Sin Dee Custom Sewing & Design

player_1: Jamestown Charge Ship Dress Shirt

2011-12-19T12:59:00.000-08:00

The latest in our player_1 collection was released over the weekend, featuring Jamestown: Legend of the Lost Colony.

Again, another personal favourite of mine, I spent days on the Martian frontier shooting at pixelated space aliens and attempting to keep from throwing my controller across the room from sheer frustration ;) I think at one point we placed #83 on the leaderboards going through the Gauntlet on Divine. I also found myself humming bits of the soundtrack while I did the dishes and similarly inane daily tasks. It all shortly turned into a well of inspiration, and soon I found myself on the phone with the guys at Final Form Games talking about shirts and junk.

The art used for the shirt is straight from the ship and weapon options screen, for the Charge Ball ship.

You can get the shirt here, priced at $35.

Coincidentally, Jamestown was just released in this year's Humble Indie Bundle, please check it out and donate what you can.

And Happy Holidays internet-land!

player_1 and Space Pirates and Zombies

2011-12-06T16:38:00.001-08:00

player_1 is our new collection of licensed merchandise. It features independently developed video games and their awesome art. Each shirt uses in-game imagery and graphics screen printed in white on black dress shirts. The idea behind the collection is to provide high quality shirts for gamers and save them from the fashion coma that is the screen printed t-shirt.

The first in the collection is for the game SPAZ, or Space Pirates and Zombies. After playing countless hours of the game, I was inspired by a lot of the blueprints for the different ships and all the fantastic background art that appeared through out my many space adventures.

With sourcing the shirts from a local suit shop in LA's fashion district, we were able to find an amazing artist and screen printer who worked in the area as well.

Shortly after fidgeting on the art and trips to the screen printer, we are proud to present the officially licensed Space Pirates and Zombies Dress Shirt.

We will be launching a new shirt from a different game every two weeks and currently have about 4 more titles that will be involved, so keep watch for more merch!

Stay casual, fashionable, and video games :D

Behind the Magick:A Short Story About a Bathrobe

2011-04-07T08:50:00.000-07:00

My power colour is Purple.

After jamming out on some local co-op with a friend -- me on the mouse and keys, he on his gamepad...
My friend: "Wouldn't it be cool if you made Magicka Robes?"
Me: "Wouldn't it be cool if I made Magicka Bathrobes?"

And so it began, I got in touch with Arrowhead Game Studios and they passed me along to Paradox Interactive. They were so excited and supportive of the idea, it just had to come true. I eagerly began the creative process...

Serious research.

I doodled around with measurements as I was put on hold for various fabric and dye quotes. Apparently it was pretty difficult to find suppliers that had all four colours available to order... to my surprise, one of the major terry cloth suppliers in New York didn't even have yellow.

This charmeuse isn't yellow enough!

I struggled with colour options, hues, and textures. Perfection is my aesthetic, and I was absolutely obsessed with making the robe so true to the source yet wearable.

My shipment of bright red terry cloth arrived in the mail a couple weeks later. And I mocked up a hood, originally hemmed... I was going to set the trim about a half inch from the hem.

Scrapping that idea with a triple fold biased charmeuse, I proceeded with the body of the robe. I wanted it to be full-length about 53", but once I had it up on my dressform it seemed too long. The proportions were more fashionable to me at a shorter length... so I trimmed the last eight inches off the bottom in an up-working-until-4am-because-I'm-awesome-like-that haze. I used that excess fabric to make the collar... before it was just a robe, once the collar was added it would be a Magicka robe.

Pattern pieces all filleted out.

Over a month later and after several midnight emails to Sweden it was done, like MAGICK -- minus the spell casting, instantaneous appearance of certain elements, and explosions. (Random Note: I have decided that 'Midnight Emails to Sweden' would make a great band name.)

I've really enjoyed getting all your emails about the robe! To answer some of your comments about them I've compiled this list:
-Unfortunately the robes do not come with sausages.
-The coupon code BANANA does not give you a special discount.
-I am making a purple robe for myself, but for now they're only available in the four colours.

Pre-Orders end on Monday 04/11, you can grab one here.

