Changes are coming...

This week I took a good long look at the Etsy store...

...and came to the conclusion it's a hot mess.

Multiple interests manifested themselves in my work, and now the poor storefront is a chaotic mishmash of spikes, dichroic glass, and pastel sparkly macarons. The entire scope of my business has clearly outgrown the Etsy store. So, after much planning, and many hours of work, one Etsy store has become two.

I have started by moving the visual kei stuff to its own store - http://dkei.etsy.com. It will operate under the d.Kei label, while the main 'flagship' Etsy will still be DarkFire Designs. I have put up a temporary banner in the DarkFire Designs shop to reflect the change. My clothing and cosplay pieces will be posted there.

As dkei was already taken on Twitter, I have decided to keep both stores under the d_keidesigns twitter feed, and on the same Facebook page. Those are a little easier to manage without having to split into multiple accounts.

In the meantime, I have restructured the DarkFire Designs store to reflect the change(I'm well aware the temporary banner is hard to read, I will fix it this week), and recategorized the store until I can set up a third store. This store will be for the clay sweets, decoden, and Fairy Kei stuff that I'm well aware clashes with the rest of the jewelry in the shop and adds to the hot mess look my storefront is currently rocking. XD It will all take some time.

So basically, here is a breakdown of how everything will get structured:

1)DarkFire Designs: Jewelry, fused glass, wirework
2)d.Kei: Visual Kei, clothing, cosplay
3)Third Store(name TBD): Fairy Kei, sweets, decoden

And in the meantime, I'm just taking it one day at a time, not getting overwhelmed, knowing that this will make everything much more streamlined and organized.

The Triumph of the Denim(aka Epic Repurposed Jeans)

I was perusing though my local Goodwill last week and I found a nice little gem: jeans in my size!!! 

This rarely happens. I'm tall, with long legs, and apparently these are proportions of death in the fashion industry. Anywho, they fit, which is good, because my jeans have pretty much had it, and I was in desperate need of a new pair. I'm also too stubborn at this point to drop $30 on one pair. The money is needed elsewhere, like my gas tank. XD 

The jeans...

At first glance they look fine, but if you flip them over there's some wear...

...but totally fixable. 

I cut off the hems of the jeans. 

I cut them open, measured them, and added seam allowance, in this case 1/2" on all sides. I wanted to make sure they were long enough so I wanted wiggle room to let them out if need be. I drafted a VERY basic pattern out of some tissue paper I had on hand. Ignore the wrinkles. 

I had some scrap denim left over from a cosplay project, and I liked the added contrast of the crossgrain on these scraps. So...I cut them out and serged the edges so they wouldn't fray.

I sewed up the side seams and pressed them open, and went back and serged the cut part of the jeans so they wouldn't fray. 

I hemmed the bottoms of the new pieces first, which made things much easier. I chose matching thread and a wide double needle for a clean, bound hem. 

And now, a digression...

If you can't afford a cover stitcher a double needle is your best friend. You can use them on any sewing machine, you just need an extra spool of thread. I use serger thread with my machine since I work with so many colors/garments, as opposed to spools, so the extra spool isn't a problem. I have my machine very creatively threaded, but cone stands really are the way to go. You can find them in almost any shop that sells sergers and sewing machines. But the double needle gives you a nice bound hem, similar to that of a cover stitcher, and it works much better and looks nicer than just using a straight stitch or a zigzag. They come in especially handy when working with knits, as they sew in such a way that the threads won't break with stretching. Double needles are cheap, less than five dollars most of the time, and can be found at sewing, fabric, and craft stores like JoAnn or Hancock Fabrics. Thread them like a normal sewing needle, except you're threading two needles, and use the straight stitch setting on your machine. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT use the zigzag setting. Bad things will happen. Trust me. 

And now, back to our regularly scheduled blog entry...

 The new pieces with the hem...

All that's left is to attach them to the jeans and press the seams open...

and ta-daaaaaaaaaa!!!! XD 

(Ignore my foot. I was in a mad rush to shoot the pic and wear them). 

I love them. They are me new favorite pants. The $7 and hour of time I spent on these was so worth it! They're so comfy and they look awesome. Pics of me wearing the pants will follow at some point. ^_^

So...if I have inspired you to salvage some jeans of your own that is fabulous. :) I'm looking forward to the next pair I find, and when I find them I'll probably post it here. :)

Dusting off the blog...

It's been awhile...like...over a year, I think? Ye goodness! I have not forgotten I have the blog, and now I'm going to put it to good use. :) More posts coming soon!