Ruddy To Craft

Being Aware of Fake Accounts on Social Media- Sewcialists Edition

Posted on February 7, 2019February 7, 2019 by ruddymade

I love Instagram. I love that I can find out about indie sewing pattern designers and small fabric shops through Instagram. I love that I can check out what other people have made with certain patterns before I try them out for myself. I love that I can make things and share them with other people who sew and will appreciate all of the work that went into them. I love that everyone who’s ever wanted to be a model can now be one with just the help of a friend or a selfie stick (I hate modelling myself but more power to those who do!)

I also hate Instagram. I hate that people become so preoccupied with gaining followers they’ll go so far as to pay a marketing company to provide them with fake ones so they look more popular or important. I hate that these companies are trying to rip off people’s identities in an attempt to create realistic looking followers to sell to their customers. I hate that it’s so hard to tell when we come across one of these fake accounts while scrolling through our favorite hashtags without digging much deeper.

Over the past few days I’ve found a lot of suspicious looking accounts on Instgram through sewing related hashtags. What initially tipped me off was, while scrolling through the #sewcialists hashtag, I clicked on a few profiles and noticed they didn’t have a lot of followers. I liked their photos (each account only having one or two) and decided to follow them. By the third profile this happened with, I noticed one of the posts was a #BestNine2018 photo with nine pictures of different handmade garments. I thought this was weird since the profile only had three posts altogether. That’s when I started to dig deeper.

Luckily, the sewing community has a lot of hashtags that aren’t inundated with photos (like hashtags for specific patterns), so the original post is pretty easy to locate. To track back to the original user’s photo, I’ll start by clicking on the hashtag that I think will have the least amount of photos. This gives me a lot less to weed through as looking for an old post may be like trying to find a needle in a haystack sometimes.

Here are some examples of usernames for fake accounts I’ve found over the past few days:

@93seckincinkir243

@wendikeith447

@demirturk905

@32laurelyeager903

@rahimozkan891

@32selmacrowley727

@gocen4334

@demirturk9335

The above photos are from a non-sewing related account. I don’t remember looking at it but I came across it in my search history while trying to collect a list of fake usernames I had discovered. I believe it was probably impersonating a sewing related account at first but then switched over to an equestrian themed one after it had been found out. It took me a while to track down where the original photos came from, but copying and pasting the bio into Google Search led me right to it. The photo on the left displays the real account and the photo on the right is the fake account.

More examples of stolen profiles (names and bios have been blocked out for security):

Signs that an account might be fake:

The username begins with numbers.
The user has a very small number of followers but is following a very large number of people in comparison.
The accounts the user is following are random and odd. (What gives it away for me when it’s a sewing related account is if the user isn’t following a lot of other sewing related accounts. Sometimes they’re not following any at all.)
Their photos have very few likes.
I remember liking the same photo from another username previously. A lot of times, businesses will re-post a photo of someone using their products so it’s not always suspicious looking. This is when it’s important to look at the username. If you still aren’t sure and it’s important to you, this is when you should go to their profile and see how many followers they have as opposed to how many people they are following. Who’s following them and who are they following in return? This is usually the dead giveaway. Like I said, for sewing enthusiasts it’s usually easy to tell it’s fake if they’re not following a lot of sewing related accounts. So it may be a lot harder to tell on more broad based profiles.

Reasons You Probably Don’t Want Someone Impersonating You On Social Media:

You don’t want an account with your profile picture on it following another account or liking photos from another account with beliefs you don’t agree with.
That’s your identity! It’s not for some marketing company to sell to someone to make that person look more popular!

So, I beg of you, please be more aware when liking photos on Instagram and report something if you see it. As social media and the sewing community become more involved, we can form a sort of neighborhood watch type of accountability program to protect each other. I don’t think we should let this get in the way of our enjoyment of using Instagram to be inspired by and discover other makers, but this is something we should all be aware of while we’re scrolling through our feeds or hashtags.

