I've been in Norway the past few weeks, and I've just returned. It was the best time of my life! I will eventually do an entire breakdown of my trip once I'm able to process some photos but for now, I'm going to talk about how I met my favorite metal vocalist!!! Gaahl used to be in Gorgoroth. He now owns an art gallery in Bergen, and you can just go there and meet him. He had closed it the few days I was in Bergen, so I only had the last day to see him. I was so nervous and barely slept the night before. When I walked in, my jaw had just dropped seeing him in person. He's always seemed more like a cartoon villian than a real person. Thankfully, there were a few other people there before me, so I eventually had the courage to go up to him. I gave him this charcoal portrait I drew of him. He unrolled it and said something like "...oh, it looks like me." His personality is really hard to explain. He seemed really.... unbothered? I mean, once you've been arrested twice for torturing people, I guess nothing causes much of a reaction anymore. But yeah, with that dark past of his, I was not expecting him to be so nice!!! I had complimented him on his new song, and we talked a bit about art. He shook my hand!!!! (I think that was his way of thanking me??) I bought a print of some of his artwork, and he told me about his upcoming projects. I was also shocked that my brother made him laugh by stating "I'm just the designated shirt holder." It was the best experience of my life! He was so polite and cool! I will be a lifelong fan.

Older posts are on the Blog page!

Designing Jirai Kei Blouses and this Goofy Skirt

I had this one pattern for a blouse, but it had puffy sleeves, which I absolutely despise!! I modified the pattern, creating these off the shoulder sleeves with lacing I've added. I had to hand dye the fabric pink in my kitchen's sink, lol. The skirt you see was also made by me. It's two pieces, and it made to be sort of like a short skirt with a cape like thing. The harness was also made by me because I saw some pre cut leather at the fabric store. Not pictured is a lace choker I made to put the whole outfit together. I have another blouse that's similar I will post soon!

Other projects

Making a Cosplay for Halloween

I've very much lost interest in cosplay for the past three or so years, but it would be ridiculous for me to not showcase my sewing skills on campus for Halloween. In terms of Reimu, I just kinda listen to Touhou music in rhythm games. I don't have a whole lot of supplies or space in my dorm, so Reimu was something very doable in a short amount of time. The only pattern I had to design was the collar shape. The rest of it was super easy. I did it without drafting to get it done as fast as possible. Ending up looking really cool, and was one of my cheapest projects.

Finally Sewing Something Again

While I've made several stuffed animals, a lolita dress, and various small things this summer, I never ended up making a full design until the very end. Initially, I became obsessed with this purple jacket you see here, but I couldn't find any material that I liked enough to continue it. Ironically, the two best designs I have made were created while waiting for materials to make other jackets I never ended up making. This one is the same

NCT 127 wear these jackets for "Kick It", and they are red in the music video (you can even see Taeyong wearing one on the bottom of this page). However, I already have a red bomber jacket, so I decided to make this yellow varient they wear for a few stage performances. I opted to use a raincoat material, because it was the best shade of yellow I could find, as well as a decent material. Plus, I have a bad tendency to make things not very weather-friendly. I initially ordered a snake-skin vinyl online. However, when it arrived, it had all these cancer warnings on it and was plastic wrapped on a roll. I made the decision to throw it away. Because I needed a really small amount of the fabric, I just found a snake-skin shirt on Amazon and cut it up. The snaps were a pain to put on, as I've never done it prior, but I much prefer the look of snaps as opposed to zippers on jackets. I made sure to use a nice, heavy lining to make the jacket warm. This is undoubtedly one of the best things I've made.

Making a Custom Stuffed Animal (July 18th, 2023)

I'm sure you've seen the little character on my website. Basically, it's a fanmade character for the idol Taeyong of NCT, which my website is dedicated to. Tyongya, the character, is pretty much exclusively in plush form. It's hard to get them overseas, especially the full size ones. The 10cm ones go for like $50 or so here!! I really like to pride myself in the fact that I believe I can make anything if I want to, so I figured I would just make a stuffed animal of him from scratch. Here's that process, and it actually ended up being really funny.

Despite having a pretty extensive knowledge of drafting jackets, traditional clothes, and skirts, I did not have any knowledge of stuffed animal making. I understood the basic process of making darts, but that was it. I figured that once I got the shape right for the head, I could just slighly alter it for the body. Well, after sewing the first pattern, I think I laughed until I cried. The long one you see here was the first attempt. The next few attempts still looked like Family Guy characters. Eventually, the got less footballish and I got close to what I wanted. Next was the body. I had a rabbit stuffed animal pattern already, and I figured I could use a similar body shape. Unfortunately the weight of the head made it so he was unable to sit up on his own. I experimented a few times with leg and arm lengths and had a growing collection of Tyongya husks on my ground, but I got the pattern finalized and made him! I also made him a purple hoodie, and that was its own challenge, because he doesn't have shoulders, ha ha.