Green Eyes and Backstitch

Reserving judgements is a matter of infinite hope -F. Scott Fitzgerald

[badasscrossstitch]

DIY Embroidered Jeans - Tutorial

My Friends!

Hopefully you are aware of the recent case of art theft that happened to me. If not, read here. 

In response to that situation, I decided to create a body of work inspired by the theft. I’ve been embroidering the ass pocket of my jeans with various messages. 

BUT - you all have inspired me to want to do more! So many of you have messaged or posted stories of your own experiences with art theft by brands and corporations. You/We have been having great conversations about how we should all be navigating these old-as-time concepts in this brandish-new-digital-age. I love it. 

Simultaneously, you have asked me to sell these jeans. Now, you know I’m not going to do that BUT I have an idea. You should make a pair for yourself! There is nothing more satisfying than making something AND you get to decide what the message is.

PLUS, the series will be WAY better if you all build it with me. What do you say? Are you in? 

WE ARE GOING TO HAVE SO MUCH FUN!!! LET’S GET STARTED!!!

First, find a pair of jeans or pants in your closet that has butt pockets. The best case scenario is that you find your stretchiest jeans (the demo jeans are 91% cotton and the 9% poly/elastin blend). Let the upcycling begin!

What You Need

Jeans from your closet

Darice Wood Embroidery Hoop, 4-Inch

DMC 1768-22 Chenille Hand Needles, 6/pkg, Size 22 

(you only need 1)

Dritz Deluxe Seam Ripper

Gingher 3.5 Inch Stork Embroidery Scissors

(you don’t need to buy them - any scissors will do) but they are hella cute so in case you want them I linked to them.

Dritz Mark-B-Gone Marking Pen, Blue

(This is your magic disappearing ink pen!)

A 6″ ruler

DMC silk embroidery floss in whatever color you like

STEP 1: Remove the back left pocket (or don’t! Tons of folks are stitching with the pocket on. I imagine that’s both tricky and time-saving. I’ll try that method on the next pair and post some best practices).

Here’s how I did it

Grab your seam ripper and use it to remove the back pocket. Here’s a great video of how to effectively use a seam ripper if you don’t know how.

STEP 2: PREP YOUR POCKET

Decide what your message is going to be (This is the hardest part of the entire process! Find your voice.)

Figure out how you are going to lay out your message and use your magic disappearing ink marker to create some lines.

Use your marker to draw your message onto the pocket

Then separate your 4″ hoop (use the pin at the top to release some tension so the two hoops separate)

Now make a pocket sandwich! Inner hoop, pocket, outer hoop - then press!

The hoop creates tension and keep the fabric in place so you can stitch easily. Use the pin to tighten the hoop until the tension is that of a drum.

Now you prep the floss. Pull an arms length of floss. Each piece of floss is comprised of 6 strands. You can use as many strands as you like but I find 6 to be bulky so I use 3. Select your number and then slowly separate the floss. 

Floss your needle. Make a knot at one end. It’s not like sewing…you don’t knot the two ends together. You have a short tail and a long tail. 

YOU ARE READY TO STITCH!!! Stitch like you write. If you were going to write a P you would likely start at the top and make a straight line down. Think of the needle as your pen and the floss as your ink. 

Start by bringing the needle up from the back until the knot catches.

Then you push the needle to the back and pull it through (not too tight and not too loose). I try to keep my stitch length to a quarter of an inch or so. Whatever stitch length you use…keep it consistent. Or not..fuck it! It’s your art…play around with it!

From here on out you are bringing the needle up through the back and circling back to your last stitch.

When you bring it back down…be sure to SHARE THE HOLE with your last stitch. That is how you avoid gaps. Share the hole people…share the hole. ;)

I posted a quick video at the end of the thread so you can see it in live action!

BOOM! You did it!!!!

