The Case for a Dog

I don't like dogs, or cats for that matter. I don't really like pets in general. I know this is not the popular thing to say these days. Everyone I know is a nature loving, animal adorer, including my husband and two boys. It's a running joke in my house, "mommy hates animals!", "mommy why don't you like dogs?" "How can you hate God's creatures?"

In my defense, it's best that I not be near any type of animal.  I can't even keep my plants alive. For our wedding someone got us this very exotic plant from China that didn't even need much watering. Well, I didn't water it at all, I forgot!  In college, my boyfriend, now my husband, gave me  hamster, I was so overworked with school that I forgot to feed him and he died. I felt aweful. If it's not screaming and hollering for food, I'm not going to pay attention. I have other stuff I need to do like print and sew. I just don't have time to care for one more living creature, especially with two special needs children that require so much attention.

For 16 years I have been able to blame my landlords for us not having dogs/cats. They do not allow them in our two family house and I am so super grateful! For years, I would tell the kids and my hubby, "it's not me, it's Joe and Rachel (names changed), they don't allow dogs or cats in the home. But it WAS secretly (or not so secretly) me. Now we are planning to move and that protection has gone out the window. Now my hubby is specifically looking for a place that allows dogs. I can no longer hide under someone else's rules.

And why does my husband demand that we have a dog? Well look for yourself at these cuddly pictures of my youngest with our friends's dog, Rocky.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Really? This is blackmail? How can I say no to a dog with this last photo of my little Dan tickling Rocky's ear? So not fair!  Even I melt when I see these. Dan remains absolutely calm in in Rocky's presence. They were frolicking for a good long while in the grass as I took these pics.

Exhibit C

Exhibit D

And here he is with my niece's little dog, Toby.  Dan was perfectly content hanging out in the kitchen while Toby jumped and snuggled all over him. I have to face the truth. Dan loves dogs and for some reason, it calms him down. 

However, for me, it gives me heart palpitations. I can deal with these sporadic pet visitations but to have one in my home day in and day out and know that I will have to be the one to take care of him/her while my husband works outside the home and the kids go to school, well, that is just not appealing to me. It's like having a new baby. All I keep thinking is this creature getting into my fabric and other sewing notions, It's hard enough keeping Dan from messing with my things. These are the choices you face when you decide to be a mother. Some parents say, "i'll do anything for my kid" and I'm sure they are thinking of shielding their child from a gun toting intruder. For me, "doing anything for my kid" might just require taking in a dog.  

So what's a crafty girl to do? For those of you who have pets (and it feels like the whole world does, except for me) how do you keep your sewing room, pet free? What is life like with pets? I need cute cuddly stories to help me deal and prepare for the inevitable, I will soon be a dog owner. Maybe. 

FREE DOMESTIC SHIPPING ON ALL DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL ORDERS

Hello! It's been a while since I have posted. Summer camp ended for my big boy and now I am shuttling him back and forth to basketball camp. My little one ends summer school tomorrow so it's about to get crazy here! lol. 

In the meantime, I am offering FREE (domestic and international) SHIPPING on everything in my etsy store, Nelesc Designs. This will last until Monday, September 9th, the first day of school!  

This was a crew neck top I reconstructed by scooping the neck and shortening the sleeves.  I have this in all sizes,
S-XXL. 

So head on over! The shop is pretty much stocked with icons in various sizes, S-XXL.

Draped Jumpsuit

Okay, so here's the draped jumpsuit that I promised to show pics of from this post. I am sorry for the grainy pictures. I need to figure out what I am doing wrong. Any suggestions would be welcomed. 

Anyway, back to the jumpsuit. It's no secret that I like draping and I love jumpsuits. So I decided to put the two together. I like this draped jumpsuit but it definitely needs to be tweaked. First of all: It's a bit too drapey on the sides. I don't need any extra baggage on these Puerto Rican hips, lol. 

I love the top. I again, used recycled neck bands from other t-shirts for the arm hole bands thus the little color play.

Since this has a racer back,  I couldn't pull it up from the bottom without creating an opening so I had to open up the shoulders and sew in snap tape. It has three snaps for a closure on each side. It's a little bulky, thus the big hair to cover it. I need to think about this if I make it again. 

Yes, a bit too much drape for my taste. 

All in all, I would wear this one in public but I want to make another one with my corrections to see how that one comes out. I'm hoping to offer a pattern for this jumpsuit in the future so stay tuned! 

Rocker T-Shirt Reconstruction

I absolutely LOVE doing t-shirt reconstructions! I'll never stop doing these, no matter how rich and famous I get, lol.  Here's my latest. 

I bought this t-shirt in Old Navy. I loved the words and guitar print combo, so cool! It wasn't particularly super big, it was just unflattering.

I decided to take it apart; the entire front, sleeves and all, from the entire back.

Then I cut it in this shape. I was intending to make a cowl neck line.

Here's the back shape. I used a self drafted pattern for this.

But then I thought "this is a rocker t-shirt, it needs a more dramatic transformation than just a cowl. I am a big fan of asymmetry so I looked in my leather stash and decided to add a patch on one side. I also folded the neckline into this asymmetrical shape and stitched it on the side.

Here's what it looks like from the back

My best air guitar! lol.

I really love the way it came out. Since I truly believe in the transformative power of clothes, it's a special piece that can be saved for times when I don't feel like a rock star. 

I'm always interested in knowing what you think and I read each and every comment.

Behind the Seams: My Sewing Space

Here's a little behind the scenes view of my crazy sewing space. Books on the shelf behind me vary; sewing, Puerto Rican history, art history, special needs mothering, and yes cookbooks. You know the cookbooks are my hubby's, not mine!   

Then you have my helmet hats on heads and bins of fabric and supplies, oh and I left my sewing lamp on for this picture, my bad. I wish it looked a little neater but it's controlled chaos, I know where everything is. 

By the way, I just finished this blue jumpsuit. I'll take pics soon and post about it. 

How is your sewing space looking these days? What's on your bookshelf?  

Sew and Tell: Colorblock Draped Dress #2

Color blocked Draped Dress

Two years ago, I started making these draped tank dresses and sold some of them in my shop. I decided to make another one but in a colorblock version. 

 I went through my stash and found these related colors; brown, grey, and striped light grey/rust. I thought they went well together. I sewed the three pieces together and cut the front of my self-drafted pattern on this. 

I decided to only color block the front and used the striped fabric for the back as you can see from the middle first photo on top. I also used the neck binding from t-shirts to bind the neck and arm holes. 

Stretching my super curly hair. It's getting really long, you just can't see the length when it's coiled up!  

I'm really happy with the way it came out and my older son's summer camp teacher's loved it so it's teacher approved! lol. 

Tell me what you think. Do you like draped styles? Colorblocking? What do you think of both combined? 

"Racial Profiling and Autism" -Autism Wonderland

I wasn't going to blog about the Trayvon  Martin case. I was too heart broken, I didn't have words. So many other people were blogging and turning to social media to vent, protest, have their voice heard and they were doing it so very eloquently, much more than I. One such person is Lisa Quinonez-Fontanez from Autism Wonderland. She wrote a blog post yesterday that expressed exactly what I felt and she related it to autism, something, frankly, I had not thought of. I have two kids on the spectrum and they are half Puerto Rican, so you can imagine my fears of raising them in this unpredictable world are a bit elevated right now. All I can do is trust in God. 

Anyway, I am a big believer that if someone else has expressed an idea wonderfully, there is no need for me to say the same thing. I am turning the mic over to her for this post, please click on over there, and comment.