brain. I bought some decent pencils in different hardnesses and checked a few drawing instruction books out of the library yesterday.

I got out an old drawing journal that hadn’t seen the light of day since 2005 and flicked through it. Some of the work in there was okay and some was just awful. They say that drawing is all about SEEING and I know that the worst examples I had done back then were the times that I stopped trying to see and just gave up - letting my left brain do it’s lumpy bumpy thing.

Drawing well (or rather, drawing what they see) comes easily to some people but I believe that this is something that can be learned. The techniques of drawing - the understanding of light and shade and how important this is to the realism of the piece, relative sizing and perspective, balance and all the rest.

Those techniques can all be learned and with practice may become second nature. It is harder to retrain your brain - to turn off the “I can’t draw” voice within and have the determination to follow through with the learning, even when it’s hard work.

While watching TV the other night I paused the machine and sat on the couch and drew the newsreader while she was in freeze frame. I really tried to draw only what I saw and I worked hard at not letting the left side of my brain in on any of the action. My drawing turned out okay - certainly not perfect but not too bad.

(drawn with pencil and paper then scanned and coloured digitally)

There was one time in particular that I noticed the effect of left/right brainness: I had been going along quite well, doing a decent job of her hair, face, eyes (though they were a bit wonky) and clothing and then I came to her hands and I instantly felt myself tense up and then turn off. Before I knew it my left brain had kicked in and I had just drawn a blobby toddler’s version of a hand. I had to really stop and try hard to draw just what I saw and it turned out a lot better than giving up and letting my left brain take over.