Christmas Gifts 2018

Posted on December 30, 2018 by ruddymade

Christmas is always my busiest time of year. While I enjoy the holidays, my work schedule always makes it hard to fit in celebrating. So I like to spend little bits and pieces throughout the year making gifts for my family as my own way of enjoying Christmas all throughout the year. Here is a summary of what they all received this year…

This was the year of the sock. Back in August, Fancy Tiger Crafts announced a knit-along for a sock pattern called the Basecamp Socks. I had always wanted to knit socks but was always too afraid to try because I heard they were complicated. Someone in the comments section of their Instagram post asked if it was a good pattern for beginners and they said yes. So I decided to dive right in because I thought a knit-along would be a good motivator. Though it was a little tricky at first I am now addicted to knitting socks and most of my family members received socks as gifts this year. The red pair went to my mom. The beige pair went to my dad. And I gave the purple pair to my sister-in-law as part of my baby shower gift.

I also knit my mom this Pre-Wrapped Wrap by Purl Soho out of Lily Sugar N’ Cream yarn. I like the idea of wearing this over dresses at special events when it’s chilly out so I may have to make one for myself at some point.

I made a Linden Sweatshirt out of some of this peach print jersey I had leftover at the beginning of the year and set it aside for my sister-in-law. I also made her the Lil’ Foxy Roxy scarf in Lipstick Red by Wool and the Gang. It was a much brighter color than I had anticipated, more like a hot pink than red, but I still think it’s pretty.

My sister received an Oversized Infinity Scarf designed by Krysten Ritter for We Are Knitters and (surprise, surprise) a pair of Basecamp Socks in some yarn I got from my local knitting shop, Yarnia.

My brother is an avid runner. He’s run the NY Marathon TWICE now and got his name in the NY Times both times afterwards! So I made him this drawstring bag using a tutorial from Purl Soho so that he could pack his shoes in it when he travels for races and not get his clothes dirty because I’m a germophobe and I think about that kind of stuff. I also included a gift card to Running Warehouse and a booked entitled “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running” to keep the whole gift running themed. I’ve never actually read that book myself so fingers crossed it’s good! You can read about his running adventures at Rich Moy Runs.

For my nieces and nephew, I made them these blankets using all fabric from JoAnn, except the green plaid, which I had to order from Amazon at the last minute because the fabric I originally purchased wasn’t wide enough. *Shaking My Head.* I also thought the Minnie and Daisy fabric was flannel but it turned out to be fleece so it was much thicker to sew through than I was intending it to be but I guess that’s what I get for ordering things at 6:00 in the morning and not reading product descriptions carefully! Oh well. They’ll just be extra warm this winter.

I made my newest nephew this teddy bear using a pattern from Purl Soho and a Wiksten Animal Bonnet out of yarn that is also from Purl Soho. I CANNOT WAIT to see the little guy wear that hat. I’m hoping one day he’ll look at all the pictures and say to us, “You all really took the fox theme too far.”

My aunts and uncles all received these wash cloths I made using a pattern from Purl Soho out of Lily Sugar N’ Cream yarn and these adorable soaps from Anthropologie.

Lastly, I wrapped my mom’s and sister-in-law’s gifts in these reusable drawstring bags I made and I hope they’ll reuse them again next year to cut down on using wrapping paper. I think they look so cute and once the bags are done they actually make wrapping things so much easier. (You should have seen Kevin trying to wrap an oddly packaged toy kitten for our niece!)

Phew! Summing it all up here, it doesn’t seem like that much but I have to remind myself that this all took me almost a year to plan and execute. Homemade gifts are a lot of work but I find them so much more satisfying than buying a bunch of stuff from big box stores. I probably won’t be able to keep this kind of homemade gift giving up forever, but it’ll be fun to do while I can.

…Now what to make for next year….?

Party Time!

Incorporating Baby Gifts Into The Decor for the Shower

Posted on December 28, 2018December 28, 2018 by ruddymade

Back in November, my sister and I helped our brother and sister-in-law’s friends plan their baby shower. My brother and sister-in-law didn’t want to find out the sex of the baby until he was born, so we spent the months leading up to his birth referring to him as “Mini Moy.”

This is the table that greeted guests when they first arrived. The drawings in the frames are originals by my sister, Kathryn, and she used the same artwork to incorporate into the decor throughout the entire party.