Now go run that pocket under water until the blue marker is gone. You can either lay it out to dry OR if you are impatient like me you can grab a blowdryer and blast it with hot air until it is dry. 

You are now ready for the LAST stitching step! You have to stitch that pocket back on your jeans. 

Now choose a color to stitch your pocket back on. I wanted to draw attention to the pocket so I sent with a bright orange. If you want to keep the focus on the words or image you created then select a color that mirrors the color of your jeans.

To stitch the pocket back on, I use one strand of the floss. So separate the strand, floss that needle, and knot one end. EXACTLY like you already did to embroider the design.

Lay your pants down so you can get your hands into them. Place the pocket back into it’s natural position. Bring the needle up through the back of the jeans and the pocket starting at the bottom point. Pro Tip: Be sure you aren’t stitching through the front of the jeans too…you want to be able to wear them on both legs ; )~  

Now stitch!

GO YOU!!!!

YOU ARE A FUCKING UPCYCLING, DIY, EMBROIDERY, CRAFTIVIST!!!!

LAST STEP: Put those sexy jeans back on and wear them with pride! YOU MADE THOSE! Now if you want to opt in to including your jeans in my series, I will need you to take an epic ass shot and post it to Instagram (or just email it to me if you don’t want to post it). 

Please set up the shot so that it’s as close to this pose as possible:

Tag me @BadassCrossStitch and use the hashtag #reBUTTal 

*High fives to @evesimmance and @nikkitrudell12 for coming up with the series name! Great minds y’all*

If you want to email me the pic instead please make the subject line: reBUTTal and email me at [email protected]

I’m doing a TEDx talk in August and this is going to be a part of that talk. =) The more…the better!!! Get your squad together and get stitching! Plus this a great warmup for #BadassHERstory!!! 

I love you all. Thank you for having fun with me!!!!!

xo

It’s been 24 hours….HOLY SHIT YOU GIVE ME ALL THE LIFE!!!!!!!!

Also, I am SO impressed by those of you who have managed to stitch your message without taking the pocket off! Magicians!!! (Insert Trump tiny hands joke here).

Keep them coming!!!!!!!! THE RESISTANCE WILL BE STITCHED!!!!!

And the hits keep on rolling…

So in-awe of you all! xo

[johnmarkgreenpoetry-deactivated]

[thegoodvybe]

[darning-socks]

You’re a freaking SWEET potato, got it????

[iglovequotes]

http://iglovequotes.net/

[perfectfeelings]

[exusemedidistutter]

[merrynraefilms]

I need your help!

Hello everyone, today has been a day of getting my self-care vlogs somewhat underway. In each video I hope to say something about a different group or organisation that is helpful to anyone with mental ill health. So, with a video to do each week for a year, i need to find 52 organisations, charities, groups, websites, anything that exist to help people through any mental illness. If you or a family member have been helped or inspired by any mental health organisation please give me a shout so I can give them a shout out! As I said I have 52 organisations to find and am currently stuck on number 26!

[mochithings-blog]

here’s something on my personal wishlist! a weekly scheduler that stands on my desk so i can have always have a cute visual reminder of my tasks & plans. 💡

—

Brilliant Weekly Scheduler

[eintsein]

Note-Taking

Hey guys! So I’ve been receiving questions regarding my note-taking style and strategy for quite some time now but I believe I have never answered them in detail. The good news is, I finally decided to make a post about this (plus, I had fun making the graphics :D). Note that I am a visual learner, so my note-taking methods may not be effective for some of you, but I hope you can all learn something.

Class Notes

I only use one notebook for all my class notes, an A4 grid notebook whose pages I divide into two columns.

I use the outline method for in-class notes, which means I write information chronologically, in the order that they are taught. Some teachers do not have properly structured presentations/lessons (good thing my physics teacher does) so when in need, I use arrows to connect related information.