Follow my Twitter and Facebook for updates, pictures, and news on the progress and production process in the coming weeks XD

Old Projects, New Post:The Harley Quinn Dress

2010-09-06T16:33:00.000-07:00

Inspired by the character Harley Quinn from the Batman comics.

September 2009

Was posted on my Etsy store about a year ago and bought by a lovely lady in Australia who provided this picture of her wearing the dress:

Old Projects, New Post:Trading Spaces

2010-08-14T08:33:00.000-07:00

Some pieces I did for the show Trading Spaces on TLC a couple years ago. I was contacted by their lead interior designer to design and make a few pillows for a house they did in Whittier. I missed the actual airing of the episode they were on, but lucky snagged a few photos before I left the job site.

July 2008

Old Projects, New Post:The Left 4 Dead Collection

2010-08-13T09:00:00.000-07:00

For the past year I have been focused on some of my own designs as seen on my storefront 16 Bit Fashion. The inspiration behind many of the items are found in comic book and videogame art and culture. This is the first item that appeared on the store that received any recognition in the world of geekery. It is the Health Pack, the in-game item used to heal your teammates who become injured by various zombie inflicted afflictions in the videogame Left 4 Dead. After nights of executing zombies with my friends, and days of sewing together various projects... the merger of the two ideas seemed inevitable. Noticing that there wasn't anything else like it currently available to gamers such as myself, it came into creation and was quickly brought to the attention of Destructoid, a very popular gaming news website and blog. Shortly after, it was the only thing I was making for quite a while... they are currently still in high demand for convention goers, cosplayers, and overall enthusiast. Listed below are the many stages of the design through this last year.

In this experience, I have become aware of the marketability of design and importance of versatility and growth of a product. It is something I attempt to carry with all the items I continue to create for my store, and an awareness I bring to the development of all projects I work on for other designers.

The Health pack in-game.

Another picture of the pack as it appears in the game.

June 2009: L4D Health Pack

June 2009: L4D Health Pack Inspired Coin Purses

August 2009: L4D Health Pack with FIRST AID Detail

February 2010: L4D Health Pack Inspired Purse

April 2010: L4D2 Health Pack

June 2010: L4D2 iPad/Netbook Messenger Bag

Currently finishing a custom Health Pack that will fit a MacBook size 13" x 9".

UPDATE 2011: Although the Health Packs are no longer available to purchase, you can find them here.

Old Projects, New Post:180 iSnuggy

2010-08-12T09:14:00.000-07:00

I designed and produced this iSnuggy for Ron over at Headcase Games to promote his iPhone App "180".

First Prototype: Moon Heart Star Coins

Final Design: 180 Logo

Production

Old Projects, New Post:Reconstructed Basmati Rice Bag

2010-08-10T10:28:00.000-07:00

My client found this bag of rice at Costco and after finishing it off thought it would make a great tote, she was right:

Basmati Rice Tote January 2010

The bag itself is Burlap, lined in purple broadcloth with molded red zipper and finished on the sides with a red top-stitch. I also put a small pocket on the inside (not shown).

Old Projects, New Post:Amilie's Dresses

2010-08-06T21:14:00.001-07:00

I realize I haven't updated this blog in a while, so I thought I'd post some stuff I did a while ago. It's good to be so busy that you don't have time for blogging, but I'm finally making some time to make these things public and write a bit about what I'm doing. That being said, the next few posts will be a little retroactive in nature.

In this post are little dresses I made for my 1 year old niece, Amilie, last year.

Yo Gabba Gabba inspired Foofa Dress July 2009

Spiderman Dress made out of a reconstructed t-shirt December 2009

I am currently working on some NDA protected projects with a couple designers and continuing to take on-line orders on my Etsy store for custom made comic book and videogame inspired items. The Spiderman dress was originally a shirt I had for sale on the Etsy page, but because of copyright issues Marvel had me remove my listing. It's been hard trying to balance creating completely original items that are inspired by certain "intellectual properties", so far it's only been Marvel. I think I tread the fine line. In the face of it all I am still very inspired by the art I find in comic books, as will be seen in my upcoming Comic Book Chic Line; and strongly believe that no-one can translate videogame pieces into the 3 dimensional world like I do.