I was glad that the baby quilt I made came in handy when it came to covering up this shelf full of random things.

These are the party favors, M & M’s (for Mini Moy), with tags featuring Kathryn’s artwork. Cute, huh?

Kathryn insisted that the foxes hang out together. That’s a custom stuffed fox she designed and drafted the pattern for sitting with the fox I embroidered using a kit from TatSol on Etsy. Kathryn also likes embroidery and embroidered the neckerchief on the fox with what will probably now be the baby’s nickname for the rest of his life.

Did you know that you can buy flowers in bulk with a Costco membership? I ordered these online and had them shipped to my brother and sister-in-law’s friend’s apartment, where she arranged them. Don’t they look cute? And better yet, almost two months later and they still look pretty good. I’ve had a small bunch decorating my apartment ever since the shower.

This is the photo booth set up. Kathryn designed the banner in the background and we just used a plain gray flat sheet to mask the wall. I bought a photo booth back drop stand from Walmart and it just worked out that that bench was already at the venue.

Mini Moy has finally entered the world since the shower and both sides of the family couldn’t be more ecstatic that he’s here!

Sewing

Mini Moy Baby Gift Roundup

Posted on November 9, 2018 by ruddymade

When I found out my brother and sister-in-law were expecting a baby, I couldn’t wait to get started on making gifts for them. Their Pinterest board was full of woodland creature themed decor so I went onto Fabric.com and searched for “woodland creature fabric” and loaded up my cart with everything that I thought might look good together. Then I edited it down and the above photo features what I finally decided on.

I’m not really a quilter. The only other quilt I’ve ever made was a crazy quilt back in sewing class sophomore year of high school. So this may not be the most conventional way to choose fabrics for a quilt, but it is the lazy (and too excited to get started) woman’s way of choosing quilting fabric. The fabrics I chose were:

Dear Stella For Fox Sake Mixed Animals Peyote
Art Gallery Hello Bear Buck Forest Silver
Art Gallery Hello Bear Oh, Hello Fog
Dear Stella Cold Comfort Woodland Dreams Multi
Michael Miller House of Hoppington Frolic Fog
Dear Stella Stay Wild Animal Vignettes White
Cotton + Steel Magic Forst Squirrels Neutral
Dear Stella Stay Wild Fox Bunny Floral Skylight

I brought my quilt top to Gotham Quilts in NYC for them to do the quilting on their long arm machine because, again, I was too lazy and excited to get it done.

I love the fabric I used for the backing of this quilt. I originally ordered it from Miss Matatabi last Black Friday with intentions of making a Fen Dress out of it. But once I received it in the mail, I felt like it was too perfect to make a baby blanket out of and stashed it away. Little did I know my brother and sister-in-law would be making their announcement only a few months later!

I was actually working on this very quilt the day our downstairs neighbor (who played loud music at all times of the day) came storming up to our apartment and told me I “couldn’t” have my sewing machine anymore. We moved out a month later. So I guess this baby has already changed our lives for the better!

My sister-in-law had pinned a Boppy Pillow slip cover from Etsy with fabric I recognized from JoAnn. So I offered to make it because I knew it would be much cheaper if I did. Then I realized that that fabric was sold out on their website but I think this Robert Kaufman fabric is much cuter anyway. I used a pattern I found online to make it but I can’t find where I got it from for the life of me! Luckily there’s so many tutorials on how to make these online if you just search “boppy pillow cover pattern.” For some reason, I just can’t locate the exact pattern I used. I do remember the blog post stated that it would need to be fit and adjusted to the pillow so I had it sent to my apartment so that I could fit my new cover over it instead of having it sent directly to the mom and dad-to-be.

One of the images on my sister-in-law’s Pinterest board had the most beautiful embroidery hoops with different animals on them. I am not the best at drawing, so I ordered a kit to make these hoops from TataSol on Etsy. I’m very bad at checking dimensions on things before I order them. So I was surprised at how small these were when I received them in the mail (about 2″ in diameter) but I think being so tiny makes them even more adorable.

