Erika Moen

Matt and I were unsatisfied with our makeshift shelving in the... actually, I don't know what to call this part of the house? It's an extension that was added on to the back, sometime around World War II (At least, that's what our realtor told us, I never looked into it). I guess it's kind of part o

Have you ever been putting on an item of clothing and heard it go RRRRRRRRRRIPPPPPPP like a freaking cartoon sound effect? That happened to me recently with my (I guess very old??) jean jacket. Fortunately, I am a sewer!! ...No, not the very important infrastructure that conveys sewage >:c I AM A BI

My mother-in-law (this one) requested a portrait of her little dachshund Phoebe as her Christmas gift and, because I am not actually the worst daughter-in-law, here is what I made her! It began, as all good things do, with some photo reference. Using my Cintiq, I digitally traced Phoebe in Photoshop

Oops, I made more The Magicians fanart 😬 Uh, spoiler warning for a show that's almost a decade old? But four of the protagonists get crowned in the magical land of Fillory and Margo Hanson's crown was definitely the best one- aesthetically speaking. Obviously, I needed to make my own out of paper.

Do you remember The Magicians? It was this TV show in the mid 2010s that, like... It was about college-age magicians (duh) going to a supernatural university, learning how to navigate the beguiling and dangerous world of magic. God, I don't know how to sum it up better so you feel how fucking good i

Ok, so where we left off last time, I had made the flat crown face: Next up, I needed to make the necklace. So I just did the same process as before! Black construction paper, iridescent purple/teal/blue paper, scissors, hole punch, tape, and glue! And next thing ya know, voila! (Pay no mind to the

Ideally, I would finish this project before sharing it with you but right now I'm killing time in the Emergency Room waiting room (everything's fine. I mean, it's not, but it's fine. I'm here for somebody else, nobody's dying/in pain, don't worry, etc.) so, like, why not create some #Content while I

It is slow, but I do continue to make incremental progress on my 18th century stays project! And by "slow", I mean that it has taken me about two years to get to this point in production. My new milestone is adding the boning to my garment! Much like the corsets that would follow in the next century

In my ongoing quest to make myself into the Hot Middle Age Bisexual I aspire to be, I signed up for a tool sharpening class at my local queer skill-sharing community center, MakeWith! While I did have my own gardening tools that needed sharpening, I set them aside in favor of the supremely rusted sh

After an unintentional three month break, Sewcial Studies (my historical costuming group) reconvened and I've begun the next phase of my stays! (Refresh your memory on this project and what, exactly, "stays" are here) Here is my artistic interpretation of what mine should look like upon completion:

Over the last two-ish years I've been chipping away at my very first stays with my sewing group (Sewcial Studies). "Stays" are boned laced bodices worn under clothes from the late 16th or early 17th century, before corsets came along in the 18th century. Here's the exact pattern (1780s front-lacing

Halloween was upon us and I didn't really have a costume. But I did have a hand-me-down technicolor swimsuit, black tights, a weird kind of mini-top with long sleeves, and stretchy gold fabric. My destiny was obvious: I am... a background character in a cheap sci-fi movie! I had used a leftover scra

My friend Ben Coleman has a jacket that he wore daily for ten years. It served him well! But you wear something that much for a decade and it's just a matter of time before it accrues some battle damage. You guys already know where this is going. Yeah. I mended the fuck outta this coat. Coleman is a

Oh jeez, you guys! I did volunteer work today??? These are photos from last month, though, they have extremely little to do with what I did today, except that both involve sewing. Ok, so to explain the photos: These are from my last Sewcial Studies historical costuming group meet-up, wherein I worke

My favorite shorts have a hole in the left butt cheek zone, BUT- -I have leftover shiny gold fabric from a previous project, THEREFORE- -I no longer have a hole in my shorts. As the old proverb goes: When life gives you holes in your favorite shorts, turn the other cheek.

My excitement at successfully registering for one of Repair PDX's very popular and very difficult-to-get-a-spot-in Kintsugi repair classes was short-lived when the directions instructed me to bring in a broken ceramic to work on and I realized that, for once, I don't actually have any at the moment.

I made something a little bit ridiculous. Just a teensy weensy bit! As so many things in life do, this tiny tale began on Instagram when I discovered The Ultra Tiny Little Free Library. It is one of several front yard art-sharing projects by the creator of PDX Dinorama, which can be found near SE 78

Matt gave me a glass with a faint yellow-y tinged transparent drink and a straw so of course I took a big ol' slurp from it, assuming it was a fruity-flavored water, but NO. NO. IT WAS NOT. It was a canned mojito? I actually shrieked when my taste buds spiked on that weirdo fermented off-taste. I me

Slowly but surely I am making progress on my 18th century outfit with my Historical Costuming sewing group! Having wrapped up my strap-on pockets, I now commenced on my very first set of stays. Commonly confused for a corset, stays actually pre-date them and are their own distinct form of underwear.

"You're the only person I know who would bring an entire CURTAIN to a hot springs." -Matt, after asking me what entertainment I was going to bring on our weekend retreat two hours away in the woods. When we moved in to our house ten years ago, the previous tenants left two long brown curtains up in

Well, I finished them! My 18th century pockets, I mean. They’re ‘sposed to be worn like this ⬆️ underneath all the skirts and whatnot, with a slit in the outer layers to allow access to the pocket. (Above photo from the Thistle Thistle pattern) My sewing group advised me to use bias tape to cover up

In the 18th century, dresses had pockets. And I don’t mean, like, little pockets that can barely fit a chapstick. I mean, they had industrial-size, heavy-duty, strap-on pockets the size of bread bags that were tied on to the body separately from the dress itself, which simply had discrete slits cut

These are the sashes that came with the curtains that came with the house we bought nine years ago. They’ve been disintegrating for years and for years I keep telling myself I will (hand) sew replacements and for years I have not done it. This is the sewing machine that an incredibly generous reader

Ok, so a bunch of my Helioscope studiomates went out to the coast to assemble a 1,000 piece puzzle* and after many many many hours we discovered that thREE PIECES WERE MISSING. *(I guess some people came out to the coast to actually experience, y’know, the coast, too 🙄 Here is my basically-middle-a