I'm still trying to figure out my place as a designer... in the meantime, I'm having a lot of fun experimenting with different ideas/methods and taking on freelance jobs. It is so gratifying to be able to help another designer put their ideas into motion, and there are very few things that compare to the feeling of seeing a project from inception to production. Hopefully I'll have pictures of my more private jobs when they're ready to be introduced to the market.

Tablescapes

2009-10-18T17:25:00.000-07:00

A few table runners and napkins I did for a recent wedding:

Made of Burlap, Silk, and Velvet.

Other pictures from the wedding:

Just finished: sample run for Revolution 1228

Currently working on: cushions, curtains, pillows, Etsy orders, and more pieces for Tricia.

Pillows

2009-04-06T23:08:00.000-07:00

Update

2009-03-06T11:03:00.000-08:00

Soy Joy - Soybean Pod Bag for Makai Events

Chair covers, made of vintage hand painted Japanese fabric and kimono fabrics. For Paula:

Currently working on: curtains, crib sets, pillows, etc. the usual

Recent Projects

2009-02-05T11:19:00.000-08:00

ABC's and Stripes Crib Set

The Princess Bride - Buttercup's Wedding Dress Replica

Shower Curtain

Currently Working On:
Product Development - Soy Joy / Makai Events
Scarf Production - Marjorie Linnea
Hand Painted Japanese Chair Covers - Paula

Awaiting approval on other projects, looking a little slow for the beginning of the year =( Picking up gradually though.. more pics coming soon!

New Stuff

2008-12-03T14:39:00.000-08:00

I haven't been able to update recently =( Super busy with orders, yay, here's stuff I did a couple months ago:

Covered canvases and pillows for John Scott

T-Shirt Reconstruction for Ji
More pictures by Charlie Chu

Baby Crib Bumper for Anea

Bassinet Liner

Also made matching curtains from this silk sheer, was supposed to get pictures of them installed from the client... but she never got around to it.

Swags for Shana

Currently working on:
Custom men's jackets - Redline 99
Purse organizers - Tote All Bag
Cushions, umbrella cover - thomas-somero design
Crib Set - Jamie
Garment Samples - Candace

Just finished Princess Buttercup's wedding dress from The Princess Bride for a client. Will post pictures once I've got them. Watch out for some Original Sin at my etsy in the next week.

Reconstructing Ashley

2008-09-28T12:17:00.000-07:00

Shirt reconstruction for Ashley. All the finished items were once t-shirts. With the help of free printable patterns @ www.burdastyle.com I transformed her over sized tees to fun fashionable wears!

Ashley in "Dilla Black"

Before

After

Ashley in "Dilla White"

Before

After

"Dilla White" and "Stussy Graffiti Purse"

Graffiti Shirt Before

After

Just finished huge order for Image Solutions, button holes and button placement for chef coats. That wasn't as fun as some of my other stuff, but made bank on the order =)Taking it slow for a couple weeks to get caught up with all my custom orders.

Bagged new clients: Tykecoon.com and Rami Kashou from last season's Project Runway. Still keeping busy, more pictures to come!!

Baby Carrier and Original Sin.

2008-08-06T13:00:00.000-07:00

Revamped Baby Carrier for Jane:

Ergo Before

After

Another After

Currently working on Scarves, Chef's Coats, alterations, and other contracts.. it's a week full of meetings and potential clients. Just need to close all these out and refresh for another week of orders. Busy bees. Also trying to get more stuff made for the Etsy Store. The End.

Roman Magic

2008-07-24T20:54:00.000-07:00

Matching roman shades made for Cathy! Also made seat cover for small stool, it's removable with an elastic backing, and machine washable!!

Just finished doing a bunch of pillows and curtains for TV show Trading Spaces on the TLC network. Very fun, pictures available upon request =)

Currently doing stuff for Jane (crib rail covers and redesigning her baby carrier), shirts for Redline99, more stuff for Cathy, something for Sava, and making more stuff for my etsy store . Went to downtown today (Fashion District of course) and bought 10 pounds of fabric for $20... gotta love the Michael Levine Loft store!!