And last but not least, a pair of hand knit socks for the my sister-in-law because the mom-to-be deserves a homemade gift as well! She is doing most of the heavy lifting, after all! (Sorry, brother!) These are my own two feet modelling the socks because there was a knit-along going on for this sock pattern (the basecamp socks by Kaylee Lockhart) hosted by Fancy Tiger Crafts and I wanted to share them before it ended on September 25th. The best part is that the pattern is free on their website!

And there you have it! I was glad to have these projects to keep me busy while we anticipate the arrival of my future niece or nephew. Thankfully, work will be busy for the next couple of months to distract me because time always goes seems to go so much slower when you’re excited about something!

Sewing

Striped Chambray Tamarack Jacket

Posted on October 24, 2018October 24, 2018 by ruddymade

I had had my eye on the Tamarack Jacket by Grainline Studio for a while because I still wore my old North Face fleece jacket from college when the weather turned cool in the Fall and I wanted something more adult looking. Thankfully Jen Beeman, the owner of Grainline Studio, announced a new sew-along for this pattern to give me the push I needed to finally make it. The quilting took me the longest and my lining seized up a little bit underneath in the process, so I think next time I make this jacket I’ll cut the lining pieces out slightly larger than the outer fabric.

It all still worked out in the end though. Look how pretty this fabric by Kelly Ventura for Windham Fabrics is?! I love her artwork so much and was so excited to come across this fabric at Michael Levine Fabrics on our vacation to California. While the quilting was the most time consuming part of this project, the welt pockets were the most difficult. I can’t believe in all my years of sewing, I’ve never done a welt pocket! They came out alright though. On my first attempt, I hadn’t sewn far enough past the welt and had to go back and stitch a little further so my corners are a little awkward. Next time I need to double check my markings! I think my they were off on my lining since it had seized up during the quilting process.

We had the perfect weather for this jacket a couple of weeks ago when we went to Greenwood Gardens to celebrate our wedding anniversary. I love the snaps that I had installed by Nancy at Steinlauf & Stoller. They look so professionally done and I didn’t have to run the risk of ruining my new jacket in the last hour! Better yet, Nancy kept complimenting my jacket when I brought it to her which made me feel really good. I bet she looks at things like this all day so she probably knows her stuff, right? I also followed some tips I read on Instagram before making my jacket and made the sleeves a little longer so I could cuff them and show off that beautiful lining fabric.

And here I am flashing you! Underneath I am wearing another one of Grainline Studio’s great patterns, the Linden Sweatshirt. I think I have about a half dozen of them because I’m so obsessed. Next time I make this jacket, I’ll probably use flannel to line it for more warmth. While I love this one, it’s already gotten a little too cold where I live to wear it so it’ll probably be more of a Spring jacket.

Even though I’ve finished my jacket, I’m still loving following the hashtag for the sew-along. Search #TamarackSociety to see some other amazing Tamarack Jackets!

(And if you want some of that chambray fabric for yourself, I bought mine in the NY Garment District but I came across some on sale at Miss Matatabi as well!)

Sewing

Restyle Exchange 2018

Posted on August 25, 2018August 25, 2018 by ruddymade

This is one of the last projects I worked on in our old apartment. I was afraid to take part in the Restyle Exchange 2018 at first but once I received these garments from Rosy Retrospection, I became so excited.

Before she sent me her items, Rosy messaged me three different sets of options through Instagram messaging and I chose this one because I was drawn to that beautiful eyelet fabric.

I knew the skirt would provide me with a lot of fabric to work with so I started by detaching it from the bodice. I then cut out an Ogden Cami by True Bias, making sure to avoid any holes or stains.

I had some Robert Kaufman jersey fabric leftover in my stash from a T-shirt I had made for a friend’s birthday and used it to underline the cami. Rosy said one of her favorite colors was gray so I thought it would be a good match. I didn’t want her to have to wear another camisole under it in case the eyelet on its own was too revealing for her.