Abbreviations to me are one of the most important things to master when taking notes. I personally make them up as I go along. Some examples of abbreviations I use are:

w/c - which

w/ - with

cpd - compound

envt - environment

digenz - digestive enzyme

It might be confusing, but to me, knowing the context and part of speech are enough for all abbreviations to be comprehended.

Here’s an example: ‘Indonesia’s tsunami pre-warning system is made up of two types of components’ could become ‘Indo’s snmi pre-warn sys 2 type comp’.

After Class

The first thing I would do is highlight keywords and terminology (and sometimes formulas). For physics, since my teacher is relatively succinct, I don’t really highlight, but for humanities and biology, I look for words that would be expected by a mark scheme, words that are crucial to the understanding of each particular piece of information.

I would then check if the material taught coincides with the syllabus, and if not, note down any points that are missing or have yet to be taught. You could write these on a post it or on the syllabus itself, but I prefer to highlight the syllabus’ pdf file.

Rewritten Notes

My rewritten notes are arranged based on the order they appear in the syllabus unless there are pieces of information that are related to more than one topic.

I use a black pen for rewriting notes as well as colored pens to write keywords and terminology only. I know some people who write whole sentences in colored pens but to me that is ineffective; we all have our own learning styles. When making tables, I usually use different colors for different columns (see the table for different types of radiation above) which is most often the color I associate with each word. For example, water would be blue, ocean would be a darker shade, ice would be a lighter shade, and water vapor would be purple.

I still abbreviate words in my rewritten notes, but they’re not as condensed as the ones in my class notes. Another thing I find helpful is leaving a bit of space between separate points especially if the page doesn’t have a lot of diagrams. I can’t think linearly, so I can’t remember super lengthy bullet points.

I use mildliners and a drawing pen to make my diagrams (more of these in my biology notes) but I only start with pencil if it’s a complex diagram. I rarely highlight my rewritten notes, but even if I do, it’s usually only the headings and formulas.

I don’t have a rough draft for my notes, but I try to visualize the layout. I try to alternate between words and pictures/diagrams so that when I’m sitting for an exam, all I have to do is imagine that I’m looking at that page and I can remember where everything is.

Well, that’s all from me. I hope that this information could be of some use to every single one of you. Don’t hesitate to ask me questions if you’re confused about note-taking or any other problems you might have :)

[greeneyesandbackstitch]

Wish you could add things to a 'read later' thing on tumblr...

[anakaruso]

Rainy weather in July, 2016

[greeneyesandbackstitch]

Current mood.

[brexitandchill-blog]

Heartbreaking stories to tell your future grandchildren 👵🏻

www.instagram.com/brexitandchill

[theeconomist]

Tomorrow’s cover, today

We have two covers this week. One features Donald Trump, who is dangerously close to winning the Republican nomination for the presidency. Mr Trump is unfit to lead one of the world’s great political parties, let alone America. Republicans should tell him “You’re fired” and rally behind Marco Rubio, the candidate with the best chance of beating him In Britain and Europe, our cover considers the dangers of Brexit. Leaving the European Union would hurt Britain, weakening its economy and imperilling its security in return for a largely illusory gain in sovereignty. It would also deal a terrible blow to the West

[eu-referendum]

Source: http://www.strongerin.co.uk/50_reasons#bbCFgGgukpottDRi.97

[guardian]

What the hell is a Brexit? 

You’ve got questions, The Guardian’s got answers.

On June 23rd, the UK will vote on what may be its most important referendum in a generation: To leave or not to leave — the European Union, that is. 

Here’s the who’s who of each side — and a look at how the decision will affect the world, either way the UK votes. 

Donald Trump’s stance won’t surprise you, but Michael Caine’s might. 

[coolcathaloreaganfan]

Intervieuw about the living and the dead and a small Colin Morgan intervieuw in SFX magazine summer 2016. Yes, i am a sci-fi geek :D

[quotemadness]

When you love someone you let them take care of you.

Jodi Picoult (via quotemadness)