Got some other deals in the works, just need to repost my Craig's List ad and close out some jobs!! Business is doing really well, despite some weirdo stalking me after I canceled an appointment with him. I declined the job cuz he was being neurotic before the job even started! I told him I wasn't comfortable working with him and that he seemed like a difficult person to work with, he proceeded to BEG me to meet him and to give him a second chance... then he shows up for our canceled appointment and demands to meet with me. Almost had to call the cops =(

More drama with a seamstress I recently hired, she screwed up an order and won't answer my calls. If you ever come across a seamstress named Toi, she is not to be trusted!! So now I have to re-do it on my own, argg. It's been the best worst week ever!!

More Baby Stuff

2008-07-01T18:03:00.000-07:00

Crib Set made for Trisha at The Secret Pocket (Crib Bumpers and Coverlet Shown):

Doing more stuff for Andrew and his home, designing nursery for another mommy. Blah. Not much else but the same ol'

Kiddies and babies

2008-06-26T17:58:00.000-07:00

Reggie's daughter in the dress I made!! Pictures without the lovely lady model =) are in my last blog!

Made with <3 for baby, little crib organizer for little hands:

Currently working on crib sets, curtains, duvet, bed spread, shams, cushions. Testing out a new seamstress to help with workload, shes got her own loft in Downtown with 3 industrial machines and 7 ft. cutting table =) Woo. Things are coming together.. we're working on a partnership so that I can contract some of my bigger jobs out to her and still be able to make money while my turnaround goes down.

Sounds like refreshing.

Otherwise, finally found someone to do the clothing line with. Her name is Natalie. We got our partnership agreement notarized and official, currently working on DBA and started sketching for the line. Keep an eye out for .635. on a clothing rack near somewhere =)

More pictures of stuff coming soon!!

Para Todo

2008-06-14T17:53:00.000-07:00

New stuff as promised...

Dress for Reggie's daughter

Pillow for Linda

Just met with this amazing chick who is going to help me start my line of clothes =) She's got all the connections and I'm providing the creative vision. Hope that works out well, I'm really excited about that!

Still sewing stuff for people, working on some crib things... cushions that are going to Alaska... handbags for this one lady... etc.

2008-05-12T17:45:00.000-07:00

Duvet and matching pillow sham by Sin Dee... designs provided by Carla Lane Interiors:

2008-04-20T17:41:00.000-07:00

Stuff I did in the way back when I worked in a shop in Hesperia... they have surfaced and I thought I would share:

Pleated Drapes

Flat Roman

Soft Roman

Swags & Cascades

Things have died down a bit... whew! 'Twas quite hectic for a while. I just have a crib set to do this week for The Secret Pocket in Monrovia. And a couple other alterations/small things throughout the week.

The Creation of the Roman

2008-04-12T17:38:00.000-07:00

The making of the roman for Ellen, completed last week:

And pillow completed for Linda a week ago:

Other stuff I'm working on...
Linda - More Pillows (pics coming soon)
Chris "Rodan Vs. Griffith" - Hand Bag Samples
Tricia - Handbag Prototype
Ellen - More Roman Shades, and some Cushions
Maritza "The Kids Are Alright" - Dress Samples
Bill - Movie Prop/ Burlap Bags
Kirsten - Still pushing away on her order for Skirts/Shirts
Sybil - Recently finished Diabetes Case mods, now doing some alterations

AHHH!!! TORI!! Come back =( Still swimming in orders... I don't know how to swim!

Something old..

2008-04-01T17:36:00.000-07:00

Headboard panels completed a few months ago for Paula.

New Stuff

2008-03-28T17:33:00.000-07:00

For Michael, the grommet top curtains I finished last week. And pillows to match.

Nothing else thats new, finishing orders up this week... possibly doing some garment samples for local boutique owner =) Looking forward to that.

Andrew and other News..

2008-03-25T17:29:00.000-07:00

Curtains finished for Andrew a couple weeks ago. He just emailed me pictures today.

Thats all now. New orders:

Sybil - Diabetic Case Modifications
Tricia - Handbag Prototype & Pattern
Linda - 18" x 18" Pillow
Meredith/Rolfe - Grommet Top Curtains

Cushions and Curtains...