The blue lace at the bottom was a last minute, unplanned addition to this garment. I had used the original hem of the skirt for the cami to save myself from having to hem it myself, not realizing I had sewn one side backwards. Since both sides of the fabric look pretty much the same, I decided to mask this mistake by adding some blue stretchy lace I had in my stash along the bottom. Problem solved! You can’t even tell the wrong side of the fabric from the right side…or at least I think you can’t…which is how I made the mistake in the first place… *Shrug*

After I finished the cami, I realized that I didn’t want the bodice to go to waste since it had so much potential. I cut the button placket off the blouse and attached it to the backside of the bodice, now making the back the front. I also removed the flounce from the blouse and added it to the bottom of the bodice. According to her measurements, this bodice seemed like it would be too snug on Rosy. So I added a panel to the center back of what I am calling a vest, out of the same gray jersey fabric I used to underline the cami. I wish I had made it just a little bit wider because it was still too snug on Rosy. Luckily, I still had some more scraps of this fabric leftover and sent some to Rosy so she can hopefully re-work this garment to suit her in the future.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with how my re-fashions came out and am excited to try more in the future!

I had a feeling the vest might still be a little snug on Rosie so I wrote her a note suggesting it might look cool if left open on top of the cami. What do you think?

This is a picture of Rosy wearing the Ogden Cami. I think it looks great on her. The Ogden is currently my go-to pattern to make for other people. I’ve made about 5 at this point, and none of them were for me. You can always rely on a good ol’ Ogden cami to show people you care.

This is Rosy wearing the “vest.” I’m kicking myself a little for not making that center back panel just an inch or two wider. Then I probably wouldn’t have needed to do any gathering on the peplum, which would have made more sense instead of those tiny, slight gathers. D’oh!

One day while killing some time in H&M during my break at work, I noticed this blouse on the rack that reminded me of the “vest” I made for Rosy. So I’m glad it was at least on trend if nothing else!

And lastly here is the adorable blouse I received from Sew Love Mary.

Before…

After!

Sewing

So Many Scout Tees, So Little Motivation to Take Pictures For Me Made May

Posted on June 3, 2018June 9, 2019 by ruddymade

Every May, I get so excited for Me Made May because I love the sewing inspiration it provides. This year I pledged to wear at least three me made garments a week without any repeats. The wearing of the garments is the easy part, the taking pictures of myself wearing them is not! The month started off well enough by wearing this black Scout Tee I made out of Anna Maria Horner fabric. I was dressing the show at work that night and needed to be in dark clothes which is exactly the reason I made this top. The only picture I managed to take was a sneaky selfie in one of the dressing rooms while no one else was there.

I continued to take sneaky selfies at work until I became too annoyed and embarassed with it. I took three shots of this outfit before anyone else arrived at work and would run into the wardrobe room in between each one because I kept hearing one of the cleaning staff nearby. This is a hemlock tee by Grainline Studio that I added lace to at the shoulders and a lace patch pocket.

Oh, look! Another Scout Tee. How exciting.

Finally, some good weather and a photographer! It seemed to rain every day I had off in the month of May. This is another Scout Tee hacked into a dress with a drawstring waist.

And here is yet another Scout Tee I wore during the month of May. I pretty much got through half my pledge wearing Scout Tees because I have so many of them and they’re such a great basic. I do wish I had more me-made pants in my wardrobe. I love my Seamwork Moji pants and I wear them all the time but in my pledge to wear 3 me-made garments a week without any repeats, this did not help. Once we’re in our new apartment, I plan on making another pair. Maybe a woven pair of Hudson pants too.

And this is my favorite Scout Tee that I’ve made out of all of them. It’s the only one I have with the cuffed sleeve from the expansion pack they just released for the pattern and I wish these sleeves were on all of my other ones. It’s so much more comfortable and fits me better. I love the Scout Tee but with all of these new sleeve options, I think I am going to kiss the original cap sleeve goodbye. This adorable linen fabric is made by Anna Sui and I got it from Mood Fabrics.

In summary, I love Me Made May and looking at everyone else’s pictures on Instagram. I just hate taking them! In her interview with Love to Sew podcast, Sozo Blog said it’s not about taking pictures anyway. It’s more about holding up to your pledge. So there you have it! I did hold up to my pledge and am going to focus on making more pants in the near future.