2008-03-18T17:23:00.000-07:00

Stuff I just recently finished and started....

Cushions For John

Grommet Top Curtains and Pillows for Mike

If you didn’t notice, Mike bought the same kind of fabric as the drapes featured on my profile page. Funny. Tori has been a huge help sewing lately! FYI my previous helper/assistant totally flaked out on me. I an super swamped with orders, business is doing great and I’ll have more pics up soon.

Chocolate Silk

2008-02-13T17:19:00.000-08:00

Silk pillowcases, standard 26" x 20". For Jenny, personally designed by me.

2008-02-06T17:13:00.000-08:00

Pillows recently made for a client. Made out of silk with really awesome color palate.

Still working on projects that I can't mention. Also working with this photographer, Moriah, on a different little project.

2008-01-16T17:08:00.000-08:00

I am unable to divulge the contents of my latest project as I have signed a confidentiality agreement that prohibits me from releasing any and all information regarding it. As such I will proceed in exclaiming that my current clients are partially annoying in the sense that they have ordered 30 pieces of the aforementioned product and were unable to provide the full amount of materials needed to produce sed amount. In addition, Partner A continues to communicate to me through my cellular phone regarding the time and speed at which I continue to complete these products -- even though it is completely within their liability as to how fast I am able to complete the project due to their lack of organization. Please accept this statement as a formal complaint in conjunction of Project TOP SECRET.

Whew! I found myself an assistant willing to work in exchange for sewing lessons. YAY. Who would've thought how flaky people are with their own statements? There have been three previous clients, who were completely ecstatic and satisfied with my work, that flaked on using my services again. Then another girl who has been stringing me along for a month and a half!! She keeps saying "we'll get together next weekend" 5 weekends in a row! OMT (oh my tetragrammaton)!

Enough of my bitching, I love all my clients.. I really think all of them are individually creative and insightful people. AND they're all doing what I wish to expand to in the future... being in control of all the design work and having a team of seamstresses working under me! WOO HOO. I just hope this sewing assistance thing works out *crossing fingers*...

Curatins for Mom

Slipping out of the covers...

2008-01-01T12:19:00.000-08:00

Finally got "after" pictures from Crystal....

BEFORE

AFTER

The outlook for my new year is looking very good. I just got a new client that wants me to make swim wear samples. Yay.

Then there was after...

2007-12-10T17:30:00.000-08:00

After pics of Nancy's dress, before pics in previous blog... go look. I bubbled the dress by cutting the lining about 6 inches shorter than the outer layer, then gathered it on elastic cut smaller than the actual width of the dress. I noticed lighter fabrics don't reflect the bubblyness as much as stiffer fabrics. Will try to do bubble skirt with different fabric next time.

Sorry aboot the picture quality, I'm getting Photoshop CS3 right now so I can edit properly. Since my computer crashed I haven't had time to install my old programs.

Currently looking for model to collaborate with so I can start doing my own ACTUAL line of clothing. Need someone to work on TFP (trade for pics) basis.

In other awesomely good news, I doubled my profits last month and am attempting to do the same this month. I've got a few good prospects for the next week, one lady needs shirts designed for a promotional gig in Feb. and another needs linens done. More excited about the promo shirts than the linens... the word "linens" itself just denotes boringness. Uber cold in my workroom, heater on full and theres a terrible draft that comes in through my door. Anyone else having these problems?

Craig has a List

2007-12-08T23:26:00.000-08:00

Craig has a list, of people looking for people and people looking for jobs and people looking for stuff.... as much as I love all the people looking for various things one can look for, I found another site to post free ads on:

Kijiji.com

Funny really, I posted an ad on CraigsList about doing alterations and 15 minutes later some guy calls about having some of his suit pants tailored. He stated "It feels like I'm swimming in my pants" cuz they're too wide. I'll see how posting on this new site goes. What I need to do is my required publication for my DBA. That'll definitely bring in the business.

Currently doing more costumes for a school production of The Nutcracker. Finishing up stuff for Sita @ Sita Style. And making a vintage dress bubble for my friend Nancy:

"Before" picture.